Please Willie, You are a good friend. I honestly believe that there is only eternal life in Christ, but there are some who reject Christ and will reject Christ forever.
First, I am not trying to douse friendships... we are discussing a topic.
Second, No man can make a JUDGMENT of another and is INSTRUCTED not to do so.
Third, "believing" something, does NOT make it so. 2/3's of the world DO NOT BELIEVE... does their MASSIVE UNBELIEF of
CHRIST, make
YHVH GOD and His
WORD, therefore non-existent? Based upon the "alternatives" they DO BELIEVE? Please!
Fourth, NO MAN has the comprehension of "FOREVER", as it includes WITHOUT BEGINNING as well as WITHOUT END... until ANYONE can explain how GOD (or anyone or anything) can be WITHOUT BEGINNING, then they utilize a word (and apply it to themselves and others) which they do NOT COMPREHEND, ...which only avails that foolish "utilization" as therefore INVALID.
Tim said:
It's sad, but in rejecting Jesus Christ, they also reject the only way to receive eternal life.
Tim get ahold of your thinking.
Do you not KNOW that YOU were once numbered with those who "reject"? And beside that, it is NOT OUR DOING that removes us from a "rejection position"... that is GOD's doing, as SALVATION is STRICTLY ...HIS WORK --
Eph 2:8-9 -- which is unfolded in EACH MAN, to be TESTIFIED in due time --
1 Tim 2:3-6 -- Even YOUR OWN individual experience shows that there was a time you DID NOT BELIEVE, yet today... a TESTIMONY which comes forth from YOU, has come ...IN DUE TIME... according to GOD, not you.
Tim said:
Since they don't have eternal life, they die.
ALL men
DIE ...
IN ADAM... and (that same)
ALL men are MADE
ALIVE ...
IN...
CHRIST --
1 Cor 15:28
Tim said:
I don't see how to read the scriptures any other way.
Oh really? ...In one moment (probably MYRIADS of moments in the past), you would READ (if you bothered at all) the Scriptures, and they SAID NOTHING to you... and now you "know-
ALL" concerning them?
Any man which thinks he/she has arrived at a place BEYOND --- Learning and/or Correction, has thoroughly DECIEVED himself.
Honestly, ...Do you really and truly think that the WHOLE of the Scriptures are COMPLETELY REVEALED to you Tim?
If they are NOT COMPLETELY revealed to you, then you certainly
DO HAVE learning and correction, coming forth from them.
I am 66 years old Tim, and my life was
30 years long before I was called to seek the LIGHT of God...
During those
30 years, I did not care in the least about a "God", ...nor was I inclined to hear of His "requirements" of me (or anyone), for He did not even EXIST, and as far as I was concerned -- He was
NOTHING but a
MYTH to me.
But in the
36 years following, I have dedicated a DILIGENT and DAILY regimen of study, and He is become EVERYTHING to me...
Tim said:
Yes, Christ saves the world, and He allows those who want to have nothing to do with Him to leave.
Please quote the Scripture that SAYS this?

...Once, ...YOU "wanted NOTHING to do with Him, Tim!
Tim said:
Some people would rather leave and die than have anything to do with Jesus Christ.
Explain how
CHRIST has "saved the
WORLD" (which means "CREATION" =
KOSMOS -- #G2889), Tim, and yet you believe that MOST of the "
world" (supposedly saved by Him), is NOT SAVED? Where is the
REASON in that, Tim? --
Isaiah 1:18
What do you do with --
John 1:29? If SIN is TAKEN AWAY, what is left to condemn men? What do you do with --
1 Cor 15:22, 28, 54? And what do you do with --
1 John 2:2? Acts 3:21 -- Col 1:20? Will you throw out --
1 Pet 3:9 -- as well? (the word "
Not WILLING" is BOULEMA, which means ...
INTENT -- Look it up!)
It is ALL in there bro, you just have not yet been given the vision of it,

and you will NOT be given it, until you submit to GOD that you and your present viewpoints are INCOMPLETE, and in need of MORE of Him.
Tim said:
I wasn't giving you a weak excuse, I was telling you the reason. Another reason I don't want to argue with you is that I don't want to lose such a good friend over this. I am sympathetic towards the christian universalist position, I just can't see it in scripture.
Tim... that you cannot see this "UR position" NOW, does not mean (unless you already, "KNOW-ALL"), that this shall never come to light in your experience.
In the VERY SAME WAY, that once
CHRIST was meaningless to you before
(1) -
YHVH God brought you to Him --
John 6:44 -- and then
(2) -
CHRIST brought you to the Father --
Matt 11:27 -- and then
(3) -
CHRIST authored
FAITH in you that you would BELIEVE --
Heb 12:2 -- and then,
(4) -
YHVH God then, via HIS GOODNESS (not yours) led you to
repent --
Rom 2:4 -- and after your "repentence",
(5) -
YHVH moved your MOUTH to CONFESS that
JESUS is Lord --
1 Cor 12:3 -- and,
thereby SALVATION entered into your (at the moment, "NON-BELIEVING" -- "NATURALLY FLESHLY" and "REJECTING") experience! --
Rom 10:9-13
Where were YOU
making all these changes in yourself (by YOU changing your "rejection posture") in this Tim? Nah!
God flat out states that
YOU did not have
any part in
IT --
Eph 2:8-9
Tim said:
I don't see a pressing need to try to convince you when there are fire and brimstone preachers all over the forum, deceived by the serpent and deceiving others as fast as they can.
You don't see a pressing need to convince me? And yet you call me friend? Hey, anyone which will LISTEN, can change (according to YHVH), but anyone which has CLOSED his/her ears, will remain partially on the prideful and FOUL foundation of INCOMPLETION...
Hey, any and
ALL of us are "pressing needs", which GOD is MOLDING... as CHRIST sent His followers to ALL CREATURES -- Mark 16:15 -- which means HIS WORDS would be presented to them, and that each man was INTENDED to hear them.
The
WORD which is
LOVE, ...NEVER FAILS wherever it is sent --
1 Cor 13:8 -- Isaiah 55:11 -- It did not IN YOUR "CASE", nor MINE, nor shall it fail IN
ANY OTHER "case".
In
TRUTH, ...You do not "convince me", nor do I "convince you"... and it is not our job to "convince"... it is our job to SEEK YHVH and His WORD, and thereby present ALL that we find, as best as we can SEE. We are to GROW in that WORD as well, and if we are not FED, then we remain INFANTS in it on its MILK... stagnant, and immature, as well as presenting FALLACIES which SHALL be dealt with -- Matt 7:22-23 -- You and I can either LISTEN or SPEAK... but LISTENING trumps SPEAKING.
In my own testimony, it was MANY YEARS, before I spoke, as I LISTENED via the SEARCH we are instructed to make, of the WHOLE HEART --
Jer 29:13-14
If we are
SERVANTS which are
TRUE in Heart... then, in humility we shall stand upon what we BELIEVE as we, in humility
LOOK FOR MORE... seeking in that pursuit that we might gain further REVELATION and futher CORRECTION, that the content of our sharing with others becomes MORE and MORE PURE, and coinciding with GOD and HIS
TRUTH.
Hey brother, wherever ANY of us are VEILED in our observations, ...we are DECIEVED --
Jer 17:9 -- For we have not the REVELATION of
TRUTH in that part. Which is
WHY, ...
JESUS instructed us to
NOT JUDGE! --
Matt 7:1
We MUST NOT -- STAGNATE in our search, thinking we have "arrived"...
I learn EVERY DAY from God, via His WORD, LISTENING in prayer, and brothers such as yourself.
Often times MANY are not even aware of TEACHING that is able to even come via SELF, ...TO unto SELF...
Not desiring to "CONVINCE", ...rather, ...to SHARE... I wish you,
PEACE bro...
...willieH
