The lost have no choice; until god draws them; drags them; there is no freewill towards salvation; where does it say we choose salvation?
THE SECOND DEATH -- what is it exactly? The term is found in no other area of the Bible except in the book of Revelation, and in this book of symbols it is used only four times. One would think that since it is one of the foundational doctrines of most churches, we could find it sown like a blazing ribbon throughout the tapestry of the Bible, especially in the New Testament. We would expect to see many warnings to its readers and telling them to BEWARE of the Second Death; but God strangely omits the impending danger to His unsuspecting offspring. For thousands of years He said nothing about the "Second Death." Moses didn't mention it; the apostles did not bring it into view, except the four times John placed it in script, but not as a dreadful woe; and Jesus failed to even refer to it. Some say that Paul hints at it in his letter to the Hebrews, but Paul was not one to "hint" at anything. He was probably the most straightforward and outspoken of all the apostles. Alluding to truths was not one of his attributes, but just the opposite. He boldly stated that he shunned not to declare the WHOLE COUNSEL of God (Acts 20:27). He spoke often of the consequences of sin, but never suggested there was a place wherein the sinner would go to never return, and neither did he ever say they would be annihilated completely from existence. He said that certain sinners would not "inherit" the Kingdom of God, but he did not say they would never enter "into" His Kingdom as citizens. If either thought, eternal damnation or annihilation, was a part of God's counsel and the foundation of His truth to the Church, it is odd that they never surfaced in Paul's or any of the other foundational teachings in the Bible. (A few scriptures can be misconstrued as referring to annihilation, that once a person dies he is dead forever, but such thoughts do not have the substantial foundation to stand in the presence of truth. Nevertheless, many are dancing to that hopeless tune.)
One would suppose if such a dreadful penalty of eternal torment stood with gaping jaws awaiting hapless man, God would have made it plain and clearly established it in every book of the Bible. But it is not to be found. What is found, however, is THE ANSWER to death -- JESUS CHRIST! This is the ribbon we see sown throughout -- THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE rather than THE THREAT OF ETERNAL DAMNATION. The truth is, the Second Death is a BENEFICIAL AGENT; for it is the very thing that DESTROYS man's greatest enemies -- SIN, DEATH, HELL, AND THE GRAVE. Any thing that is contrary to the Kingdom of God, and separates men from Christ, finds its end in the Lake called the Second Death.
"And DEATH and HELL were cast into THE LAKE OF FIRE. This is the second death" (Rev. 20:14). Let us mark this fact as we continue on, that THE LAKE OF FIRE does not cause the second death -- IT IS THE SECOND DEATH. In the ultimate sense, Death is simply being void of the life of Christ Jesus. Hell, by definition of "hades," the Greek word from which it is translated, speaks primarily of the unseen realm, the place, the abode, the home of the dead. And THE LAKE OF FIRE is that which both death and hell are cast into. The next verse (Rev. 20:15) tells us there is yet some additional refuse that finds itself subjected to this misunderstood lake: "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
What we see going into THE LAKE OF FIRE is everything that pertains to DEATH.Death itself goes; hell (the abode of the dead) goes; and everyone whose names are not written in the Book of Life shall find their place in the Lake of Fire. All death is cast into THE LAKE OF FIRE, W-H-I-C-H I-S THE SECOND DEATH.
THE FIRST DEATH and THE SECOND DEATH
Let us consider for a moment the FIRST MAN (Adam) and the SECOND MAN (Jesus Christ) as mentioned in I Corinthians 15:45-47. He is also called the LAST ADAM in the same passage. This SECOND MAN, THE LAST ADAM, reverses everything the first Adam did, whether directly or caused to happen indirectly. By one act of sin, ALL LIFE was cast into the FIRST ADAM, and all died -- this was the FIRST DEATH. It was the DEATH OF LIFE, if you please. On the reverse hand, by an act of righteousness, ALL DEATH is cast into Christ the LAST ADAM, the SECOND DEATH -- THIS IS THE SECOND DEATH, the DEATH OF DEATH. ALL who died to life in the first Adam shall die to that death in the last Adam -- THE LAKE OF FIRE. Their death shall die, it shall cease to be, it shall be no more. The same all who died in the man of sin and death shall live in the man of righteousness and life (I Cor. 15:22). If you can do simple arithmetic, or understand the principle of balancing equal weights, it is easily seen. The ALLin the FIRST ADAM is the very same ALLin the LAST ADAM.
If the First Death is dying to God, to His righteousness, and to His life, then reversing the process -- dying to Adam, his sin, and his death -- is the Second Death. But how is it done? How does one die to Adam? How can a man die to sin? And what is the process of the death of death? Death to the old man Adam begins by the birth of the new man Christ in one's life. Sin dies in the fire of His Holy Spirit, wherein every soul shall be baptized. And the process of THE DEATH OF DEATH is simply THE FILLING UP WITH LIFE that which is dead.
In his cold embrace THE FIRST ADAM, THE FIRST DEATH, consumed and destroyed all life; while it is the fiery embrace with which THE LAST ADAM, THE SECOND DEATH, consumes and destroys all death. Christ shall burn up hell in the Lake of Fire. He shall destroy death in the Lake of Fire, and it is the same Lake wherein He shall destroy sin -- but not men. God does not destroy men in the lake of fire. Such a thought is a paradox, for how can you destroy death by creating death? You can't. How can you, as some teachers suppose, abolish death by bringing men under the bondage of eternal death, from which there is no escape? Frankly, it is impossible. The purpose of Jesus has never been to destroy men, not by any means. He came into the world to SAVE SINNERS (I Tim. 1:15), and to MAKE AND END OF SIN (Dan.9:24). SIN and DEATH and HELL are the things destroyed. The root of death, SIN, is destroyed; the abode of the dead, HELL, is destroyed; and with them the fruit of sin, DEATH ITSELF, is destroyed. And we read, "...THE LAST ENEMY that shall be DESTROYED is DEATH" (I Cor. 15:26).
How many times has it been said? Matthew, Isaiah, Revelation, Jude, Luke, Daniel? They all speak of a place of contempt, eternal fire, condemnation! That's fairly consistent with the idea of a lake of fire isn't it? Or are you going to then dig up some obscure greek translation, give 5 words for what it could possibly mean and argue that? Face it, there is a place of condemnation for those who die in inequity!
Matthew 13 NIV
11He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13This is why I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
" 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.'[
a] 16But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
The spiritually dead do not hear because their hearts are hardened, they do not turn because they are too set in their ways. They are the ones who will reject Christ. They are the ones who will die in their inequity! Some will hear His words and be moved by the Spirit. Some will hear the words of God and be stirred because a new life is breathed into them through Christ. These are the ones whom have chosen salvation, because they are not deaf in their sins. They are the ones who will be saved! Who they are by name? Only God knows, and it is only God who has the right to decree who will or will not be condemned. How is that determined? By Salvation. The mercy of the Cross. Without a threat of eternal seperation from God or eternal condemnation, there is no reason for Christ's sacrifice as has been stated many times over. But since God's words are good and true, then there is but one logical assumption.
Now as for why someone would walk away from this argument? That's obvious. The truth has been laid out before you. But you reject it, an claim it as a heresy. But I assure you, there are many verses in line with scripture that warns of a terrible fate for the unrepentant, but all the ones you point out for universal reconcilliation, are merely taken out of context. You have no argument here. No doubt you're going to post a wall of text copied from some book you have to refute everything that's been said here, so with this I finally take my leave of this thread. God bless and may the truth find you.
*&#@forum.