Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Originally posted by: Crono
Living a life in Christ gives a peace that passes all understanding and gives peace regardless of situation; whether you are in the midst of persecution, or in the happiest moment of your life, you can find peace in having the right relationship with the true and living God. Without acknowledging that you are (as well as I and everyone who ever lived - except Christ, who was and is the Son of God) are a sinner, and truly repenting for sin, you cannot come before God and know Him. Every single religion that exists says you can be saved by what YOU do (which is nothing but pride), but God says it is what HE has done by allowing His son to die on the cross for you. Man cannot save himself from sin.
In the Bible, there are definitely examples of people living in sin and who do not show true peace within them; these are examples of people who either at that time were living in sin or for most of their lives were living in sin, and we are not to follow their paths, but warned to be wary of them. But there are also examples of people, like Paul and Jesus, who had peace within them that was so great that they could endure so much and affect the lives of many because they lived by faith and according to the Word of the Lord. There are also many examples of no earthly peace on a national level. Unfortunately, as long as we are living in a fallen world, there will always be wars and violence because of the evil of our hearts. But when Christ returns, and after the judgement, there will be true peace both internally and externally over all the earth.
Unfortunately, for this plan to work out, everybody has to be christian, and not everybody wants to be christian. You have to believe Jesus was the son of god, performed miracles, and that we're all guilty of the original sin. So there's the problem there--we can all get along if we believe the same thing, which will never ever happen. Christians themselves don't agree, otherwise there'd only be one sect.
You're right, that unless everyone is of the same mind, there will NOT be peace (in terms of no violence or hatred). The problem, the one that has plagued humanity since the garden of eden, is sin. Even those of us have come to Christ can still sin; we have a desire not to sin, but while the spirit is willing, the flesh is indeed weak. That is why until the second resurrection (the resurrection of the dead at the return of the King of kings, and Lord of Lords, Christ) when we who truly believe are risen from the dead, there cannot be peace everywhere. Those who have willingly rejected salvation will be cast out into outer darkness (aka "hell"), and there will be a new Earth and new heavens for those who have left the life of ease to follow after Christ. Undoubtedly, many feel that this is unjust. But how can man, who is full of evil and wickedness (even the "best" of us are), say what is true righteousness ("there is none righteous; no not one")? What is the standard? Only God is righteous, and the righteousness of man is a filthy rag in the sight of God. You only need to look at a newspaper to see the evil man is doing when he does what he thinks is right.