Thanks again for responding back, questionman. I appreciate that. Yet your answers continue to deeply concern me, again not even mentioning Jesus by name once.
In your further answers to my questions, you still have not acknowledged Him by Name nor by His being your Lord & Master! Your belief in inclusivism has in my respectful opinion, blinded you to the truth of the exclusive gospel message, as taught by Jesus Himself.
"Yes, I have had exactly this experience. I grew up in a Christian family going to church all the time, so I have had knowledge of Christianity for my whole life. It wasn't in college, however, until I truly saw my need and repented for the first time. Since then, I'd say my life is one ongoing prayer for forgiveness and reconciliation and hope for eternal life."
Again my sincere concern is that in your testimony, you still have not confessed Jesus as YOUR Lord & Master, exclusively, nor again even mentioning His Name on your lips.
You mention you saw a need in college? What need? You don't clarify. You mention you repented for the first time in college. Repented from what? Toward whom? These are crucial in whether one is truly saved or not.
"I recognize the absence of those specific words in my post, although it's hard to read the paragraph and not assume an intimate, personal relationship with God."
On the contrary, the very reading of the paragraph, according to Jesus' own words & what Scripture teaches, shows me a lack of an intimate personal relationship with JESUS. That is the very reason why I voiced my concern. These are wants, not speaking them as though reality. I do not know hearts, only God does unless He reveals them nor who is saved. But Scripture abundantly gives us many EVIDENCES for those who are saved.
I was deceived BECAUSE of my pride in thinking I knew about Christianity & the Bible & growing up hearing about it. But I didn't know Christ personally nor would openly confess Him as Lord. I was still going my own way according to my own understanding & will--that I was the Lord in my life.
I Corinthians 12:1-3 Now concerning what comes from the Spirit, brothers, I do not want you to misunderstand this. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute (unable to even speak--Psalm 115:1-8) idols, however you were led.
2Therefore I declare to you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed" ('anathema') AND no one can say, "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
I Cor 8:1ff Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes one proud, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know--
Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world & that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods & many lords),
6yet FOR US there is one God, the Father, of whom
are all things, & we for Him & {
there is} ONE LORD Lord Jesus Christ, through whom
are all things & through whom we LIVE
. However,
there is not in everyone that knowledge...
I, myself, was lost, spiritually dead in my trespasses & sins & separated from Christ, even though I knew about these things. I 'thought' I was saved & sincerely 'hoped' I was saved, but I didn't KNOW I was saved because I hadn't confessed Him as Lord, my Lord.
A 'mathetes' or disciple & follower of the Lord Jesus Christ BELIEVES what He taught & teaches others to do the same.
Luke 6:46 "Why do you keep calling Me LORD, LORD & not do what I tell you?
Matt 7:13ff Enter by the narrow gate; for wide
is the gate & broad
is the way that leads to DESTRUCTION & there are MANY who go in by it. Because narrow
is the gate & difficult
is the way which leads to life & there are FEW who find it.
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘LORD, LORD,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but ONLY he who does THE WILL of My Father in heaven.
22Many will say to Me in that day, ‘LORD, LORD, have we not prophesied IN YOUR NAME, cast out demons IN YOUR NAME & done many wonders IN YOUR NAME?’ And then I will DECLARE to them, ‘I NEVER KNEW you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
I was lost DESPITE knowing the content of the gospel message & asserting it was true. I prayed a lot but did not know the One to which I was praying. I only 'hoped' I did. He certainly didn't know me as one of His sheep.
Luke 13:23-30 Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there FEW who are saved?" And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for MANY, I say to you, will SEEK to enter & WILL NOT BE ABLE. {see Hebrews 12:17)
25When once the Master of the house has risen up & shut the door & you begin to stand outside & knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us’ & He will answer & say to you, ‘I do NOT know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate & drank in Your presence & You taught in our streets.’
But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. DEPART from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be
weeping & gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac & Jacob & all the prophets in the kingdom of God & yourselves thrust out.
Matt 22:10-14 And the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend (comrade)*, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand & foot, take him away & cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping & gnashing of teeth.’
For many are called, but few are chosen.” *(Greek 2083 in Strong's Concordance:
hetaíros – properly, a
companion (normally an
imposter),
posing to be a comrade but in reality only has his
own interests in mind.)
The point I was making on John 6:68, which again you seem to have missed, is you misquoted it, because you left out Peter's confession, calling Jesus his LORD!
Thomas was in unbelief in John 20 until Jesus appeared & personally told him, 'Stop unbelieving & believe.' And what was Thomas' confession to Jesus after seeing His hands & side? 'MY LORD & MY GOD!' It literally means, 'the Lord of me & the God of me.'
Moving on. The reason I say that infants & aborted babies are saved is that they have faith, not an absence of faith in knowing the Lord. One must plainly understand these Scriptures:
Hebrews 11:1ff Now faith is the assurance (conviction) of what we hope for & the certainty of what we do not see. This is WHY the ANCIENTS were commended...These were all commended FOR THEIR FAITH, yet they did not receive what was promised. God had planned something better for us, so that TOGETHER WITH US they would be made perfect.
All those in the past who were saved, were saved by faith in the one true & only God (please read through Hebrews 11).
'Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.' (Heb 11:6)
Scripture says what it means & means what it says. Without faith in the one true God of Scripture (not in false gods of other religions) NO ONE can please God. We are found to be teaching & believing 'ANOTHER GOSPEL BY ANOTHER SPIRIT & BELIEVING IN A DIFFERENT JESUS.'
2 Cor 11:3,4 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin TO CHRIST. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be LED ASTRAY FROM a sincere & pure devotion TO CHRIST.
4For if someone comes & proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you tolerate it too easily.
Galatians 1:6-9 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting HIM--who called you in the grace of Christ & are turning to a DIFFERENT gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you & want to DISTORT the gospel of Christ.
8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be ACCURSED. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel CONTRARY to the one you received, let him be accursed.
So if someone is teaching that people can please God apart from faith in the Scriptural 'good news,' that teaching is distorting the one true Gospel message taught by Christ Himself & then His apostles & writers of Scripture & has continued to be taught as the orthodox teaching of Christianity all down through history.
It hasn't changed. It remains the same message & 'the faith once for all delivered to the saints.' (Jude 1:3--please read rest of Jude)
So why do I believe from Scripture that these infants have faith, even from within the womb of a mother, even if they never live beyond the womb or live a short time outside the womb, as far as life expectancy is measured today?
First of all they couldn't please God or be accepted by Him without faith. It is impossible for anyone to do so. Jesus & the Scriptures teach the following concerning infants & babies.
Psalm 139:13ff "For You formed my INNERMOST BEING; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully & wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your work & I know this very well. My frame was not hidden from You--
Your eyes saw my unformed body; EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."
Babies are in the womb up to 9 months or even longer; up to 270 days or longer. What occurs with a baby in the womb during those 270 days? God has it all recorded in the book for each person's life.
Job 31:13-18 If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me, what then shall I do when God rises up? When He makes inquiry, what shall I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make him? And did not One fashion us in the womb?
16“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone & the fatherless has not eaten of it (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father & from my mother’s womb I guided the widow)...then let...
Psalm 22:9,10 Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother's breasts. Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother's womb.
Isaiah 44:2 Thus says the LORD who made & formed you from the womb, who will help you, 'Do not fear, O Jacob My servant.
Psalm 71:6 By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother's womb; my praise is continually of You.
Luke 1:14,15,41 He will be a joy & delight to you & many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink & he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s WOMB.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb & Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Matt 11:25 At that time Jesus made answer & said, I give praise to you, O Father, LORD of heaven & earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise & the men of learning & have made them clear to little children (babies).
Matt 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be CONVERTED & BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN, you will NOT enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Matt 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these LITTLE ONES WHICH BELIEVE IN ME, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck & that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Matt 18:10 "Be careful not to look with scorn on a single one of these little children, for I tell you that in heaven their angels have uninterrupted access to my Father in heaven.
Matt 19:13,14 (Mark 10:13,14) Then were there brought unto Him little children, that He should put His hands on them & pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Permit these little children & do not forbid them to COME TO ME; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Mark 10:16 Then He took the little children into His arms & as He laid His hands upon them ONE BY ONE, He tenderly blessed them.
Matt 21:16 "Do you hear what they are saying?" Jesus answered them, "Yes. Have you never READ THIS, 'Out of the mouths of little children, yea, of infants, You have perfect praise'?"
Mark 9:37 Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in My Name, receives Me & whosoever receives Me, receives not Me, but Him that sent Me.
Luke 7:32 They are LIKE little children sitting in the marketplace, calling to one another & saying, We piped to you [playing wedding], & you did not dance; we sang dirges & wailed [playing funeral] & you did not weep.
Luke 18:16 But Jesus called them unto Him & said, Suffer little children to come unto Me & forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Romans 2:20 ...An educator of the senseless, a teacher of LITTLE CHILDREN, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge & of the truth --
I Cor 14:20 My brothers, do not be children in mind: in evil be AS LITTLE CHILDREN, but in mind be of full growth.
Eph 4:14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves & blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of DECEIT.
I Thess 2:7 although we could have imposed our weight as apostles of Christ; instead we became LITTLE CHILDREN among you. Like a nursing mother caring for her own children...
1 John 2:13,14 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
2 Chron 20:13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives & their children.
Gen 47:24 When you gather in the crop, give one-fifth of it to Pharaoh & the rest will be yours for seed for the fields & for you to eat, including those in your households AND YOUR LITTLE CHILDREN."
Deut 1:39 And your little children, who you thought shall become plunder & your sons, who do NOT today know good or bad, will themselves go there & I will give it to them & they will take possession of it.
Isaiah 7:15 By the time he knows enough to reject evil & choose good, He will be eating curds & honey.
Rom 9:11 (For
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calls)
Deut 31:12 Assemble the people, the men & the women & THE LITTLE CHILDREN & your aliens that are in your towns, so that they may hear & so that they may learn & they may revere Yahweh your God & {they shall diligently observe} all the words of this law.
Joshua 8:35 There was not a word from all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before the assembly of all Israel & the women, the LITTLE CHILDREN & the traveling foreigners among them.
Proverbs 30:24 Four are little ones of earth & they are made wiser than the wise...