Finding GOD's Truth in the Bible

I am always thinking about how GOD works out His Plans.

I guess I am just trying to figure out what He is doing in the world, in my world, in the lives of others.

We all have interpretations about what the Bible says.  That is why we have so many denominations, why we are divided, why we think our ideas are the right ones.

I guess I do the same thing.

When I was searching for my answers about GOD, I made my own decisions about what GOD was trying to show us.  Nothing big, just the conflicts we seem to have.  I needed to decide which view I thought was the right one.

I listen to a video sermon from Adrian Rogers called the Final Judgment.  There are points he makes about the two places called HELL and DEATH, the GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT, and the LAKE OF FIRE.  I understand the concept of Death and Hell being temporary spaces we go to when we die to wait for the big Judgment, the Great White Throne Judgment.  Death is for the saved, Hell is for the unsaved.  The Lake of Fire is the final place for those who are not saved, not in the Book of Life.  

And then there are all the Martyrs -- the souls who wait under the Throne for the Day of Judgment - to be avenged.  They seem to be a separate group.

In the sermon about the Final Judgment, Adrian Rogers makes one statement about the White Throne Judgment that I don't understand.  He says that anyone who is saved will not have to stand before that final White Throne Judgment.  I am not sure that is the right way to see our future.

I say this because of the martyrs.  They are the only ones I have found who will never face the second death at the Great White Throne Judgment.  

I think we will still face the White Throne.  My view of our sins is that when we confess and repent of our sins, accepting Christ's substitutionary offering for them, they are removed from our "book" in judgment.  Christ's sacrifice covers them.  They are no longer part of our judgment process because we have confessed and repented and accepted Christ's death as our atonement for them.  

This is how I understand the process of forgiveness. 

Consequences of our sins never go away.  Forgiveness is a different thing.

This is what I decided when I studied the Bible to find answers.

Every denomination has their own definitions of what the Bible says.  I think we have to search for our own understanding.  We are all just humans.  Only GOD really knows what He means.  Some parts of what He says are hard to know.  It takes many years to go through all the different passages about any topic, and there are things I will never know about history that is related to some of the Bible's stories.  BUT -- I am still responsible for seeking out these answers myself.  

We have to find a way to become One Body.  Talking through all these differences is the only way I see this happening.  

I hope we can create a global effort, one the world will be able to access and be a part of.  It may be the only good thing the internet can accomplish, for all of us.

I hope GOD allows us to do that.