It's clear to me because Moses and Elijah stood on the Mt. of Transfiguration in bodily form. Scripture says that Elijah was taken into heaven in a chariot and that God buried Moses. So yeah, it's apparent to me that they both received resurrected bodies "ahead of the game".
If only their spirits had been summonsed from the dead; the disciples would not have been asking Jesus if they should build shelters for the 3 of them. Very clearly, Moses and Elijah were in tangible form.
Deceased human beings, where the soul and spirit have been severed from the flesh, can not manifest themselves in material form. Non-carbon based entities called angels can appear to humans in material form and pre-incarnation Christ appeared to humans in material form. (theophanies.) No where in the Scripture does it say that deceased saints appear to humans on earth in material form.
Only one place in Revelation do we see a "dis-embodied" saint appear to John in material form; but this was a vision of heaven and if John was actually physically there, there's nothing to say this deceased saint had not already received a resurrected body. This was a post resurrection event. So if John was actually physically in the New Jerusalem, he very well may have encountered people with resurrected bodies.
The Scripture does say that many bodies of the saints arose after Christ's resurrection and walked around in the holy city. That was most likely the New Jerusalem because the earthy Jerusalem (where the Messiah was crucified) was no longer "set apart".
"For God so loved the cosmos, that He gave His only begotten son..." The Greek word is "cosmos", which is what we'd translate as "universe". The creation is part of the redemption plan. It will be delivered from the curse brought upon it by mans' sin and will be recreated incorruptible. And this is why I believe John wrote "cosmos" in that verse.
Now, there's also a verse: "A decree went out from Augustus Caesar that all the world be taxed." Did Caesar tax the American Indians, or the Chinese? When does "all the world" really not mean "all the world"? The Greek word for "world" in that passage is "inhabitants of the earth".
Now under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; John could have written: "For God so loved the inhabitants of the earth, that He gave...." But that's not what he wrote. He wrote: "For God so loved the cosmos..."
John 3:16 does not teach universal atonement.
I'm sorry, but I can not picture an incorruptible earth that contains people (alleged by you to now have been cleansed by their experience in the lake of fire) who are silenced and void of praise on account of being forced to "bow the knee".
How does forced obedience produce love? That's why I said that idea poses a sadistic view of God.
Yet apparently you don't see that; because you claim that God requiring someone to atone for their own sin is "sadistic".
Matter of fact though; the Scripture declares that the disobedient mouths are halted
because they are guilty before God. Romans 3:19
This also flies in the face of what you said before about they're not being in the lake of fire because of sin, but because of unbelief. Well, is not unbelief a sin? Scripture commands men to believe; yet if one disobeys the law, that is sin. So therefore; disobeying the command to believe is sin.
So, if Christ has atoned for them; there is no grounds to send them to the lake of fire in the first place. Contrary to what a lot of people claim; unbelief is not blaspheming the Spirit of God. Blasphemy against the Spirit is the only sin that is unforgivable and that sin is very specific to time and place of witnessing Christ perform miracles in the flesh, knowing He's the Messiah and saying He does this by the power of Satan.
That is blaspheming the Holy Ghost. That is the only definition of blaspheming the Holy Ghost. We can be assured that unbelief is not blaspheming the Holy Ghost, because everyone at some point or another is in a state of unbelief.
No, I do not believe this. Matter of fact; I said that one can come to redemption by the witness of creation, outside of the written revelation of Scripture and you made fun of me for saying that.
The statements I made about emotion were not in reference to any "emotional need" of God's. So, stop taking what I say out of context.
Positive emotional response toward God (i.e. love and gratitude) is a consequence of redemption. Now the degree wherewith an individual may publicly express that will vary. What you see on the outside though, does not necessarily convey to you the extent of what they feel in their heart.
Hopefully I'm saying emotion is necessary to be saved? LOL
Positive emotional response to God is like faith and obedience. It is a consequence of redemption, not a prerequisite to.
And why don't they have it?
If they believe no one is eternally lost; why would they be joyful? Salvation becomes as inevitable as death and taxes. What's there to be happy about that? LOL
What would you call one who forces obedience from another so they can delude themselves into believing they are loved? Psychology calls that sadism.
And why throw someone into the lake of fire to accomplish that? Isn't the emotional turmoil experienced on earth as a consequence of sin and living in a fallen world enough?
Go back and read more carefully what I actually wrote.
How would your belief square with passages that talk of God's wrath? If "the contractual aspect of forgiveness REQUIRES no emotion"; why does the Scripture speak of the wrath of God? According to what you're saying; in order for God to forgive, He'd have to "muster up enough emotion to do what needs to be done to forgive this situation".
The Scripture does not portray God that way though. God is described in the Scripture as anything but emotionless. Look at Jesus in Gethsemane. Do you have any idea what His agony would have looked like if you were to stand there and watch it? Have you ever seen someone have a nervous breakdown? A PTSD shell shocked panic attack? If you look closely at the Greek; you'd come to the conclusion that Jesus's experience would have looked something like the footage in this clip.
Jeremiah tells us that the wrath of God causes men to go insane.
