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Hi Finn,
I think where the misunderstanding is, is that you seem to be saying that Jesus is standing at the door of every man's heart, saying, "yoo hoo! Please open so that I can come in!"
Other people read that same verse as simply a declaration of Jesus: this is what happens when God calls a man: he hears my voice, he is drawn to open, and Jesus then enters to dine with him.
But this is not an "invitation to the world." It is merely an explanation of a spiritual fact. If you look at the life of Saul/Paul, you will see that this is exactly what happened to him, too. God knocks! And when HE knocks, we open!!
Blessings,
brian
Don't you find it strange the Israelis, the chosen people, somehow managed to keep the door shut. Yes, they were called, but they chose to not come.
Don't you find it strange the Israelis, the chosen people, somehow managed to keep the door shut. Yes, they were called, but they chose to not come.
This is not the time for the Jews yet (I speak about the majority). When Moses is read still today, the veil is upon their hearts. They have been made deaf by God.
After the fullness of the gentiles is finished, they will be grafted back into the vine.
This is not the time for the Jews yet (I speak about the majority). When Moses is read still today, the veil is upon their hearts. They have been made deaf by God.
After the fullness of the gentiles is finished, they will be grafted back into the vine.
Yes, first, in the sense that the oracles of God were given to them first.
But in order to bring in the gentiles, God has given them a heart of slumber. They just don't see it. That's why they are not "converting." It's not their time yet.
Is that's why Jesus said this: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 35Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
Is that's why Jesus said this: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 35Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
That's why Jesus spoke to them in parables, so that hearing, they would not hear. David asked the Lord, "why have you hardened our hearts?" GOD does the hardening, GOD gives mercy to whom He will (and I believe He will give mercy to all in the end).
It is God who makes us willing, my friend. It is HE who gets the glory, not ourselves.
That's why Jesus spoke to them in parables, so that hearing, they would not hear. David asked the Lord, "why have you hardened our hearts?" GOD does the hardening, GOD gives mercy to whom He will (and I believe He will give mercy to all in the end).
It is God who makes us willing, my friend. It is HE who gets the glory, not ourselves.
If Jesus Christ himself says he has called Israel OFTEN, then I'll go with that. Yes, at this point their hearts are hardened for a reason, but they have been called many times and they rejected it.
If Jesus Christ himself says he has called Israel OFTEN, then I'll go with that. Yes, at this point their hearts are hardened for a reason, but they have been called many times and they rejected it.
And God's word says He has bound all men over to disobedience so that He can have mercy upon all.
Just as Saul/Paul's conversion was an example to all those who came after him of God's mercy and love, and Paul said he was the WORST of all sinners and he said this in full recognition of the kind of man he had been, so too will Israel's acceptance and conversion be a powerful witness of God's sovereignty, love and mercy to the people he created. As Paul said, ALL Israel will believe and be reconciled through Christ.
Most only want to believe that the all only means everyone when used in the context of imputed sin, but not as to imputed righteousness. There was no condition for us to be made a sinner. Merely by being born of Adam's line are we declared sinners. So too, we have NO choice in the matter of being born again in Christ. It is God who declared that all who were born in Adam will be born in Christ, but each in his own order.
I too looked at the Bible through the lens my church leaders always taught it, as it was taught to them. I thought it was perfectly clear and unrefutable. Then I learned the subterfuge of all the different ways the translators used to translate the word aion and all it's other forms (aionios) and I could see that it was merely by the whim of the translator that it was made to say eternal. How can the same word be used to indicate an age, a world, never and eternity? Because they could not use forever in all cases, they HAD to ascribe it a different meaning in many passages, but if you translate it as age or age duration EVERY time, it would make sense.
And if you do research, the KJV had many errors in it on first publication, also second, etc. There have been MANY revisions. The Bible has been translated into MANY languages and there is ALWAYS a problem going from one language to another as not only WORDS are different but also how to describe concepts.
It is a humbling experience to try and see something from a different perspective after years or even a long lifetime of staunchly supporting a certain view. But until I was willing to give up any preconceived ideas of doctrines in order to find my Father, I couldn't begin to look at other ideas.
It was NOT wanting to find a different outcome for humanity, prove baptism unnecessary, or anything else, it was simply an intense longing to reach the heart of God that set me on my quest. Since accepting universal reconciliation, I am much closer (tho certainly still ignorant to many of the loving qualities of God) to His heart.'
And if you do research, the KJV had many errors in it on first publication, also second, etc.
I see. Well, point out the errors then. Here is the verse
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
So. Christ knocks with the free gift under his arm, but if you refuse to open, you won't receive it. It is not complicated.
That verse says nothing about a gift. He stands at the door and knocks, and IF any man hears His voice and opens the door, He will come in and sup with Him. OK. Got it. What if a man doesn't hear His voice? I guess He can't open the door and He won't come in and sup with Him. What if He hears and doesn't open the door? Then He doesn't come in and sup with Him. It's about a RELATIONSHIP with Christ, Finn. This doesn't have anything to do with God burning people alive for eternity.
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