Trisha Stone 3-3-11 Comp.

2 Synthesis Essay

Eternity
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16, New International Version, 2011) People are constantly worried about death. The question consistently pondered is, what happens when we die? What if our mortality leads to immortality, and people begin to ask, as asked in 1 Corinthians 15:55, Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?

When will the world realize, they need to redirect their thinking? Instead of living in fear of leaving this world, we should be excited to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. We should learn from the teachings of the Bible, and understand what is set out for our future. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8, New International Version, 2011) So what this passage is trying to teach us is that to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord. Death is not to be thought of as an ending, but as a promotion. There is so much more than the life we live now. This is only a journey to eternity.

We are still left with the question, how? Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. (John 14:6, New International Version, 2011) For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:10, New International Version, 2011) Being saved is exactly what it sounds like. The wages of sin is death. The aftermath of death is hell. If you do not first believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and rose again on the third day, and depart from sin, you will go to Hell. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice atonement, through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate the righteousness at the present time, so as to be, just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-26, New International Version 2011) Therefore, we are all sinners. No one is to judge one another. Yet, we are to sharpen each other in the knowledge of Christ, as we all strive for righteousness in Christ Jesus, our Lord and savior. So in the act of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, being bruised for our transgressions, he saved us from the depths of despair in Hell.

We must constantly be aware of our actions, our thoughts, and our speech. If we are not, the devil will attack you in any area he can. He is set out to steal, kill, and destroy. Not only does he pursue us aggressively to damage us physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. God wants us to succeed in everything we do. Just like a good

parent, he has set out rules for us to live by. Not because he is trying to be the boss and tell us what to do, but because he cares enough for us to show us agape love, the kind of love that has no boundaries, and guide us, so we can live life more abundantly.

God has shown us grace, love, kindness, and mercy. He has put faith in us, when will we put faith in him? He died for us, why can we not live for him? I have seen both sides of the story, I have lived out both sides of the story, I am now pleading with you to see and live out Gods side of the story. I have never felt so much love, peace, joy, and freedom as I do when I do things Gods way. 2 Corinthians 5:17 in the New International Version says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone and the new is here. Dont you want to be the one to grab on to the new and leave the old behind? For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not for works that one can boast, for we are Gods handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-9, New International Version, 2011) We are made in the image of God. What a standard to live up to! Yet, he has given us everything we need to achieve our purpose. Study the Bible, and learn the details of the highway to heaven. He has given us a manual to life. It is time we read it. Would you rather spend eternity in Heaven or Hell? I do not think there is any competition.

Works Cited
NIV Study Bible. Fully rev. ed. Kenneth L. Barker, gen. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. Print

Self Evaluation

So as you already know, I am very passionate in my faith. A lot of my morals and ideas that I write about in class definitely always have a twist of spirituality. I am astounded at your open-mindedness to suggest such a topic for me to elaborate on, and feel privileged to be able to expound on my beliefs in this essay as well as others. I wish I could share this paper with the entire Owens staff and student body. There is so much more scripture I could have used for this topic, but I felt that I may have already over stepped the boundaries of quoting. I just really felt the need to add in a few extra scriptures here and there, and felt that it was necessary since the Bible is really the only place I believe truth can be found on this subject. Thank you again for allowing me to be so open in a school setting, where it is almost non-existent to find a door to share beliefs.