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NASB | Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 13:8 All the inhabitants of the earth will fall down and worship him, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain [as a willing sacrifice]. |
Subject: Our name erased or added to Book of Life |
Bible Note: "Do you see how your argument is going my friend? You are in essence saying, "I don't believe that 'all' the people really did come out, even though the text says they did, so 'all' must only mean 'some'!" Would you buy this kind of an argument from me? ;-)" Now, I don't think that is quite fair. Unless you go for a wooden translation of the text, I think John's conclusion is a reasonable one. When Paul says in Colossians 1 that the gospel is bearing fruit in Colossae "just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing," do you think that Paul means ALL the world? Was the gospel bearing fruit in the Western Hemisphere? If so, perhaps I need to revisit Mormonism as a viable world view. No one always uses the adjective "all" with the connotation that you seem to think it MUST have. To force the "each-and-every" understanding in every instance of the word renders some passages nonsensical, others heretical, and some in direct contradiction with their immediate and general context. Regarding "My sheep," Jesus was speaking of Christians, of course. He laid down his life for His sheep. He repeats that twice, saying that He knows who are His, and He lays his life down for them. It completely deflates the discourse to write in "and those who are not my sheep, too." He is not everyone's Shepherd, nor does the Shepherd lay down his life for those who are not His sheep. Likewise, passages like Ephesians 5 compare the way a husband should cherish his wife, self-sacrificing like Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Again, to parenthetically assume that Jesus died for those who are not His completely ruins the simile. We also saw 2 Corinthians 5:15, where Jesus' death has the purpose "so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." The purpose is limited to "those who live" (i.e. the regenerate), so Christ dying for them and everyone else leaves a lot of purposeless suffering for Him. Even Arminians (except for kooks like Pinnock) say that God foresees who will accept and who will reject Jesus. The general redemption model makes Christ suffer needlessly on behalf of those who will never receive the ultimate benefit of that sacrifice. I find it interesting that Arminians have a problem with God not giving all sinners (i.e. those who deserve judgment) redemption, but have no qualms about Jesus the sinless Son suffering more of God's wrath to no end whatsoever. --Joe! |