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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: John 3:16.. whoever believes not perish? |
Bible Note: Greetings Mylene, I had been through a deep contemplation thinking about the predestination vs free will theory and here are my answers based on the final conclusion that is acceptable to my mind: Both theories actually never contradict themselves, but they are resulted from two different point of views. 1. The predestination theory is the view of God, which knows everything before it even existed, and knows where everything will end up. 2. The free will theory is based on the view of mankind which has so many limitation of understanding. And this limitation of view is actually needed to achieve a certain level of joy or sorrow that follows a person after his death. So, based on the arguments above, my answers to your question will be: #1 How could one know, he/she is the chosen one? Never. One can only believe that (s)he is. #2 If one is not chosen, one does not necessarily go to hell, right? Well, where do the unchosen go after death? If one is not chosen, then hell it is where they belong. But again, no one ever know about being chosen or not. #3 It is His will than none should perish...but then that scripture is turned around and somehow end up in only chosen ones? The will of His that none should perish is to underline the character of God which is love. This understanding in turn will shape the mind of all who believe that they are the chosen ones to love one another. #4 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 Why did this verse not say the chosen ones only? Because God speaks to human being, then He should make His word understandable to human. In this case, John speaks in human's point of view. In God's point of view it will be John 3:27, John 8:42,47. And I believe there are more if you want to search in the Bible. #5 Is this a secondary argument and not the basis for one to leave their church? I agree with Reformer Joe, this question is indeed tricky, and I'd better leave Joe's reply cover it. Sorry for the late response, since my native language is not English, sometimes I got very dizzy reading lengthy post. But I hope my reply reply does hit the question. millenious |