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"God, was in Christ reconciling the world, to Himself (2 Cor 5:19). These are they from whose hearts the prince of this world shall be cast out. Our Lord foresaw that after His passion and glorifying, great nations all over the world would be converted, in whom the devil was then, but from whose hearts, on their truly renouncing him, he would be cast out. But was he not cast out of the hearts of righteous men of old? Why is it, Now shall be cast out? Because that which once took place in a very few persons, was now to take place in whole nations...
What is this all that He draws, but that from which the devil is cast out? He does not say, All men, but, All things; for all men have not faith. He does not mean then all mankind, but the whole of a man, i.e. spirit, soul, and body; by which respectively we understand, and live, and are visible. Or, if all means all men, it means those who are predestined to salvation: or all kinds of men, all varieties of character, excepting in the article of sin."
All mankind is exactly that. All = all. Not one sinner or saint is excluded!
In each usage, whatever was drawn came; there is never a suggestion or hint that whatever was drawn was not accomplished.
Jesus said, And I, if I am lifted up, I will draw all mankind to Myself.
You are absolutely incorrect. I've told you this over and over but you refuse to accept it. My journey out of indoctrination was a slow one, and I had stops along the way, like Universalism, to help me figure out that what I had been taught was ALL wrong. The difference is you are here, what seems like constantly in this thread, simply to bash and harass. That's all your doing. I'm actually trying to help people.
Nope, you are quite obviously here to harass the Universalists, that's it. I AM challenging your beliefs so the fact that you say that just tells everyone reading this that you are dishonest.
Why do you care so much about what the Universalists are teaching? You don't act like a Christian so why should it bother you? They, on the other hand, DO act like professing Christians. I don't know why it is so difficult for you to see that you are the problem here.
I don't like you, that's true, but I have every right to respond to whoever I want, whenever I want, and in any manner I choose. If you don't like it, don't interact with me. I'm not going anywhere but you are certainly welcome to if it's getting too hot in here for you.
You are absolutely incorrect. I've told you this over and over but you refuse to accept it. My journey out of indoctrination was a slow one, and I had stops along the way, like Universalism, to help me figure out that what I had been taught was ALL wrong. The difference is you are here, what seems like constantly in this thread, simply to bash and harass. That's all your doing. I'm actually trying to help people.
Nope, you are quite obviously here to harass the Universalists, that's it. I AM challenging your beliefs so the fact that you say that just tells everyone reading this that you are dishonest.
Why do you care so much about what the Universalists are teaching? You don't act like a Christian so why should it bother you? They, on the other hand, DO act like professing Christians. I don't know why it is so difficult for you to see that you are the problem here.
I don't like you, that's true, but I have every right to respond to whoever I want, whenever I want, and in any manner I choose. If you don't like it, don't interact with me. I'm not going anywhere but you are certainly welcome to if it's getting too hot in here for you.
You are absolutely incorrect. I've told you this over and over but you refuse to accept it. My journey out of indoctrination was a slow one, and I had stops along the way, like Universalism, to help me figure out that what I had been taught was ALL wrong. The difference is you are here, what seems like constantly in this thread, simply to bash and harass. That's all your doing. I'm actually trying to help people.
Nope, you are quite obviously here to harass the Universalists, that's it. I AM challenging your beliefs so the fact that you say that just tells everyone reading this that you are dishonest.
Why do you care so much about what the Universalists are teaching? You don't act like a Christian so why should it bother you? They, on the other hand, DO act like professing Christians. I don't know why it is so difficult for you to see that you are the problem here.
I don't like you, that's true, but I have every right to respond to whoever I want, whenever I want, and in any manner I choose. If you don't like it, don't interact with me. I'm not going anywhere but you are certainly welcome to if it's getting too hot in here for you.
This idea is not found anywhere in Scripture or the Christian Tradition.
God clearly wills for some to be damned. Judas is the prime example.
If Judas will one day be reconciled to God and live in eternal bliss in God's presence, then how could Jesus say that it would have been better for him had he never been born (Matthew 26:24)?
To answer your question, I don't believe Judas will "be damned" for the following reasons:
The soul of Judas was and is owned by God (Eze 18:4). Jesus tells us that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him (Luk 20:38). Judas lives to God, for all live to Him, including Judas.
Paul tells us that Judas was created in Christ and for Christ (Col 1:16, Gk text). Paul further tells us that all, including Judas, live, move and have their being in Him (Act 17:28). Not some, but rather all. All includes Judas.
Jesus tells us that He hand picked Judas (Luk 6:13) to betray Him (Joh 6:71) as the lost son of perdition (Joh 17:12). Jesus also tells us that He came to save the "lost" (Luk 19:10), a title given to Judas by Christ. Jesus calls Judas the lost "son of perdition" (Joh 17:12), a title Judas was also given to fulfill scripture. Judas simply did what he was ordained to do (Luk 22:3, Joh 13:27), and Judas did so according to the flesh (Rom 8:5-8).
Regarding Judas and Mat 26:24: The text does not say "better for him had he never been born", as you quoted it, but rather "καλὸν ἦν αὐτῷ εἰ οὐκ ἐγεννήθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος", translated as: "better would it be for him if not had been born that man".
The emphasis of Mat 26:24 is not regarding the birth of Judas, per se, but rather with respect to what God had ordained Judas to do. It would have been better for Judas not to have been born "that man". It would have been better for Judas had he not been ordained by God to betray Jesus. That is what the text in Mat 26:24 actually says.
Paul tells us that Christ justifies the ungodly (Rom 4:5), a description that Judas certainly meets. Judas was justified to life in Christ, by Christ's one act of righteousness for him (Rom 5:18).
Paul tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (2Co 5:18). Judas certainly meets that criteria too (Joh 17:12). Judas was reconciled to God, in Christ. Again, Judas was created in and for Christ, that God will be all in all (1Co 15:28). All means all and includes Judas being subdued and made subject to Christ also (1Co 15:25-28).
The scriptures tell us that Judas went to his own place (Act 1:25). Solomon tells us where that place is, here:
Ecc 12:5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails; because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets;
Ecc 12:6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,
Ecc 12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Judas' eternal home is, and always will be, with God in Christ according to the spirit, and as dust that returns to the earth, according to the flesh.
Why are you a more authoritative interpreter than St. Augustine?
Probably because Augustine didn't believe the scriptures. R2L does.
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