I’ve found that many things I believed when I became a Christian a changed my beliefs on when I actually studied them. Not all, but some. The two most dramatic:
1. My church made a big deal about believing the pre-trib rapture was biblical. I studied it and am now mid-trib (actually post-tribulation, pre-wrath)
2. Even before I became a Christian “everebody knows” that according to Christianity the fate of the lost is eternal suffering. I studied it and now believe the fate of the lost is the second death which is, in fact, death. The warning actually starts in Genesis before Adam eats the forbidden fruit.
I figure some other beliefs will change as I study them one by one.
One that I’m figuring out now is that there are two types of people, but really three:
1. Sheep
2. Goats
But really, the first is divided into two groups:
1a. Found Sheep (FS)
1b. Lost Sheep (LS)
The great commission is for the FS to preach to all non-FS’s so the LS’s can become FS’s. It means I no longer have a heart for the “lost” because the lost are the Goats. They are an irrelevance. And the LS will become FS, whether I am the FS that preaches to them or not, but I would love to be the one who does.
To be clear, it is not for me to judge who is a LS and who is a Goat. But I can share the word and let the person make their decision. I should not have to convince them. And it is a waste of time to try to convince a Goat.
I am not sure what you mean by “the second death which is, in fact, death”. Do you mean, gone obliterated not here anymore kind of death? Revelation 2 0 clearly states what that second death is. The cast in the lake of fire (the second death) are not obliterated from existence.
Not many people are able to set aside the things they’ve been taught, and accept only what they find in the Scriptures. I’m glad to hear that you’re studying hard, and comparing the things you’ve believed and been taught, against what the Bible says.
God will teach us if we will spend our time digging into what He has said. If we stick with His Word and that alone, how can we possible go wrong?
:-)