Aunty Jane
Well-Known Member
There is much that speaks volumes in the scriptures, but you tend to take scriptures like this one and make a personal crusade about it…..
How about we read those words in context to see who Paul was addressing…
1 Cor 12:1-3…
”Now concerning the spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were people of the nations, you were influenced and led astray to those voiceless idols, following wherever they might lead you. 3 Now I would have you know that nobody when speaking by God’s spirit says: “Jesus is accursed!” and nobody can say: “Jesus is Lord!” except by holy spirit.”
God’s spirit in us guides us to make the right confession, acknowledgment or declaration to others, namely, that Jesus is “Lord” by God’s appointment. God raised Jesus from the dead and seated his son at his own right hand and made him “Lord”, higher than all other creation. If we desire salvation, we are bound to hold fast to the public declaration, confession, acknowledgment that we made before our dedication and baptism, namely, that Jesus Christ is the Lord whom Jehovah God has appointed over us, and whom we lovingly accept. (John 17:3)
I do not hold a “church world view” and haven’t for over 50 years.
What on earth is an alter call???? Can I find this in scripture somewhere?
Did Christians even have an alter?
There is no “dragging” in the sense of pulling someone in a direction that they do not wish to go…..God will, by his spirit, work on the heart of an individual in whom he finds potential, but will never force that one against their will.
I entertain no belief in any “heaven or hell” scenario because that is held by Christendom, but finds no support whatsoever in the Bible….
John 17:1-5, in context, is Jesus praying to his Father…..
“Jesus spoke these things, and raising his eyes to heaven, he said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son so that your son may glorify you, 2 just as you have given him authority over all flesh, so that he may give everlasting life to all those whom you have given to him. 3 This means everlasting life, their coming to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 4 I have glorified you on the earth, having finished the work you have given me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was.”
Who were “given” to Jesus at this point? His apostles and disciples who were sent out to the people to impart knowledge to them as to who Jesus was, and the importance of accepting him as Messiah…..only those who come to an accurate knowledge of God and his son, will ever attain everlasting life. Only those “drawn” by God will want to gain this knowledge.
Their “church” system is so divided that no one can get to know their god because he does not even exist.
So who have been “appointed”….and what have they been appointed to?
The word “tassō” means “to place in a certain order, to arrange, to assign a place, to appoint”…
What appointment is this then? There are those “called and chosen” for a role in heaven as “kings and priests“ ruling with their Lord Jesus as the “chief agent of salvation”. (Rev 20:6)
This pre-determined priesthood has a specific number, (Rev 7:4; Rev 14:1-3) and places in heaven were “reserved” for them. (1 Peter 1:3-4) Jesus said he was going to “prepare a place” for them in his Father’s “house”…..they were promised a place not a palace. The positions are reserved, but not the individuals who will fill them. Flawed humans can “fall away” and would need to be replaced. Once you lose your place, you can never get it back. (2 Peter 2:20-22)
This “heavenly calling” (Heb 3:1) is reserved exclusively for the “elect” (“chosen ones”) and it is God who does the choosing.
So, from my perspective, it is you who has not studied the scriptures enough to grasp the truth in what they are saying.
What makes you think I have never studied the word “eternal”?
In the well known scripture at John 3:16, the word eternal is used erroneously in most English translations because of failing to see that the word “eternal“ applies only to the Creator.
Since it’s primary meanings are….
- “without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be
- without beginning”
That means that there is no such things as “eternal life”….but only what God created in “the beginning” which was the possibility of “life without end” or “everlasting life”….whether it be angels or humans, all “life” had a beginning and all life can end……unless granted immortality….
For the angels, life in spirit form needs no external support that we are aware of…..but for humans, everlasting life was to be lived in mortal flesh, dependent upon all the means that God had provided long before he made the first life forms…..water, oxygen and food were all supplied in abundance, but the continuation of life for humans was dependent on obedience to the Creator…..and for angels as well, because they too can have their lives terminated if they disobey.
We see from the scriptures that free will was abused in both realms and how God dealt with the situation by implementing a plan of action that would lead all his faithful children back into reconciliation with him….again of their own free will….no “dragging” required. (Rev 21:2-4)
What then is immortality? Is it the same as “everlasting life”?
