X-Delivery-Notice:  SMTP MAIL FROM does not correspond to sender.
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Thu, 17 Dec 1992 10:31:31 EST
From:         Dan Harling <harling@ROADRUNNER.PICTEL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Eternal Security

> Date:         Thu, 17 Dec 1992 09:39:09 EST
> From: BENSON@POKVMCR3.VNET.IBM.COM
> Subject:      Re: Eternal Security
> To: Multiple recipients of list CHRISTIA <CHRISTIA@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU>
>
> cartnaj <cartnaj@EAGLE.SAFB.AF.MIL> says:
>  >You are avoiding the questions.  Are not "those" whosoever
>  >believes?  So the ones who believe (whoever they may be) are
>  >those predestined.  Or is there a limit stated on those
>  >predestined?  If there is none, then cannot all be predestined,
>  >based on their faith?
>
> I think what Jesse was saying is that God commands us to spread
> the Gospel.

We are not simply commanded to do something that otherwise has no
purpose, as a commonly-held view of Predestination would imply.  While
I believe one's salvation is not dependent on hearing the Gospel*, the
Gospel also affects the listener's life on earth.  The sooner someone
knows the Gospel, the sooner he knows the purpose of his life, and the
sooner he can start living for Christ.  The consequences of our actions
in this life, temporary as it is, can be far-reaching.

* It is possible that in God's plan, everyone who is saved *will* hear
  the Gospel at some point, and recognize it for the Truth that it is.
  Nevertheless, hearing the Gospel must be, if anything, a consequence
  of salvation, not a cause.


> I think I remember someone else on this list saying
> that while the outcome has been determined, the means have not.
> God wants to use us to carry out His perfect plan.

We really have no way of knowing how independent our actions are from
God's plan.  Although one's salvation is a known quantity (to God), he
may have provided for hundreds of opportunities for someone to hear the
Gospel--like a multiply redundant system.  If the Christian who is
given the first opportunity fails to share the Gospel (as we all do on
some occasions), there is always the second, and the third, etc.  Thus,
even the hearing of the Gospel can be predetermined, although perhaps
with different outcomes depending on the person assigned to share it.

Of course, I haven't seen a map of God's plan, so this idea is just
speculation.  It does demonstrate, though, how sharing the Gospel could
do more than just fulfill an arbitrary command, even if one's salvation
is indeed predestined.


> I believe
> there is a limit.  Read Rom. 9.

There are several places where the Bible suggests that not everybody
will be saved.  All *could* have been predestined for salvation, had
God willed it so, but for some reason that I will leave to His wisdom,
He did not.  It is a hard thing to accept, but my only conclusion can
be that I must trust God, being both perfectly just and perfectly
merciful, to decide this matter with His wisdom, and trust that some
day we will all understand.
____________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Harling                        (harling@pictel.com)
PictureTel Corp.             Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of
Peabody, MA  01960                   PictureTel Corp. (so there!)
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU