God Sized Hope

What I Believe About God

2012-01-18T15:46:00.000-08:00

I believe God is Love. I believe Love is His essence. Nothing He does or is can contradict Love.
1Jo 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. ;1Jo 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

I believe God is almighty, omnipotent, unlimited in power.
Ge 18:14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD?; Jer 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: Jer 32:27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?; Mt 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." ; Lu 1:37 For with God nothing will be impossible." Re 19:6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

I believe God is good… all the time.
Ps 86:5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. ;Ps 119:68 Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes. ; Mal 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. ; Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. ; Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

I believe God is all knowing, omniscient, unlimited in knowledge.
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, ; Ps 147:5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. ; 1Jo 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.; Heb 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. ; Ps 33:13 The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. 15 He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.

I believe God is merciful and that His mercy endures till there is no more need for mercy.
1Ch 16:34 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. ;Ps 106:1;107:1; 118:1,2,3,4,29;136:1,2,3,4,…all the way to verse 26 every verse mentions His mercy endureth for ever. :Jer 33:11 ;

I believe that God loves every single creature He has created.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 1Jo 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.; 1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. ; Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ; Ro 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ; Ro 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. ; Job 36:5 Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom.

I believe that God causes everything to work together for good for those He loves.
Ro 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. ; 1Jo 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us. ; 1Co 13:8 Love never fails. (Therefore all will eventually love Him in return.)

I believe that God wants everyone to be reconciled to Himself.
2Co 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. ; 2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. ; 1Jo 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. ; 1Jo 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. ; Joh 12:47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

I believe that God is patient and will wait as long as it takes until all willingly embrace Him as their Lord.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Lu 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

I believe that God will accomplish all His will, including the reconciliation of all His creation.
Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. ; Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. ; Ps 115:3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. ; Isa 45:23 By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.'24 "Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed, all who were incensed against him. ; Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. ; Re 5:13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, "To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!"14 And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped. 1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ; Ro 5:18 Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. ; 2Ti 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. ; Ps 89:31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. 33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. ; Ps 103:9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. ; Isa 57:16 For I will not contend for ever, nor will I always be angry; for from me proceeds the spirit, and I have made the breath of life. 17 Because of the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, I smote him, I hid my face and was angry; but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. 18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and requite him with comfort, creating for his mourners the fruit of the lips. 19 Peace, peace, to the far and to the near, says the LORD; and I will heal him

I believe that God’s justice and mercy are identical being defined from the point of reference of the observer.
Le 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD. ; 1Ch 16:14 He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth./ Ps 119:64 The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: Every act of judgment is an act of mercy for it works to bring correction which when received will bring blessing. Every act of mercy is just because Jesus paid for every sin. 1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I believe that God, in His sovereign power, has given free will with a limitation, that He never allows any of His creatures to cause harm to themselves or to others that He cannot repair.
Ro 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. ; Mt 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

The Nature of Love

2011-11-25T19:04:00.000-08:00

Lu 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Gospel is literally Good News, however can it be good news for some and not for all?

I say no, it cannot.

Why not?

I believe it CANNOT be good news for only some, because of the nature of love and the law of love!

The nature of love is such that those who love become vulnerable to hurt. The more you love, the more vulnerable you become. If a person has no love for his neighbor, then he does not suffer when his neighbor experiences calamity, he may even rejoice in it. If however, the person has great love, say for a cherished daughter, and she is subjected to cruel injury, pain and suffering, the one who loves this girl experiences a high level of suffering, perhaps even higher than if they themselves were the one who had experienced the calamity. In the case of a deep love such as this, if one wanted to be most cruel to another he might, cause injury to his enemy’s loved one rather than directly injure the enemy himself, knowing that this would inflict more suffering than if he were to cause direct injury on the enemy himself.

Yet, God commands all His people to love not only their family and friends, but also their neighbor and even their enemies! If He intends to send many, some, or even one of these now loved by His true followers to the horrors of unending torment, unending agony and suffering, as some teach, then it follows that He intends to cause the cruelest injury to those who love Him and those He loves. To His obedient ones.

The Law of Love is such that love always desires good for those who are loved and never ultimate ill. Injury that brings improvement is acceptable, but there is no place for injury that brings no improvement.

Ro 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

How can Jesus birth be good news of Great Joy which shall be to ALL people, if it involves eternal damnation for anyone? This would be horrid news for anyone who truly loves any who are condemned and all the truest, most obedient followers of Jesus would be hurt the most.
No not the most, for Jesus Himself would be hurt the most, for no one has greater love for sinners.

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...

1Jo 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

1Jo 4:1Jo 4:11; 3:11,14,18,23; Le 19:18; Mt 22:37-39; Mr 12:29-33; Lu 10:37 Joh 13:34; 15:12; Ro 12:9; 13:9,10; Ga 5:6,14; 1Th 4:9 1Pe 3:8; 4:8

Humans vs. God

2011-02-09T07:56:00.001-08:00

Good morning Lord!
s-t-r-e-t-c-h!
Good morning human!
SSS-TTT-RRR-EEE-TTT-CCC-HHH!

(ouch!)

What One Sin Keeps People Out of Heaven?

2010-08-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

This would be the sin of unbelief!

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Who gives faith?

Ro 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Where else does faith come from?

Ro 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith comes by hearing, can everyone hear?

Mt 11:15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Jesus indicates that some have ears to hear and some don’t. The question arises, if some do have ears to hear, how did they get them and if some don’t, how did this come to be? The answer is given in Ex 4:11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? This is true for physical and spiritual deafness and blindness.)

Speaking to the disciples about the spiritual deafness of the Pharisees Jesus said, Mt 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. (Who gives it to the disciples? Who does not give it to the Pharisees? In each case God is the one choosing who can hear and who cannot.)

Can we choose to hear if we are deaf? Can we choose to receive if it is not given? Can we enter into the Kingdom of our own choice?

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (Jesus has to escort us in, we cannot come in on our own.)

In a discussion regarding who could be saved Jesus taught:
Mr 10:26 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?
27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (Notice the sequence here! No man can come to Jesus! Period! Unless they meet the exception which is to come to Jesus the Father must draw them . . . followed by, “and I WILL raise them up at the last day”. Who did Jesus say He would raise up? Those who the Father draws! No exceptions! Jesus here establishes that He and God the Father are solely responsible for everyone who does or does not come to Him. If anyone could choose not to come to Jesus when the Father draws them, then Jesus couldn’t have declared in truth that He absolutely will raise them up!)

Lu 10:22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.

1Co 4:1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then SHALL EVERY MAN have praise of God.
6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
7 For WHO MAKETH THEE TO DIFFER from another? and WHAT hast thou that thou DIDST NOT RECEIVE? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

In the above passages we find that God chooses who to give faith to. We find the Pharisees in a state where it is not given them to understand. We also find that man cannot choose to come to God, but Jesus has to get them. We see that by default, no one can know God or the Son unless God delivers them to the Son and the Son then reveals God to them. Lu 10;22 We observe that faith is given by God and without it, it is impossible to please God. We find that being saved is impossible for man, and that NOTHING is impossible with God. Is it possible for man to choose to be saved? Absolutely not, unless God gives it to him to hear and to believe. Is it possible for God to cause a person to be blind to the obvious, and then to give sight to that blind man. Absolutely, nothing is impossible for God. Is it possible for God to cause every single human He created to be saved? Absolutely! Nothing is impossible with God unless He doesn’t want to. Does God want to save every human sinner? Does He want to save the ungodly?

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Ro 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

I think it is interesting that those who claim to know the gospel today, preach a powerless Christ who is unable to save whoever He wants, and preach that people have more power over their own salvation than Jesus does.
This is not the teaching of the Bible. The Christian church today, very closely resembles the religious establishment of Jesus day. Full of divisions, full of meaningless traditions, having a form of godliness but denying the power of Christ, the power of His resurrection and glorifying man instead. The leaders are still collecting tithes and enjoying the exalted positions of spiritual leadership, while many are still making their followers two times the children of hell that they themselves are.

I have good news! Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, has come to set all men free from the burdens that have been laid on them.
Mt 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Are you a church leader? This good news is for you too. You don’t need to stay in the bondage of religion. Let God set you free. You know what I’m talking about. In your religion you are not allowed to believe differently than your creed. No doubt you do, in some areas, yet you cannot say so. Do not worry about what you will eat, or what you will wear or where you will sleep for your heavenly Father knows you need all these things. He feeds the birds, He will feed you, oh ye of little faith. Come out from among them. Pr 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.He that has ears to hear, let him hear.

1Jo 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

To bring this full circle, I include a few more verses. I encourage you to note the word “all”. You see, in the above verses it is established that God alone controls if and when we are saved. The following verses indicate how many will be saved by the end of time. If God is revealing His mystery to you through this, praise Him.

Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL men unto me.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of ALL men, SPECIALLY of those that believe.
1Jo 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of THE WHOLE WORLD.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ SHALL ALL be made alive.
Ro 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon ALL MEN UNTO JUSTIFICATION of life.

Since we know that faith is given by God to ALL MEN as God see’s fit, and Jesus will draw all men to himself. We also see that all will come to him and be raised with Him on the last day.
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Like was pointed out above: NO man CAN come to Jesus! . . . UNLESS . . . the Father draws him . . .and those whom the Father draws, Jesus WILL raise up at the last day.
Ro 3:30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Ro 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, UNTIL the FULNESS OF THE GENTILES BE COME IN. 26 And so ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
(Both are saved, all Israel, and all the Gentiles. That's everyone.)

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (Who is NOT a sinner?)

Ro 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Who did Jesus come to save?)
Ro 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Jesus came into the world to save sinners and He cannot fail! He is the Word and it is prophesied that the Word will accomplish ALL that it was sent to do. Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Ro 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

This is the true Good News of Great Joy which shall be to all people! The false tradition of “eternal’ damnation is a demonic affront to the Glory and Power of Jesus’ resurrection.
Lu 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of GREAT JOY, which SHALL BE to ALL PEOPLE.
Eternal hell can only bring anguish to all people for all will be affected. If one person is in eternal hell, since we are all one in Adam, that would be the same as having one of your body parts being in extreme irritation, without hope of healing. Ever had a broken toe? Or finger? Or any ailment such as a headache or stomach ache? The whole body can be incapacitated by a single part in pain. In Adam we are all one, and to have one part in agony we all suffer and are affected. If Christ doesn’t save all of Adam, then we all will forever bear the consequences. As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Ro 8:21 Because the creature itself also SHALL BE delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Need Fire Insurance?

2010-08-05T10:12:00.001-07:00

Recipe for Faith:
Conviction of Sin
Hope of Eternal Life
Fear of Eternal Hell?

Does this sum up the Christian Life?

When I tell people that I believe that God will ultimately win every man, woman and child to himself, they often ask, "Then what's the point?"

I know what they mean. They think that the most prominent ingredient for Christianity is the fear of eternal Hell. With out the "anti-carrot", the ultimate punishment, the hard line of demarcation--what would move someone to follow Christ? Of course this presumes several interesting ideas:

1. Membership services are a crucial responsibility of the Believer (How will they hear, etc, if we don't tell them?)
2. Not going to Hell is the most important goal of the Believer.
3. God is love, except when it comes to those who don't follow Him.

I'm going to stop right there. I learned some time ago that unbelievers, though considered blind to a multitude of spiritual things, have an expert knack in recognizing hypocrisy. If you've ever talked to a telemarketer or walked the sales tables at a county fair, you know what I'm talking about. If an unbeliever hears that God loves them, but only if they buy the product, why are we surprised when they treat it as a load of Kansas cow waste?

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." I believe this (and every other truth in the Bible). Genuine judgment, difficulty, pain and despair follow poor choices. Resisting God, rebelling against His will and fighting His kingdom plans can lead to incredibly complicated lives. However, the other end of wisdom is that "perfect love casts out fear." Fear is designed to lead us to God. An "eternal Hell" is neither necessary nor helpful in leading people to know Jesus.

A few years ago the World Wide Church of God faced a major transition. The leaders at that time wanted to move away from some of the Church's long held tenants. One of those tenants was a mandatory 20% tithe. Immediately following this change the Church faced financial crisis. It seems that such giving was never "from the heart" in the first place.

It is interesting that many believers in Jesus are afraid to remove the "eternal Hell" clause for the same reason. Would many find church unnecessary if they knew they didn't need "fire insurance?" What genuine faith is taking place in such hearts? Can they really know and enjoy Jesus in this synthetic salesman environment?

I am confident that more, not less, unbelievers would pursue the Lord should the Gospel be accurately preached. Like many ideas that man handles, they begin to look more like man than God. Is it not man's control and sense of judgment that this "eternal Hell" reflects most?

Confident that God will win every soul, whether in this age or the next,

Tim

Note: This post is a challenge to the tradition of eternal Hell. I personally believe tradition has influenced Christians more than scripture on this topic. However, you will find plenty of posts here investigating the scriptural foundation for Judgment and Hell as well.

FAITH

2010-08-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

God's Word has so much to say on this incredible topic.

God controls the measure of faith that each person receives, and the measure ranges from great or abundant to none.

Ro 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

There is no other source of faith, each person is "dealt THE measure of faith" that he begins life with.

1Co 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

So now, knowing faith comes from God alone, and is given to every person at His discretion, and in the quantity He decides, we can observe:

De 32:20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

As we see here, to some of His children, He gave no faith, that it might "be seen" what their end shall be. . . and next we will see that without faith we can't please God.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

For God to deny them faith is to hide His face from them. This is how He demonstrates what the results are to people who have no faith. These become a living example of faithlessness because God chose them to be without faith.

To others He gave great faith:

Mt 8:10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

This man became a living example of the result of God’s blessing one with great faith.

Faith is only received when it is given by God yet, it can be increased and decreased at God’s discretion.

Mt 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

He gives, He increases faith in those He gave it to, and those He gave little to, He takes away even what they had. All this for a higher purpose which we shall see.

In this we find faith to be like a fire in that when it is little, it diminishes and goes out, but when it is big enough, it begins spreading and increasing. The Bible teaches about a fire that will some day increase until it consumes everything including the earth and heaven. (2Pet 3:9-18) I believe this is a picture of faith. Someday those whose faith is great will ignite all those who are around them, even those who had small faith that became extinguished, it will be rekindled in the overwhelming heat generated by those who have been blessed with great faith. We find that the faith of others was all that was needed to heal a paralyzed man. (Mark 2:1-12) We have other indicators in God’s word that the end of the earth will be filled with all believing. Mt 13:31,32; Mt 13:33; Isa 11:9; Hab 2:14; Rev 5:13 to name a few. (But this is another study.)

Speaking of hearing, (He who has ears, let him hear.) we find:

Ro 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

It is significant that the Greek word translated word in this verse, is rhema. Rhema, as opposed to other words translated word, means "utterance" or “something spoken”. This is more than just reading words on a page, this is hearing the Lord speak to us personally. When we hear Jesus speak to us personally, our faith is increased. Combine this with what Jesus said:

Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

These verses are illuminating the concept that God gives faith to the ones He chooses to speak to. The ones He has given ears to hear to.

Ro 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

This concept cannot be received by many. It is not given them to comprehend. Those who would be classified as Calvinist, are able to receive this much, yet, since they believe in eternal damnation, they are forced to conclude that God has created many only to subject them to His wrath endlessly.

Those who believe in eternal damnation, yet cannot accept that God would be so cruel as to create people for eternal torment all on His own, not giving them any escape route have accepted a free will illusion that gives God an excuse for His drastic and immeasurably cruel action, by saying (falsely) that man, by rejecting Jesus, chooses this destination for himself, therefore God is not responsible for their terrible fate.

I believe the truth is found when God opens our eyes to reject the false ideas we have collected through the traditions of men, through Greek mythology and through biased translations, regarding Hell, damnation, and eternal separation, yet I understand that it has to be given us to understand this. If God does not give it to you, you will not, indeed, you cannot see it.

Ro 14:23 . . . for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

If whatsoever is not of faith is sin, and God gave to everyman the measure of faith each possesses, then God takes full responsibility for our sin. He has made us, He can do what He pleases, He can make me with faith, or without faith.

He can tell me sin is NOT good, and yet place me in a situation where I must taste it for myself.

I agree with Him, sin is not good. It is yuck! I don't want to step in it. I trust Him, in His wisdom, to know when to take me out of this world, so that I won't have to step in it anymore! Until then, every time I find myself soiled, I will thank Him (1Th 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.) and trust Him to deliver me when He sees best.(1Th 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification).

I know some who don't believe that sin is yuck. They want to roll in it!

He has not given them the faith to understand yet. In time, they will change their minds, as all sin leads to death, this too, is in God's hand. With man it is impossible to be saved but not with God, with God all things are possible. God can restore every single created being no matter how long they have been dead, no mattter how many bits they have been blown up into, no matter how badly they have been burned or crushed or dismembered. No matter how completely they have destroyed their souls. He has conquered death! He restoreth my soul!

De 32:39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

He purchased the whole world, we were all servants to sin. Slaves! He purchased us all. (1Jo 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.) Nobody is able to deliver His purchased possession out of His hand. Slaves cannot choose not to be purchased, and we are powerless to escape from Jesus, our new owner.

We are truly, "fearfully and wonderfully made". While some of us are vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction, and others are objects of mercy, we all fulfill the role He has created us to fulfill. In addition, we are created with the capacity to learn, to change, to think differently. I am convinced that those who are hardened now, will be super strong in Christ when we are gathered to worship Him and to bow our knees professing Him as our Lord. Didn't Jesus tell us?

Mr 10:31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first. And . . .

He who has been forgiven much, loves more than he who has been forgiven little. (Luke 7:40-50)

It is my desire to impart faith, hope, and love to the people God places around me. If you have ears to hear, you will no doubt increase in faith, hope and love. Those who have not yet been given, may have their faith ignited by those around them, that's why we are told to proclaim the good news.

As opposed to knowledge, which is imperfect, and which will pass away. May our lives be marked by faith.

Faith is true belief in God. When we truly believe, we always act in harmony with that belief. When we say we believe but we get upset, (like I did when the previous final draft of this post got lost in cyberspace), we prove that our belief is not faith, but theory. God controls everything! God works all things for good for those who love Him. God is building His church. When we fail to love anyone, we prove our belief is not complete, for He has commanded us to love. When we think we have done anything to help Him save us, we demonstrate our pride and belief that He alone is not able to save.

Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

That He is doing this work according to His plan is evident in that He began it in each of us before we were conceived.

Ps 139:16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Jesus is the Author, (the one who conceived and wrote your faith) and Finisher (The one who brings your faith to the conclusion of perfection in Him. Your salvation is a free gift, and you will be happy to accept it as will every last person He has created, because His love will draw us all into His sinless perfection, and we will all be perfect, sin proofed, educated. It will be impossible for us to choose to go against His will because we won't want to and we will have power to do all our will.

Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;

It's time that we who think we know the Lord, think differently. If we know Him, let us prove it by loving others more than ourselves. By accepting and forgiving others even as we want to be forgiven.

Mt 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Christians! You Did Not Choose Jesus . . .

2010-07-07T16:16:00.000-07:00

Most Christians today believe that they are saved because they made the right choice. Salvation is presented as a result of a prayer in which we willfully choose to accept Jesus. We are taught that to lead others in such a prayer is to get them saved. This idea is not in harmony with lot’s of Scripture verses.

Like:

Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,

How can this be? The requirement to receive Him by an active choice places the burden of our salvation on us and removes it from the Lord Jesus. It is a burden we are not fit to carry, nor did God expect us to ever carry such a burden as a prerequisite to salvation. Our ultimate deliverance is sure, but our immediate deliverance is what’s not guaranteed. From many, it is withheld. If we believe, it is special, it is a gift, it is not by our wisdom but by God’s mercy and grace. We don’t believe by our choice but because we are chosen.

Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you,

The mistaken idea that we “receive” as an act of our will is contrary to the word of God. How did you receive your life? Were you born by an act of your will? How did you receive your physical characteristics? Did you will yourself to be a certain height? Did you choose your type of hair or the shape of your face? You "received" these things (and everything about yourself and your circumstances that you can’t change), without any say in the matter.

1Co 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

Receiving Jesus is not something we do, but something we have done to us by God. If you are one who has been privileged to believe in God, rejoice! Don’t boast as if you did something. For by grace are ye saved and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. Eph 2:8. And when you meet someone who doesn’t believe, don’t expect them to be able to see just because you explain the good news to them. Don’t assume they are stubborn, but be gentle and loving and patient. God is not yet opening their eyes. When He does, they will see. When He gives it to them, they will receive salvation, For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 1Ti 4:10

We are taught by Jesus that not all will enter into this rest in this lifetime, in fact most will not!

Mt 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, (Notice it doesn't say "eternal life") and few there be that find it. (Jesus is the Door.)

Nevertheless, Jesus has conquered death and hades, and will ultimately deliver everyone to the Father. For it is not the Father’s will that ANY should perish but that all should come to repentance, and the Son came to do the will of the Father. 2Pe 3:9 The Lord is . . . not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Joh 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Joh 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 1Jo 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

Eph 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Some are saved now, in this life time, some in the ages to come, but others will be delivered at the end of time.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end . . .

And again . . . Joh 6:39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

The Father wills it this way, that some come to Jesus now, but all come at the last day and so He says:

Mt 19:30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

Now isn’t this real good news?

Has He given you the grace to believe in Him yet?

Below you will find a list of verses which illuminate the giving of God.

Mt 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Lu 8:10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Ro 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Ro 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. (Not forever, just unto this day.)

Ro 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

To recap, God has given to you such as you have. He has created you such as you are. God will give you the will and the ability to believe when He determines it best. When He does, (or did), you begin to believe and begin to know Him. To know Him is to Love Him because He first loved you. To know Him is life and that more abundant than you could ever achieve without Him. You were created to know Him and Jesus loves you as much as the Father loves Him. We are admonished in Scripture to be increasing in the knowledge of Him. We were created for His pleasure, and nothing pleases Him more than when we draw near to Him and trust Him and receive His word from Him that we might bear fruit. If we think we can claim any credit for what we’ve been given? That is pride! God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 1Pe 5:5

This grace allows it’s recipients to abide in Christ, to fellowship with Him continually, to hear His voice, to receive His words, to know Him better and better, and also to have power in prayer.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Joh 15:7

If we do not abide in Him, we can do nothing.

Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (Notice men cast them into this fire? That's because it is not eternal fire.) It is so much better to abide in Jesus! The alternative is living death. Mt 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Therefore,

If God has given you life, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.Mt 5:16

God says Jesus will Successfully Save the Whole World

2010-07-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

Isa 55:10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my WORD be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I SENT it.

Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

1Jo 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father SENT the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

Ro 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

1Jo 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Isa 55:11 So shall my WORD be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I SENT it.

Are You Keeping Anyone Out of God's Kingdom?

2010-06-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

by Jack

Mt 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples . . .
Mt 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Ouch! I wouldn't want to be a scribe or Pharisee on this occasion!

Because they were beloved, they also were disciplined. Such is the way of God.

We can learn from their ordeal, too. Notice that Jesus is speaking in the present tense . . . you shut up the kingdom of heaven, you don't go in, you don't allow those entering to go in. Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven in terms of the present and He talks as if the scribes and Pharisees are actually preventing people from entering it! How could it be possible for anyone to prevent anyone from entering into the kingdom of heaven? How is it that Jesus credits the scribes and Pharisees with actually preventing some who were entering from actually getting in?

If the kingdom of heaven is the place we go after we die, (if we die in Christ), what could the Pharisees possibly do to keep anyone out, and why would Jesus say they have already done it? What sense does it make for Jesus to tell the Pharisees and scribes that they are not entering either, unless the kingdom of heaven is something we are supposed to enter while still living?

Ro 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Here we have a definition from scripture of the kingdom: "Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Let's replace the phrase, "kingdom of heaven" with the definition and see how it works.

Mt 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit against men: for ye neither have righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to attain it.

Could this be what Jesus was referring too? Speaking of the scribes and Pharisees to the multitudes Jesus said, "Mt 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."

What were these grievous burdens that the scribes and Pharisees were placing on the men they taught? Why, they taught that unless men kept the law, they would be eternally condemned, and that there was no hope for those who were not Jews.

Try carrying that burden through life. Too heavy?

Many are carrying that burden, or a similar burden, doubting their own salvation, or perhaps worse, having no hope.

Jesus didn't come to burden us.

Mt 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Jesus encourages us to learn of Him! When we know Him we enjoy life in His kingdom . . .

Joh 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Joh 17:3 And in this consists the Life of the Ages--in knowing Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. (WNT)

We enter the kingdom by knowing the Savior!

Joh 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

When we teach salvation has "ANYTHING" to do with our works, we are shutting out people from the kingdom and not entering in ourselves. When we teach we must receive and believe, we are putting the cart before the horse. God saves, then we believe and recieve. While we were yet sinners. . . Christ died for the ungodly . . . when we were enemies . . . Christ died for us. We are not saved by our will, or by our choice, we choose because He has saved us.

Come to Him now, he will in no wise cast you out. Come to Him later, His grace is sufficient.
It is better to come to Him now because life is hell apart from Him. There is no real peace, no lasting joy, no righteousness apart from Him. To die without Him is to go to judgment, to die with Him is to go to Life, but after the judgment, all will turn to Him, gratefully and joyfully.

This is the patience of the saints. We are not as those who have no hope, but we have the ultimate hope in the final perfection and reconciliation of all to one another and to God.

Are your belief's keeping you from living in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit? Do you teach others that their salvation depends on them? Are you keeping anyone out of the kingdom?

Sound Financial Advice

2010-06-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

Ec 5:13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. 14 But those riches perish by evil travail...

Ec 6:1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: 2 A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

God's blessings are not measured by numbers on a ledger sheet! Though we do have more than we need, there is room for lots of want. Choose to want what you have and be content with just that, because your Father in heaven has promised to meet all your needs according to His riches in glory!

BE CAREFUL to serve God and not money. Money is a harsh god who will work you to the bone while robbing you of love; peace; righteousness; joy and every form of good health.

Be diligent in business, SERVING THE LORD, not money. (Rom. 12:11,13)

Ps 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

WHAT DID JESUS MEAN? I WILL DRAW ALL TO MYSELF?

2010-06-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

LOGIC, WE COULD SAY, is the study of If-then sentences.
If a number is divisible by 10, then it is divisible by 2.
The clause introduced by If --
A number is divisible by 10
-- is called the hypothesis. It is what we are given, or what we may assume.
The clause introduced by then --
It is divisible by 2
-- is called the conclusion. It is the statement that "follows" from the hypothesis. Or, given the hypothesis, it is the statement that we must prove.
When the If-then sentence is true, we say that the hypothesis is a sufficient condition for the conclusion. Thus it is sufficient to know that a number is divisible by 10 -- in order to conclude that it is divisible by 2.
The conclusion is then called a necessary condition of that hypothesis. For, if a number is divisible by 10, it necessarily follows that it will be divisible by 2. (Taken from www.themathpage.com/abooki/logic.htm)

Jesus professed, “IF I be lifted up, THEN I will draw all unto myself.”
Logic says, IF the if part of the equation is accomplished, THEN (in order for the statement to be true), the second part of the equation,( the then part) must also be accomplished.

It hardly needs to be noted that the first part of the equation is truly fulfilled for in the very next verse it affirms: Joh 12:33 This he said, signifying what death he should die. And again,
Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

So Jesus clearly was lifted up, therefore we can conclude that He also will draw ALL unto himself.

In this equation, it might be speculated that the word “draw” simply means to create an attraction, or an appeal, something that may be resisted by some of the all it has been directed towards. For example, “Bob’s charismatic personality draws all the girls in his class to him.”
Of course, they don’t all become united to Bob, they are merely attracted but not compelled to move, like the draw of a magnet, perhaps, where a magnet exerts a drawing force on all iron, but only the iron that is loose or light enough actually moves to the magnet.

IF this can be shown to be the meaning of “draw” here in this verse, THEN those who believe Jesus will ultimately bring all to Himself can NOT appeal to this verse for support.

In such a case the verse would merely mean Jesus will attract all, some of which will respond and some who will not. The IF/THEN logic would remain intact and the sentence would be true if this is the sense of the word "draw" as found in the various Scripture verses that employ it even though many people do not actually get moved unto Jesus.

However, if it can be shown that “draw” means to successfully relocate an object even against the will of the object, even in the face of resistance, then the verse would have to have a totally different conclusion, one which becomes a very strong support for the ultimate reconciliation of all. So let's see how "draw" is used in Scripture.

The Greek word translated “draw” is “helkuo”. It is found eight times in the New Testament. Join with me as I search out exactly what meaning it has . I believe the absolute best way to discover the meaning God intended when He inspired the original writers to choose the words they used, is to examine the different verses any particular word is used in. As I mentioned, “helkuo” is only found eight times, so it is relatively easy to check it out. Before we do this, Let's consult “Strong’s Concordance” for its definition of this Greek word.

helkuo, hel-koo'-o
or helko hel'-ko; probably akin to 138; to drag (literally or figuratively):-KJV-draw.

The sense that the scholars who compiled “Strong’s Concordance” attributed to the word “helkuo” is “to drag”.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will “drag” all unto myself.

Of course, these scholars were not perfect, and they could have, for one reason or another, ascribed an incorrect sense to the word “helkuo” so it is important for us to look at the different times it is used in order to see if we can discern the true sense of the word.

The first verse I would like to examine is Joh 18:10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

In this verse we find Peter exercising the power of helkuo over his own sword. The sword, being inanimate, could not choose one way or another, yet if some mechanical jam had occurred, and Peter was unable to draw the sword as a result, scripture would have to say, Peter tried to draw his sword but he could not! The useage here indicates a definite relocation through pulling.

That’s just one verse which indicates, “draw” (helkuo) means more than “create an attraction” or “ become appealing” . Let’s see how the next verse uses helkuo.

Joh 21:6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were NOT ABLE TO DRAW it for the multitude of fishes.

In this verse we find that even though they had the fish in a net, the net next to their boat and their hands firmly grasping the net, they were unable to "helkuo" the load of fish. These were strong fishermen, experienced at their trade. The fish had been attracted to the boat somehow but they were unable to draw the net full of fish because the catch was simply too large. If draw simply meant “attract” then it might have been said that Jesus “drew” the fish into the disciples net, but the way John used the word “helkuo”, (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit), clearly shows that the idea of anything less than accomplishing the process of transplanting, in this case fish from water to the land, or to the boat, is NOT helkuo’ing. They were “NOT ABLE TO DRAW”.

Okay, two of the seven verses we checked, have a clear useage. In both verses we see that the idea helkuo carries is the changing of position of an object with a pulling motion as opposed to a repelling motion and definitely not referring to mere attraction. Let’s look at a third verse.

Joh 21:11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.

This verse is completely consistent in it’s use of “draw” or “helkuo” with the previous two verses. Again a net full of fish is the object being “drawn” only in this case, the operation was successful and the net didn’t even break under the load of one hundred and fifty three fish. The net full of fish was drawn from the water to the land. Let’s move on to the fourth verse that uses the Greek word “helkuo”, remember, Jesus said He would "helkuo" all unto Himself", so if the meaning in Scripture remains consistent, then we have a sure promise, but if it can be shown that there are two uses, then we can't be so sure which one Jesus meant.

Ac 16:19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, AND DREW THEM into the marketplace unto the rulers, 20 And brought them to the magistrates…

I don’t know how enthusiastic Paul and Silas were about going to the marketplace with these men but the idea that they had to be “caught”(vs.19) and "brought"(vs. 20), indicates they may have been a bit hesitant about being “drawn” into the marketplace. The sense is that Paul and Silas didn’t go into the marketplace of their own free will here. “Caught and drew” seems to fit with “Strong’s” definition – “to drag” more than with the idea of “alluring by attraction”, and again we see that the objects of “helkuo” ended up in another location, by the will of the one “drawing” not of themselves.

So far, “helkuo” has always been used as a force applied by one, causing another object to move to a new location, in other words, the object has never provided the energy to move itself, but rather seems to resist the move and the force is provided by the one “drawing”.
Only three more verses. What will we find?

Verse number five is Acts 21:30, but let’s look at a few surrounding verses for background and clarity.

Ac 21:28 Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.29 (For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)

Ac 21:30 And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and DREW HIM OUT OF THE TEMPLE: and forthwith the doors were shut.

The story continues:
31 And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.32 Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. 33 Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done.

The intensity of the situation is level red. Word had gotten out that Paul had defiled the temple by bringing Greek men inside, an offence punishable by death.

The point is, Paul, most obviously was not intending to leave the temple at the moment they “drew” him out. They didn’t stand outside and cook delicious smelling food and tempt him to join them. They forcibly removed him from the temple and began beating him with the intention of killing him. Not likely something Paul had given them permission to do.

So far, the useage is very consistent. Let’s move to the next verse.

Jas 2:6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

Attendance at these hearings was compelled, non optional and often guaranteed by escorts. These readers of James letter were not allured to stand before the judgment seats by promises of good things but were forced to stop what they were doing, and go where they would have not otherwise gone except for the power that was exerted over them to draw "helkuo" them.

Other than the verse we are searching out, Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. There is only one verse left, which uses the word “helkuo” and I saved it for last because when you understand the force of “helkuo” you will appreciate so much more the meaning of this verse:

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The saving power is ALL God’s! He begins it and He finishes it!

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Ro 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Who did God not foreknow? He created everyone, so he had to foreknow everyone.) 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Mt 19:25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Do you believe it is “POSSIBLE” for God to save all men? Jesus did.

Do you believe it is possible for any man to save himself? Jesus didn’t.

Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

This passage has been a source of confusion for many. They read the first part, verse 12, as if it means receiving and believing causes them to be born of God, but if you look carefully, you will see that the receiving and believing are the result not the cause. It is found in the very next verse. The birth was not of their will, but of God… Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

God dragged them in to the new birth, therefore they receive and believe. Or more directly, God drew us into the new birth, therefore we received and believed. He is the beginning and the end.

This brings us full circle. When Jesus said:

Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

He wasn’t suggesting that He would attempt to become an attractive force to all men, but that He would relocate all men from where they are in the world, to himself in His glorious kingdom. Total victory over sin and death. There is nothing in this verse which would qualify ALL to be less than ALL, and it would be completely inconsistent with the use of “draw” to suggest that it means anything less than a total relocation powered by Jesus Himself and not requiring any cooperation on the part of those being drawn. The evidence that it has occurred is that the objects of His mercy receive and believe.

Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father...

true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy

2010-05-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

On the list of things we should think about, according to Paul,
how does the doctrine of eternal damnation fair?
Supposing for a moment, that it is true, and honest and just, is it pure? Perhaps there is pureness to writhing cursing vile despondent creatures agonizing without hope and without respite, but it’s a bit hard to verify. How about lovely? I’d have to say lovely is out! Of good report? No. Is there any virtue? Well, they will never improve, or benefit. It would be difficult to ascribe virtue to this situation would it not? Certainly nothing I’d like to take part in. Any praise? You decide.
So even if the doctrine of Eternal Damnation is true, we are commanded not to think about it.

Lu 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

This is something we can think on. First of all it’s true! Completely true! Good tidings of great joy which SHALL be to ALL people. Yeah! Unto you is born a savior which is Christ the Lord!

Whoo hoo!

It’s true and honest, it is just, and pure…. Most definitely lovely and it is the best report, not lacking in virtue and worthy of endless praise!

How is it that the gospel of today includes the damnation of most of mankind? No one, according to this “gospel” will be untouched by the eternal torment which if escaped personally, will certainly capture and destroy some of those who are loved by those who escape. Why did the angel say it is good news of great joy which shall be to all people? Those who teach eternal damnation would have to agree that it isn’t good news of great joy for some. In fact it isn’t good news of great joy for the myriads who are getting swallowed up in judgment, and for the remainder, who escape but are bereaved of so many that they love, it would surely be less than joyful to see the horrendous fate that their less fortunate loved ones are being subjected to. Bad news of unutterable terror and grief would better describe it.

So being objective, I either have to rule out the truth part of the angels proclamation and therby rule out the proclamation as something I can think about, or rule out the truth part of the doctrine of eternal damnation, which then makes it even less qualified to think about according to Php 4:8.

How shall I deal with this dilemma?

Dr. Jones' Entry from 11/04/2009

2010-05-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

How Eternal is Eternal?--Part 2

There are many scholars who tell us that no ancient language had a direct expression of "eternity" as we know it today. The Hebrew olam literally means "obscurity" and expresses the idea of an indefinite or an unknown period of time. Other languages follow similar patterns.
The Hebrew Old Testament began to be translated into Greek around 280 B.C., that is, about 40+ years after the death of Alexander the Great. His conquests made Greek the common and commercial language from Italy to the Euphrates. In the first century, Paul wrote a letter to the saints in Rome using the Greek language, knowing that it was the common language used there, which all would understand. There were many Latin dialects in Italy and North Africa, but Greek was the language that most of them had in common.
Alexander the Great built the city of Alexandria in Egypt and invited Jews to immigrate there. Many did, and within a generation many of them no longer spoke Hebrew. This created a need for a Greek translation of Scripture. Hence the Septuagint was produced by 70 Hebrew scholars.
When they came to the Hebrew word olam, they rendered it by the Greek equivalent, aion and aionian. So technically, it matters little how the Greeks actually used aion. What really matters is how the Hebrews used olam. The Greek term was only the closest word they could find to express a Hebrew concept. So even if one was speaking or reading Greek, it was necessary to think Hebrew.
Even so, aion was used by the Greeks to mean an eon, or age, a period of time that might vary widely, but in the end it was a limited period of time.
As Rome consolidated its empire, Greek remained the language of culture for a long time. Even so, there were many local Latin dialects throughout Italy and North Africa. In particular, the Latin spoken in North Africa was quite different from that spoken in Italy. The first Latin translation of Scripture (into "Old Latin") was of the "African" type, largely free of Greek influence.
From about 190-220 A.D., Tertullian of Carthage, who was a Roman lawyer, used this Old Latin version, which is how we even know of its existence. When it was introduced into Italy, its grammar broke many of the rules of more refined Latin and its roughness grated on their nerves. And so many took it upon themselves to make corrections and refinements. Soon there were a multitude of Latin translations, and it was said that there were as many translations as there were manuscripts!
This was the situation in the fifth century when Jerome decided to produce a standard Latin translation of the Bible. Up to that time, the Septuagint had been the most widely used version, but the need for a Latin translation was by this time quite apparent. So he spent considerable time learning Hebrew from the rabbis.
In the course of translation, Jerome had to translate the Hebrew olam and the Greek aion into Latin. Essentially, he had two Latin words to choose from, each being used in the various Latin dialects. These were seculum and aeternum.
Seculum, as defined in Latin dictionaries, meant a generation, an age, the world, the times, the spirit of the times, and a period of a hundred years (being the outer limits of a man's life span).
The more important question is how Jerome viewed the meaning of the word aeternum. Being fluent in Greek, Jerome certainly knew the meaning of aionian. He must have known that the Latin word aevum, which (letter for letter) was almost identical to aion, was used to denote "lifetime, life, an age." According to Alexander Thomson's book, Whence Eternity?, page 20, "Aevum is never found in Latin standing for endless time."
On page 17, Thomson writes,
"Farrar says that even the Latin Fathers who had a competent knowledge of Greek knew that aeternum was used in the same loose way, for an indefinite period, in Latin writers, as aionion was used in Greek."
Jerome appears to have compromised by using both seculum and aeternum interchangeably. Out of 130 occurrences of aion in the New Testament, Jerome translated it seculum 101 times and aeternum 27 times.
A thousand years later, when the Reformers began translating the Bible into the common languages of the people, they generally followed Jerome's lead. Where Jerome used seculum, the English translators used "world." Where Jerome used aeternum, Tyndale particularly used "for ever."
In the 16th century, Phavorinus' Etymologicum Magnum states with a certain irony,
"Aion is the imperceptible (aidios) and the unending (ateleutetos), as it seems to the theologian."
In other words, theologians were equating aion with other Greek words that were used in the New Testament to express the idea of unending time. Phavorinus decided not to contradict established Roman doctrine, but he softly registered his protest.
He knew, of course, that a thousand years earlier, the Emperor Justinian had taken it upon himself to extend the meaning of aionian in Church doctrine to indicate unending time. Justinian wrote a letter (about a century after Jerome's time), in which he says,
"The holy church of Christ teaches an endless eonian (ateleutetos aionios) life for the just, and endless (ateleutetos) punishment for the wicked."
It is obvious that Justinian had to add a word to aionios to make it truly mean "eternal." He is the emperor who called for the Church Council of Constantinople (548), where Origen and others were anathematized for the first time. Justinian objected to the long-held view of the Restoration of All Things and wanted to ban it officially. Even so, the Church Council merely condemned Origen's view that Satan and his angels would be saved in the end, without referencing the ultimate reconciliation of all men.
Universal Reconciliation was not actually condemned by a Church Council until 696 A.D.
The idea of never-ending torture for most of humanity came primarily out of the Latin Fathers: Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine. Their view was that evil was a force apart from God. Mankind was conspersis damnata, massa perditionis, "one damned batch and mass of perdition," and only a few would be saved out of it. With such a view, it is not surprising that they would have extended the meaning of aeternus to infinite time.
In the end, however, it does not really matter what the Latin words originally meant or how these words have changed in meaning over the years. All that really matters is what the Greek words meant when the New Testament writers used them. And more importantly, what matters is not what the Greek word means but what its Hebrew equivalent means (olam). The Septuagint had used Greek words to express Hebrew thought. Though the Greek meanings were usually near to the Hebrew thought patterns, certain words like hades did not adequately express the Hebrew concept of sheol.
In the case of olam, however, the Greek word aion was a near equivalent. Neither expressed the idea of endless time, but obscure or indefinite time. The Latin aeternum started out as a proper translation, but later it was extended to mean "eternity" as we know it today.

How Did the Jews of Jesus Day Who Wrote in Greek Use Aionios?

2010-05-18T23:21:00.000-07:00

Following is an excerpt from the book, Aion and Aionios by John Wesley Hanson:

Those Jews who were contemporary with Christ, but who wrote in Greek, will teach us how they understood the word. Of course when Jesus used it, he employed it as they understood it.
Josephus(50) applies the word to the imprisonment to which John the tyrant was condemned by the Romans; to the reputation of Herod; to the everlasting memorial erected in re-building the temple, already destroyed, when he wrote; to the everlasting worship in the temple which, in the same sentence he says was destroyed; and he styles the time between the promulgation of the law and his writing a long aión. To accuse him of attaching any other meaning than that of indefinite duration to the word, is to accuse him of stultifying himself. But when he writes to describe endless duration he employs other, and less equivocal terms. Alluding to the Pharisees, he says:

"They believe that the wicked are detained in an everlasting prison [eirgmon aidion] subject to eternal punishment" [aidios timoria]; and the Essenes [another Jewish sect] "allotted to bad souls a dark, tempestuous place, full of never-ceasing punishment [timoria adialeipton], where they suffer a deathless punishment, [athanaton timorian]."

It is true he sometimes applies aiónion to punishment, but this is not his usual custom, and he seems to have done this as one might use the word great to denote eternal duration, that is an indefinite term to describe infinity. But aidion and athanaton are his favorite terms. These are unequivocal. Were only aiónion used to define the Jewish idea of the duration of future punishment, we should have no proof that it was supposed to be endless.

Philo, who was contemporary with Christ, generally used aidion to denote endless, and always used aiónion to describe temporary duration. Dr. Mangey, in his edition of Philo, says he never used aiónion to interminable duration. He uses the exact phraseology of Matthew, xxv:46, precisely as Christ used it. "It is better not to promise than not to give prompt assistance, for no blame follows in the former case, but in the latter there is dissatisfaction from the weaker class, and a deep hatred and everlasting punishment [kolasis aiónios] from such as are more powerful." Here we have the exact terms employed by out Lord, to show that aiónion did not mean endless but did mean limited duration in the time of Christ.
Philo always uses athanaton, ateleuteton or aidion to denote endless, and aiónion for temporary duration.

Stephens, in his Thesaurus, quotes from a Jewish work, [Solom. Parab.] "These they called aiónios, hearing that they had performed the sacred rites for three entire generations." This shows conclusively that the expression "three generations" was then one full equivalent of aiónion. Now these eminent scholars were Jews who wrote in Greek, and who certainly knew the meaning of the words they employed, and they give to the aionian words the meaning that we are contending for, indefinite duration, to be determined by the subject.

Thus the Jews of our Savior's time avoided using the word aiónion to denote endless duration, for applied all through the Bible to temporary affairs, it would not teach it. If Jesus intended to teach the doctrine held by the jews, would he not have used the terms they used? Assuredly; but he did not. He threatened age-lasting, or long-enduring discipline to the believers in endless punishment.Aiónion was his word while theirs was aidion, adialeipton, or athanaton, -- thus rejecting their doctrines by not only not employing their phraseology, but by using always and only those words connected with punishment, that denote limited suffering.
And, still further to show that he had no sympathy with those cruel men who procured his death, Jesus said to his disciples: "Take heed and beware of the leaven [doctrine] of the Pharisees and the Sadducees" [believers in endless misery and believers in destruction].

Had aiónion been the strongest word, especially had it denoted endless duration, who does not see that it would have been in general use as applied to punishment, by the Jewish Greeks of nineteen centuries ago?

For Alfred Only

2010-05-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

Alfred, following are six versions of the same passage using the word “aionios”. I’ve noted where the word is found. It seems that almost no translators were willing to find it to mean eternal in this instance.
Ro 16:25 Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages (aionios)26 but is now disclosed,…NRSV

Ro 16:25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past (aionios),26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—NIV

Ro 16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past,(aionios)26 but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, [leading] to obedience of faith; NASB

Ro 16:25 Now to him that is able to establish you, according to my glad tidings and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to [the] revelation of [the] mystery, as to which silence has been kept in [the] times of the ages (aionios),26 but [which] has now been made manifest, and by prophetic scriptures, according to commandment of the eternal God, made known for obedience of faith to all the nations—DARBY

Ro 16:25 To Him who has it in His power to make you strong, as declared in the Good News which I am spreading, and the proclamation concerning Jesus Christ, in harmony with the unveiling of the Truth which in the periods of past Ages (aionios) remained unuttered,26 but has now been brought fully to light, and by the command of the God of the Ages has been made known by the writings of the Prophets among all the Gentiles to win them to obedience to the faith— WEYMOUTH

Ro 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,(aionios)26 But now is made manifest, KJV

Here are more than a few Greek scholars who disagree with you regarding your understanding of aion and aionios.

Scarlett: "That aiónion, does not mean endless or eternal, may appear from considering that no adjective can have a greater force than the noun from which it is derived. If aión means age (which none either will or can deny) then aiónion must mean age-lasting, or duration through the age or ages to which the thing spoken of relates."
Maclaine, in his Mosheim: Aión or æon among the ancients, was used to signify the age of man, or the duration of human life."
Cruden: "The words eternal, everlasting, forever, are sometimes taken for a long time, and are not always to be understood strictly, for example, 'Thou shalt be our guide from this time forth, even forever,' that is, during our whole life."
Alex. Campbell: "ITS RADICAL IDEA IS INDEFINITE DURATION."
Whitby: "Nothing is more common and familiar in Scripture than to render a thorough and irreparable vastation, whose effects and signs should be still remaining, by the word aiónios, which we render eternal."Hammond, Benson, and Gilpin, in notes on Jude 7, say the same. Liddell and Scott also give to aión, in the poets the sense of life and lifetime, as also an age or generation.
Pearce (in Matt. vii:33) says: "The Greek word aión, seems to signify age here, as it often does in the New Testament, and according to its most proper signification." Clarke, Wakefield, Boothroyd, Simpson, Lindsey, Mardon, Acton, agree. So do Locke, Hammond, Le Clerc, Beausobre, Lenfant, Dodridge, Paulus, Kenrick and Olshausen.
T. Southwood Smith: "Sometimes it signifies the term of human life; at other times an age, or dispensation of Providence. Its most common signification is that of age or dispensation."
Even Professor Stuart is obliged to say: "The most common and appropriate meaning of aión in the New Testament, and the one which corresponds with the Hebrew word olam, and which therefore deserves the first rank in regard to order, I put down first: an indefinite period of time; time without limitation; ever, forever, time without end, eternity, all in relation to future time. The different shades by which the word is rendered, depend on the object with which aiónios is associated, or to which it has relation, rather than to any difference in the real meaning of the word."
J. W. Haley *says: "The Hebrew word 'olam' rendered 'forever,' does not imply the metaphysical idea of absolute endlessness, but a period of indefinite length, as Rambach says, a very long time, the end of which is hidden from us." Olam or olim is the Hebrew equivalent of aión.
Dr. Edward Beecher(11) remarks, "It commonly means merely continuity of action . . . all attempts to set forth eternity as the original and primary sense of aión are at war with the facts of the Greek language for five centuries, in which it denoted life and its derivative senses, and the sense eternity was unknown." And he also says what is the undoubted fact, "that the original sense of aión is not eternity. . . . It is conceded on all hands that this (life) was originally the general use of the word. In the Paris edition of Henry Stephens' Lexicon it is affirmed emphatically "that life, or the space of life, is the primitive sense of the word, and that it is always so used by Homer, Hesiod, and the old poets; also by Pindar and the tragic writers, as well as by Herodotus and Xenophon." "Pertaining to the world to come," is the sense given to "These shall go away into everlasting punishment," by Prof. Tayler Lewis, who adds(12) "The preacher in contending with the Universalist and the Restorationist, would commit an error, and it may be suffer a failure in his argument, should he lay the whole stress of it on the etymological or historical significance of the words aión, aiónios, and attempt to prove that of themselves they necessarily carry the meaning of endless duration. 'These shall go away into the restraint, imprisonment of the world to come,' is all we can etymologically or exegetically make of the word in this passage." [from John Wesley Hanson's Aion and Aionios]

As for Plato’s usage of the word, you base your dogmatic statement on a modern translation which is subject to the bias of the more recent definition. I have shown you that lexicographers didn’t apply the idea of eternity to aionios until long after the early church fathers were all dead in previous posts so I will not repeat that information here.

Finding it [aionios] in Plato, Mr. Goodwin thinks that Plato coined it, and it had not come into general use, for even Socrates, the teacher of Plato, does not use it. Aidios is the classic word for endless duration.
Plato uses aión eight times, aiónios five, diaiónios once, and makraión twice. Of course if he regarded aión as meaning eternity he would not prefix the word meaning long, to add duration to it.
In all the ... (Writers of the Greek Classics) extending more than six hundred years, the word is never found. Of course it must mean the same as the noun that is its source. It having clearly appeared that the noun is uniformly used to denote limited duration, and never to signify eternity, it is equally apparent that the adjective must mean the same. The noun sweetness gives its flavor to its adjective, sweet. The adjective long means precisely the same as the noun length. When sweet stands for acidity, and long represents brevity, aiónios can properly mean eternal, derived from aión, which represents limited duration. To say that Plato, the inventor of the word, has used the adjective to mean eternal, when neither he nor any of his predecessors ever used the noun to denote eternity, would be to charge one of the wisest of men with etymological stupidity. Has he been guilty of such folly? How does he use the word?
PLATO'S USAGE.
1. He employs the noun as his predecessors did. I give an illustration*- "Leading a life (aióna) involved in troubles."
2. The Adjective.(30) Referring to certain souls in Hades, he describes them as in aiónion intoxication. But that he does not use the word in the sense of endless is evident from the Phædon, where he says, "It is a very ancient opinion that souls quitting this world, repair to the infernal regions, and return after that, to live in this world." After the aiónion intoxication is over, they return to earth, which demonstrates that the word was not used by him as meaning endless. Again,(31) he speaks of that which is indestructible, (anolethron) and not aiónion. He places the two words in contrast, whereas, had he intended to use aiónion as meaning endless, he would have said indestructible and aiónion.
Once more,(32) Plato quotes four instances of aión, and three of aiónios, and one of diaiónios in a single passage, in contrast with aidios (eternal.) The gods he calls eternal, (aidios) but the soul and the corporeal nature, he says, are aiónios, belonging to time, and "all these," he says, "are part of time." And he calls Time [Kronos] an aiónios image of Aiónos. Exactly what so obscure an author may mean here is not apparent, but one thing is perfectly clear, he cannot mean eternity and eternal by aiónios and aiónion, for nothing is wider from the fact than that fluctuating, changing Time, beginning and ending, and full of mutations, is an image of Eternity. It is in every possible particular its exact opposite.
In De Mundo,(33) Aristotle says: "Which of these things separately can be compared with the order of the heaven, and the relation of the stars, sun, and also the moon moving in most perfect measures from one aión to another aión,"- ex aiónos eis eteron aióna. Now even if Aristotle had said that the word was at first derived from two words that signify always being, his own use of it demonstrates that it had not that meaning then [B.C. 350.] Again,(34) he says of the earth, "All these things seem to be done for her good, in order to maintain safety during her aiónos," duration, or life. And still more to the purpose is this quotation concerning God's existence.(35) Life and an aion CONTINUOUS AND ETERNAL, "zoe kai aión, sunekes kai aidios, etc." Here the word aidios, [eternal] is employed to qualify aión and impart to it what it had not of itself, the sense of eternal. Aristotle could be guilty of no such language as "an eternal eternity." Had the word aión contained the idea of eternity in his time, or in his mind, he would not have added aidios. "For the limit enclosing the time of the life of every man, . . . is called his continuous existence, aión. On the same principle, the limit of the whole heaven, and the limit enclosing the universal system, is the divine and immortal ever-existing aión, deriving the name aión from ever-existing [aei ón.]"(36) In eleven out of twelve instances in the works of Aristotle, aión is used either doubtfully, or in a manner similar to the instance above cited, [from one aión to another, that is, from one age to another,] but in this last instance it is perfectly clear that an aión is only without end when it is described by an adjective like aidios, whose meaning is endless. Nobody cares how the word originated, after hearing from Aristotle himself that created objects exist from one aión to another, and that the existence of the eternal God is not described by a word so feeble, but by the addition of another that expresses endless duration. Here aión only obtains the force of eternal duration by being reinforced by the word immortal. If it meant eternity, the addition of immortal is like adding gilding to refined gold, and daubing paint on the petal of the lily.
In most of these the word is enlarged by descriptive adjectives. Æschylus calls Jupiter "king of the never-ceasing aión," and Aristotle expressly states in one case that the aión of heaven "has neither beginning nor end," and in another instance he calls man's life his aión, and the aión of heaven "immortal." If aión denotes eternity, why add "neither beginning nor end," or "immortal," to describe its meaning? These quotations unanswerable show that aión in the Classics, never means eternity unless a qualifying word or subject connected with it add to its intrinsic value.
Says Dr. Beecher: In Rome there were certain periodical games known as the secular games, from the Latin seculum, a period, or age. The historian, Herodian, writing in Greek, calls these aiónian games, that is, periodical, occurring at the end of a seculum. It would be singular, indeed, to call them eternal or everlasting games. Cremer, in his masterly Lexicon of New Testament Greek, states the general meaning of the word to be 'Belonging to the aión.'" Herodotus, Isocrates, Xenophon, Sophocles, Diodorus Siculus use the word in precisely the same way. Diodorus Siculus says ton apéiron aióna, "indefinite time." [from John Wesley Hanson's Aion and Aionios]

So I hope this helps you see that the arguments in favor of aion and aionios being translated as Age and ‘pertaining to age” are far from baseless imaginations, but are well supported in history, lexicography and philology. If Plato meant aionios to be eternal in the poem you gave me, then he was apparently very inconsistent in his usage of the word at best.

As I have meticulously explained elsewhere - and you have still to respond…

I wish you truly were looking forward to my response with a hungry heart for truth instead of with the attitude of …”I got you here!”

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often WOULD I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and YE WOULD NOT! “ (Matthew 23:37)

How do you reconcile the “Jerusalem, Jerusalem verse with this?

Ro 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
In this passage of Scripture, I wish to point out several things, in case you missed them.
1. Verse 8 – “spirit of slumber” slumber is not permanent. “unto this day” again a reference to something that has an end.
2. Verse 11 – “have they stumbled that they should fall?” “God forbid.” (that would mean “no”.)
3. The purpose of this judgment is that the FULLNESS of the Gentiles might come in. (That’s everyone who isn’t a Jew.)
4. Verse 12 – “how much more their fullness?” Paul is expecting their full return to the Lord.
5. Verse (15- 24)-branches can be broken and replaced.
6. Ro 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (Blindness is until…)

7. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (ALL Israel includes those that will need to be grafted back in. Which includes those in Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Jesus mourned that they had to go the hard way. He sympathized with the difficulty of their plight. He was subject to the Father’s will in this as well as to the Father's will regarding His own path which was not easy.)(For this is my covenant “when” I “shall” take away their sins. Not “if” but when I shall.)
8. 28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. (Here we have confirmation of exactly who this Israel is that Paul is speaking of. Not the spiritual Israel of God but the enemies of the gospel, those who are Israel by physical birth, and even though they crucified God’s son Jesus, He still loves them and they are still elect. All Israel shall be saved.

This should answer your challenge adequately. Just because Jesus, in time, lamented the stubbornness of Israel, did not mean that He would not have His way with them, and His way is the way of life. He still loves them and He always will. Thank God that He has also promised to bring the fullness of the rest of us unto Himself too, for if He doesn’t bring us solely by His power then you can be sure we will not make it at all.

11. Christian Union.
12. Lange's Ecclesiastes.
30. De Repub. Lib. ii.
31. De Leg., Lib. x.
32. Timæus.
33. Cap. 5, p. 609 C.
34. Cap. 5, p. 610 A.
35. Metaph., Lib. xiv, cap. 7.
36. De Cælo., i, 9.

An Interesting Perspective (posted by Jack)

2010-05-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

The following is my attempt to put Tom Talbott’s thoughts (Universalism, Calvinism, and Arminianism: ) into my own words and then to expand on it a bit.

(1) It is God's redemptive purpose for the world (and therefore his will) to reconcile all sinners to himself;

Some verses that support the above proposition:

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Ro 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
1Jo 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Joh 12:47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

(2) It is within God's power to achieve his redemptive purpose for the world;

Some verses that support the second proposition:

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
Ps 115:3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Mt 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Mr 10:27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
Mr 14:36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself;
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

(3) Some sinners will never be reconciled to God, and God will therefore either consign them to a place of eternal punishment, from which there will be no hope of escape, or (as a few would say) put them out of existence altogether.

Some verses that support the third proposition:

Mt 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
2Th 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
Eph 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Mr 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Three propositions, each one seemingly backed by Scripture, cannot all be true. It is possible to believe any two of them, but one must be rejected as inconsistent or as a contradiction to the other two. For example:

If God will’s all to be saved (1) and anyone is eternally damned (3), then God does not accomplish His will.(2)

If God accomplishes all His will (2) and anyone is eternally lost (3), then it wasn’t God’s will for all to be saved. (1)

If God will’s all to be saved(1), and God will accomplish all His will,(2) then no one can be lost for eternity.(3)

Some Bible students reject the first proposition (God wills all to be saved), accepting the second (God accomplishes His will in everything), and third, (Some are eternally damned), these must ignore or attempt to explain away the verses clearly stating that God wills all to be saved. We say they are Calvinist. (And they often claim that “all” means only all the elect.)

Other Bible students reject the second proposition, (God accomplishes His will in everything), accepting the first and third, (God wills all to be saved and some are eternally damned), these must attempt to explain away the verses stating that God will accomplish all His will. They are called Arminian or “Free Willers”. (They might reason, God can save everyone but He chooses to allow them to reject Him forever, and so honoring their will He lets them suffer forever in torment just because they didn't want to accept Jesus before they died.)

While still other Bible believers reject the third proposition, accepting both the first and second, thereby agreeing in part with both the Calvinists and the Arminians. They explain away the “eternality” of wrath and punishment and Hell by pointing to translation problems in the verses that teach “eternal torment”.

The first two groups have serious issues with being absolutely confident in their own eternal security, and believe that many people they know, will not receive the inheritance of Eternal Salvation.

The first group, (Calvinist’s) believe that only those whom God has elected, can and will be saved, and of course, if one is of the elect, he can not lose that election, but the problem is knowing for sure if they are truly elect. It is possible to think you are saved and find out you aren’t.

1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

And Mt 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

So for these believers, there is no way to know for sure they are saved.

The second group, the Arminian’s or Free will doctrine believers, can not be sure they are saved unless they ignore a bunch of verses such as…

Mt 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (What if persecution gets really nasty? Can we endure? Peter thought he could but alas…)

Php 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Re 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. (So those that don’t overcome might have their name blotted out?)

Re 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Yet we have this testimony from Scripture:

1Jo 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

The way we know we have eternal life, is when God gives us the capacity to love everyone, even our enemies. Those who believe in Universal Reconciliation have a tremendous edge over those who believe many will be lost forever. The U.R. believer seeing each person as an object of God’s love and mercy, in various stages of perfection, realizes that we are all going to be together for eternity and recognizes that each one is being used by God to refine those around them as well as being refined by God. It becomes a hundred times easier to love them when we see them through the light of this truth.

1Jo 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

Mt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:

Another reason, perhaps more obvious, that U.R. believers can be sure they are not eternally lost, is because they understand that nobody is eternally lost, but we will all be sought until we are found by The Good Shepherd.

Lu 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

If anyone is desiring to lean towards the first two understandings, the two which include eternal torment, then it is not enough to assert the eternal torment verses alone, but it is necessary also to show how either the verses stating God’s will is to save all are not true, or the verses stating God will accomplish His will are not true. Until this has been accomplished, these would do well to accept those holding the view of Universal Reconciliation as fellow believers in the teachings of the Bible. While it is true that at least two of the three groups mentioned are incorrect, it may not necessarily mean that they are heretics to be rejected. Rather in humility, let us love one another, acknowledging that we have a discrepancy in our understanding of the teachings of Scripture.

1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

1Co 8:2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. 3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

Universalism, Calvinism, and Arminianism:

2010-04-27T00:24:00.000-07:00

Some preliminary reflections.
By Tom Talbott (homepage)
Professor, Department of Philosophy
Willamette University

When I first began interpreting the New Testament along universalist lines, I was struck by how many regarded such an interpretation as not only mistaken, but utterly unreasonable and heretical as well. I found that a good many of my Calvinist friends, who did not regard Arminianism as heretical (only mistaken), and a good many of my Arminian friends, who did not regard Calvinism as heretical (only mistaken), were united in their conviction that universalism is both mistaken and heretical. This curious response started me thinking. Why should Calvinists regard universalism as any more heretical than Arminianism?--and why should Arminians regard it as any more heretical than Calvinism?

As I reflected upon these questions, I also began to reflect upon the following inconsistent set of propositions:

(1) It is God's redemptive purpose for the world (and therefore his will) to reconcile all sinners to himself;

(2) It is within God's power to achieve his redemptive purpose for the world;

(3) Some sinners will never be reconciled to God, and God will therefore either consign them to a place of eternal punishment, from which there will be no hope of escape, or put them out of existence altogether.

If this is indeed an inconsistent set of propositions, as I believe it is, then at least one of the propositions is false. Calvinists reject proposition (1); Arminians reject proposition (2); and universalists reject proposition (3). But in fact we can also find *prima facie* support in the Bible for each of the three propositions. So one day I sat down and, setting aside disputes over translation and sophisticated theological arguments, began to review the obvious.

In support of proposition (1), one might cite such texts as II Peter 3:9: "The Lord . . . is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance"; I Timothy 2:4: God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth"; Romans 11:32: "For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all"; and Ezekiel 33:11: "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn away from his way and live . . .." All of these texts seem to suggest that God sincerely wants to achieve the reconciliation of all sinners, and that his failure to achieve this end would therefore be, in some important sense, a tragic defeat of one of his purposes.

Similarly, in support of proposition (2), one might cite such texts as Ephesians 1:11: God "accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his own will"; Job 42:2: "I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted"; Psalm 115:3: "Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases"; and Isaiah 46:10b & 11b: "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose . . . I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it." These texts seem to imply that God is able to accomplish all of his purposes--including, therefore, all of his redemptive purposes. And in addition to these texts, a number of others seem to imply that God has both the will and the power to bring all things into subjection to Christ (I Corinthians 15:27-28), to reconcile all things in Christ (Colossians 1:20), and to bring acquittal and life to all persons through Christ (Romans 5:18).

But finally, in support of proposition (3), one might also cite such texts as Matthew 25:46: "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life"; II Thessalonians 1:9: "They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might . . ."; and Ephesians 5:5: "Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." These texts may seem to imply that at least some persons will be lost forever and thus never be reconciled to God.

After a quick review of these texts in my own mind, one point struck me as altogether obvious:

Anyone who takes a position with respect to our three propositions--whether the person be a Calvinist, an Arminian, or a universalist--will end up denying a proposition for which there is at least some prima facie biblical support. And in that respect universalism is no different from either Calvinism or Arminianism. So I found myself, at this point, wanting to put several questions to those who would simply dismiss universalism as heretical: If it is not heretical for the Arminians to believe that God, being unlimited in love, at least wills (or sincerely desires) the salvation of all (proposition (1)), why should it be heretical for the universalists to believe this as well?--and if it is not heretical for the Calvinists to believe that God, being almighty, will in the end accomplish all of his redemptive purposes (proposition (2)), why should it be heretical for the universalists to believe this as well? And finally, if it is not heretical to accept proposition (1), as the Arminians do, and not heretical to accept proposition (2), as the Calvinists do, why should it be heretical to accept both (1) and (2)?

Now as a matter of logic, there is a possible answer to this last question. If the biblical warrant for proposition (3), or a doctrine of everlasting separation, were overwhelmingly greater than that for the other two propositions, then one might conclude that only (3) could not reasonably be rejected. But nothing like that seems to be true at all, and here, at least, is how I see the matter. The biblical warrant for proposition (1), that God wills the salvation of all, is simply overwhelming--so overwhelming that those who worry about heresy, as I do not, ought to regard Calvinism, not universalism, as heretical. The biblical warrant for proposition (2), that almighty God will eventually accomplish all of his redemptive purposes, is likewise exceedingly strong, as the Calvinists have always insisted. And proposition (3) is the weakest of the three. For only (3) seems to rest upon controversial *translations* as well as controversial interpretations; and whereas (1) and (2) seem to rest upon systematic teachings in Paul, the texts cited on behalf of (3) are typically lifted from contexts of parable, hyperbole, and great symbolism.
Others will no doubt assess matters differently. But to those who claim, as many do, that everlasting punishment is clearly and unmistakably taught in the New Testament, I would put this question: Which of our other two propositions would you then reject? Would you deny that God wills (or sincerely desires) the salvation of all human beings?--or would you deny that he has the power to accomplish his will in this matter? And finally, why do you believe that the biblical warrant for proposition (3) is stronger than that for propositions (1) and (2)? It is not enough, in other words, merely to cite the standard proof-texts in support of (3). For if (3) is true, then either (1) or (2) is false. To provide a full biblical defense for a doctrine of everlasting punishment, therefore, one must show that the biblical warrant for (3) is stronger than that for (1) or stronger than that for (2)--a daunting task indeed! And I know of no one who has even tried to build any such comparative case as that. So why do so many regard it as heretical to reject a doctrine of everlasting punishment, but not heretical to limit God's love or to limit his power? Which view does more, in the end, to undermine the glory and the majesty of God?

2010-04-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;…

Break it down. All things, de panta, everything is of God. He made everything.
He has reconciled us. Past tense. That would be those who now believe. By Jesus Christ. It is only by Jesus life, death and resurrection that we have been reconciled by God through Jesus.

He has given to us, believers, the ministry, or service, or task of reconciliation. We are to carry the good news of the reconciliation that Jesus has accomplished and extended to the world.

God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Nothing is impossible with God and if God sets out to do anything, it will be accomplished in perfect completeness and absolute perfection. God is not like a man, that He should fail at any task He sets Himself to.

Not imputing… impute verb1. to attribute or ascribe (something dishonest or dishonourable, esp a criminal offence) to a person.

Not attributing or ascribing their trespasses unto them.

We get to share the great news of the reconciliation God has provided in Jesus to the world. There is a way to have all your trespasses overlooked, and to be reconciled … reconcile - 1. To reestablish a close relationship between.

I dare say none of us even remembers having a close relationship, but that doesn’t mean God doesn’t remember.

Ps 139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand…

Now, it is His desire and plan to reconcile with each one of us. Every human being is his very own child, though we have all gone astray, and taken up residence in any variety of families, He has done the legal work for us to return to Him fully forgiven, fully cleansed, and fully restored. You can return now, or you can stay in your prodigal pig pen for now and return later. The legal work has been accomplished. Why wait? He is calling you home.

Mt 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Joh 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

Re 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

The Love of God

2010-04-17T13:47:00.001-07:00

Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters... Is 55:1

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Ro 5:6

Without the love of God, a heart is an empty place. In the knock-about of life, people try to fill the emptiness with replacements. Those who don't respect themselves, demand respect. Those without courage, create fear in others to compensate. And those without love, work hard to impress or accomplish or even create fantasy worlds where they are deserving of love.

It is difficult for any of these precious people to experience the love of God. I know. I am one of them. Once we travel down the path of embracing falsehood--it is tricky, if not impossible, to return to the beginning where there is nothing. I can not love myself at that place and I will not let another do so. However, this is the place--the thirsty place, if you will--that God begins His work in us.

This "helpless," "thirsty" place is where the love of God meets us. He is the initiator--we can trust Him to begin this relationship. We can respond. Consider the following encouraging truths from I John:

3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us...and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
4:19 We love, because He first loved us.

When we hold on to our false credentials, our fake works, our superior human standing, we enable the enemy to rob us (steal, kill and destroy). Jesus has come to give us life...if we make room.

3:14 ...He who does not love abides in death.

2:28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

Stay thirsty my friends!

For Him!

2010-04-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

For by Him (Jesus!) all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. Col 1:16

Every ruler, every person, every tree--all for Him! Jesus did not create anything or anyone for any other but Himself. Then it should be no surprise to us that it is his pleasure "...to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say whether things on earth or things in heaven." (Col 1:19-20).

But there will be a season when some "things" are not "reconciled" to Jesus.

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience... (Col 3:5-6)

For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. (Col 3:25)

Tradition has often held that these consequences will be eternal in nature. Yet this ignores the surety of God's clearly stated purpose that "all things" were created for Him and will be reconciled to Him! Yes, we should fear the consequences of our disobedience, yet rejoice that He has made us for Himself and will draw all men to himself!

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.
John 12:32

Every Knee Will Bow...

2010-04-03T08:43:00.001-07:00

...Every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:10-11

In my youth and not too distant adulthood, I understood this verse to be referring to believers willingly bowing before Jesus and unbelievers, though heading to hell, unwillingly, yet being compelled, bowing as well. All will bow--whether they belong to Jesus or not.

It was with great interest that I looked on this passage a few years ago, when I began to see that God planned to save everyone. Every knee will bow willingly! Well, of course, this is my opinion based on my own understanding of scripture.

Now, I have often used this passage to debate those who do not believe in the deity of Christ. Why would everyone bow to a created being? Even more powerful is the Old Testament source. In Isaiah 45:20-25 God is clearly speaking of Himself:

Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; they have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save. Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, only in the Lord are righteousness and strength. Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be justified and will glory.

Clearly in this passage, God is speaking to, among others, idolaters, those angry at God and "all the ends of the earth." Note that they will swear allegiance...they will belong to Him. Note also that "all the offspring of Israel will be justified." This inclusion flies in the face of the traditional doctrine that only a few will be saved. Perhaps you will say to me, as some of my Jehovah's Witness friends did, that this passage is just poetic, not intending to establish the authority of Jesus as God--and certainly not intending to proclaim the salvation of all men. Is this then just a momentary swearing of allegiance then off to eternal torment you go? Is this justification of Israel only the remnant not literally "all the offspring"?

Hear the command of the Lord "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other." I think He's going to have things His way!

For The Critics

2010-03-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

What shall I liken you to? You are like the brother of the prodigal son! You would deny the Father’s forgiveness to your brother. You consider yourself worthy of his forgiveness, but your brother who spent his life and the fathers inheritance in wantoness and foolish living you begrudge him the abundant forgiveness that the Father desires to bestow upon him even after he was dead. Regardless of your sour attitude toward your brother who died in his sin, the Father will still kill the fatted calf and put His ring upon his finger.

Lu 15:32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Allow me a moment to expound on the fact that you too, were an enemy of God.

Ro 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Perhaps you still are an enemy? No offense, I offer an honest observation. There is evidence that you don’t love those who have died without Christ, or those who shall die apart from Christ. Perhaps you love them a little, but not as yourself. Here is why I say this: If you loved them as much as you love yourself, there is nothing you would not do to save them from the horrible fate you claim to believe they are headed for. Furthermore, you could never be content to receive the precious gift of mercy and deliverance, while knowing that these others are heading to or are already bound in eternal flame. True love could never accept this! This requires true hate, which you advocate. Scripture affirms that those who say they love God, as you claim you do, but hate people are liars. It also affirms that all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire. We aren’t even allowed to hate our enemies. I’m sorry that you so firmly reject the gospel of Jesus Christ. In so doing you deny Jesus himself. Not everyone who says unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of God. Your self righteousness is like filthy rags. What makes you worthy of deliverance? You too will be judged by God and you too will pass through the fire. Mr 9:49 For every one shall be salted with fire…

You should not think more highly of yourself than you ought. With man it is impossible to be saved, but not with God. With God all things are possible. His will is clear and he accomplishes everything according to the counsel of His OWN Will.

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, but that all should come to repentance.

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Yes, it is true that God disciplines those whom He loves, and that He pours out His wrath on the children of disobedience, I will never deny that. He even mercifully ends the life of those who are reprobate. Those who He knows will not benefit from another day in this life. Here you must remember,

Ro 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Why do you suppose he holds the keys to hell and death? Re 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Keys are for unlocking locked doors.

I counsel you to learn what this means:

Mt 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Here you use the word repent:

“Here is an interesting thought: Mark 1:15 “Repent and believe the Gospel” Repent and believe the endless unmitigated joy? No reason to repent . . . that is what everyone wants.”

Perhaps this verse is written for you. Have you ever looked up the Greek word here translated repent? We all know what the English word means, but I find it interesting that the Greek word merely means to think differently.

3340. metanoew metanoeo, met-an-o-eh'-o

from 3326 and 3539; to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction).

Jesus came to help us to "think differently". There is no room in our thinking for self righteousness, but we are to think of others as better than ourselves. This message did resonate with the sinners of Jesus day much more than it did with the “kosmos” or religious and political establishment. Jesus brought good news for sinners, but you place burdens on them that they cannot lift, while you excuse all your own sin as forgiven because you are wise enough to believe in Jesus. The shame here, is that you don’t even know Him well enough to recognize His unfailing love for all, or the power of His resurrection. If you knew Him you would never question His unending, unfailing love for all of His created ones.

You believe that He is unable or unwilling to raise sinners from the dead to righteousness and you like it that way.

Is it because you would feel cheated if God saved your enemies? Do you feel you should be paid more than them because you worked all day in the heat, while they came along at the end of the day? THINK DIFFERENTLY! The gift is free and it’s for all and it will eventually be good news of great joy to ALL people. Those who believe enter into the joy of their Lord now, those who don’t believe, will have to wait until the next age to enter into the joy of their Lord.

Pointing out verses referring to Gods wrath and discipline upon sinners to say the news isn’t good, is like pointing to labor pains to prove there is no joy in the birth of a child.

Joh 16:21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

Good Tidings of Great Joy, which Shall Be to All People.

2010-03-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

Lu 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

What else could this good tidings of great joy be, but the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ?
What IS the gospel that the angel brings? How can we know if we have received this Good Tidings?
At first, the shepherds were terrified! They were out in the fields, in the darkness of night, when all of a sudden something unheard of happened. A stranger appeared as if out of nowhere, and all around them, the darkness gave way to bright light.
Listen closely to the message: “Fear not”! This is it, I repeat “Fear Not”. Why shouldn’t we fear? As if in anticiptation of this question the messenger of God goes on… “for…” because…”….Here is the reason you should not fear! Look! Behold! Observe! Give me your attention!
I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY WHICH SHALL BE TO ALL PEOPLE!
Okay, three things here. No, Four! Good tidings; Great Joy; Shall be; To ALL People.

The news is good. This is not bad news. No bad news is mentioned here whatsoever. Todays “gospel” goe’s more like this. I have good news and bad news, but the Angel said, I have GOOD NEWS. Only good news, no bad news. How can I be sure the good news doesn’t include bad news?

Secondly, this GOOD NEWS is of GREAT JOY! I like good news of great joy, don’t you? One day, I received good news of great joy. Here's how I can be sure the good news doesn’t include bad news, because I believe Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. Jesus is the blessing of the Lord in person, when we receive the blessing it brings great joy. Bad news doesn't bring joy.

Third, we find the clause, “Shall Be”. Shall be is opposed to "may be"; or "should be";or even, "has the potential to be". Shall be means, if it isn’t presently this way, you can be sure that it will eventually be this way. Shall be. In other words, this good news of great joy which the angel brought to the shepherds, must either now, or some time in the future, become good news of great joy.
Fourth and finally, “To ALL People”. The message that the angel brought to the grungy men out in the fields that night, must become good news of great joy to every single being who is classified as a person. To say otherwise, is to say the angel was a false witness, a deceiver. To say otherwise is to not believe this portion of the Word of God.

Lu 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

If you were a mortgage holder and you had lost your job, and the bank came to you and said, I have good news for you which should bring you great joy! All you have to do is accept this micro-chip in your wrist or forehead and your house will be automatically paid off, along with two new cars and we will place $100 million dollars, tax free in your new account. However, if you don’t receive the mark, then you must be imprisoned for your debt, and you will never be able to get out. Would that be good news of great joy to you? Probably not. So this could not be honestly advertised as being good news of great joy to all people, but only to those who accept it. (Even though it was offered to all, you must accept the conditions to consider it good tidings of great joy.)

If you were a Muslim, living in the heart of a Muslim country, and the offer was made for Salvation through Jesus Christ, but it had to be attained before death, and you died never hearing of it and so missed it, would it be good news of great joy to you? Probably not, in fact, it might become a new source of bitterness to learn that you now have to suffer forever, never having heard of Jesus when it might have made a difference.

If you were an American who always heard of Jesus, but associated him with a bunch of illogical, kind of irrational sometimes hypocritical misfits who couldn’t agree on what Jesus was all about, as well as some ex drug addicts and some long faced suit wearing Bible thumpers, and so you wrote Him off, saying How could a God of love send anyone to eternal torment, that just doesn’t add up in my mind, it must be a fable of these “christians”, just like the mythological Greek gods. If this described you, as it does describe many, would the message of the angel be good news of great joy to you? Not likely!

In order to be good tidings of great joy to ALL people, it has to directly apply to each person. The Lord does not add sorrow to his blessing, and His blessing is for ALL people. Nobody deserves His blessing or ever can earn it! It is freely given. We also all need to be cleansed. The Jew as well as the Gentile, Ro 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Contrary to the popular "good news", sinners are NOT separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus after death, (Ro 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.) any more than believers are separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus after they die. (Ro 8:38,39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, … shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.)

In this life, the majority will not find the narrow way, and will suffer the loss of much righteousness and peace and joy. They will be robbed of the love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, which are the treasures of the Kingdom given to those who believe, but they will not be separated from God’s love and mercy. That’s why we have the incredible testimony in the Book of Revelation, Re5:13.

And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, (Hades or Sheoul are under the earth), and such as are in the sea,(also called Sheoul by Jonah), and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

These are the voices of all people and they are filled with joy for the good tidings that they have now received. The Lord of Love has subdued all to Himself through the weapon that never fails. That weapon is Love, AGAPE.

There will always be those whose hearts are hardened against this message just as Pharoahs heart was hardened in the face of incredible evidence,just as the religious leaders in Jesus day had hardened hearts, but such is the will of God, that His glory is increased and when the time is right, in the fullness of time, everything in due time, the angels good tidings SHALL bring GREAT JOY to ALL people.

1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him . . .
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

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1Ti 4:9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
11 These things command and teach.

I AM A CONVINCED UNIVERSALIST by William Barclay

2010-03-08T21:55:00.000-08:00

Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at Glasgow University and the author of many Biblical commentaries and books, including a translation of the New Testament, "Barclay New Testament," and "The Daily Study Bible Series." Every volume of this series became a "best seller".

This article was written near the end of his life.

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I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God. In the early days Origen was the great name connected with universalism. I would believe with Origen that universalism is no easy thing. Origen believed that after death there were many who would need prolonged instruction, the sternest discipline, even the severest punishment before they were fit for the presence of God. Origen did not eliminate hell; he believed that some people would have to go to heaven via hell. He believed that even at the end of the day there would be some on whom the scars remained. He did not believe in eternal punishment, but he did see the possibility of eternal penalty. And so the choice is whether we accept God's offer and invitation willingly, or take the long and terrible way round through ages of purification.

Gregory of Nyssa offered three reasons why he believed in universalism. First, he believed in it because of the character of God. "Being good, God entertains pity for fallen man; being wise, he is not ignorant of the means for his recovery." Second, he believed in it because of the nature of evil. Evil must in the end be moved out of existence, "so that the absolutely non-existent should cease to be at all." Evil is essentially negative and doomed to non-existence. Third, he believed in it because of the purpose of punishment. The purpose of punishment is always remedial. Its aim is "to get the good separated from the evil and to attract it into the communion of blessedness." Punishment will hurt, but it is like the fire which separates the alloy from the gold; it is like the surgery which removes the diseased thing; it is like the cautery which burns out that which cannot be removed any other way.

But I want to set down not the arguments of others but the thoughts which have persuaded me personally of universal salvation.

First, there is the fact that there are things in the New Testament which more than justify this belief. Jesus said: "I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12:32). Paul writes to the Romans: "God has consigned all men to disobedience that he may have mercy on all" (Rom. 11:32). He writes to the Corinthians: "As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22); and he looks to the final total triumph when God will be everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:28). In the First Letter to Timothy we read of God "who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth," and of Christ Jesus "who gave himself as a ransom for all" (1 Tim 2:4-6). The New Testament itself is not in the least afraid of the word all.

Second, one of the key passages is Matthew 25:46 where it is said that the rejected go away to eternal punishment, and the righteous to eternal life. The Greek word for punishment is kolasis, which was not originally an ethical word at all. It originally meant the pruning of trees to make them grow better. I think it is true to say that in all Greek secular literature kolasis is never used of anything but remedial punishment. The word for eternal is aionios. It means more than everlasting, for Plato - who may have invented the word - plainly says that a thing may be everlasting and still not be aionios. The simplest way to out it is that aionios cannot be used properly of anyone but God; it is the word uniquely, as Plato saw it, of God. Eternal punishment is then literally that kind of remedial punishment which it befits God to give and which only God can give.

Third, I believe that it is impossible to set limits to the grace of God. I believe that not only in this world, but in any other world there may be, the grace of God is still effective, still operative, still at work. I do not believe that the operation of the grace of God is limited to this world. I believe that the grace of God is as wide as the universe.

Fourth, I believe implicitly in the ultimate and complete triumph of God, the time when all things will be subject to him, and when God will be everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:24-28). For me this has certain consequences. If one man remains outside the love of God at the end of time, it means that that one man has defeated the love of God - and that is impossible. Further, there is only one way in which we can think of the triumph of God. If God was no more than a King or Judge, then it would be possible to speak of his triumph, if his enemies were agonizing in hell or were totally and completely obliterated and wiped out. But God is not only King and Judge, God is Father - he is indeed Father more than anything else. No father could be happy while there were members of his family for ever in agony. No father would count it a triumph to obliterate the disobedient members of his family. The only triumph a father can know is to have all his family back home. The only victory love can enjoy is the day when its offer of love is answered by the return of love. The only possible final triumph is a universe loved by and in love with God.

Not One Jot or Tittle Shall Pass

2010-02-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

What exactly, is required for the law to be fulfilled?

Mt 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

This is an extraordinary statement made by the Lord Jesus Himself. The fulfillment of the law is guaranteed, whatever it means, and it must happen before heaven and earth pass. The entire law must be fulfilled before the end of time.

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Before this catastrophic event occurs, EVERY ASPECT OF THE LAW, must be in force and submitted to by everyone otherwise the law is left unfulfilled. This is where the “Power of His Resurrection” comes to play, for without the power to bring back life from the dead, millions would never be able to fulfill the law.
I’d like to bring forward a number of verses that I believe shed light on the requirements of fulfilling the law. First, what do we know about the law which will be in place at the time of the end of the earth and heaven?

Mt 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

How’s that for cutting to the chase? On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets.

Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Any violation of love will be considered breaking the law like having respect of persons as noted above. Also, lack of mercy, Jas 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. putting yourself before others, <>, etcetera!

In order for the whole law to be fulfilled completely, every one must come to the point where they love God above all, and love their neighbor as themselves.

1Jo 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

Jesus is the firstborn and it was incumbent upon him to set the example. Which He did perfectly!

1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

…that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind....5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Php 2:2,5

Col 1: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:...18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Jesus, as the firstborn is our example. He IS love. This is much deeper than merely having love, or exhibiting love. Love is His very essence… His nature. He loves because He is love. Because He IS love, he fulfills the law. It is impossible for Jesus to work ill towards His neighbor! In fact, if Jesus could work ill towards anyone, He could not fulfill the law!

Ro 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Here, I must leave it to you who hold to the tradition of eternal damnation to explain how the law will ever be fulfilled, if eternal damnation is true. How can heaven and earth pass away before all creation is submitted to the Royal Law of Love?

This fulfillment is spoken of and described in Scripture, how does it occur?

Re 5:11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

This is how the law will be fulfilled, every jot and tittle, before the earth and heaven is destroyed. Everyone from Adam to his last descendant will be in submission to Love by the power of Jesus Christ, who IS Love, that God may be each persons "all" and be dwelling in each person.

ALL IN ALL! Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and ALL thy soul, and ALL thy strength. That would make Him "your" ALL, wouldn't it? If only one was NOT reconciled to God, then he could only be ALL in Some. Maybe even ALL in MOST! Not good enough, He MUST be...

ALL...... IN.......ALL!

Faith Test for Christians (answer true or false)

2010-02-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

Test prepared by Gary Amirault, Tentmaker Ministries.

For each statement below declare out loud whether YOU PERSONALLY believe the statement is True or False. It is important that you do it verbally, not just in your mind. Or perhaps print it out and then circle the T or F.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (John 1:1, Mark 20:31) T or F

He was crucified, was buried and rose again on the third day. (Acts 2:23; 4:10) T or F

Jesus Christ's blood was shed for the remission of sins. (Matt. 26:8) T or F

"The Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world." (1 John 4:14) T or F

Jesus is "the Christ, the Savior of the world." (John 4:42) T or F

"This is good and acceptable in the sight of our God our saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (1 Tim. 2:3-6, KJV) T or F

Jesus "is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." (1 John 2:2) T or F

Jesus "did not come to judge the world but to save the WORLD." (John 12:47) T or F
"Jesus, was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for EVERYONE." (Heb. 2:9) T or F

"Love NEVER fails." (1 Cor. 13:8) T or F

"With God NOTHING is impossible." (Luke 1:37) T or F

"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, Who is the Savior of ALL MEN, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach." (1 Tim. 4:9-11) (Remember, answer OUT LOUD True or False to each of these statements.)

"At the name of Jesus EVERY knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that EVERY tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:10:11) T or F

"God was pleased to have all fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself ALL THINGS on earth or in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation." (Col. 1:19, 21, 22) T or F

In Jesus Christ is "the restoration of ALL THINGS, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3:21) T or F

The Gospel is "good tidings of great joy [that] will be to ALL people." (Luke 2:10) T or F

Believers in Christ are "born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13) T or F

God appointed Jesus "heir of ALL THINGS, and through whom He made the universe." (Heb. 1:2) T or F

"No one can come to Christ unless the Father who sent Him draws him." (John 6:44) T or F

"As God gave Jesus authority over ALL FLESH, that he should give eternal life to as many as God gave Him." (John 17:2) T or F

The Father "has given ALL THINGS into Jesus' hands." (John 13:3) T or F

Jesus "was the true light which gives light to EVERY MAN who comes into the world." (John 1:9) (Remember, answer out loud True or False to each of these statements.)

"Just as the result of one trespass was condemnation of ALL MEN, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for ALL MEN." (Rom. 5:18) T or F

Jesus is "able even to subdue ALL THINGS to Himself." (Phil. 3:21) T or F

Jesus came "that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one ALL THINGS in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works ALL THINGS according to the counsel of His will." (Eph. 1:10, 11) T or F

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) T or F

"God was reconciling THE WORLD to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God." (2 Cor. 5:19, 20) T or F

"ALL the nations shall be blessed." (Gal 3:8) T or F

"The Bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives Life to the WORLD." (John 6:33) T or F

Jesus commanded us to be like Himself and His Father: "Love your enemies, bless those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." (Matt. 5:44, 45) True or False

"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw (drag in the Greek, helkuo) ALL MANKIND unto Myself." (John 12:32) T or F

"Creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope, because creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." (Rom. 8:20, 21) T or F

"The Father loves the Son and has given ALL THINGS into His hands." (John 3:35) T or F

"Since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam ALL died, even so in Christ ALL shall be made alive." (1 Cor. 15:22) T or F

Jesus "is the image of the invisible God, the first born over ALL CREATION. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him." (Co. 1:15, 16) True or False

"ALL shall know the Lord, from the least of them to the greatest of them." (Heb. 8:11) T or F

"The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to ALL MEN." (Titus 2:11) T or F

We are not to "repay evil for evil." (Rom. 12:17) True or False

"If anyone's work which he has built endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved yet so as through fire." (1 Cor. 3:14, 15) T or F

"Of Him and through Him and to Him are ALL THINGS, to whom be glory forever. Amen" (Rom. 11:36) T or F

"ALL Israel will be saved." (Rom. 11:26) T or F

"Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for ALL, and therefore all died." (2 Cor. 5:14) True or False.

"The head of EVERY man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." (1 Cor. 11:3) T or F

"ALL nations shall come and worship You, for your judgments have been made manifested." (Rev. 15:4) T or F

"When God's judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the WORLD will learn righteousness." (Isaiah 26:9) T or F

"Mercy shall TRIUMPH OVER (exalt over) judgment." (James 2:13) (Remember, answer out loud True or False to each of these statements.)

"Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more." (Rom. 5:20) T or F
"EVERY CREATURE which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever." (Rev. 5:13) T or F

...

"God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning EVERY MAN and teaching EVERY MAN man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." (Col. 1: 27, 28) T or F

"ALL nations whom God has made will come and worship before Him" (Psalm 86:9)

God's "mercy endures forever." (1 Chron. 16:34) T or F

God's Spirit "will be poured out on ALL FLESH." (Joel 2:28) T or F

God beckons us: "Come, and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn, but He will heal us. He has stricken, but He will bind us. After 2 days, He will revive us. On the THIRD DAY He will raise us up that we may live in His sight." (Hosea 6:1, 2) T or F

"The Lord had made bare His Holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and ALL the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." (Isaiah 52:10) T or F

"The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and ALL FLESH shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 40:5) T or F

God will "open His hand and satisfy the desire of EVERY living thing." (Psalm 145:16) T or F

God is "gracious in ALL His works." (Psalm 145:17) T or F

"The EARTH is the Lord's and ALL its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein." (Psalm 24:1) T or F

"ALL the kings of the earth shall praise you, 0 Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth." (Psalm 138:4) T or F

God "reveals Himself to those who did not ask for Him: He was found by those who did not seek Him." (Isaiah 65:1) T or F

"The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to ALL, and His tender mercies are over ALL His works. ALL your works shall praise you, 0 Lord." (Psalm 145:8-10) T or F

"ALL the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and ALL the families of the nations shall worship before You. ALL those who go down to the dust (death) shall bow before You." (Psalm 22:27, 29) T or F

"0 You Who hear prayer, to you ALL flesh will come. Iniquities prevail against me; as for our transgressions, you will provide atonement for them." (Psalm 65:2-4) T or F

"Through the greatness of your power your enemies shall submit themselves to you. ALL the earth shall worship You and sing praises to you." (Psalm 66:3, 4) T or F

"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions FAIL NOT. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness." (Lam. 3:21-24) T or F

"The Lord will NOT cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His
mercies." (Lam. 3:31, 32) (Remember, answer out loud True or False to each of these statements.)

"For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls which I have made." (Isaiah 57:16) T or F

"There is no God besides Me, a just God and Savior; There is none besides Me. Look to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. He shall say, surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. In the Lord ALL the descendants of Israel shall be justified and shall glory." (Isaiah 45:21-25) T or F

"In this mountain the Lord of Hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees. And he shall destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over ALL nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces." (Isaiah 25:6-8)

"ALL the nations of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen. 18:18) T or F

"ALL the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen. 12:3, 28:14) T or F

"It shall come to pass the saying that is written: `death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, Death, where is your sting Oh, Hell (Hades) where is your victory.' The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 15:54-58) T or F

Of those who crucified Him (which is all of us) Jesus asked: "Father forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34) Did the Father forgive us all? T or F

"It is finished." (John 19:30) T or F

Two Bonus Questions:

Not even death can seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. (Rom 8:38,39) T or F

Whoever has died, has been freed from sin. (Rom 6:7) T or F

All the answers are "True" How did you do?

Old Lexicography - Exerpt from Aion and Aionios by John Wesley Hanson

2010-02-16T11:26:00.000-08:00

You can find this book for free, here!

The oldest lexicographer, Hesychius, (A. D. 400-600,) defines aión thus: "The life of man, the time of life." At this early date no theologian had yet imported into the word the meaning of endless duration. It retained only the sense it had in the classics, and in the Bible.
Theodoret(9) (A. D. 300-400) "Aión is not any existing thing, but an interval denoting time, sometimes infinite when spoken of God, sometimes proportioned to the duration of the creation, and sometimes to the life of man."
John of Damascus (A. D. 750,) says, "1, The life of every man is called aión. . . . 3, The whole duration or life of this world is called aión. 4, The life after the resurrection is called 'the aión to come.' "
But in the sixteenth century Phavorinus was compelled to notice an addition, which subsequently to the time of the famous Council of 544 had been grafted on the word. He says: "Aión, time, also life, also habit, or way of life. Aión is also the eternal and endlessAS IT SEEMS TO THE THEOLOGIAN." Theologians had succeeded in using the word in the sense of endless, and Phavorinus was forced to recognize their usage of it and his phraseology shows conclusively enough that he attributed to theologians the authorship of that use of the word. Alluding to this definition, Rev. Ezra S. Goodwin, one of the ripest scholars and profoundest critics, says,(10) "Here I strongly suspect is the true secret brought to light of the origin of the sense of eternity in aión. The theologian first thought he perceived it, or else he placed it there. The theologian keeps it there, now. And the theologian will probably retain it there longer than any one else. Hence it is that those lexicographers who assign eternity as one of the meanings of aión uniformly appeal for proofs to either theological, Hebrew, or Rabbinical Greek, or some species of Greek subsequent to the age of the Seventy, if not subsequent to the age of the Apostles, so far a I can ascertain."
The second definition by Phavorinus is extracted literally from the "Etymologicon Magnum" of the ninth or tenth century. This gives us the usage from the fourth to the sixteenth century, and shows us that, if the word meant endless at the time of Christ, it must have changed from limited duration in the classics, to unlimited duration, and then back again, at the dates above specified!
From the sixteenth century onward, the word has been defined as used to denote all lengths of duration from brief to endless. We record here such definitions as we have found.
Rost: (German definitions) " Aión, duration, epoch, long time, eternity, memory of man, life-time, life, age of man. Aiónios, continual, always enduring, long continued, eternal."
Hedericus: "An age, eternity, an age as if always being; time of man's life in the memory of men, (wicked men, New Testament,) the spinal marrow. Aiónios, eternal, everlasting, continual."
Schleusner: "Any space of time whether longer or shorter, past, present or future, to be determined by the persons or things spoken of, and the scope of the subjects; the life or age of man. Aiónios, a definite and long period of time, that is, a long enduring, but still definite period of time."
Passow: " Aiónios, long continued, eternal, everlasting, in the classics.
Grove: "Eternity; and age, life, duration, continuance of time; a revolution of ages, a dispensation of Providence, this world or life; the world or life to come. Aiónios, eternal, immortal, perpetual, former, past, ancient."
Donnegan: "Time; space of time; life time and life; the ordinary period of man's life; the age of man; man's estate; a long period of time; eternity; the spinal marrow. Aiónios, of long duration, lasting, eternal, permanent."
Ewing: "Duration, finite or infinite; a period of duration, past or future; an age; duration of the world; ages of the world; human life in this world, or the next; our manner of life in the world; and age of divine dispensation, the ages, generally reckoned three, that before law, that under the law, and that under the Messiah. Aiónios, (from preceding,) ages of the world, periods of the dispensatins since the world began."
Schrevelius: "An age, a long period of time; indefinite duration, time, whether longer or shorter, past, prensent or future; also, in the New Testament, the wicked men of the age, life, the life of man. Aiónios, of long duration, lasting, sometimes everlasting, sometimes lasting through life as æturnus in Latin."
Dr. Taylor, who wrote the Hebrew Bible three times with his own hand, says of Olam, (Greek Aión) it signifies a duration which is concealed, as being of an unknown or great length. "It signifies eternity, not from the proper force of the word, but when the sense of the place or the nature of the subject require it, as God and his attributes."
Pickering: Almost identical with Schrevelius in his definitions.
Hinks: "A period of time; and age, an after time, eternity.Aiónios, lasting, eternal, of old, since the beginning."
Lutz: "An age, time, eternity. Aiónios, durable, eternal."
Macknight: (Scotch Presbyterian.) "These words being ambiguous, are always to be understood according to the nature and circumstances to which they are applied." He thinks the words sustain endless punishment, but adds: "At the same time I must be so candid as to acknowledge that the use of these terms, forever, eternal and everlasting, in other passages of Scripture, shows that they who understand these words in a limited sense, when applied to punishment, put no forced interpretation upon them.
Wright: "Time, age, life-time, period, revolution of ages, dispensation of Providence, present world, or life, world to come, eternity.Aiónios, eternal, ancient."
Robinson: "Life, also an age, that is an indefinite long period of time, perpetuity, ever, forever, eternity, forever, without end, to the remotest time, forever and ever, of old, from everlasting, the world, present or future, this world and the next, present world, men of this world, world itself, advent of Messiah. Aiónios, perpetual, everlasting, eternal, chiefly spoken of future time, ancient."
Jones: "An everlasting age, eternal, forever, a period of time, age, life, the present world, or life; the Jewish dispensation; a good demon, angel as supposed to exist forever . . . Aiónios, everlasting, ancient."
Schweighauser and Valpyv substantially agree.
Maclaine, in his Mosheim: Aión or æon among the ancients, was used to signify the age of man, or the duration of human life."
Cruden: "The words eternal, everlasting, forever, are sometimes taken for a long time, and are not always to be understood strictly, for example, 'Thou shalt be our guide form this time forth, even forever,' that is, during our whole life."
Alex. Campbell: "ITS RADICAL IDEA IS INDEFINITE DURATION."
Whitby: "Nothing is more common and familiar in Scripture than to render a thorough and irreparable vastation, whose effects and signs should be still remaining, by the word aiónios, which we render eternal."Hammond, Benson, and Gilpin, in notes on Jude 7, say the same. Liddell and Scott also give to aión, in the poets the sense of life and lifetime, as also an age or generation.
Pearce (in Matt. vii:33) says: "The Greek word aión, seems to signify age here, as it often does in the New Testament, and according to its most proper signification." Clarke, Wakefield, Boothroyd, Simpson, Lindsey, Mardon, Acton, agree. So do Locke, Hammond, Le Clerc, Beausobre, Lenfant, Dodridge, Paulus, Kenrick and Olshausen.
T. Southwood Smith: "Sometimes it signifies the term of human life; at other times an age, or dispensation of Providence. Its most common signification is that of age or dispensation."
Scarlett: "That aiónion, does not mean endless or eternal, may appear from considering that no adjective can have a greater force than the noun from which it is derived. If aión means age (which none either will or can deny) then aiónion must mean age-lasting, or duration through the age or ages to which the thing spoken or relates."
Even Professor Stuart is obliged to say: "The most common and appropriate meaning of aión in the New Testament, and the one which corresponds with the Hebrew word olam, and which therefore deserves the first rank in regard to order, I put down first: an indefinite period of time; time without limitation; ever, forever, time without end, eternity, all in relation to future time. The different shades by which the word is rendered, depend on the object with which aiónios is associated, or to which it has relation, rather than to any difference in the real meaning of the word."
J. W. Haley *says: "The Hebrew word 'olam' rendered 'forever,' does not imply the metaphysical idea of absolute endlessness, but a period of indefinite length, as Rambach says, a very long time, the end of which is hidden from us." Olam or olim is the Hebrew equivalent of aión.
Dr. Edward Beecher(11) remarks, "It commonly means merely continuity of action . . . all attempts to set forth eternity as the original and primary sense of aión are at war with the facts of the Greek language for five centuries, in which it denoted life and its derivative senses, and the sense eternity was unknown." And he also says what is the undoubted fact, "that the original sense of aión is not eternity. . . . It is conceded on all hands that this (life) was originally the general use of the word. In the Paris edition of Henry Stephens' Lexicon it is affirmed emphatically "that life, or the space of life, is the primitive sense of the word, and that it is always so used by Homer, Hesiod, and the old poets; also by Pindar and the tragic writers, as well as by Herodotus and Xenophon." "Pertaining to the world to come," is the sense given to "These shall go away into everlasting punishment," by Prof. Tayler Lewis, who adds(12) "The preacher in contending with the Universalist and the Restorationist, would commit an error, and it may be suffer a failure in his argument, should he lay the whole stress of it on the etymological of historical significance of the words aión, aiónios, and attempt to prove that of themselves they necessarily carry the meaning of endless duration. 'These shall go away into the restraint, imprisonment of the world to come,' is all we can etymologically or exegetically make of the word in this passage."
* "An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible," p.216.

To Alfred

2010-02-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

Alfred: A clip from your previous response:

[Here is the etymology - again - of our English word "Eternal":"mid-14c. (in variant form eterne), from O.Fr. eternal, from L.L. aeternalis, from L. aeternus contraction of aeviternus "of great age," from aevum "age" (see eon)."Since they point to our English word "Eon", let's look at that:"1640s, from L. aeon, from Gk. aion "age, vital force, lifetime," from PIE base *aiw- "vital force, life, long life, eternity" (cf. Skt. ayu "life," Avestan ayu "age," L. aevum "space of time, eternity," Goth. aiws "age, eternity," O.N. ævi "lifetime," Ger. ewig "everlasting," O.E. a "ever, always")."]

What this says to me, is that the English word eternal actually comes from the Old French word eternal which comes from the Latin word aeternalis which is from Latin aeternus contraction
of aeviternus which actually means “of great age” which is from aevum “age” and to understand which form of age we should look at eon.

The logical conclusion to this etymology that you have presented, is that the English word eternity really means age. So Etymology confirms the definition which has a limit to its duration and is measured by the passage of time. Hense not "without end".

Etymology leads us to the conclusion that the English word eternity did not carry the weight of endless, yet etymology alone is not sufficient to determine the meaning of a word since words change in meaning. Etymology supports my view and is against yours, however, etymology is not conclusive and I don’t rest my case on etymology alone. Two more tools can be employed to determing the meaning of words: lexicography and usage.

Lexicography , like etymology is helpful in gaining insight to the definitions that men have assigned to words, but again, lexicography alone is not sufficient to conclusively determine meaning because meanings change. Like the example you gave of the use of bad, or prevent which used to mean precede, or fag which used to mean a burning stick… then cigarette… and now…? Howevcer, if you check the lexicography of the word aion and aionios in the oldest lexicons, you invariably find the words lack any mention of endless or eternal as in no beginning or no end but always the idea of age, or lifetime etc. Not until the 16th century did the lexicons begin to add the idea of perpetuity to their definitions of aion and aionios. This is a historical fact and can be verified, as I have already shown. IF you missed it I will be most happy to give you the references again. So lexicography confirms my point of view as does etymology, but as I said, I do not allow this to be conclusive evidence. The crux of the matter is, what did the words mean to the authors who penned them. What did the authors intend their readers to understand by their use of the words. This brings us to usage.

Usage- by usage I refer to the use of the words by the authors and their contemporaries. What did the word mean, as it was used at the time of writing. Exhaustive studies have been made searching all the writings of the Greek classics and not once did these words have the meaning of perpetuity, let alone the stricter meaning of no beginning and no end.

In the days in which the new testament was written, usage of the word, that is, the common understanding of the people who read and spoke Greek, did not include the modern understanding of eternal but rather age, aion and age pertaining, aionios. This also is a verifiable historic fact and I will be more than happy to provide you references if you like.

Strike three! Etymology, Lexicography and Usage at the time of the writing of the Scripture all point to aion and aionios having the meaning of age and age pertaining respectively.

The concept of eternal damnation or endless punishment was spread through the church largely through Augustine, a Catholic, and is in actuality a Catholic dogma. Incidentally, the concept of purgatory was invented in an attempt to answer the many verses in Scripture which speak of the reconciliation of all. Consider also, the men who gave us our English translations were trained in the Catholic church and their primary study language was Latin, not Greek and Hebrew. The prevailing doctrine in their day was still that of endless punishment and it influenced their interpretations. Thankfully, as horrible as it is that this has hindered millions from understanding the love of God, at least they still will ultimately enter into His peace, and they will rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory when they discover His perfect love and his enduring mercy to them and their loved ones.

The Relationship of Love and The Law

2010-01-11T23:10:00.000-08:00

It occured to me, as I was responding to a friends comment that the relationship of the Law of God, and Love make a compelling case for the ultimate reconcilliation of all men.

Mt 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

What does the fulfilling of the law entail? God's word tells us! We find that to love is the fulfilling of the law. We are commanded to love our God: Mr 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

We are told to love our fellowman: Mr 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

We are given a short definition of love in Romans, and assured that Love is the fulfilling of the law, which must be fulfilled according to Jesus:

Ro 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Of course we are even commanded to Love our enemies! Mt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

We are assured that God is Love! Therefore he cannot work ill to his neighbor, ah, but I hear the objections now. God sent the flood, God punishes the wicked, God encouraged Satan to smite Job, God brought a storm forcing Jonah to jump ship... etc. Let's look at another aspect of Love:

Pr 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

It is not working ill to chasten with the view to correct, but rather this kind of suffering brings profit and benefit, therefore it can be and is defined as love. On the contrary to bring punishment for vindictive and destructive purposes with no intention of healing is not love according to the definitions given by God's word.

Notice God teaches us to love our enemies that we may be His children. A child is associated with a parent by his emulation of the character of the parent. He even goes on to associate not loving enemies with the behaviour of sinners. Mt 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

We are told in Isaiah: Isa 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea! Noone hurting or destroying but all loving one another. Ah, but we can't love one another without first loving God, and we can't first love God, unless He first loves us. And we are assured in 1Cor 13 that:

Love Never Fails!

Ga 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

The law can never be fulfilled until all come to recieve the Love and mercy Jesus offers, but it shall not pass away until it is all fulfilled. Isaiah gives us a glimpse of the total fulfillment, as the waters cover the sea, the knowlege of God shall cover the earth and to know Him is to Love Him.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. ... 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

This is the end of the matter, but the beginning of bliss for all God's creatures. For what does it mean for God to be All in All? I believe it means that God becomes your everything! Your passion, joy, peace, hope, provision, your hero, your best friend, your Father, your Saviour, your healer, deliverer and your husband, your ALL and He resides in EVERYONE! ALL IN ALL!

Should He lose one to Eternal Flames, He cannot be all in all but only all in some.

God Knows Me

2010-01-08T05:27:00.000-08:00

God knows me, and He still wants to pursue a personal relationship with me. That is truly amazing. He knows everything about me, and still wants to enjoy my fellowship with Him.
What does it mean to know God? How do you come to an intimate personal knowledge of Him?
I am not thinking of intellectual knowledge or facts about Him, but the importance of knowing a close friend.
The apostle Paul prayed that believers would know God the Father who chose us, God the Son who redeemed us, and God the Holy Spirit who applied salvation to us personally through the new birth. Now that He has saved me do I have a growing knowledge of Him? Perhaps in our busy schedule and pressures of modern life we should ask do I even want it? How do I fit a hunger for God into a complex worldview?
In Ephesians 1:17-19 the apostle Paul prayed that God would give believers “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation . . . to know Him better.” Paul wanted them to have a “true knowledge of Him.” But you say, they already knew Him as their Savior, and had obtained eternal life. But what I am asking is has God placed within your heart a hunger to know Him better?
With every relationship in life we make deliberate choices as to whether we want to pursue the relationship. God has invited us to get to know Him better. Have we responded to that invitation to belongingness? Do we have that “we” feeling with Him? Have we taken the first few faltering steps and halted? Have we reached a plateau, and is it now time to respond to further instruction in His Word?
Has the Holy Spirit opened the “enlightened eyes of our hearts” in order that we may know “the hope to which He has called us, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe”?
Paul’s prayer for knowledge of God is based on a plea to have a greater knowledge of God’s saving grace. God takes the initiative and invites us to a personal involvement of our whole person. It is a permanent relationship based on the awesome knowledge that He knows me and desires a personal, abiding relationship with me.
Perhaps Paul had in mind the great prayer of Jesus, “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
Do you know Him? Do you want to know Him better? It is true that we have a great deal more to learn about Him in His Word. Knowing about Him is important, but knowing Him personally is more important. We must act on what we have learned in His Word.
How do I get to know God better in His personal dealings with me? It begins with a hunger or thirsting for the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to our soul and to open the living Word of God to our inner person. Such a knowledge is not found apart from a study of the Scriptures. It is to the person who sits at Jesus’ feet that God opens His heart to reveal Himself. It is time spent with God on our knees with the open Word that issues in an intimate knowledge of Him. You cannot get to know a real person without spending time with him or her. We cannot know God without time in His presence. We know truth about His attributes from His revealed Word as the Spirit applies them to our lives, and as we act upon that knowledge we experience Him personally.
God chose us, and called us “to be holy and blameless in His sight” as His full grown adopted children. We grow in our knowledge of God as we become more like the Lord Jesus Christ in every way, every day. As we grow in the knowledge of His grace we grow in His likeness. One day we will know Him in perfect character. My prayer is that He will hasten that day. Today, we live in the tension of the here and now and that which is yet to be.
Because we are His unique possession, purchased by His blood, “we share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light” (Col. 1:12). God has rich blessings in store for those who get to know Him better. Are we claiming our inheritance now? We can only as we get to know Him intimately. The apostle Paul said, “We know little; and we know imperfectly.” One wonderful day when He comes we will know fully and perfectly.
Do I know Him in the power of His resurrection? This is to know God’s power by personal experience. Do I know the power that God exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead? The knowledge of God is experienced in the power of Christ’s resurrection in our lives today. Oh, God that I may know you today!
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

Taken From a Letter by M.J. Steere circa 1861

2010-01-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

The following exerpt is presented for consideration and conversation. It is an arguement based on reason, not on Scripture. It is in support of the concept of less than eternal judgment and against the creed which believes in eternal damnation. I invite you to read and see if the reasoning is sound or not.

Your creed plainly implies, that men, both good and bad, may, and often do, determine the endless destiny of their fellow beings, by determining the length of their probation, virtually putting them into heaven, by cutting off all liability to lose it, or into hell by cutting off all opportunity to escape it. And this, also, seems to me an absurdity...

... [I]n a sad accident, which occurred at one of our New England seminaries a few years since. Two young gentlemen were in their room, amusing themselves with a musket, quite unconscious of its being loaded, when the one innocently shot the other, thereby determining his soul at once to heaven or to hell forever.
And still another illustration is found in the death of the drunken rowdy, who fell, at the head of the rum-sellers' mob, at Portland, a few years ago. The balls [musket balls] which, at the order of the resolute city marshal, laid him low, cutting off all opportunity for repentance, carried his soul directly to endless torment...

...But, further, our point finds illustration under the operation of the code duello, — that miserable product of dark ages, — that most foolish, meanest mode of settling difficulties — that wretched footman of chattel slavery, accompanying its desolating car, as it dashes into the fair fields of Christian civilization.
The duel settles more than questions of chivalric honor. Instance a case. A and B meet at a public house, drink, altercate, challenge, and accept, choose their seconds, retire and fight. The question of honor is settled by the death of B. And not only that, but the question of B's endless damnation also. The fatal ball settles both. For, while A blows the smoke from his pistol, and retires a victor, leaving the body of the slain to his surgeon and friends, its spirit, prematurely driven out, and thereby excluded all chance of salvation, is met by evil angels in the threshold of eternity, and dragged down into the pit forever.
Thus, according to your penal view, is a question greater than honor settled by the duel. And what does the highwayman do? He meets the moneyed worldling in the way, robs him of his treasure and his life, and throws his body into the thicket, or leaves it in the ditch. But is that all? O no! He also robs his soul of all chances to repent, and tosses it into the thick darkness of despair — buries it alive in hell forever!
So your creed. But the absurdity we are exposing finds a fuller illustration, in cases in which the murderer repents in prison, and finally dies, regretting that he sent the murdered into perdition. Such cases used to be, by no means, very infrequent.
We recently read of one, but have not the details now at hand. Let us suppose such a case, and see its bearing upon the subject in hand. A young lady, respectable, but not converted, is met and ravished, under a dark night, by a villain, who destroys her life to escape detection. Sent thus hurriedly to her God in sin, she is, by the conditions of your creed, of course, lost. No cycle of eternity but shall witness her unrelieved despair. Her soul is assassinated. Out of a dark night of time, she is hurled into a darker night of eternity. The brutal hand that cut her probation short off, thereby plunged her infinitely below the sphere of possible life, shut her up in woe, bolted the door upon her, threw away the key, and left her to pine in anguish forever.
So your creed! And now, leaving her there in her woe, let us turn to look after her murderer. As "murder will out," he is detected, arrested, executed. But, while in prison, blessed with a probation which he forbade to his victim, he comes to himself, heeds his spiritual advisers, repents, exhorts the multitudes from the scaffold, and swings from it into Paradise. And there, because he had much forgiven, he loves much, and never ceases to give thanks for the prison confinement through which the mercy of God reached him.
Thus in heaven the murderer sings. But the young lady, his victim, where is she all this time? Lost! lost! He may have time for repentance, but not she. That was forbidden her, by the red hand that plunged the dagger to her heart. Mercy may come to his prison, but not to hers. That red hand of his may live to be washed, and forever twine wreaths for the immaculate brow of Him whose wrath she must forever bear.
Now, brother, your creed, taken in connection with the history of crime, obviously involves multitudes of cases, similar to any and all which we have stated above. This, you will admit. And, admitting this, can you, as the heart of a man beats in your bosom, fail seriously to query whether that creed is not at fault? Can you be confident in that theology, which thus makes the frantic mother, the officer of justice, the warrior, the duellist, the highwayman, and the libertine, the arbiters of the eternal destiny of their victims; so that, in the case last stated, if it was the hard fate of the young lady to be abused, scared into frenzy, and murdered, it was her harder one to be, by her murderer's hand, consigned to the bottomless pit; while he, by the grace of God, which he denied to her, has space for repentance, and goes up to sing in heaven!
Be your own commentator upon what I have said. The notion that the Living Father has made the endless weal and woe of men thus dependent upon the frenzy, ambition, lucre, lust, and brutality of their fellow beings, well, "he that can receive it, let him receive it." But let him be very sure that he has an unmistakable "thus saith the Lord," on which to rest, a faith so at war with reason and all the humanities.

Paul's side of an early church debate!

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1Co 15:12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Some Corinthian believers were saying that there is no resurrection of the dead! Just as some believers today say that once you're dead that's it, you can't be saved unless you made prior arrangements. But Paul concludes that if there is no resurrection of the "dead"... then Jesus is'nt raised. He clinches his arguement by saying. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." The same amount of people who die shall be made alive. Paul repeats this astounding claim three more times in Romans.

Ro 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. - Here the word many is used both for those who die, followed by "much more" for those who get the free gift. But just in case there is any doubt, Paul goes on...

Ro 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. - All!

Ro 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. - How many were made sinners? All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All! How many SHALL be made righteous??? The same many at least for the next verse states:

Ro 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did MUCH MORE abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

I believe in the resurrection of the dead as well as the living.

Ro 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

That they may be one...

2009-12-30T16:41:00.000-08:00

"It is a tragedy that Christians unite on doctrinal or creedal bases when there can be no absolute certainty about them. The basis for fellowship ought rather to be in the realm of love, commitment, and trust than in systematized doctrines, codified beliefs and intellectual thought. Should any grounds for fellowship be more important than faith and love in relation to our Lord Jesus Christ and a patient on-going quest for truth? Love, prayer, worship, praise, study, questioning, and discussion can all be part of fellowship one with another. Believers should be encouraged to question and discuss among themselves the most profound topics of the Scriptures as freely as they talk about the weather or the World Series in sports. there should be no strife, contentions, factions, no fear of recrimination or embarrassment or of being branded a heretic." (Daniel Andersen. Bible Study - A personal quest, page 22

2009-12-29T15:06:00.000-08:00

the righteous purpose of God's judgment
FREE Book Download!

"In essentials, Unity;
in non-essentials, Liberty;
in all things, Love."
A Call To Unity
By Gerry Beauchemin
"[Be] diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ep. 4:3

Our tradition has indoctrinated us to reject anything outside our theological "boxes." Everything outside is labeled heresy. It’s the same with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christian denominations (Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Non-Denominational, etc.). We are all locked into systems, and only when we question and investigate our beliefs, do we find truth and even life beyond them. The Lord commanded us to judge for ourselves what is right. (Lu. 12: 57) And the Apostle Paul exhorts us to test all things ( 1Th. 5:21). Will we obey the Lord and not allow the fear of man to influence or control our convictions? (See Ga 1:10) For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

For the rest of this article click here.

God Presents Himself To Us According To Our Disposition

2009-12-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

2Sa 22:26 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.
27 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.

As we develop to me more like Christ, God reveals Himself to us more as He is. This could be why most "christians" think God will carry out the execution and permanent torture of most of His creation. This also would explain why those who cannot see God as successfully reconciling every last person to Himself, are not phased by the abundant scriptural and linguistic evidence plainly saying so.

If 2Samuel 22:26 and 27 mean what they plainly say, an open minded Bible believer who believes God is going to some day involve Himself in eternal cruelty, should examine himself to see if he is lacking in mercy, uprightness and purity in Christ.

The phrase "with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury." uses "froward" to translate <`iqqesh> which according to Strongs means, "distorted". One who is distorted has less than a clear understanding, which is why they cannot decide if God is Sovereign or if He is controlled by our Will. The debate rages on for them because in this distorted understanding, Sovereign God who is Love, created most of the human race to be in His image, but also to be tortured forever... well, this seems wrong, so introduce free will, dumping the responsibility on man... but of course, that doesn't really work either. Distortion. God claims He works all things after the counsel of His will. Free will claims God's will that none should perish is thwarted by man's will to reject Jesus even though many die without hearing about Jesus. Contradiction/distortion.

To the distorted, thou wilt shew thyself to be unsavoury, which is morally tortuous, (twisted).

If your image of God is that of a being who is twisted, (a loving Father who is going to torture and torment his children forever and ever...while telling us to love our enemies...) then I recommend you check your own mercy level. When we are merciful, God will present Himself to us as merciful. You will then be able to see a more accurate image of who God really is.

Hi Tony! ;)

Love Story

2009-11-12T06:46:00.000-08:00

She is confused, but he see's through her confusion. Her hair is a mess, but he see's her potential for beauty. She is rejected by false lovers who only really love themselves, but he loves her unconditionally with a true interest in her. She is poor, but he has wealth untold. She comes from a family that has a bad reputation, his reputation is flawless. She is feeble and sickly, his health and strength know no equal. She is ignorant and unlearned, he is a teacher. She lives in a poor neighborhood, he has houses and lands and good servants who love him.

She, is you and He, is the Lord Jesus! He has proposed to you, you will accept his proposal and because he first loved you, you will love him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Joh 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

Re 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Song 5:2 I slept, but my heart was awake. Hark! my beloved is knocking. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night."
3 I had put off my garment, how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet, how could I soil them?
4 My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me.
5 I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened to my beloved...

In this account, she heard him knocking but she waited too long. Her hesitation caused her to miss a blessing. I encourage you to listen diligently and be ready to open your soul to Him whenever He knocks. Receive Him unconditionally, surrender to His will. Know Him. He is your lover.

Reflections and Considerations

2009-11-09T00:35:00.000-08:00

Jesus shared a message that He knew would be rejected by most. He also knew that the religious establishment would be His greatest opponents but He preached the gospel anyway! Knowing that most would reject Him and shun Him for the message He was sent to share, He shared it anyway. The message He shared, the claims He made, paved the way for His crucifixion, yet He continued speaking the truth. That, my friends, is love!

Now we have an opportunity to share in the fellowship of His sufferings. We can cover the truth, keep it concealed believing that it won't be received by most or we can share it. Mr 4:21 ¶ And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?

Lu 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

Mt 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Lu 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

Mt 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Lord Jesus, give us the grace, knowledge, wisdom and love to share your Good News with everyone in the house. May your blessings be on us in a way that is evident and in ways that are not seen as well.

from 'Christ Triumphant" by Thoma Allin

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I would sum up by repeating the three propositions already stated... (I.) Christ's Purpose of salvation was deliberately formed to include the whole of our race, and no less. (II.) He received for this end ALL POWER, i.e., power over all wills, all evil, all obstacles, whatsoever and wheresoever. (III) The Bible claims; the Prophets claim; the Evangelists claim; the Apostles claim; Christ claims absolute success in this task.

Isa 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Joh 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Ro 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ro 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

2Ti 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

The Living God IS The Savior of ALL Men~ E.M.

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19. God is the Savior of all men. “We both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.” I Tim. 4:10. God is called the Savior of all men, because it is his will and purpose that all shall be saved, and because all necessary means are provided for its accomplishment.

His Purpose, His Pleasure, His Will are One! From 150 Reasons by EM posted here by Jack

2009-10-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

15. His purpose will be accomplished. “The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have PURPOSED so shall it stand – for the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back?” Isa. 14:24, 27. “I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass: I have purposed it, I will also do it.” Isa. 46:11.
16. It is the pleasure of God that all shall be redeemed. “For thou hast created all things,
and for they pleasure they were and are created.” Rev. 4:11. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” Ezek. 33:11.
17. His pleasure will be accomplished. “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” Isa. 46:10.
18. God will never have any other purpose, pleasure or will, for he is “without variableness or shadow of turning.” James 1:17. Who can doubt the salvation of all men?

To know Him is to understand His purposes! E.M. posted by Jack

2009-10-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

14. God purposes the salvation of all men. “Having made known unto us the mystery of his
will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him.” Eph. 1:9,10. What do the words, “all things which are in heaven and on earth,” signify? Professor Steuart, one of the most prominent Orthodox divines and writers in the Union, says they mean the UNIVERSE, and in exact accordance with this definition, Archbishop Newcome says, they signify all INTELLIGENT BEINGS. It is the purpose of God, then, to gather together, in Christ, the universe of intelligent beings. A purpose worthy of our great Creator.

No Power Can Defeat His Will - Erasmus Manford points 12 and 13

2009-10-15T23:29:00.000-07:00

12. It is the will of God that all shall be saved. “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” I Tim. 2:4. Of course, as ‘God is love,’ it must be his will that mankind should be saved. An infinitely good being could have no other will. And as he is infinite in knowledge he could not so will unless he knew all would be saved. He could not will that that should take place which he knew never would.
13. No power can defeat his will. “Thy will be done.” Matt. 6:10. “He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” Dan. 4:35. “He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” Eph. 1:11. The will of God, then, will be done. No power can defeat it. It is certainly a doctrine of revelation that our God will save all men.

God Owns You! Reason eleven by Erasmus Manford

2009-10-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

11. God is the Owner and Proprietor of all men. “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine.” Ezek. 18:4. God is too wise and good to give any to the devil, and He has too much power to have any forced out of his hands. As all men now belong to God they always will.

Reason Ten of One Hundred and Fifty - Erasmus Manford

2009-10-14T00:06:00.000-07:00

10. God is unchangeable. “He is in one mind, and who can turn him?” Job 23:13. Therefore he always will be what he is now: omniscient, all-knowing, omnipotent, omni-present, infinitely good, holy, merciful, just, and a universal Father. Before God can deal with mankind as Partialism teaches, all his moral attributes must be the reverse of what they now are. But as God is unchangeable, that is impossible, and therefore Partialism is false. In the language of Rev. Asa Shinn, a celebrated Methodist preacher and writer, “Why are we glad that God is Almighty? Because He is Almighty Goodness. Why are we delighted that His understanding is infinite? Because it is the understanding of Infinite Love. Why are we pleased when we hear that God is Unchangeable? Because it brings to our view a Benevolence which will NEVER VARY. And why do we rejoice that He is Just? Because we hence learn that the Energy of Love will NEVER CEASE to maintain and defend every thing that is right, and to oppose every thing that is wrong.” – Benevolence and Rectitude of the Supreme Being, p. 312.

3 more of 150 reasons - E.M.

2009-10-13T23:52:00.000-07:00

7. God is merciful. “But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” Ps. 86:15. This needs no comment, for it is impossible for such a being to torment without relief, and without end, millions of his own offspring.
8. God is just. “A just God and a Savior.” Isa. 45:21. It would certainly be unjust to inflict
endless punishment for the sins of a few days; and as God is strictly just, he will not deal thus with any of his creatures. Justice requires that the transgressor shall be punished righteously, but not unmercifully. As God is also a Savior he will save as well as punish.
9. God is the Father of all mankind. “Have we not all one Father?” Mal. 2:10. One is your Father which is in Heaven.” Matt. 23:9. Is there a human parent who would eternally torment his offspring? Would not the most depraved save all of them if they could? Is our heavenly Father less kind than earthly parents are?

Reason Six by Erasmus Manford

2009-10-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

6. God is holy. “Holy is the Lord of hosts.” Isa. 6:3. A holy God could not build a prison, dedicate it to every vile and hateful passion, and then crowd it with beings of his own workmanship, where they must sin and suffer for ever and ever. A monster of depravity might do so.

Reason 5: Erasmus Manford

2009-10-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

5. God is Omnipresent. “O Lord, thou has searched me and known me”; “Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” Ps. 139:1, 12. As God, who is love, fills immensity, we cannot, on earth or in eternity, “go where universal love smiles not around.” If there is an endless hell, full of devils and damned souls, God is there, and there, too, his love is displayed! Will those who believe in endless wrath inform us wherein infinite love is manifested in that world of woe?

Reason Four - Erasmus Manford

2009-10-04T17:39:00.000-07:00

4. God is Omnipotent. “The Lord Omnipotent reigneth.” Rev. 19:6. Therefore, nothing is too mighty for him to do. He can save the world. Where is the Christian who would not redeem all mankind, had he the power? God possesses the power, and will he not do it? Is the creature better than the Creator? God forbid any should think so.

Reason Three - Erasmus Manford

2009-10-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

3. God is love, is infinitely good. “There is none good but one, that is God.” Mark 10:18. On the words “God is love,” Dr. A. Clarke, the celebrated Methodist Commentator, writes as follows:
An infinite Fountain of benevolence and beneficence to every human being. He hates nothing that he has made. He cannot hate, because he is love. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good; and sends his rain on the just and the unjust. He has made no human being for perdition. It has been well observed that although God is holy, just, righteous, etc., he is never called Holiness, Justice, etc. in the abstract, as he is here called Love. This seems to be the essence of the Divine nature, and all other attributes to be only modifications of this.”
God, then, never created a soul knowing it would be miserable forever.

Reason Two - Erasmus Manford

2009-10-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

2. God must have designed what he knew would be the eternal destiny of each individual of our race. If he knew all would be saved, he must have designed the salvation of all; and if he knew part would be saved, and part damned without relief and without end, he must have designed the salvation of some and the damnation of others. Every man designs what he knows will be the result of his voluntary acts. If I know when I speak to a certain person he will fall at my feet dead, and if I persist in speaking to him with this knowledge of the consequence, I, of course, intend he shall die; so if God knows the destiny of all men, and I have proved that he does, all who go to heaven will go there by his decree, and all who go to hell will go there by his decree. This is just as certain as that two and two make four. Arminianism, then, is resolved into Calvinism. Would God have created conscious beings, knowing and intending that eternal misery would be their doom? Impossible, utterly impossible, for

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY REASONS

2009-10-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY REASONS
FOR BELIEVING IN THE FINAL SALVATION
OF ALL MANKIND
By Erasmus Manford
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What is Truth?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Second Edition
Cincinnati
Manford and Torrey
1849
The Reasons:
1. God is Omniscient. “His understanding is infinite; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.” “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” Psalm 147:5; Isa. 46:10; Acts 15:18. God, then, as well knew when he created Adam what would be the eternal destiny of every individual of his posterity, as he will know when the last generation of man shall have entered on their eternal state. If all are to be saved, he knew it; and if part are to be saved, and part eternally damned, the fate of each individual soul was known to him. These conclusions are just as certain as that God’s knowledge is infinite.

Free Must Read Book post by Jack D

2009-09-30T16:03:00.000-07:00

The most persuasive verses that are used to argue in favor of eternal damnation use the word aion spelled, alpha – iota – omega – nu, as eternal or for ever etc.

The Septuagint is the Old Testament translated from Hebrew to Greek. It was translated some 200 years before Jesus earthly ministry. Jesus and the Apostles apparently used the Septuagint when they quoted the Old Testament, so it must be an okay translation. It is also apparent that the word aiwn did not mean without end or for ever, even though the KJV did translate it that way.

Numerous passages using aion in the Septuagint
show clearly it cannot mean “never-ending.” Note these few:

♦ Jonah was in the fish forever [aiwnioi] until he left three days
later (Jon. 1:17; 2:6).
♦ Sodom’s fiery judgment is eternal [aiwniou] until God returns
them to their former state (Ez. 16:53-55; Ju. 7).
♦ A Moabite is forbidden to enter the Lord’s congregation forever
[aiwna] until the 10th generation (De. 23:3).
♦ Mountains are everlasting
[aiwniav] until they are scattered
(Hab. 3:6).
♦ A slave serves his master forever
[aiwna] until death ends
his servitude (Ex. 21:6). Or until the year of Jubile. Le 25:13
♦ The Mosaic covenant is everlasting
[aiwnion] until it vanishes
away (Le. 24:8; He. 8:7-13).
♦ The Aaronic priesthood is everlasting [aiwna] until the likeness
of Melchizedek arises (Ex. 40:15; Nu. 25:13; He. 7:14-22).
♦ These “stones” are to be a memorial forever[aiwnov] until (Jos. 4:7)?
Where are they now?
♦ The leprosy of Naaman shall cling forever [aiwna] until Gehazi’s death, or sooner… (2K. 5:27 2K 8:4-5 we find Gehazi in the presence of the King having a nice chat. Not likely if he was still white with leprosy).
♦ God dwells in Solomon’s temple forever [aiwnov] until it is destroyed
(2Ch. 7:16; 1K 8:13; 9:3).
♦ Animal sacrifices were to be offered forever [aiwna] until
ended by the work of Christ (2Ch. 2:4; He. 7:11-10:18).
♦ Circumcision was an everlasting [aiwnion] covenant until the
new covenant (Ge. 17:9-13; 1Co. 7:19; Ga. 5:6).
♦ Israel’s judgment lasts forever [aiwnov] until the Spirit is
poured out and God restores it (Is. 32:13-15).

The preceding list and most comments are from Gerry Beauchemin's book HOPE BEYOND HELL available free online at HopeBeyondHell.net I inserted the Septuagint words and added a bit to the contents so if you want to know exactly what Gerry said, you'll just have to go online and get his book...or if you know me, come to my house and ask for a hard copy, I have a few available for free.

Cool Verses posted by Jack

2009-09-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:
Lu 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Jo 4:42 …this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
1Jo 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
Isa 57:16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
Ro 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1Co 13:8 Charity never faileth!
Ro 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Ro 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Lu 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

Christians Metanoeite! by Jack D

2009-09-28T00:50:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the Greek word for repent literally means to think differently! Christians, we need to "repent", that is, “think differently”.

Doesn’t God command us to think of others as better than ourselves. Php 2:3… in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Didn’t Jesus save us when we were yet in our sins? Eph 2:3And (you) were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4 But God, …5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

How can those who die not knowing Jesus be better than someone who trusted Jesus in this life?

Easy! Because God is able to make them stand just like he made us believe in him. After all it is by grace you are saved and that NOT of yourself it IS the gift of God, and Ro 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Reflection - by Thomas A

2009-09-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

Reflect what it is the popular creed is, in fact, teaching - see its inconsistencies - the contradictions of Scripture, to which long usage has deadened its supporters. Christ "holding the keys of hell" and never opening; Christ "making all things new," and yet things and persons innumerable not renewed; the Good Shepherd "seeking till He finds," and yet never finding those precisely who need Him most; "no more pain," and yet pain for evermore; "no more curse," and yet hell echoing for ever with the curses of the lost; "tears wiped from every eye," and yet the lost for ever weeping; every creature which is in "heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are on the sea, and all that are in them, saying, 'Blessing and glory and honor to God,"' and yet a number of creatures shut up for ever and ever in misery; "all made alive in Christ," and yet many sunk in hopeless, endless death.

John 17:1 Quotes Jesus

2009-09-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Joh 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Valid Questions Deserving Non Evasive Answers - by Thomas A

2009-09-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

I fully recognize, the honesty of my opponents; but it is something more than strange to see thoughtful men teaching that Christ "sees of the travail of His soul and is SATISFIED," while He surveys to all eternity even one immortal spirit for whom He died - one child of His Love in the grip of endless evil, or annihilated.

Permit me further - for I want again to protest against the dishonor done to Scripture by the popular creed - permit me to ask what the meaning is, on the popular view, of the oft-repeated promises of the New Testament assigning to Christ an universal empire? Is IT TRUE, that it is the Father's pleasure that in Christ all things, Eph. 1:10 - the original words are the widest possible - are to be summed up? Is it true that Christ has actually abolished death; nay, that He has been manifested for this very end, that He might destroy all the works of the devil? Or is it a mere dream of the Evangelist, when He tells us that God has given to Him all things, and that all things that the Father has given to Him shall come to Him? But if all this is actually written in Scripture, how can it be truly taught that sin and hell are endless? Can sin be everlasting, and yet the sin of the world be truly taken away by the Lamb of God? Can hell for ever prey on the lost and yet the whole creation be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God? Once again, let me say, that a fair answer is due to these questions, and not an answer which is, however honestly meant, in fact an evasion.

Consider These Words - short exerpt from Christ Triumphant

2009-09-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

"If but one soul were to remain in the power of the devil, death, or hell, to all endless eternity, then the devil, death, and hell would have something to boast of against God. Thus death would not be entirely swallowed up in victory, but always keep something of his sting, and hell would ever more be able to make a scorn of those who would say, 'O hell, where is, your victory?'"- The Everlasting Gospel -- Paul Seigvolck, 1753.

This being so, let me next ask, have you, who maintain the traditional creed, ever quietly thought over the terrible slight you unconsciously offer to the whole work of Christ, to His Incarnation and His Passion, by asserting the final loss of countless myriads of our race, or even of any soul for whom He died? He has come, we know, to save the world, He, very God of very God, but you proclaim in all your writings, in all your pulpits, that which is, in fact, His defeat. His Apostles announce, in language strong and clear, in words that still throb with life, His victory over death. You announce death's victory over Him, for hell filled to all eternity with its wailing millions is His defeat, nay, His utter defeat. Could you more effectually make light of His Atonement?

Tim, this is for you! : )

2009-09-23T05:24:00.000-07:00

Joh 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

In these two verses we have some very interesting information.
First: vs. 26 – whosoever believes while they live shall never die.
Second: He that believes on Jesus, even after he is dead, shall at some point live.
Isn't it amazing how this info contradicts the belief in eternal damnation, but is in perfect harmony with the restitution of all? Jesus says a believer can't die, but someone who is dead can believe. Only a deceased unbeliever can be dead in the sense that Jesus was talking about here.

Believest thou this?

Later, vs.32-39 when Jesus saw Mary's faith wavering and the unbelief of her friends, Jesus wept.

Thanks For All the Feedback and Comments by Jack D.

2009-09-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know sarcasm when you hear it... The title of this post is just that. It appears I am just the fool standing on a street corner preaching to the wind while gawkers drive by and justifiably mock. I take comfort in knowing that at least the words have been recorded. I realize that my attempts to communicate what is in my mind the greatest truth this planet could ever grasp are feeble in spite of the overwhelming support they have in Scripture. I would be willing to continue posting if more than one person was reading, but evidence suggests it is time to climb down off my soap box, pick it up and put it away. After all I can post my notes in a folder on my hard drive or email the two people who might be interested.

Another "Post" by Thomas Allin

2009-09-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Such is a brief outline of the teaching of the New Testament, for I have not quoted all its promises of universal salvation. It is no case of building upon Eastern metaphors, of dogma resting upon mistranslations or misconceptions of the original, as in the case of the traditional creed. It is evidence, clear and unambiguous, and repeated. We have without doubt line upon line, promise upon promise, assertions reiterated, accumulated, yet amid all their variety, closely linked and pointing to one central thought. This thought is none less than the completeness of the triumph of Jesus Christ!! It includes the boundless nature of His saving empire over all, to the assurance of a victory won by His Incarnation, His death, and His Resurrection over all the powers of evil. "The Father willed through Christ to reconcile the universe once more unto Himself, and so to restore all things whatsoever and wheresoever they be." -- LIGHTFOOT on Col. 1:19,20.

A Quote From a Very Old Writing - posted by Jack

2009-09-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

The following excerpt comes from Thomas Allin's Christ Triumphant...

S. Peter, too, speaks to the same effect. He tells of Christ's preaching the Gospel to the dead, who had been disobedient and died -- a story whose significance is the greatest possible, as indicating how behind the veil Christ works on to heal and to save even those who died in sin. He adds, that the Lord is not willing that any should perish. Is God's deliberate counsel -- such is the original word -- to come to nothing? Then, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we have this same remarkable testimony, e.g., the assertion that all things are to be put under Christ. It is stated that His object in dying was to destroy the devil -- that once, at the conclusion of the ages, He has appeared to put away, i.e., abolish sin by His sacrifice of Himself. Can anyone explain how the abolition of sin can be consistent with maintaining evil in hell for ever? Thus, the traditional creed seems to stand hopelessly opposed to the teaching of Scripture. Does it not almost deny God Himself, because if we are to believe in God at all, there is no room for a defeated God. Therefore, either God really wills to save all men, and if so, He will assuredly accomplish this, or He does not so will. The first proposition involves the larger hope -- the second is mere Calvinism. I can see no rational alternative.

Israel is referred to as the Firstfruits

2009-09-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

"FOR IF THE CASTING AWAY OF THEM BE THE RECONCILING OF THE WORLD,WHAT SHALL THE RECEIVING OF THEM BE, BUT LIFE FROM THE DEAD * * FOR IF THE FIRSTFRUITS BE HOLY, THE LUMP IS ALSO HOLY." Rom,. 11:15-16.

"AND SO ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED." Rom. 11:26.

Knowing Jesus - The Key to Understanding

2009-09-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

The key to understanding the bible is knowing the author. The better we know him, the better we can understand what His words are communicating. Our first goal, in studying the Word, is to get to know Jesus, the Living Word.

Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

If our first order of business is to come to a deep understanding of Jesus, we will find that He is the life of the world (Jn 6:51), the light of the world (Jn 8:12), agape love (1Jn 4:8), never changing (Mal 3:6), all powerful(Jer 32:27), his mercy endures as long as mercy is needed. He is tender, rejoices in the truth, He is truth, He is the way. He is patient, kind and cannot be provoked (1Cor 12). In Him is no darkness at all (1Jn 1:5). He is the creator of all and there is not greater love than the love he has for the world (Jn 15:13). He demonstrated perfect submission to our Heavenly Father for us to follow His example. (Php 2:5-10) etc. etc.

I’ve not begun to scratch the surface, but with knowing Jesus as our foundation, we then should use extreme caution when words of translators appear to contradict or conflict with what God’s word tells us about Himself. Since we know that God’s word was written to tell us about Himself primarily (Jn 5:39) therefore when the translators words teach us about a dark end, a changing attitude, a breach of mercy, a point of provocation that can’t be forgiven, a creatures will that prevails over God’s will, we certainly need to look carefully to find out why there is a discrepancy. For instance, when God, who cannot lie, says through his apostle John, He sent His son to be the savior of the world (1Jn 4:14), and a doctrine comes along that says He is only going to save a few, and the rest He’s going to torture forever. Or when He tells us through Paul Ro 5:18 that by the offense of one all are condemned; even so by the righteousness of one all are justified. And we find conflicting information we need to discern where the error lies. God does not contradict himself. Either the many clear statements which claim Jesus to be the Saviour of the World are incorrect, or the doctrine giving eternality to judgment is incorrect. The two ideas are mutually exclusive. You can’t have it both ways without claiming agnosticism, (I don’t know ism).

Something’s gotta give! I believe a careful examination of the concept of eternity when applied to God’s judgments uncovers a strong bias in the most popular English translations in favor of the doctrine of eternal damnation, that isn’t even found in any of the original language manuscripts available today. I am aware that to search this out takes a fair amount of effort, but there are many who have already done massive amounst of research who can help those who are interested know where to look, greatly reducing the amount of effort required. We also have powerful bible study tools that past generations did not have making the search for truth attainable to the average student of the Word. I am more than willing to help anyone who wants to search this out for themselves. I will even give away Bible software with which you can look at the original language words and their definitions with the click of a mouse.

Love in Christ – Jack D

More Verses That Contradict The False Doctrine of Eternal Damnation

2009-09-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

"AND THE LEAVES OF THE TREE WERE FOR THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE CURSE" Rev.22:2-3.

"THE TIMES OF RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS." Acts 3:21.

"AND HAVE HOPE THAT THERE SHALL BE A RESURRECTION * * BOTH OF THE JUST AND THE UNJUST." Acts 24:15.

"THE PROMISE THAT HE SHOULD BE THE HEIR OF THE WORLD * * TO ABRAHAM." Rom. 4:13.

"THEREFORE AS BY THE OFFENSE OF ONE, JUDGMENT CAME UPON ALL MEN TO CONDEMNATION; EVEN SO BY THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF ONE THE FREE GIFT CAME UPON ALL MEN UNTO JUSTIFICATION OF LIFE." Rom. 5:16-18.

"BECAUSE THE CREATURE ITSELF ALSO SHALL BE DELIVERED FROM THE BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION INTO THE GLORIOUS LIBERTY OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD. FOR WE KNOW THAT THE WHOLE CREATION GROANS AND TRAVAILS IN PAIN TOGETHER UNTIL NOW. * * WAITING FOR THE ADOPTION, TO WIT, THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY." Rom. 8:21-22-23.

Posted by Jack D.

True Story About a Bully - by Jack D.

2009-09-16T00:37:00.000-07:00

Growing up in a middle class urban neighborhood in Norwalk, California I saw my fair share of bullies. Walking to school, one day when I was in kindergarten a sixth grade boy came up to me on his bike and said, “You’re chose!” He didn’t seem to be friendly, and I was confused. Others explained to me that he had chosen me to fight. All day long, I had the encounter playing in my head and all day I wondered what might become of the threat. Well I had barely gotten off school property when the bully found me again, and he wanted to fight. To be honest, I was very ashamed to be afraid of him, but I was afraid and I certainly didn’t want to try and fight him when I knew I couldn’t prevail. The emotions of it were too much and as he began hitting me, I began crying and tried to run away. Apparently this was enough for the sixth grader. All he apparently wanted was to establish his superiority. Having established it, he was decent enough to leave me alone and not torment me anymore.
Some people entertain the idea that God is going to bring his enemies in subjection by his superior power and might. That He will make his enemies bow their knee and profess Jesus to be Lord and then after coercing this expression of submission from them he will continue to cast them into the most horrid torment. Even after they are recorded as saying, "AND EVERY CREATURE WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, AND ON THE EARTH, AND UNDER THE EARTH, AND SUCH AS ARE IN THE SEA, AND ALL THAT ARE IN THEM, HEARD I SAYING BLESSING AND HONOUR, AND GLORY, AND POWER, BE UNTO HIM THAT SITS ON THE THRONE... Rev. 5:13. Regardless of their pleas for mercy, regardless of their change of attitude, regardless of the genuineness of of their submission, they then get brutally submerged in the most horrid agonies which are at this time beyond our comprehension. Why? Where is God’s love? My bully relented when I offered no resistance, but God will cast these who are infinitely weaker than Him into eternal horror, pain and torment right after they praise Him and submit to Him?
When I voice my opinion of the wrongness of such a false scenario, I am told, “You are judging God!” “You can’t judge God.”
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things…
1Th 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
I am NOT judging God when I point out the inconsistencies of the ideas put forth regarding “eternal” damnation. I AM judging whether or not this dogma is good. As I compare it with Scripture, it raises hundreds of apparent contradictions. As I compare it with Greek usage, it fails to faithfully express the ideas originally presented. As I compare it with early church history, it fails to match up with the overwhelming statements of the early church fathers. As I compare it with the biblical expression of the character of Christ and of God, it makes a mockery of Jesus own claims regarding his mission. It contradicts the love of God, the mercy of God, the unchangeableness of God and the just judgment of God. If the concept of eternal is removed from the judgments of God, then all these apparent contradictions go away. Hmmm.

Please Explain These Verses. - Jack D.

2009-09-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

"THE SON OF GOD WAS MANIFESTED THAT HE MIGHT DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL." 1Jn3:8

"THE FATHER SENT THE SON TO BE THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD." 1John 4:14.

"FEAR NOT * * I HAVE THE KEYS OF HELL AND DEATH." Rev. 1:18.

"AND EVERY CREATURE WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, AND ON THE EARTH, AND UNDER THE EARTH, AND SUCH AS ARE IN THE SEA, AND ALL THAT ARE IN THEM, HEARD I SAYING BLESSING AND HONOUR, AND GLORY, AND POWER, BE UNTO HIM THAT SITS ON THE THRONE... Rev. 5:13.

"DEATH AND HELL WERE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE" Rev. 20:14.

"BEHOLD * * I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW." Rev. 21:5.

Just a few more verses contradicted by the concept of "Eternal" damnation!

The Doctrine of Eternal Damnation Contradicts the Claims in the Gospels!

2009-09-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

"FOR THE SON OF MAN IS COME TO SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST." S. Matt 18:11. (What are those who are damned if they aren’t lost?) Eternal damnation says He failed to save the lost.

"BUT I SAY UNTO YOU LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, DO GOOD TO THEM WHICH HATE YOU * * AND YOU SHALL BE THE CHILDREN OF THE HIGHEST." S. Luke vi. 27-35.
(Will not God do good to them that hate Him?) (Jesus forgave his enemies at the cross, but the eternal damnationists say that He who is unchanging is going to change from love and mercy to spite and wrath without mercy.)

"BUT WHEN A STRONGER THAN HE SHALL COME UPON HIM AND OVERCOME HIM, HE TAKES FROM HIM ALL HIS ARMOR, WHEREIN HE TRUSTED AND DIVIDES HIS SPOILS." S. Luke xi. 22; S. Matt. xii. 29. (The stronger one gets the human race! Who is that? Jesus or Satan?) Satan gets the most according to the popular dogma.

"WHAT MAN OF YOU HAVING AN HUNDRED SHEEP * * IF HE LOSE ONE OF THEM, DOES NOT LEAVE THE NINETY AND NINE * * AND GO AFTER THAT WHICH IS LOST UNTIL HE FIND IT ?" S. Luke xv. 4. (Maybe we care more for our sheep than Jesus does for lost humans.)

"THE SAME CAME * * THAT ALL MEN THROUGH HIM (CHRIST) MIGHT BELIEVE." S. John i. 7. (Well He hoped they would but apparently He misjudged. Most will never believe! It was a nice thought though.)

"BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD, WHICH TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD." S. John i. 29. (But allows most people to keep their sin cause they like to live in torment.)

"FOR GOD SENT HIS SON * * THAT THE WORLD THROUGH HIM MIGHT BE SAVED." S. John iii. 17. (I guess this plan didn’t work out?) (Why didn’t He say “that a few chosen out of the world might be saved? That would certainly fit the dogma of eternal damnation better.)

"THE CHRIST, THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD." S. John iv. 42. (Well almost? You see most of the world has rejected the Salvation so they are going to burn forever.)

"(HE) WHICH GIVES LIFE UNTO THE WORLD" S John vi. 33. (Of course, they rejected it. Oh well.)

"THE FATHER LOVES THE SON, AND HAS GIVEN ALL THINGS INTO HIS HAND." S. John iii. 35.

"ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVES ME SHALL COME TO ME; * * AND THIS IS THE FATHER'S WILL * * THAT OF ALL WHICH HE HAS GIVEN ME * * I SHOULD LOSE NOTHING." S. John vi. 37-39. What does the eternal damnation believer say to this? Notice the key word here… should…He should lose nothing but obviously HE messed up!

"MY FLESH, WHICH I WILL GIVE FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD." S. John vi. 51.
(He gave the full price, but we are going to rip Him off and He only gets a small portion of what He purchased.) ( I guess He made a bad deal.) (For as many people as He’s actually getting He could have just paid an arm or something.)

"AND I, IF I BE LIFTED UP FROM THE EARTH, WILL DRAW ALL MEN UNTO ME." S.John xii. 32. (Wrong again!) If eternal damnation holds anyone, then he doesn’t draw all. He only attempts to draw all succeeding to get only some.

"FOR I CAME NOT TO JUDGE THE WORLD, BUT TO SAVE THE WORLD." S. John xii. 47. (But I changed my mind? I underestimated their stubbornness.)

"JESUS, KNOWING THAT THE FATHER HAD GIVEN ALL THINGS INTO HIS HANDS." S. John xiii. 3. (Dropped most of them according to the popular theory.)

"AS YOU GAVE HIM AUTHORITY OVER ALL FLESH. THAT WHATSOEVER YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM, TO THEM HE SHOULD GIVE ETERNAL LIFE." S. John xvii. 2.
Eternal damnationists! Tell me what happened?

"IT IS FINISHED." S. John xix. 30; (You mean as in ”I quit”?)

"AND HE IS THE PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS; AND NOT FOR OURS ONLY, BUT ALSO FOR THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD." 1 S. John ii. 2. (Apparently he created most of the people in the world to be too stupid to accept it, if only He could have made more people sensible enough to accept it. Well, of course it’s better that they be allowed to burn forever, than to make their will just soft enough to turn at His reproof. Bummer dude. Well we saved ones will be happy to warm ourselves by the fire of our stupid loved ones torment.

"HE WAS MANIFESTED TO TAKE AWAY SINS." 1 S. John iii. 5. Just some sins, mind you.

Joh 1:29 ¶ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (What he meant was Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of part of the world, cause most of you vipers are going to reject him and you and your rebellion are gonna burn forever!

I welcome your comments if you believe in Eternal Damnation. Tell me how these verses are in harmony with your belief. Take them one at a time and explain how the Bible can make such bold claims that are contradicted by “Eternal” judgment.

Jack D.

What Do You Say? by Jack D.

2009-09-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

"THE IMMUTABILITY OF HIS COUNSEL." Heb. 6:17.

No failure is possible. What God's immutable counsel is, we see in 2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance., where the original word translated "willing" is the same as "counsel" here. and

"HE HAS APPEARED TO PUT AWAY SIN BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF." Heb. 9:26.

Sin has intruded and caused an appearance of failure in God's plan. Christ comes to sweep sin away. When will our opponents meet fairly the dilemma, either Christ fails, or succeeds in His purpose. If He fails, you contradict Scripture. If He succeeds, you contradict your dogma. -Thomas Allin

He put away sin, he conquered death, he became the Savior of the world, He saved the lost, he saved sinners, and he will destroy the works of the devil, and he is in the Father reconciling the world unto himself. What do you say? Did he or did he not accomplish what he was sent by the Father to do? The prophets said he would, John the Baptist said He was in the process, and Jesus said He did. What do you say?

What About Free Will? By J.D.

2009-09-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

It has been said that unless mankind has free will, we are nothing but robots and if we are nothing but robots, then God cannot get any satisfaction from our submission and love? This becomes the main rationale for excusing God from responsibility for eternally damning anyone.

It is said that God doesn’t send anyone to Hell but that we choose to go there by rejecting Jesus.

Let’s look at the evidence.

I see men in prison, who exercised their free will, but it conflicted with the will of others, and so their free will was severely limited by other men. Prison is seldom a free will choice, but is actually the result of other “free will” choices that were not acceptable to a more powerful system. How many people in prison would gladly leave if the doors were opened for them? Would it be fair to say that ninety percent would of their own free will leave prison if allowed to? We actually have a very humane prison system, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some chose to stay, “Three hots and cot” is the saying I’ve heard some of them say. Take away the three meals and the laundry service, the rest rooms, showers and the beds. Now how many would stay of their own free will? Perhaps a few mentally disabled? Now create a hostile environment, say, cause the temperature to rise above 140 degrees fahrenheit . Are any still remaining of their own free will? Not likely.
So what are we saying? Aren’t we really saying that people go to hell because they made a wrong choice? Nobody is going to Hell by their own free will to remain forever. The only way anyone could do that is to be mentally deranged, and God is the one who distributes mental capacity. So let’s explore the idea that people go to Hell for eternity for making a wrong choice. Does it not follow that for some to go to eternal hell for making a wrong choice, that the rest must have made a right choice? This scenario requires a right choice to get to heaven. True? Jesus told His disciples, “Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,. Joh 15:19 … I have chosen you out of the world…Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Let these clear words of Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, sink in. Go ahead, read this passage again carefully.

Predestinated – this is a loaded word. Our destination was already worked out by God Himself without our help in any way, shape or form. What is the destination mentioned? Adoption by Jesus unto Jesus himself! According to what? Our choice? NO! According to the good pleasure of HIS will. Wherein we have been accepted because of our right choice? NO! Wherein HE HATH MADE US ACCEPTED! Redemption through our good choice? NO! Through HIS Blood.

{If anyone believes that they are saved by their choice, they are somehow missing the clear teaching of Scripture and are in danger of being resisted by God. Our salvation is not by our will, not by our choice, not by our merit or work, lest any man should boast. It is a gift that is wholly unearned, undeserved and to think otherwise is pride. We are assured that God resists the proud.}

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: Here we have the assurance that God has made known exactly what His will is... His will that HE has purposed to accomplish! What is it??? That in the dispensation of the fulness of times ... that is at the end of time...he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him... Here we have God's will stated clearly enough along with the assurance that it is His purpose. Do you doubt His ability to accomplish His will? Is He like a mushy parent who won't assert His will to the destruction of His children? That is a very sad picture of God which contradicts the next verse: being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

I see children squabbling over a game or toy each attempting to exercise their free will, which is conflicting with the free will of their companions. Again, the exercise of free will is limited by the impact it has on others of another will. When Billy needs the only remaining red lego block to finish his space station, and Jill see’s the same block as essential to the assembling of her house, one must yield. Both cannot have their will. (Isn’t this the source of most of the conflict in the world since the beginning of time?) Conflicting wills. The North didn’t “want” slavery, the South wanted the slave system to continue. Hitler wanted to control the world, the allied forces didn’t want it Hitlers way.
I see children, whose free will is being limited by their parents because their parents love them and want the best for them. No, you can’t pierce your tongue; No, you may not get drunk; No, I insist that you do your chores; Put down that computer game; Turn off the T.V.; Eat your dinner; Don’t hang with that crowd, etc. Although all children are given free will, wise and loving parents guide their children to make wise choices.
What happens when one persons free will conflicts with another persons? Both cannot have their will. Either the stronger asserts his or her will on the weaker, or the stronger compromises his or her own will because they perceive that the weaker one has a better idea, or sometimes the stronger allows the weaker to have his or her will in order to allow the consequences of that choice to become the teacher. “Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves.”

Yes, we have all been given “free will” and it comes from God. However, our free will is never without limitations. We may however, choose to reject God, disregard Jesus, curse God, reject our parents guidance, poison our minds, maim our bodies, and any number of things of this nature all of which bring consequences. Another word for consequences is judgments.

For instance, we may choose to reject our parents caution, and place our hand flat on the hot iron. Free will! The result is blistering pain. Most of God’s creatures conform their will at that point and purpose never to intentionally do that again.

The power of God is not to take away our free will, but to bring appropriate consequences when we violate His will that cause our will to be conformed to His better will.

Because we have a free will, God has designed judgments, that we all might eventually be conformed into His image, with our free will intact. To say that we must be allowed to have free will, that we be not robots is reasonable enough, but to say that God must allow us to continue in self destructive behavior, and that He, as a loving parent is not wise enough to prepare judgments that will ultimately turn us to Him, means that HE CANNOT HAVE HIS will.

Yes, God has free will too!

If anyone has free will it is God and He says He will have his way. Therefore, we must acknowledge that even though God has clearly given free will to us, He is most certainly able to refine us till our will becomes the same as His. Every knee shall bow. Yes all of His free will created ones shall willingly come to the point where they, without reservation, say with Jesus, not my will but thine, or to phrase it another way “Jesus is Lord”, and thereby become blessed forever.

Since our salvation has nothing to do with our free will, it follows that the judgment of Hell also has nothing to do with our free will. God, as a loving parent, has designed all His judgments with the purpose of conforming us to His will, which will be our deliverance. To say that God will send anyone to eternal torment, is to contradict in so many ways, the character of God, the will of God, the power of God and the Love of God.

Why do I think that this topic is worth the time I spend writing about it? Simply because it deals with our understanding of God himself. Ro 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God,

The false doctrine of Eternal Damnation is blasphemous to God and to Jesus. It teaches that Jesus did not accomplish the will of His Father. That God is not unchangeable. That God is not Love. That God is not smart enough or powerful enough to win our wills to willing submission to Himself. It screams out that LOVE FAILS. It does not glorify God as God..

This is the root of the most hideous sins which are prevalent in "Christianity" today. Read Romans 1:21 to the end of the chapter.

Change the way you think! Give God the Glory Due Unto His Name! Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free!

Eph 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints...

Who Has Been Given the MOST? by J.D.

2009-09-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

Lu 12:48 … For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:..
Joh 3:27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
Mt 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Joh 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Joh 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
Mt 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
Joh 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Joh 13:3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;
Re 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Jesus has been given everything necessary to save every human being. God’s will is that not one should perish.This is God's requirement for Jesus. It is what the Father SENT THE SON TO DO! And He gave Him everything He needed to accomplish it! 2Pe 3:9 The Lord is... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Jesus taught us to pray, Thy will be done on earth as it IS in heaven.

1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Ro 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Mt 18:11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
Lu 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Joh 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Lu 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
Joh 12:47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
Joh 1:29 ¶ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Mt 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever (pantote) liveth to make intercession for them.1Jo 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14 ¶ And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

So what exactly will be required of Jesus by God the Father? He gave Him all power and authority, He gave Him the keys to death and hades, He gave Him the power to save to the uttermost, we are saved not by our will but by the will of God, He gave Him the power to raise Himself from the dead. He gave Him all things. He sent him to save the world, to save sinners, to save the lost, to save Israel. Jesus said, If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw ALL unto me.IF JESUS ONLY WINS THE HEARTS OF A FEW BY THE LAST DAY, THEN JESUS HAS NOT MET THE BOASTS OF THE PROPHETS, NOR ACCOMPLISHED THE WILL OF HIS FATHER ACCORDING TO THE CLEAR PROCLAMATIONS OF SCRIPTURE. I don't know about you but I believe He has fulfilled perfectly every prophesy of Scripture and that He accomplished exactly what His Father sent Him to do. That would include ALL of His will, and that He is on track to bring every created being into submission to Himself by the end of time so that He might turn it all over to the Father who then will be ALL in ALL.

1Jo 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
Php 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
1Co 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

I’m not making this up! God’s word is overflowing with the message of GOOD NEWS to ALL people. There are multitudes of clear affirmations of this truth throughout Scripture. The verses that seem to teach “eternal damnation” are few, and they tend to have simple translation issues. The problem is, if they are true then Jesus didn’t accomplish His Father’s clearly stated will. He didn’t do what he was sent to do. He either isn’t Love or He isn’t unlimited in power. Do you really think He is held powerless by the will of the worst of people. I have GOOD NEWS! He is the Savior of All! 1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming…1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Trational Assumptions for our times by Tim L.

2009-09-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

I have a poster on my office wall that came from who knows where of the inhabitants of earth leaving a burning city and fleeing one of two ways. A boatload of folks are following flashy neon arrows down a broad path into a deep crevice, presumably Hell. A few stragglers are crossing a narrow cross shaped bridge into a shining city, presumably Heaven. Those of us in the Church are so used to this symbolic crossing we don't stop ask ourselves how this could represent a victory for Christ! Christ wins a fraction and Satan wins the multitude. Is this the ultimate end or will these misguided multitudes ultimate become trophies for Christ? Here are a few other traditional assumptions:

1. Mercy triumphs over judgment...but only for a few. Does God really do a personality flip and switch from being a "judgment matches the crime" kinda God to an "unending torment for those who reject Him" persona?

2. His love endures forever...but for some its only a short experiment. The Bible says that this life is a vapor, so are those consigned to eternal torment only experiencing God's love as vaporous?

3. God is omniscient--all knowing...will he really continue to experience the grief of those billions in eternal torment while we are enjoying the blessing of heaven?

4. God is all powerful...but can't complete His stated desire to save all men. Is God really so passive as to let our "free will" carry us away from Him for eternity?

5. History is "His - story," He directs our steps...but is the real testimony of God's powerful hand on the time line that only a few lives have purpose, only a few will be refined, prepared and presented to Him complete?

These assumptions about our God fly in the face of the Biblical records! You will find clues throughout the Old and New Testaments concerning our just and merciful God. Are we to let tradition and a few mistranslated Greek words blind us to how wonderful a hope we can have for all the world?

Blessings!

The Effect of Excessive Discipline by Jack D.

2009-09-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

case #1: Johnny! If you break any rule, I will have you locked in your room and beaten for a year as soon as your father gets home.

Poor Johnny, even though he wanted to be good, within a couple minutes has broken a rule. Now he knows he's getting the full brunt of the punishment when the time comes, so he might as well have at it the rest of the day. Since he is already going to pay the full price, he might as well get his money's worth. He may even try to run away, rejecting his parents.

case #2: Johnny. If you break a rule, I will have to discipline according to each offense. Johnny, I discipline you because your wrong actions are hurting you. The pain of discipline is to help you change your thinking so that you won't react in a harmful way in the future. A few minutes later, Johnny violates a rule. Appropriate discipline is given and though it hurts, Johnny is grateful for the maturity and cleansing it brings. He is left to consider his future actions will bring results according to his deeds. There is a healthy motivation for good behavior.

case #3 Johnny goes to the store with Mommy. Mommy say's "Johnny, don't touch anything. If you do, I will give you a swat for each thing you touch when we get home. A few minutes later, Johnny reaches out and touches some interesting artifact on a lower shelf. Mommy, looks at him and says, "That's one". A few minutes later as he reaches out and picks up another item of interest, Mommy says, Johnny! That's two.
I guarantee you, Johnny starts doing the math at a very young age.(As long as mom remembers and keeps her word.) A just punishment is extremely effective whereas an overly harsh punishment crushes the spirit and creates hatred, bitterness, and a breakdown in the relationship. God's stated work is to reconcile all to Himself,(2Cor 5:19) and he proclaims he will accomplish all his pleasure. (Isa 46:10)

How Much Can You Tolerate?

2009-09-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

If you happened to be one of the myriads condemned to having to endure the horrors of eternal damnation, just how much could you tolerate? Could you tolerate the endless separation from love? The endless smoke and black darkness? The endless burning of flesh and stench? The endless hopelessness? The endless agony of pain and aching? The unceasing screams and groans of men, women and children as wave after wave of new torments sweep through the pain wracked bodies? The continual spewing of curses and profanity wretching out of the twisted mouths of your companions in misery? Where would this become intolerable to you? Maybe, if you are hard and tough, d'ya think you could tolerate this for an hour? A day? A week? How bout a month? Perhaps a year or two? A decade? A century? A millennium? Would it become intolerable to you after the first thousand millenniums, when you realize that you've expended no more of your sentence than the first second, indeed not even the smallest fraction of your sentence has been served, nor ever shall be? How could such a sentence be tolerable? Yet, we have these testimonies of Jesus in Matthew:

Mt 11:22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

Mt 11:24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

Mr 6:11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

Note that the phrase “more tolerable” implies tolerability in both cases. In other words, whatever judgment is being referred to here is tolerable for one and more tolerable for the other. Also note that in both cases, the judgment is given a time limit, it is “The day of judgment”. (Not the eternity of judgment.) Note also that one of those being judged is Sodom, of whom it is written,

“Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

We know that the burning of Sodom only lasted a very short time. It was hot and fast. So in this judgment, the victims received mercy as soon as they died in the form of respite from the flames. We find here in Matthew, that when the “day of judgment” arrives, it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for the religious leaders of Jesus day. Then in Ezekiel 16:46-63 it is clear that God is going to restore Sodom to fellowship with Himself, so Sodom becomes a perfect example of what eternal fire is really talking about. It would all be so much less confusing if the translators only were faithful to the meaning of the word aionios and aion. Then we would find Sodom to be an example suffering the vengeance of age pertaining fire. Everything would line up. But as it is we are left to decide that eternal doesn't mean without end or it isn't the correct word.

Anyway you slice it, we find God judging rightly, giving punishment where needed for correction and not just to be cruel. The judgment will always be just, that is, it will suit the crime and serve to restore the sinner to a place where he can be blessed.

Isa 57:16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.

Do Men Go To Hell By Their Own Free Choice?

2009-09-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

We have been given limited free will and this ingredient in our lives, largely makes up the individuality of each person. Some are given larger portions of free will than others. For instance, some are born with or aquire great wealth, which gives them more options than some who are stricken with poverty and physical and mental handicaps. Nevertheless, as I mentioned, all free will is limited by God’s withholding of power or ability to accomplish all our will. In spite of the fact that we do have free will, it can be demonstrated from Scripture that our will is not given the latitude to decide our salvation. God takes full responsibility for that. This becomes significant when we ponder the possibility of any created being getting placed into eternal damnation with all its horrors. Consider the following verses, how they give to God the responsibility and glory for any ones salvation.

Mt 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Mt 19:25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? 26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,

2Th 2:13 ¶ But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Jer 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

It is clear "who" does the saving. It is clear, we can’t even take credit for making the right choice. (Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me ).

Eph 2:4 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

SWITCHING GEARS

“If God saved you, start to finish, if He who began a good work in you will finish it, what will stop Him from saving the rest of the world?” Where does it say, once you die, there is no more chance? Not in Romans: “Ro 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life….shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ps 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Even now some reading this, can not see that God could be this great, this good. This too, is God’s doing.
That is precisely why God will fit each time of purging exactly to the need of each of His created ones. (What would you think of the father of a blind child punishing that child for not seeing?)

What did Jesus mean?: Mt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Is God worse than a publican? Did you catch that? The references to this action of loving our enemies making us like the Father? Perfect? Will God who never changes lose His perfect love? NEVER! If somehow allowing the masses to be tormented without end equates to love, then light equates to darkness and truth equates to lies. We have no basis for understanding anything. THIS JUST ISN”T TRUE. God is LOVE. PERIOD.
God Himself takes responsibility for every mans destiny, and He clearly teaches that He will save all. Why do some insist that He won’t or can’t? He can, and He will!

Lu 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

If Everyone Gets Saved, Why Preach?

2009-09-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

Critics of the greater hope have often asked some similar question to this. If everyone is saved, then why would the wicked want to leave their wickedness? Or, hey, let’s party on. Everything’s gonna work out!

First, I want to address the misconception that Universalists teach there is no Lake of Fire, no judgment, nothing to fear, God is only cuddly love and will bring everyone safely into the comfort of his embrace.
The only thing about judgment that Christian Universalists disagree with is its eternality!

Ps 94:10 He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

God is in the business of chastening all those He loves. Look around you, everyone is getting chastening even now in this life. Chastening takes on many forms, sickness, weakness, frustration, heartache, wounds, loss, even death. Family issues, imprisonment, war, the list goes on and on. Some turn at God’s reproofs, others don’t. When we turn to Him we begin to get to know Him. This is aionios life. Some will go to the final reproof of the grave where they will come face to face with the reality of their own foolishness. It appears that some will have a change of heart, just like Jonah did. Just like the rich man, but then they must serve their time. Mt 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. When they have paid the uttermost farthing, the implication here is, they shall come out. They were objects of wrath. They went through the discipline necessary to shape their free wills to choose to willingly submit to Jesus, who has saved them, though as if by fire.

God not only judges the wicked, but he also judges the believers. Ah, this we don’t like to hear but it is true. God is no respector of persons. Ac 10:34

2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
1Sa 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
Re 2:23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.28 He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

God forbid that we should take lightly God’s warnings of judgment, only because they aren’t infinite! What foolishness that would be!
God’s judgments are right and just. He disciplines the son in whom he delights. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.God’s judgments are real, they are fearsome, they are a form of encouragement to good works, but more so for those who believe than those who don’t. When we preach the contradictory message of an unchanging God of Love who will one day hate most of His children, we give excuse to many to not believe and benefit from the laws of God. God does not need our help in motivating sinners to come to Him by adding to His word, making His judgments infinite when they are proportioned to the sin.

Lu 12:47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Christian, if these words are disconcerting to you, cheer up, after you are judged for your deeds you will be delivered into perfection in Christ. Now does this make you want to indulge in a life style that is displeasing to God? Or would this encourage you to be obedient and share the Good News with others?
Those who truly know Him, have a greater hope. If we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged. If we die to ourselves we shall experience the fullest life. If we forgive everyone who has offended us, we shall be forgiven. If we do not deny Him before men, He will not deny us before His father.

If we serve the Lord out of fear, our service will not bring the joy and peace that serving Him brings when it is motivated by love. Perfect love casts out fear. The child who willingly serves a good father out of love, has joy and peace but no fear, whereas a child who serves His father out of fear, has no peace or joy. Ro 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.. If we serve our heavenly Father motivated by love, we enter the Kingdom, we receive the rewards of righteousness, peace and joy, but if we serve Him out of fear, where are we? 1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We consequently remain in torment when motivated by fear. When we know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.

Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Paul The Apostle Is A Universalist

2009-09-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Paul, the apostle, in all his extensive writings to the church, never once warns about or teaches about eternal damnation? Yet, he says, Ac 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. How can this be?
Was Paul momentarily uninspired? ... No! Paul is a Universalist.

Ro 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (KJV)

Some who were defending the concept of eternal torment have responded to this verse by saying, "It's a gift and gifts have to be received." Perhaps that works for you?
That does seem to give a little wiggle room to the powerful teaching found in Rom 5, however, you'll notice the words in the KJV are in italics. The translators have put the words in italics to help the reader to know that those words are not in the Greek text, but are simply added to help the English flow. That's why Young's Literal Translation reads like this:

Ro 5:18 So, then, as through one offence to all men it is to condemnation, so also through one declaration of `Righteous' it is to all men to justification of life; (YLT)

This is crystal clear, and if you read the whole chapter, it is evident that God does all the work for us while we were yet enemies. He died for the ungodly, and that wherever sin abounds, grace MUCH MORE abounds.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

What was purchased? The whole field! According to Jesus. but Paul said:

2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Have We Lost Our Moral Sense?

2009-09-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ro 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

God has placed in each of us a moral sense of what is right and what is wrong. Our moral sense tells us that to endlessly torment anyone is cruelty without purpose or benefit. It would be vindictive and hateful. Punishment is morally good only when it's designed to bring benefit to the afflicted. Anything else falls short of love. It is impossible to justify infinite punishment for any crime committed by a finite being, in a finite existence. This contradicts the very meaning of justify. For an accountants books to be justified, they must equal debits with credits. They must balance. Infinity can never be balanced with anything finite. Not even with everything finite combined. There can be no justice in infinite punishment inflicted for any amount of finite crimes. This would defy our moral sense if we still have one.

The advocates of endless evil evade the great moral issues. They will not face the question of the utter injustice of visiting finite guilt with an infinite penalty. They prefer to observe a discreet silence. They practically ignore the clear evidence of experts, which shows that moderate penalties are far more effective in repressing crime, and reforming the sinner, than are excessive punishments. They will not meet the arguments, which prove that the true conception of penalty is one, which, recognizing the need of retribution, yet lays the chief stress on its reformatory character.
They, in fact, substitute the "Great Taskmaster" for "Our Father," thereby obscuring, nay, almost denying, the fundamental fact of Christianity. They are strangely blind to the Vital question of the dualism virtually involved in teaching eternal evil. They do not seem aware that so to teach is to proclaim the defeat of Jesus Christ. They forget how indefensible is a dogma which, in fact, divides God into two Beings, which represents the unchanging One as changing from love here, to wrath hereafter. They have never explained when God Who "so loved the world" has ceased to love it, or how such a change is possible to Him, Who never can change. They attempt no answer when the moral degradation is pointed out, which a heaven involves, where we are to rejoice while our dear ones, or our fellowmen, for ever agonize. They are dumb, when asked to explain how sympathy can expire at the very gate of heaven; or how, if sympathy with the lost survive, the Blessed can know a moment's true joy. They do not explain how a process of degradation in hell can be endless: how moral rottenness can share the dignity of immortality: or how God can go on punishing His own children for ever, when all hope of amendment is past. They will not face the awful difficulty involved in God's free creation, in His own image, of myriads whom such a doom as hell to His certain knowledge awaits, They evade the difficulty, no less great, of conceiving a God, Who is Love, as watching to all eternity, unmoved and unloving, the agonies of His own children. They will not tell us why the savage is wrong, who mutilates his body to please his God; and the Christian is right, who mutilates his moral sense, his noblest part, by calling those acts good in God which he loathes in his fellowman.
This list, incomplete as it is, is sufficient to explain why those who would gladly, yet dare not, remain silent. God's honor is at stake: God's truth is at stake, when, in place of the Gospel, horrors are taught that especially wound that which is best within us, horrors that contradict alike man's conscience, primitive Christianity, and the express teaching of Holy Scripture. – Thomas Allin from “Christ Triumphant Universalism Asserted”

Look around you, I speak to thoughtful listeners. What is the fruit of the modern gospel? Where is the power of God today? Is it in the mega gatherings? Is it in the televangelists mansions? Is it in the multitudes of little gatherings dotting our land? Is it quenched because we are all preaching a false concept of God derived from tradition and from misleading translations of His life giving Word? How many preachers and pastors today are trapped in a pseudo spiritual existence for fear of losing their positions? These are not free to cross the tide of popular dogma. Unfortunately for them, the price is too high to even consider going there. So we perpetuate the myth of "eternal" hell, despite the insult it brings to the character of Jesus Christ and with no regard for the damage it brings to the coherency of the Word of God.

Unchangeable Love of God

2009-09-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

God is unchangeably love. Therefore, in judgment He is love, in wrath He is love, in vengeance He is love-"love first, and last, and midst, and without end."
– Thomas Allin

(In the following paragraph, I have paraphrased Thomas Allin's nineteenth century words.)
There is nothing in the Universe stronger than love. Nothing more awesome; more relentless, yet tender. When love is seen in its true colors, there remains no excuse for the very common mistake of placing sin at the center of our moral system rather than grace. True! Judgment is still a real and valid truth, in fact it is a vital truth on which true Universalism is based, but Love is a greater truth that dominates the whole system. Therefore, it is imperative that we don’t “put the cart before the horse”. God’s Love is always the guiding force behind His judgment. Therefore punishment can't be endless.

Ro 5:20 ... But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

1Jo 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Mal 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

A Sobering Thought

2009-09-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

"Suppose it were offered to the father of three children to take his choice whether two should be received into heaven and one condemned to hell, or the whole should be annihilated in death. What would a parent say? Where is the father who would dare to secure the bliss of two children at the cost of the endless misery of one? Which of the family would he select as the victim, whose undying pain should secure his brother's immortal joy? Is there any one living who would not suffer himself and his children to sink back again into nothingness, rather than purchase heaven at such a price? Now, if so, if we should so act in the case of our own children, we are bound morally to make the same choice with respect to every one. No moral being would consent to purchase eternal happiness at the price of another's eternal woe. Hence it follows that a future life, on the popular view, is an evil to the human race, not to the wicked, but to all. For if annihilation of the whole race should be tendered as the alternative, no moral being could, as has been shown, refuse to accept it." - BARLOW, Eternal Punishment.

How can it be said that God the Father, whose very essence is agape love, has planned such an unloving act that has no redeeming good whatever?

What attribute in man would cause him to cling to such a belief in the face of the powerful Scriptural evidence against it? What attribute in man would cause him to refuse to view the evidence against eternal damnation dogma? What attribute would cause one to become agitated and irritated when confronted with biblical evidence against the prevailing, but awful belief?

What???

Did Jesus Accomplish His Father's Will?

2009-09-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Mt 18:11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
1Jo 4:14 ¶ And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.Joh 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Joh 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Isa 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Hab 2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Joh 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

How do we justify the contradiction that the popular dogma of eternal damnation brings to these clear statements of God’s word?
If our understanding be that wide is the road that leads to destruction is talking about eternal damnation, then Jesus failed in accomplishing the will of His Father. Far from saving the lost, far from saving the world, He is depicted as only managing to eek out a very small minority of all mankind. How can this be construed as a victory? In this false picture, Satan is the clear winner, and now evil will never be eradicated but rather perpetuated to remain endlessly. No, this is not the true picture that God’s word teaches. God is omnipotent. God is Love. God will accomplish His will. Jesus did finish the work. It is due time we testify of the truth of God’s glory and stop presenting Him as a loser. It is not Gods will that a single person should perish and He will do all His will.

1Ti 4:9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. 10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 11 These things command and teach.
Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

The Unchangeableness of God

2009-09-01T23:35:00.000-07:00

"If God be unchangeable, then what we see- of Him at any moment, must be true of Him at every moment of time; true of Him also both before and after all the moments of time; always and for ever true of Him. If His purpose be to save mankind, that purpose stands firm for ever, unaffected by man's sin, unshaken by the fact of death, unaltered and unalterable by men, by angels, by naught conceivable." - Salv. Mundi.

The Lake of Fire

2009-08-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

THE LAKE OF FIRE taken from a work by J. Preston Eby

I believe every word that the Bible says about the lake of fire; I don't believe what Rome says about it, nor what the apostate Churches say about it, nor what tradition says about it; but I certainly believe what the Bible says about it.

The teaching concerning the lake of fire does not appear anywhere in Scripture except in the book of Revelation where it is spoken of in the following passages: Rev. 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10; 20:13-15 and 21:8. This last passage definitely states, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

There should be no question remaining as to the certainty of this lake of fire; neither should there be any doubt as to the awful consequence of having to be cast into it. These Scriptures with their dreadful foreboding should be a fearful warning to all unthinking and foolish people who, because of their love for the world, the flesh, and the devil, have dared to ask why we should serve God now if all are going to be saved eventually. Such people have no love for God nor fear of God, and they manifest by what they say that their professed serving of God is only a pretense, arising - not from any true love for Him - but from fear of punishment. If there were no prospect of hell these would promptly tell God to go to hell and they would, themselves, go to the devil. It is not thus with those who truly love God, for they serve not from fear, but from pure love and devotion. Remove punishment completely from the universe, and they would still serve God with all their hearts.

Because of the gross misunderstanding of almost all people concerning the lake of fire, I would like to draw your attention to three words found in the passage quoted above. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which BURNS with FIRE and BRIMSTONE: which is the second death."

The word BURN means combustion, or to consume. To consume does not mean to annihilate, for there is no such thing as annihilation in the absolute sense. When fire consumes a log in your fireplace it does not destroy any of the elements within the log, it merely changes their form. Combustion is the process by which chemicals combine to form new chemicals. For example: a tree might be cut down, sawed into fire wood, and burned. When the wood is burning the heat causes the chemicals of which the wood is composed to vaporize, mixing with the oxygen in the air to form new chemicals, including water and the gas carbon dioxide. So what was formerly a tree is no longer identified as the form of a tree, but the substance thereof is now simply CHANGED into a DIFFERENT FORM and exists in its new form within the atmosphere as water, carbon dioxide, etc. Thus, to burn, means to CHANGE. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that fire does not burn down; it always burns up; it seeks the highest level. And all that it consumes "goes up in smoke," to exist in a new form in a higher dimension. Even if you take a pan of water and place it over a fire, before long the water will take on the property of the fire and will begin to go up in steam. To burn means to CHANGE, and the change is always UPWARD in its motion.

FIRE is the heat and light that you feel and see when something burns. It takes heat to start a fire, but once the fire is started it produces heat that keeps the process going. Thus, fire is really HEAT and LIGHT. In my study of the lake that burns with fire and brimstone I was very much helped and impressed by the understanding given by Charles Pridgeon and I would like to quote from his scholarly work on the subject of BRIMSTONE. He says: "The Lake of Fire and Brimstone signifies a fire burning with brimstone; the word 'brimstone' or sulphur defines the character of the fire. The Greek word THEION translated 'brimstone' is exactly the same word THEION which means 'divine.' Sulphur was sacred to the deity among the ancient Greeks; and was used to fumigate, to purify, and to cleanse and consecrate to the deity; for this purpose they burned it in their incense. In Homer's Iliad (16:228), one is spoken of as purifying a goblet with fire and brimstone. The verb derived from THEION is THEIOO, which means to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god (See Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, 1897 Edition). To any Greek, or any trained in the Greek language, a 'lake of fire and brimstone' would mean a 'lake of divine purification.' The idea of judgment need not be excluded. Divine purification and divine consecration are the plain meaning in ancient Greek. In the ordinary explanation, this fundamental meaning of the word is entirely left out, and nothing but eternal torment is associated with it" -end quote.

I realize that the above thoughts define the subject very briefly, but let us summarize the meanings thus: BURN means combustion; to change the form of. FIRE means heat and light. BRIMSTONE means divine. Putting these three together can we not see that the lake burning with fire and brimstone is, actually, DIVINE HEAT AND LIGHT PRODUCING A CHANGE! Is such a process eternal? All the laws of nature shout that it is not!
taken from a series of essays by J. Preston Eby

Dear Readers...

2009-08-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Hey all, we appreciate your viewing our blog! According to our web counter there's about an average of 15 or so of you visiting every week (40 unique visitors for the month so far). We would love to hear from you...even a "hey" is fine. We'd like to know if you stopped by--we promise not to pummel you with unwanted attention :) Let us know if you are having any trouble leaving comments (my home email is tim_nanci@msn.com if this is the case). I apologize for the extra long post we made recently--its just too long. We would like to make this as much of a conversation as possible. Jack promises he has another post coming soon. As always, blessings on your search of the scriptures!

A look at the word "aionion"

2009-08-11T09:07:00.001-07:00

Here is a rather lengthy response to the website challenging universal salvation mentioned in our previous post. It is, however, well written by Jack and full of information you can use in your own study of the word often translated in our English Bibles "forever."

Jack begins...

4 Points of Disagreement
I respectfully disagree with the article on these counts:

1- Although context is always important in determining which meaning to choose for a word which holds more than one meaning, there is ample historical evidence that the greek word aion, and aionios, or aionon did not have more than one meaning when they were written in the days of the writing of the New Testament. If you would like to take the time, I have an excellent book that looks in depth at just these words. It was written in the 1800's but it is readable, though not a really easy read.

2- If a word has two meanings, such as pertaining to an age..and eternal, how would the context tell you which to use unless you already knew what was eternal and what was not? In other words, with these two meanings, the translators would have to have a pre-conceived idea about what was eternal in order to use the context to determine the right word.

3- It is a shame that the writer makes the accusation that the Christians who believe in the ultimate reconciliation of all do not understand Greek. Jesus said, "You who judge, you are guilty of the same thing." I am not a Greek scholar, don't pretend to be. I am just a simple believer in Jesus. Remember though, Jesus words, "Lu 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.

4- If you use aionios as pertaining to the age and aion as age, it makes sense in every rendering, but it changes the way you perceive the message of the Kingdom of God, making it more applicable to life today than the traditional message we are used to.

Let's look at one of the proof texts in the article:

Article: (found Here)
For example, consider this verse that is speaking about God:

who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen, (1 Tim. 6:16)

The context is obviously dealing with God's eternal nature. The word in Greek for "immortality" is "athanatos." The Greek word for death is "thanatos." The "a" in front of the word is the negator -- without, non, etc. It means that God is deathless; hence, immortal. This is an eternal quality of God. Likewise, the verse states that God has eternal dominion. The word for "eternal" is "aionios" which is derived from the Greek root "aion" which means age. But, God is not immortal for only an "age," nor is His dominion temporal. The word "eternal" is absolutely the best way to translate the Greek "aionion" because God is immortal and eternal. Therefore, it would be wrong to translate the verse by stating that God has "aionion" dominion. Rather, He has eternal dominion.

Jack:
I agree that this verse is talking about God, that it says He is immortal. a thanatos. So the verse has already stated that fact clearly. Then it goes on to speak of His dominion. Now, it is clearly stated in 1 Corinthians 15, that at the end of time Jesus, who has been given dominion from the father must reign UNTIL.

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. I Cor 15:24-25

At that time Jesus turns over his rule to the Father. I would suggest that in the verse in question, it doesn't take anything away from God's Immortality to refer to the aionion dominion, nor does the context demand that the dominion of God be expressed as eternal. And since, historically the word aionion NEVER meant eternal. No not in the Septuagint, nor in all of Greek literature. The words Aion and aionios etc. didn't have a hint of this meaning until after 400 A.D. when the Catholic, Augustine championed the new idea of Eternal damnation.

10 verses used to support that aion means "eternal"
Let's look at the list of verses given to support the meaning of eternal: (My comments in red.)

1. John 6:47, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal (aionion) life." Did not Jesus give us life pertaining to this age? Is He not dwelling in us and we in Him? Why can't Jesus be referring to this life?

2. John 20:28, "and I give eternal (aionion) life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand." Again Jesus making reference to the life we now enjoy and He adds AND they shall never perish.and is an addition to the first part of the verse, a reference to eternal life. I give them age pertaining life plus they shall never perish.

3. Acts 13:48, "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal (aionion) life believed." All those who are specially saved, privileged to know Him now, believed. Everyone will believe when they die and are faced with the undeniable facts, but only a few will believe now--those appointed.

4. Romans 2:7, " to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal (aionion) life." Those who persevere in good and seek glory and honor and immortality will receive life. They will know Him. Joh 17:3 "And this is life eternal (aionios), that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

5. Romans 5:21, "that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal (aionion) life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Grace is the "desire and power" to serve God. That's what we need now. Again, we are to be living in aionion life now.

6. Rom. 16:26, " but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal (aionion) God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith." God is not only the Immortal God, He is also the aionion God. To say He is the aionion God is to say that He is the God who has condescended to us, the God who cares about us, the God who is involved with this age. Isn't this what the world and the church need to realize now?

7. Gal. 6:8, "For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal (aionion) life." He is sent to be our comforter, our helper, the one who comes along side to strenghthen us now in this life. When we walk by the Spirit we live (experience life) by the Spirit.

8. 1 Tim. 6:16, "who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal (aionion) dominion! Amen." We already dealt with this verse.

9. 1 John 1:2, "and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal (aionion) life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us" In another place Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life, and that more abundantly." This is the true Blessed Hope. Christ in you, the hope of glory!

10. 1 John 5:11, "And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal (aionion) life, and this life is in His Son." Amen. He also came to give us Immortality."

The problem with using context to define a word, is that you have to already know what the verse means before you can choose the right word. This prevents us from determining what the word means for ourselves unless we can look at the original. The tradition of the Catholic church which Tyndale and Martin Luther and many of the KJV translators were trained by, was a tradition of Eternal Punishment.

My understanding of God is that He is all powerful. He is able to accomplish all His will. It's not God's will that ANY should perish but that All might be reconciled unto Him.

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 2 Co 5:19

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. I Jo 2:2

My understanding of God is that He is Agape. He never made a person He didn't intend to deliver. There are many verses that indicate this.

5 Examples of aion use
Allow me to present five verses in the same book of the Bible, that all have the word aion in them within three short chapters. See if you can tell which word translates aion in these five verses:

1. Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

The word aion, here is translated world. If it was translated age, it would fit the context perfectly. If it was translated eternity it would weaken the meaning of the English word eternity significantly, so the translators elected to hijack the word and assign it a meaning that is totally inconsistent with it's historical usage.

2. Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

World again, and again, age would have been perfect to the context. However, we can see eternity wouldn't have worked too well. This eternity? As if we have several? Or at least more than one? Impossible.

3. Eph 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Got it right here. Of course, eternity wouldn't have worked too well would it? Eternities to come? First of all, you can only have one eternity and second, it has no beginning nor end so it must already be here.

4. Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

Okay, so we found one that eternal sounds reasonable, but does not Christ Jesus our Lord have a purpose that pertains to this age? Hense, Aionian purpose?.

And this one:

5. Eph 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

eis throughout pasas all tas geneas generations tou of the aiwnos ages twn of the aiwnwn age amhn amen.

Isn't it amazing that the translators missed the word generations? It's actually a fairly common Greek word, used often in Scripture. And isn't it curious that they translated generations as ages when the word ages was right after the word generations? And isn't it surprising to you that they would translate the word aionos and aionon as "world without end"? First, the world is not without end, second The Greek word for endless (without end) is akatalutos found in Heb 7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless <akatalutos> life. Why would the writer have to use a word which could mean age to convey endlessness, when he could have just used akatalutos? He should have said Kosmos akatalutos if he wanted to say world without end, but he didn't. So he used the phrase "ages of the age". By the way, there are at least two Greek words for world that really do mean world. Kosmos, and oikoumene. Every time that aion is translated world, it could have been easily translated age. In fact an amazing number of times it is in reference to the start or end of whatever it is. (That's why it is translated world in these verses, because if it was translated eternity, it would be absurd or at the very least it would change the meaning of eternity and weaken their tradition of an endless damnation. The end of eternity, the beginning of eternity etc.)

Resource: Researching aion
The following verses are all the verses in the KJV that translated aion as world: I took the time to place them here to make it easy for you to examine for yourself whether or not age or some form of age would have been a reasonable translation. And as you check it out, notice how eternity or forever would have worked in these verses. You might also note that a few of the verses may have world more than once, and one of the Greek words is not aion but kosmos. Kosmos is the main Greek word in the NT to convey the meaning of world. It is used around 150 times.

Mt 12:32 And <kai> whosoever <hos> <an> speaketh <epo> a word <logos> against <kata> the Son <huios> of man <anthropos>, it shall be forgiven <aphiemi> him <autos>: but <hos> whosoever <de> <an> speaketh <epo> against <kata> the Holy <hagios> Ghost <pneuma>, it shall <aphiemi> not <ou> be forgiven <aphiemi> him <autos>, neither <oute> in <en> this <touto> world <aion>, neither <oute> in <en> the world to come <mello>.

Mt 13:22 He also <de> that received seed <speiro> among <eis> the thorns <akantha> is <esti> he that <houtos> heareth <akouo> the word <logos>; and <kai> the care <merimna> of this <toutou> world <aion>, and <kai> the deceitfulness <apate> of riches <ploutos>, choke <sumpnigo> the word <logos>, and <kai> he becometh <ginomai> unfruitful <akarpos>.

Mt 13:39 <de> The enemy <echthros> that sowed <speiro> them <autos> is <esti> the devil <diabolos>; <de> the harvest <therismos> is <esti> the end <sunteleia> of the world <aion>; and <de> the reapers <theristes> are <eisi> the angels <aggelos>.

Mt 13:40 As <hosper> therefore <oun> the tares <zizanion> are gathered <sullego> and <kai> burned <katakaio> in the fire <pur>; so <houto> shall it be <esomai> in <en> the end <sunteleia> of this <toutou> world <aion>.

Mt 13:49 So <houto> shall it be <esomai> at <en> the end <sunteleia> of the world <aion>: the angels <aggelos> shall come forth <exerchomai>, and <kai> sever <aphorizo> the wicked <poneros> from <ek> among <mesos> the just <dikaios>,

Mt 24:3 And <de> as he <autos> sat <kathemai> upon <epi> the mount <oros> of Olives <elaia>, the disciples <mathetes> came <proserchomai> unto him <autos> privately <kata> <idios>, saying <lego>, Tell <epo> us <hemin>, when <pote> shall <esomai> these things <tauta> be <esomai>? and <kai> what <tis> shall be the sign <semeion> of thy <sos> coming <parousia>, and <kai> of the end <sunteleia> of the world <aion>?

Mt 28:20 Teaching <didasko> them <autos> to observe <tereo> all things <pas> whatsoever <hosos> I have commanded <entellomai> you <humin>: and <kai>, lo <idou>, I <ego> am <eimi> with <meta> you <humon> alway <pas> <hemera>, even unto <heos> the end <sunteleia> of the world <aion>. Amen <amen>.

Mr 4:19 And <kai> the cares <merimna> of this <toutou> world <aion>, and <kai> the deceitfulness <apate> of riches <ploutos>, and <kai> the lusts <epithumia> of <peri> other things <loipoy> entering in <eisporeuomai>, choke <sumpnigo> the word <logos>, and <kai> it becometh <ginomai> unfruitful <akarpos>.

Mr 10:30 But <ean me> he shall receive <lambano> an hundredfold <hekatontaplasion> now <nun> in <en> this <touto> time <kairos>, houses <oikia>, and <kai> brethren <adelphos>, and <kai> sisters <adelphe>, and <kai> mothers <meter>, and <kai> children <teknon>, and <kai> lands <agros>, with <meta> persecutions <diogmos>; and <kai> in <en> the world <aion> to come <erchomai> eternal <aionios> life <zoe>.

Lu 1:70 As <kathos> he spake <laleo> by <dia> the mouth <stoma> of his <autos> holy <hagios> prophets <prophetes>, which <ho> have been since <apo> the world began <aion>:

Lu 16:8 And <kai> the lord <kurios> commended <epaineo> the unjust <adikia> steward <oikonomos>, because <hoti> he had done <poieo> wisely <phronimos>: for <hoti> the children <huios> of this <toutou> world <aion> are <eisi> in <eis> their <heautou> generation <genea> wiser <phronimos> than <huper> the children <huios> of light <phos>.

Lu 18:30 Who <hos> shall <apolambano> not <ou me> receive <apolambano> manifold more <pollaplasion> in <en> this <touto> present time <kairos>, and <kai> in <en> the world <aion> to come <erchomai> life <zoe> everlasting <aionios>.

Lu 20:34 And <kai> Jesus <Iesous> answering <apokrinomai> said <epo> unto them <autos>, The children <huios> of this <toutou> world <aion> marry <gameo>, and <kai> are given in marriage <ekgamisko>:

Lu 20:35 But <de> they which shall be accounted worthy <kataxioo> to obtain <tugchano> that <ekeinos> world <aion>, and <kai> the resurrection <anastasis> from <ek> the dead <nekros>, neither <oute> marry <gameo>, nor <oute> are given in marriage <ekgamisko>:

Joh 9:32 Since <ek> the world began <aion> was it <akouo> not <ou> heard <akouo> that <hoti> any man <tis> opened <anoigo> the eyes <ophthalmos> of one that was born <gennao> blind <tuphlos>.

Ac 3:21 Whom <hos> the heaven <ouranos> <men> must <dei> receive <dechomai> until <achri> the times <chronos> of restitution <apokatastasis> of all things <pas>, which <hos> God <theos> hath spoken <laleo> by <dia> the mouth <stoma> of all <pas> his <autos> holy <hagios> prophets <prophetes> since <apo> the world began <aion>.

Ac 15:18 Known <gnostos> unto God <theos> are <esti> all <pas> his <autos> works <ergon> from <apo> the beginning of the world <aion>.

Ro 12:2 And <kai> be <suschematizo> not <me> conformed <suschematizo> to this <touto> world <aion>: but <alla> be ye transformed <metamorphoo> by the renewing <anakainosis> of your <humon> mind <nous>, that <eis> ye <humas> may prove <dokimazo> what <tis> is that good <agathos>, and <kai> acceptable <euarestos>, and <kai> perfect <teleios>, will <thelema> of God <theos>.

1Co 1:20 Where <pou> is the wise <sophos>? where <pou> is the scribe <grammateus>? where <pou> is the disputer <suzetetes> of this <toutou> world <aion>? hath <moraino> not <ouchi> God <theos> made foolish <moraino> the wisdom <sophia> of this <toutou> world <kosmos>?

1Co 2:6 ¶ Howbeit <de> we speak <laleo> wisdom <sophia> among <en> them that are perfect <teleios>: yet <de> not <ou> the wisdom <sophia> of this <toutou> world <aion>, nor <oude> of the princes <archon> of this <toutou> world <aion>, that come to nought <katargeo>:

1Co 2:7 But <alla> we speak <laleo> the wisdom <sophia> of God <theos> in <en> a mystery <musterion>, even the hidden <apokrupto> wisdom, which <hos> God <theos> ordained <proorizo> before <pro> the world <aion> unto <eis> our <hemon> glory <doxa>:

1Co 2:8 Which <hos> none <oudeis> of the princes <archon> of this <toutou> world <aion> knew <ginosko>: for <ei> <gar> had they known <ginosko> it, they <an> would <stauroo> not <ou> have crucified <stauroo> the Lord <kurios> of glory <doxa>.

1Co 3:18 ¶ Let <exapatao> no man <medeis> deceive <exapatao> himself <heautou>. If any man <ei tis> among <en> you <humin> seemeth <dokeo> to be <einai> wise <sophos> in <en> this <touto> world <aion>, let him become <ginomai> a fool <moros>, that <hina> he may be <ginomai> wise <sophos>.

1Co 8:13 Wherefore <dioper>, if <ei> meat <broma> make <skandalizo> my <mou> brother <adelphos> to offend <skandalizo>, I will eat <phago> no <ou me> flesh <kreas> while the world standeth <eis> <aion>, lest <hina me> I make <skandalizo> my <mou> brother <adelphos> to offend <skandalizo>.

1Co 10:11 Now <de> all <pas> these things <tauta> happened <sumbaino> unto them <ekeinos> for ensamples <tupos>: and <de> they are written <grapho> for <pros> our <hemon> admonition <nouthesia>, upon <eis> whom <hos> the ends <telos> of the world <aion> are come <katantao>.

2Co 4:4 In <en> whom <hos> the god <theos> of this <toutou> world <aion> hath blinded <tuphloo> the minds <noema> of them which believe not <apistos>, lest <eis> <me> the light <photismos> of the glorious <doxa> gospel <euaggelion> of Christ <Christos>, who <hos> is <esti> the image <eikon> of God <theos>, should shine <augazo> unto them <autos>.

Ga 1:4 Who <ho> gave <didomi> himself <heautou> for <huper> our <hemon> sins <hamartia>, that <hopos> he might deliver <exaireo> us <hemas> from <ek> this present <enistemi> evil <poneros> world <aion>, according <kata> to the will <thelema> of God <theos> and <kai> our <hemon> Father <pater>:

Eph 1:21 Far above <huperano> all <pas> principality <arche>, and <kai> power <exousia>, and <kai> might <dunamis>, and <kai> dominion <kuriotes>, and <kai> every <pas> name <onoma> that is named <onomazo>, not <ou> only <monon> in <en> this <touto> world <aion>, but <alla> also <kai> in <en> that which is to come <mello>:

Eph 2:2 Wherein <en> <hos> in time past <pote> ye walked <peripateo> according to <kata> the course <aion> of this <toutou> world <kosmos>, according to <kata> the prince <archon> of the power <exousia> of the air <aer>, the spirit <pneuma> that now <nun> worketh <energeo> in <en> the children <huios> of disobedience <apeitheia>:

Eph 3:9 And <kai> to make <photizo> all <pas> men see <photizo> what <tis> is the fellowship <koinonia> of the mystery <musterion>, which <ho> from <apo> the beginning of the world <aion> hath been hid <apokrupto> in <en> God <theos>, who <ho> created <ktizo> all things <pas> by <dia> Jesus <Iesous> Christ <Christos>:

Eph 3:21 Unto him <autos> be glory <doxa> in <en> the church <ekklesia> by <en> Christ <Christos> Jesus <Iesous> throughout <eis> all <pas> ages <genea>, world <aion> without end <aion>. Amen <amen>.

Eph 6:12 For <hoti> we <hemin> wrestle <pale> not <ou> against <esti> <pros> flesh <sarx> and <kai> blood <haima>, but <alla> against <pros> principalities <arche>, against <pros> powers <exousia>, against <pros> the rulers <kosmokrator> of the darkness <skotos> of this <toutou> world <aion>, against <pros> spiritual <pneumatikos> wickedness <poneria> in <en> high <epouranios> places.

1Ti 6:17 Charge <paraggello> them that are rich <plousios> in <en> this <nun> world <aion>, that they be <hupselophroneo> not <me> highminded <hupselophroneo>, nor <mede> trust <elpizo> in <epi> uncertain <adelotes> riches <ploutos>, but <alla> in <en> the living <zao> God <theos>, who <ho> giveth <parecho> us <hemin> richly <plousios> all things <pas> to <eis> enjoy <apolausis>;

2Ti 4:10 For <gar> Demas <Demas> hath forsaken <egkataleipo> me, having loved <agapao> this present <nun> world <aion>, and <kai> is departed <poreuomai> unto <eis> Thessalonica <Thessalonike>; Crescens <Kreskes> to <eis> Galatia <Galatia>, Titus <Titos> unto <eis> Dalmatia <Dalmatia>.

Tit 2:12 Teaching <paideuo> us <hemas> that <hina>, denying <arneomai> ungodliness <asebeia> and <kai> worldly <kosmikos> lusts <epithumia>, we should live <zao> soberly <sophronos>, <kai> righteously <dikaios>, and <kai> godly <eusebos>, in <en> this present <nun> world <aion>;

Heb 6:5 And <kai> have tasted <geuomai> the good <kalos> word <rhema> of God <theos>, and <te> the powers <dunamis> of the world <aion> to come <mello>,

Heb 9:26 For then <epei> must <dei> he <autos> often <pollakis> have suffered <pascho> since <apo> the foundation <katabole> of the world <kosmos>: but <de> now <nun> once <hapax> in <epi> the end <sunteleia> of the world <aion> hath he appeared <phaneroo> to <eis> put away <athetesis> sin <hamartia> by <dia> the sacrifice <thusia> of himself <autos>.

(KJV)
Final Comment
We are only scratching the tip of the iceberg here. Please don't discard your opportunity to search this out just because one website "pooh pooh's" the Greek scholarship of those who believe in the ultimate reconciliation of all. Remember, We don't have to be wise and prudent, we just need to be His babes.

Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Mark 10:15

Jack

Being Open To Heathy Debate

2009-08-11T08:21:00.001-07:00

We would like to make it easy for readers to investigate opposing views to our "God Sized Hope." Here is one link to an apologetic web site opposing universal salvation. Please help us by sending any other websites useful in this conversation. Our allegiance to scripture trumps our need to be right. Ferreting out all the issues is tantamount to a successful outcome. As you can imagine this will take time. This website (God Sized Hope) has a random nature to it, but it is our goal to discuss all the evidence in a friendly manner, respecting all sides of the conversation. May God bless all who read this blog!

Jesus : A Big Catch In Mind!

2009-08-03T08:17:00.001-07:00

By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ...that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel... Eph. 3:4,6 (NASB)

Do we really understand how great a mystery was revealed to Paul? Paul was given grace (v.8) to

...bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages* has been hidden in God who created all things... Eph 3:9 (NASB)

What a travesty that popular doctrine minimizes this "administration" to a small catch! If we would honestly look at the ministry and life of Jesus, how could we not be confused? The catch Jesus had for his disciples was beyond their resources! (Luke 5:4-7)

Again, how could our sights for salvation be so low when we have such a God...

...who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us... Eph 3:20

Finally, consider our heavenly Father, who guards his name so vigorously:

20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: 21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: 22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. Dan 2:20-22 (KJV)

Throughout the word of God, Men are careful to honor "the Name" (for example: Ex 20:7; 33:19; Du 28:10). Listen to the beginning of this wonderful Prayer of Paul:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth drives its name... (Eph 3:14-15)

Is this not part of the wonderful mystery revealed to Paul? That every family would be named after the Father? And more so, and I am taking liberties with this text in light of the greater witness of scripture, will not all these families be his? For scripture says that one day "every knee will bow" and "every tongue confess" that "Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father!" (Philippians 2:10-11)

Is our God really so wonderful? Is the scope of His salvation beyond our understanding? Are we not, perhaps, trapped in our "recipe gospel," blind to an accurate understanding of scripture by tradition, enmity or pride? I suggest that Jesus has a much bigger "catch" in mind than our limited thinking can contain!

*"aion" in the Greek, occurs 128 times in the Bible, same word often erroneously translated "eternity", but a little awkward to do that when it is plural!

Will Those Condemned to Hell See Jesus Again?

2009-07-22T07:30:00.001-07:00

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? (Matt 23:33)

Jesus, in this "woe" passage, all but condemns the scribes and Pharisees, listing their sins and hypocrisies. In spite of Jesus great desire to gather them to himself, they were "unwilling." (v. 37).

However, there is an interesting sequel:

For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Matt 23:39)

Here, plainly, Jesus speaks of the scribes and Pharisees seeing Jesus again. "Fine," you say, "that's just the judgment." Oh, really? Do those who are going to eternal judgment bless and honor the one who is becoming King? This is the same announcement that the followers of Jesus gave back in Matt 21 on Palm Sunday (v. 9). Could this be the confession of those who have endured a judgment and are finally returning to the Lord at some later time (perhaps post "hell?"). Consider setting aside traditional views of the Pharisees end and test the scripture.

And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers
until he should repay all that was owed him.
(Matt 18:34 Jesus' parable of a king wishing to settle accounts with his slaves, emphasis mine)

Why, if Jesus was illustrating end time judgment, did he give an end to the servants torture? Will there be a time when the Pharisees will have paid back "all that was owed" to the king? Will they see Jesus again and bless Him?

so that at the name of Jesus Every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:10-11)