Damian said:The foregoing questions are important ones.
"If Jesus Christ took on the sin of the world, then God's wrath and justice have already been satisfied. The assertion that individuals will spend an eternity in hell implies that Christ's sacrificial atonement was incomplete and unsatisfactory. Evidently, Christ died in vain." (source: Damian's Post #220 in this thread)
The Calvinists apparently recognize this inconsistency and attempt to use "damage control" by flaunting the darkside of God. They assert that God desires to express his loving side for a chosen few, and display his wrathful side for the vast majority. Therefore, Christ only bore the sin for the chosen few who were predestined before the beginning of time.
As far as I am concerned, both doctrines are philosophically and theologically inadequate. In one case, you have a God who desires to save everyone but can't. In the other, you have a God who simply wants to save a chosen few and relishes the thought of consigning the vast majority to eternal damnation.
red77 said::up:
One thing that really gets me about those who believe in eternal torment is when they say that universalists call God a liar....
This means that every verse that says that God will reconcile all and save all really means that God never in fact intended to redeem all but only a few or some of his creation.....
Its just totally bizarre, doesn't God himself say that he wills that none should perish but have life? Didn't Jesus come for every single person on the planet, to be the saviour of the world? Or was his intent only to save some or a few from an eternity of agony and not really the world after all....
It seems that those who cling to the monstrosity of endless agony believe that God was incapable of being the saviour of all men for whatever reason they choose that to be - be it mans free will to reject or whatever....
And yet God says it is his will for all men to come to a knowledge of the truth, that Jesus paid a ransom for all to be testified to in due time , even the disciples didnt think that many would be saved but what answer were they given? "With man this is impossible but with God ALL things are possible".....so even those who think that man can somehow mess up this plan must also think that ALL things are not possible with God....
Universalists make God out to be a liar because they believe that God can and does actually restore everything.....? Go figure.....
My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right.
This is exactly what we find in the false teaching of Universalism. Jesus says one thing, about eternal punishment and Universalism says another.
It is because Universalism (like it’s opposite Annihilationism) is an entirely unbiblical doctrine. They take many extra-biblical teachings (which are the teachings of men), and insert them alongside the Scriptures in order to justify those teachings. This is why in this argument I will do very little of this, but instead will focus on the Scriptures themselves.
They will have to give an account to God one day for all the people they misled into believing they really didn't have to repent in this life, that all were saved in the end anyway.
ChasClean said:PK,
I know you have alot of time and effort invested in this debate and forum. I am not making light of that. But I think it is important to point out the following:
#190 Battle talk
10 Debate
Can we stop these type of statements?
Why? Because this whole debate is centered on what Jesus said and on what the Bible says.
We say Jesus and scripture clearly teaches the salvation of all.
And what is your response?
1. Universalism is false. (Man, that’s powerful.)
2. Jesus doesn’t teach it. (Whew, I’m feeling out debated.)
3. Universalism is entirely unbiblical. (Well, I guess that settles it. We lose.)
Oh, and your statement regarding being a purist by focusing on the scriptures only is nothing but a debate power play. You are simply saying that we have a lot of verses, so we are right.
So PK, I know it weakens our side to bring in Common Sense, Historical Evidence, Translational Evidence, Philosophical Evidence, as well as Biblical Evidence. But we just can’t help ourselves.
We, most of the time, center on what Jesus, Paul and the Bible says. We are able to provide an abundance of scriptural evidence regarding Christian Universalism. And you know it. So, please try to stop these power play tactics.
Back at ya. Eternal torment teachers will have to give an account to God for all the people who were turned away from the gospel by a message like this, “God loves you as long as you love Him in time. But if you don’t love Him “in time” you will burn forever, with no one to blame but yourself. So, you better love Him before He sends you to hell.”
I don't know about you, but I feel pretty slimed after reading that gospel message.
PS, no hurry but I am waiting for responses to posts# 144 and 207.
ChasClean said:Logos,
It's comforting to know that a few quotation marks isn't going to affect God's plan for us all, isn't it?
You've handled this admirably. That in itself is a powerful testimony of your understanding that God is in control.
The items highlighted in red and bold indicate that you have exchanged the Gospel of Jesus for the Gospel of self. Your theology is built on what you think and feel and what you want to be true, not what Jesus and the Apostles have taught us. If these are the things that you truely hold to then I must caution you that you have missed the meaning of the gospel.Damian said:Well, I personally do not consider this a problem.
"Hell is only what the ego has made of the present." ACIM
* Selah *
I view hell as a state of mind in which the individual believes he's separated from God.
And I agree that it is our choice that keeps us in hell. However, we always have the option of choosing again. That's what spiritual growth entails.
Nevertheless, I do have an issue with the biblical conception of salvation and hell. Why isn't the option to accept Christ always available?
CabinetMaker said:Redfin, waiting for your response to post 223.
I see. You are unable to answer the question I posed so you resort to meaningless platitudes.Redfin said:Woe unto them who have eyes but cannot see.
CabinetMaker said:You are unable to answer the question I posed so you resort to meaningless platitudes.
ITs okay to admit that you can't find a single verse in the Bible that says you can find salvation after death. That is because the Bible has no verse in that says you can find salvation after death.Redfin said:You are unable to recognize an answer (or a Biblical platitude for that matter) when it is right before your eyes.
Due to your complete inability to rise to the challenge, rather than continuing to be distracted by your inane interference, I'll just wait for PK to attempt to scripturally prove the immutability of one's salvational status after death.
I won't hold my breath though. :chuckle:
CabinetMaker said:ITs okay to admit that you can't find a single verse in the Bible that says you can find salvation after death. That is because the Bible has no verse in that says you can find salvation after death.
ChasClean said:PK,
Thanks for responding. I know you are busy. I didn't mean to sound curt.
That is a pretty dogmatic statement. You said physical death is[/B] temporary. Did you also mean to say it was temporary. It seems as if it were just as final as any death.
Ge 5:5
Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.
Ge 5:8
Altogether, Seth lived 912 years, and then he died.
Ge 5:11
Altogether, Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died.
Ge 5:14
Altogether, Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died.
Ge 5:17
Altogether, Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died.
Ge 5:20
Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.
Ge 5:27
Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.
Ge 5:31
Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died.
That seems pretty hopeless.
You say “spiritual death” as if it is just so simply synonymous with “burning in hell forever.”
Physical death not eternal.
Spiritual death = Burning in hell forever
Those two statements are so indicative of an unwavering theological paradigm.
Reading one thing and seeing another.
Redfin said:You are unable to recognize an answer (or a Biblical platitude for that matter) when it is right before your eyes.
Due to your complete inability to rise to the challenge, rather than continuing to be distracted by your inane interference, I'll just wait for PK to attempt to scripturally prove the immutability of one's salvational status after death.
I won't hold my breath though. :chuckle:
ChasClean said:Tell you what PK. I'll make you a deal.
Rev. 6: 12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
Explain to me how in ch. 6 the sun turns black, the moon red, the stars fell to the earth, the sky has receeded and every mountain and island has been removed.
“Then”, that’s the way the next verse starts. Verse 15, THEN the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
My goodness. The sun is black. The stars have fallen to the earth. The sky has receeded. Every mountain and island removed. And…. People are still running around alive???
Not only that, but they are hiding among the mountains which have been removed. They want the mountains which have been removed to fall on them.
You explain that to me and I will explain why there is no mention of anyone being let out of the Lake of Fire.
You get my point? My point is, I would think twice before I made the symbolic Lake of Fire a dividing line of whether or not God was going to torment millions for eternity as a sign of His justice.
Is that going to be your defense to God when He asks you why you continued to preach such a doctrine? To which God would likely reply, “My goodness PK. Didn’t you know symbolism when you saw it?”