I don't think these are promises, per se.
I think salvation is a package deal, and these benefits come with the package.
The point is that the believability problem can bother anything we might promise or guarantee a person
(regardless of our view on the nature of Gods gifts or OSAS.)
Whether or not someone was or wasn’t a believer according to your doctrinal distinctive, you would still talk about the
promise of salvation. The promised Son. The promise of the Holy Spirit. Even the
prospect of salvation. Yet without reason to believe all of those words are emptied of belief.
If I
(a perfect stranger) promises you half of my kingdom in Ethiopia, while your lowly mailman promises to bring you a package he failed to deliver the day before, who’s offered you the more exciting prospect?
The mailman, why? Because princes from Africa on the internet are 100% scam artists, while your mailman actually delivers boxes for a living.
It’s not a virtue to believe your husband is a faithful man when you find the lipstick on his collar, the suspicious text messages on his phone or an absent bed while he sneaks out every night. It’s foolishness to believe he’s anything other than a love rat.
Belief in the husbands faithfulness is the problem
(just like @RoseCrystal wrote,) but that belief in his faithfulness was
weaken by the wife’s greater knowledge of the facts.
I don’t believe that happens in the case for Christ though, IMO ignorance convicts Him, knowledge vindicates Him. The more we know about the faith the brighter He shines, and the more we can rest in peace on those promises.
That’s why I snuck that recommendation to watch William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens into the thread earlier.
Your original point was why give up all of
this for something
else.
My point is that however good the
this promise is, the something
else (although it’s lesser in magnitude) could be seen as more believable, and as a result more attractive.
The plain man or woman you’re going to marry is 1000 times more exciting and life affirming than any supermodel you aren’t marrying.
Liar: I’ll give you 1 car!
Honest man: I’ll give you 1 taco.
@AV1611VET: I dunno, you’re both convincing guys.
Liar: Okay I’ll give you 4 cars, 2 jets and the keys to the kingdom of heaven!
@AV1611VET:
SOLD!
