Luke 15:1-3
15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2
And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives
sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable:
Interesting. Parable’s have this unique property where one can look at it and think they have the answer, then look at it another day and have a completely different answer. Since it’s metaphoric, there are more interpretations. Of course, there’s only one answer and one truth. But who has it?
John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
This verse also mentions “when the Spirit of truth comes” implying that there was a time where the Spirit of truth was not there. He’s under authority by God to speak. So this is evidence to your point that God withholds the truth from people, just as God withholds blessings from people and permits situations to arise where they suffer.
2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Even though it is Satan, the false god of this world that blinds people from the truth, God is Almighty and can stop Satan at any point. Yet, He permits Satan to blind people’s minds.
I agree that God wants to save all and thus will. Yet, I also agree that God has a plan, a timing where some people are saved earlier than others. “Each in his own turn” is proof.
1 Corinthians 15:22-28 All will be made alive in Christ, but each in his own turn and ultimately Christ will subdue all His enemies, eliminate death and God will be all in all.
Honestly, I think that verse perfectly summarizes my thoughts on this email discussion. I remember reading on Tentmaker that the Rich Man and Lazarus is parable and not meant to be taken literally. Here’s a good link on it: https://www.tentmaker.org/articles/Lazarus-byHuie.htm
Agreed! The Lake of Fire is like a furnace a blacksmith uses to heat up metal in order to remove it’s impurities mold it to a desired permanent shape. Isaiah 48:10 People only suffer temporarily in life so that they can become permanent believers in Christ clean of all sin.
And like I mention in the carpenter verse, Jesus was taught certain things. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, and He eventually received God’s full powers.
Also while searching more verses, this stood out to me.
Genesis 2:7 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Dust in the ground has no life, it’s dead. Yet, man only became a living creature with the breath of life. Thus, when man dies, they lose this breath of life and return to the dust from the ground. They are only then resurrected with permanent life when the Holy Spirit of life dwells inside of them to raise them from the dead.
The will of God is stronger than the will of all humans. Humans do not have the free will to keep resisting the love of God forever. How can they continue to resist against the Almighty Lord? Eventually, all humans will believe!
Proverbs 21:30-31 No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord.
If humans had a will stronger than the Lord, like free will above Him, then this verse would be wrong. Yet, this verse is true. Because the Lord already has this plan to save everyone since the beginning!
https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZQB7NkZgFVKVp3HMabH9BWCf6GOUpKnRADy
Describes 5 eons. This is very interesting! Even though I saw aionios as “pertaining to the ages”, I’ve wondered “How many ages are there?” There would have to be at least 2 minimum, since it’s plural ages. But this is very useful chart!
https://godsplanforall.com/free-online-book/part-iii/chapter-23-do-we-have-an-immortal-soul/
Is interesting where it talks about the immortal soul being a false teaching.
I think people mix up the definitions between Christian conditionalism and conditionalism
TRUE Christian conditionalism = the gift of immortality is conditional on belief in Christ.
FALSE Conditionalism = not everyone will be raised immortal = Conditional Immortality = Annihlationism
Our soul of sin was always meant to die. Only Christ gives us an immortal soul, the Holy Spirit. From thanatos (death) https://biblehub.com/greek/2288.htm to athanatos (immortality)
But like you said before, when people are dead, then they really are dead. So if God does not exist, then an atheist world where people just die. People wouldn’t have been created to begin with, so they wouldn’t have became alive in the first place.
But since we are alive in the first place, then that proves that atheism is false. Life is proof that God is real!