This is making less and less sense to me. You appear to be telling me that Jesus has already done it all, and it doesn't matter what people believe, they're all going to be saved anyway. >>>Dexter
You have hit the nail on the head. You see, the bible has in its many pages outlined God's entire plan for mankind.
It is predestined.
Example: If God created mankind in the flesh, and the resultant of that creation placed mankind in a situation “lost” we can say that was preplanned. (Predestined)
Then again, God didn’t want it to stay that way so He predestined all of mankind “lost” to become "saved" or be saved.
This is the part of which mankind has no say in the matter. It is all God’s doing.
And that is the part that I stress as being the basis for my postings. One could extrapolate it from many of my posts.
OK, now to address your next paragraph:
Whether they like it or not, it sounds like. So why are we even having this conversation? If the belief structure doesn't matter, you've wasted a lot of time and energy promoting your particular one here, and presumably elsewhere. But I don't believe that's what you meant, it's not consistent with everything else you've posted here. Actually I don't know why you called it a belief structure either. I presume its contents make some kind of difference as well, not just how you organize it. >>>Dexter
Belief structure perhaps may be the wrong wording. What I was meaning to say is that what ever belief system there is, it has no bearing on the outcome of the work of God in the salvation of mankind.
For Jesus to say, love your enemies, would mean that our enemies are also going to be saved, or should I say, equal in value as mine, as far the soul is concerned.
If God says:
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all, which only means that there is none that could be any better than the other as far as righteous works for salvation is concerned.
To kill the enemy would be to kill a brother.
But the point is that the belief structure and its contents do make a difference to those who have religious beliefs because, as Sam Harris observed in the bit I quoted in a previous post, religious belief divides people into opposing groups, with every member of each group believing all other groups are wrong. And not just a little bit, but surpassingly, egregiously, often dangerously and unforgivably, wrong. In order to be among the saved when the final trumpet sounds, part of the contents of your belief, according to everything else I've read of yours, must be what you stated as the initial assumption, that Jesus is for real the son of god and did what he came to do. In other words, if only everybody were Christian we wouldn't have these religious squabbles and wars terrorists and whatnot. But that's not true either. Catholics and Protestants ravaged Europe for centuries fighting each other, and they're still wanting to kill each other, and each other's children, in Northern Ireland.
So I really don't know what you mean, but I'm pretty sure that whatever it is, I won't agree with it>>>Dexter
Fair enough. I am not trying to convert but to explain a view that is different.
This view is not new by any means. If I could recall the name of a Catholic Bishop, back in the early days of the church, who struggled with the same view I now hold would give credence to what I am saying.
The view has to do with salvation of all mankind. But because he knew the nature of mankind, this Bishop opts to write that there was a heaven and a hell; that if people did not believe in God, or do right, hell would be their destination.
That of course had taken root and has become the centre of concern to many Christian groups.
For me to say to a Christian group that all mankind will be saved, would be like dropping a bomb in their midst.
So that places me at odds with many.
Peace>>>AJ:love9:
