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but we won't enter it, for we have visited unseemly places?
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What good is it that the faces of those who practiced abstinence will shine brighter than stars when our faces are blacker than darkness?
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While we were alive and doing evil, we didn't think about what we would suffer after death."
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He answered: "These are the rules for the contest in which everyone born on earth takes part:
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Those who are defeated will suffer what you said, but those who conquer will receive what I say.
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This is the path that Moses declared when he was alive, speaking to the people, Choose life for yourself…so that you may live.
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But they didn't believe him or the prophets who came after him. They didn't even believe me when I spoke to them.
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There won't be sadness over their destruction, as there will be joy over those for whom salvation is sure."
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I answered: "I know, Lord, that the Most High is now called merciful, since he has mercy on those who haven't yet come into the world. He is called
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gracious, since he has mercy on those who convert to his Law,
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and patient, because he shows patience to those who have sinned, since they are his own creation.