I came when the Spirit convicted me, just like scripture says is supposed to happen.I didn’t come to Christ until I was 38 years old and my incentive wasn’t love or fear it was sadness and loneliness. I was struggling in life very hard and I decided that the only way to get help from God was to turn to Him. I didn’t deserve His help because I was living my life my way not His way. After I came to Him, He changed both me and my life and I praise His Holy name for it.
It's the same reaction that I have to any of Satan's lies.
I came when the Spirit convicted me, just like scripture says is supposed to happen.
JOH 16:8 And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
I was at the top of my 'small Kansas town' world. I had the envy of all my friends the night I got born again. Unlike you, I wasn't struggling at all. I had the money, Californian wardrobe, 57 Chevy, motorcycle and more 'one night' stands than anyone else. But before achieving that envious place in our little city of 20,000, I served the devil. Grand theft, international smuggling, rape 2x, adultery 2x, gonorrhea 2x, prostitution, drug dealing....blah blah blah. For 10 years my testimony included "I'd still be in prison IF I had been caught for half of what I did."
When I received the 'faith' to believe, my incentive wasn't "fear" either. I got a girlfriend pregnant at 19 and was married in the ROMAN Catholic church which I was born and raised into. We were divorced in 4 months. Well, the church's stance then, and now; was you can't ever take communion again or get married again unless that first wife dies (or you get an annulment, which she did to marry another RC). I was 19 divorced and a baby on the way (1st of 2 out of wedlock).
Thanks to 'religion', I also felt like I had committed some unforgivable sin, given the RC church's laws. So I made the conscious decision to give God the finger and tell him if this is what He was all about then he could screw himself and I'd go to HELL with all my friends. And with that decision, I was going to make sure I had a front row seat. 4 years later, He came after me. I was a lost sheep and HE FOUND ME. I can't relate to all your testimonies where you found the shepherd with your imaginary free wills. My will was taken captive by the devil, just like scripture says.
It's the same reaction that I have to any of Satan's lies.
and again I say
Share a little of your testimony for me Hmm. You've appeared since I left, because COVID has increased 'actual Christian ministry time for me'.
Also share; when did you first become aware of the plan of God for the ultimate reconciliation of ALL?
So Lazarus was set to be in Abraham's bosom. . .and he was.Lazarus is Greek for Eliezer. Eliezer of Damascus was set to inherit everything Abraham owned while childless. Just something to chew on.
Precisely. . .see Isaiah 55:8-9.We can’t view God’s decisions based on the decisions we would make.
Would you kill someone just for touching your car? God killed a man for touching the Ark because he thought it was going to fall over and he tried to stop it. Would you throw someone into a lake of fire because they rejected you even just temporarily? God will. We can’t make assumptions as to what God will do that specifically contradict what He said He will do.
So Lazarus was set to be in Abraham's bosom. . .and he was.
Now that's the gospel!I came when the Spirit convicted me, just like scripture says is supposed to happen.
JOH 16:8 And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
I was at the top of my 'small Kansas town' world. I had the envy of all my friends the night I got born again. Unlike you, I wasn't struggling at all. I had the money, Californian wardrobe, 57 Chevy, motorcycle and more 'one night' stands than anyone else. But before achieving that envious place in our little city of 20,000, I served the devil. Grand theft, international smuggling, rape 2x, adultery 2x, gonorrhea 2x, prostitution, drug dealing....blah blah blah. For 10 years my testimony included "I'd still be in prison IF I had been caught for half of what I did."
When I received the 'faith' to believe, my incentive wasn't "fear" either. I got a girlfriend pregnant at 19 and was married in the ROMAN Catholic church which I was born and raised into. We were divorced in 4 months. Well, the church's stance then, and now; was you can't ever take communion again or get married again unless that first wife dies (or you get an annulment, which she did to marry another RC). I was 19 divorced and a baby on the way (1st of 2 out of wedlock).
Thanks to 'religion', I also felt like I had committed some unforgivable sin, given the RC church's laws. So I made the conscious decision to give God the finger and tell him if this is what He was all about then he could screw himself and I'd go to HELL with all my friends. And with that decision, I was going to make sure I had a front row seat. 4 years later, He came after me. I was a lost sheep and HE FOUND ME. I can't relate to all your testimonies where you found the shepherd with your imaginary free wills. My will was taken captive by the devil, just like scripture says.
So Lazarus was set to be in Abraham's bosom. . .and he was.
@Cormack is to blame for starting this thread which I'm glad to see is now back at the top of the charts:
Would you prefer it if “Christian universalism” were true?
I've been a Christian for a while but never took ECT seriously, apart from it's impact on keeping newly interested people from the faith. This thread was a good introduction to Christian universalism and inspired me to read further. Probably the thing that clinched it for me was the mistranslation in most English Bibles of the Greek phrase "aionios kolasis" to "eternal punishment" instead of something like "corrective punishment lasting an age", something that every serious scholar/ theologian I've ever read acknowledges. This made me read all the 'hell and damnation' passages in a new light and I was impressed by the authors I read, for example, Thomas Talbott, Keith deRose and Robin Parry. And of course the guys with the really frighteningly big brains such as Ilaria Ramelli and David Bentley Hart.
I intuited that ECT was wrong but once I read these guys I understood why it was wrong. I'm encouraged that Christian universalism has been on the increase over the last 20 years as measured by books sold, YouTube videos watched etc (there aren't enough or any churches to do an actual count). I guess this coincides with people's Internet access because other not many would be exposed to the ideas. Reading others' testimonies was useful and also strongly indicates that there are a lot of clergy and academics who are closet universalists but afraid to 'come out' for fear of losing their reputation or job.
How about you? What led you to the universalist light?
And the reason that charge has no hooks for my eyes (clothing fastener: hook and eye) is becausethe thing that clinched it for me was the mistranslation in most English Bibles of the Greek phrase "aionios kolasis" to "eternal punishment" (Matthew 25:46) instead of something like "corrective punishment lasting an age",
And the reason that has no hooks for my eyes (clothing fastener: hook and eye) is because
1) "age lasting" (aionios), "eternal" is used throughout the NT of things that are without end, enending; e.g.,
God's eternal (aionios) power, eternal glory, eternal Holy Spirit, eternal redemption, eternal life, immortal (eternal) resurrection body. . .it means "eternal" in "eternal punishment" and "eternal life" of Matthew 25:46.
So the Lazarus of Luke 13 is not about Abraham's servant, it's just about a Hebrew.Besides that, be aware that Eliezer of Damascus joyfully brought a wife back for Isaac, knowing that by doing so, he was disinheriting himself.
Only if you are trying to shoehorn it into meaning something it doesn't. . .It's a complex word
"Majority"?. . .are you sure about that?
Well, there's our problem. . ."unending" and" temporal" are contradictory terms.Let me just give you my best explanation of aionosis and then I'll have to leave it there because I'm suffering from aionosis battle fatigue (even though I won)
This is from Thomas Talbott:
"I think it fair to say that on no occasion of its use in the New Testament does aiõnios carry any implication of unending temporal duration.
On three occasions (see Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 1:19; Titus 1:2), this term does combine with the concept of time in such a way as to imply temporal duration; but on each of these occassions, which are clearly exceptional, the context excludes the idea of unending temporal duration. Given its more normal use in the New Testament, where aiõnios refers either to Bid himself or to the possessions, gifts, or actions of God, it appears to have a special religious meaning that has nothing to do with the duration of temporal events."
So aiõnios can mean eternal but only when applied to God. So, for example, external punishment is simply punishment of any duration that has its causal source in the eternal purposes of God. We see this where the fire that consumed Sodom and Gomorrah is described as "eternal fire" in the letter of Jude. This fire's not still burning is it? Eternal here is a reference to God, meaning that it was a form of divine judgement and it's causal source was God himself. Similarly for eternal hell fire and eternal punishment and the like.
All you just gave me was your opinion to counter my opinion. Show me your biblical support for YOUR OPINION.free will isn’t imaginary, it’s biblical. In my case I feel that God had backed me into a corner where the only way out was thru Him. Even tho He was calling me I still had to cooperate in order to be saved.