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Hmm... well, you might not identify your understandings with him and his teachings, but it seems you certainly believe intensely in his five premises, that: man retained, even after the fall, the ability in and of himself to choose God (false; the man not of God will never lift a finger to do...

Agreed. I think we can gain even more insight by remembering that, like Abraham, Christ's righteousness is accredited to us, and also what Paul further says in Colossians 2 and 3, that we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so we walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him (2:7), and we have been...

I'm sure you have. And I've seen all the Arminian talking points before (those of Jacobus Arminius, which were refuted at the Synod of Dort in 1618-19). But putting a label on something and dismissing it is, I think, something none of us should do. The "talking points" I offered previously...

Yes, He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). But His will is a different thing altogether. I'll offer this parable... :) A person is trying very hard to lose weight. She really wants (desires) a piece of chocolate cake for dessert, but...

Among many other things that could be said in response to this, Paul addresses his letter to the Romans "(t)o all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints..." So in that one brief statement, the implication is that not all (in Rome or elsewhere) are loved by God in the...

I absolutely agree. Consider this, though: In the opening of Revelation, John said that all of us who read it -- all of it, not just the parts we consider wonderful -- will be blessed. So I'd say there's blessing in the subject of hell, too; we know we will not be on the wrong side of the...

That's a good point, Pearl, but that's really about something quite different than our discussion here concerning God and His holiness, His sovereignty, His justice, and how all that will be exercised by God in the Judgment. Yes, in Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says: "Come to me, all who labor and...

As a result of the Judgment, they are sent by God, away from the new heaven and new earth, into a place of outer darkness (which means much more than just no light) and gnashing of teeth (great anguish). The Old Testament "type" of this is His banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden in Genesis 3...

So what do you think it means, Helen? Well yes, God wins... :) But I'm curious about your assertion of God's having "not start(ed) this thing in Eden to end up losing 95% of humanity." How do you reconcile that, then, with what Paul tells us in Romans 9 about God's purpose of election...

Well, God sent His Son to accomplish the redemption of His elect, and that, Jesus surely did. What you say here is true, though, in the sense that Jesus's work on the cross was sufficient to achieve the redemption/salvation of all... which may actually be what you are saying. Well, those that...

The actual place is not the issue. Jesus was forsaken (abandoned) by the Father, not because Jesus had sinned, but that He had taken all our sin upon Himself for our sake, to accomplish our redemption. As we all would acknowledge, Jesus cried out to the Father while on the cross, saying, "My...

Absolutely it counts. I meant to cite that one, too. Good catch. Grace and peace to you.

The idea of eternal punishment is unpopular and frightening, but it is a part of the confession of every branch of the Christian church. It has only been in the last century that some have denied the reality of hell. Time was that sermons on the subject were along the lines of, “Man is very...

Well that's just Enoch's take on Genesis, isn't it? I would agree with Enoch, actually, that prior to the Fall, Adam and Eve -- and thus all of their progeny -- were not subject to death from this life. And even after the Fall, there is the promise of restoring it, for those who repent and...

It doesn't spell it out, no. Our being created in God's image means a lot of things, concerning a lot of things, like what God made us to be, why He did it, and what He put us here to do. In Genesis 1:27, Moses tells us that man is created in Their image, in Their likeness. That one sentence...

Well, again, I would say that it is part of the whole idea of being created/made in the image of God, which Genesis 1 is very clear on. While the first death is physical and takes place in the temporal realm, the second death (not experienced by those in Christ) is not physical but spiritual...

Well I would certainly be in the Protestant camp, but the whole "soul sleep doctrine" is ridiculous, in my opinion. In our physical death, our body "sleeps," but we ourselves not so much. Part of being made in the image of God is that we ourselves are eternal beings, as He is... not eternity...

Nope. Jesus Christ executes the final Judgment, which IS the "fire" that He comes in. You actually say that here, even in your refutation of it. God's final judgment is also the "fire" in the "lake" where the unrepentant will dwell in eternity. Nope. You even cite Revelation 21:5 here...

Thank you for those citations, Oseas. Not sure if I understand exactly what you're saying here about those who are sent away at the Judgment. It is interesting that you bring up the idea of a furnace of fire. A word search turns up a lot of Scriptural references, as I'm sure you would...

You either don't understand what I'm saying or are inadvertently misrepresenting what I said. No matter. Answer my question. Here, I'll offer it again: God Himself is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3; Hebrews 12:29). So is God literally fire? Assuming you are aware of John 4:24 and...