***Now you may not understand the Bible, but that’s not the same thing as saying the Bible is incapable of being understood...by those whom God has given eyes to see and ears to hear.***
Exactly. In fact the Bible is very clear that if you do not believe, if you do not understand, it is because God does not WANT you to understand.
Amen. And for Christians, this is part of the Good News of the Gospel. No wonder the temporal world works so hard to erase it.
"And this will we do, if God permit." -- Hebrews 6:3
Of course, I still differ with my starkly Calvinist and hyperCalvinist bros & Sis’s.
I believe ALL the Scriptures on BOTH SIDES OF THE predestination issue will be fulfilled. I think folks who have a compulsion to shove the whole of the New Testament to one BLACK/WHITE side of such are missing out on the WHOLE COUNSEL OF SCRIPTURE.
And, I am keenly aware of the SINGLE Scripture about God creating even the wicked for His purposes.
GIVEN ALL THAT . . .
I firmly believe that we shall find in eternity that God slating folks like Judas for hell unalterably . . . was a rather rare thing. That there was some aspect of doggedly, persistently, tenaciously, repeatedly choosing rebellion, idolatry and the like vs choosing God that resulted in folks joining satan and his angels in the abode created for them.
I’m not the least bit interested in renewing the Armenian sp? Calvinist ‘debate.’
I just want to register a caution regarding the seeming over-quickness to assert that God creates lots of people unalterably for hell. Just doesn’t jive with my reading of Scripture nor my understanding of God’s nature.