["Ok then if the Book Of Life may not be a book of eternal life then is it importain that our names are in it to begin with?"]
Not as important as our names being in it at the ending.
["But then your responce Ruht gets slightly confusing when you state; "Those who have eternal life will obviously always have their names written in the book of life, for they will never die." Then are you saying the Book Of Life is a book of eternal life?"]
A book of life is simply a book of life. It contains the names of the living. God does not call it "the book of eternal life," rather he simply calls it "the book of life."
A birth certificate is a document of life, in which the names of people who are born are written down on it. Think of all those birth certificates as pages and then put all together into a book. Now think of those who refuse salvation having their birth certificates removed or "blotted out" from that book, forever.
That is about the simplest way I can describe it.
["I am sorry if I am not reading your post correctly but it seems to me that you are contradicting yourself in that responce. Can you do a follow-up to make it alittle clearer?"]
I've done my best, and I don't understand why you think I am contradicting myself, for I am not. There is no contradiction to what I have said, and I am sorry if I haven't been clear enough. The whole thing is very simple, perhaps too simple as to cause some to stumble over its simplicity. All receive "bith certificates" from God, so-to-speak, when they are born, and all of those single-page birth certificates are put within a bound book together. However, when one has received eternal d-amnation in God's finality, their birth certificates are removed or "blotted out," in other words.
That is the best analogy I can come up with to help you see it in comparison to what may be familiar with you along the birth certificate lines.
["Ruht why do you believe John would have changed his writting style?"]
He didn't change his "writing style," rather he probably felt he didn't need to write the entire thing out again, seeing how he had already written it in the full version prior. God requires us to apply line upon line and precept upon precept while reading the Bible, for the scriptures are hidden to the natural man.
Have you ever written something in a fuller version, explained it in detatil, then in a lesser version referred to it again later in your writings? That is what "John" did.
The Bible says that "line must be upon line, and precept upon precept" in order to properly understand the Bible through the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 28), and such is the case with Revelation 13:8 & 17:8.
["Do we see this happen elsewhere in the bible, where the writter changes his writting style in a letter?"]
He didn't change his writing style, and we do indeed see writers of various texts within the Bible shorten their reference to something that they referred to in detail prior.
["-- New King James
Revelation 13:8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
-- New King James
Revelation 17:8 "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."
I'm sorry Ruht but both verses up there do say "not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world" so can you please then explain how I misinterputed this scripture when I asked what about these people who's names were never written in the book of life yet they did live and dwelled on the earth."]
You have misinterpreted it because apparently the New King James Version is not translating the Bible correctly. I kindly suggest that you get the old King James Version, if that is indeed how the new version translates.
What I cited was the King James Version verbatim.
Here is what the King James version says:
"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." - Revelation 13:8
"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." - Revelation 17:8
And another problem with your attempt to a-ssert that Revelation 17:8 is alluding that some names have been written since the foundation of the world, is also in error and not substantiated to your opinion on the interpretation, even if there was no Revelation 13:8. For that can be interpretated more than one way even as it stands alone, as it could be said that it was referring to the book of life that was written from the foundation of the world, not that every one who would be saved had their names written from the foundation of the world.
You are once again a-ssuming that it means what you think it means, because, I believe, you are looking for a way to say that one can lose their salvation. So you are therefore interpreting scripture into your already preconceived notion about that, not through the Holy Spirit while upon the sure foundation of grace.
If one forgets what manner of man one is after seeing himself in a glass, one will therefore go forward and stumble at the scriptures. This means that if one forgets that one is saved by grace, not by works of any kind, then one will doubt his salvation and look for ways to strengthen that doubt, and thus stumble over scripture.
But God has laid a sure foundation in Sion, and whosoever truly believes in that foundation shall not interpret the Bible in haste, but will rather wait upon the Lord; as revealed in Isaiah 28. Stay upon that sure foundation, Chuck, and trust totally in the blood of Christ and his salvation, and when you do, God will open your eyes to his interpretation of scripture.
God bless.
Love, Ruht