Ray,
I have been spending quite a bit more time on your site since writing to you the other day and am finding that I have a lot to learn. I would really appreciate it if you would bear with me a little How should we understand Matthew 7:13, 14. The idea that all will be saved is a new way of thinking for me.
I have never been able to wrap my mind around the idea that a loving and just God would see eternal torment as just punishment for 60 or 70 years of sin. However I have believed that those who hear understand and reject the gospel of the Kingdom of Daniel, Psalms, Isaiah, Matthew et al and the gospel of grace of Romans, Galatians, 1 Cor 15 et al, and reject it, would deserve(?) to lose out on life. So I had determined that though the suffering could not be eternal, the outcome...Death, or so I thought, was. I can see that in many ways I need to rethink my beliefs.
Anyway, back to Matt 7 what is the life of the strait way and the destruction of the broad way?
Also, is there anything that you feel would be a particularly good starting point as far as study and meditation goes to begin to understand the true message of grace?
Yours in Christ,
Russ
Dear Russ:
Like all major Christian doctrines, none of them are found in the Scriptures. The doctrine that God can and will save people in this lifetime ONLY is one of those "Damnable Heresies" of which Peter spoke (II Pet. 2:1-2). The Scriptures NOWHERE teach that God can and will save only in this lifetime. In fact, the opposite is true: NO ONE is actually saved in this lifetime, including the Elect saints. It is only resurrection from the dead that we are truly "saved" and "born again." In this life we are only "begotten anew" with the "earnest of down payment" of His spirit, the full redemption to come at resurrection, at His presence (Eph. 1:13-14). And the wicked and unbelieving will likewise be saved in their resurrection to Judgment: "When Thy JUDGMENTS are in the earth the inhabitants of the world WILL LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Isa. 26:9). You will never hear these Scriptural truths taught in Church, as they despise the Word of God!
God be with you,
Ray
