Christianity is still the largest religion in the world with roughly 2 billion people. That would be something to the extent of 20% of the world population.
It is taught in scripture that there will be many who call upon his name, and Jesus will say to depart from him- he never knew them. Those are the people who believed they were the elect, but it was really a broken faith that they deluded themselves with while they went on through life a reprobate.
That's going to be a vast majority of that 2 billion headcount on Christianity- in the Bible, when it is stated that the gate is narrow, the context is abundantly clear. It's not something one can get over with semantics or reinterpretation.
Crucible,
♦ The arguments in post 8 . . (1) . . (2) . . (3) . . have nothing to say about the Earth's present 2+ billion Christians and whether they are genuinely born again or mere pretenders.
♦ The arguments in post 8 . . (1) . . (2) . . (3) describe the numbers of true Christians that will exist at the end of the Christian Church's worldwide/historywide victorious march through history.
when it is stated that the gate is narrow, the context is abundantly clear. It's not something one can get over with semantics or reinterpretation.
The arguments in post 8 . . (1) . . (2) . . (3) . . are not semantics and are not reinterpretation. They are direct quotes from the Holy Bible and, so far in this thread, they have been ignored as if they were never posted.
Here is the issue:
Will the final number of God's Christian people be so enormous that no man can count them? Yes or no?
Will the final number of God's Christian people be as numerous as the stars in the sky? Yes or no?
Will the final number of God's Christian people be as numerous as the sands on the seashore? Yes or no?
If you give yes answers then we have no disagreement and . . .
~ Luke 12:32's "little flock"
~ Mt. 7:14's "only a few find it"
~ Mt. 22:14's "many are called but few are chosen"
. . . . cannot be given a predictive interpretation.
If you give no answers you directly contradict clear statements in the Scriptures.