You’re welcome, and I thank you for your thoughtful reply as well.
On knowledge of the Bible, I would just say that it is ever so important to read the whole Bible, if you haven’t, if you are going to have answers to the questions you’re asking. God’s Word is what He has revealed to us. He has only revealed things in part, but what He has revealed we can be assured is sufficient for us. Between knowing and meditating on His Word and receiving His guidance, we will begin to grow in Christ and in the knowledge of the Lord. Answers come over time, and usually not completely, but they truly do come and one’s understanding grows. If you’ve read the whole Bible, then more answers will come.
I know every question you pose here I have a much better understanding of than I used to, and in many cases have come to some satisfying answers, though certainly not complete ones. For some of your questions, the ultimate answers won’t come in this world. If a pastor leads his flock astray, for example. Well, how and why did he do so? Ultimately, only God knows what’s in His heart. We certainly might be able to say that he should no longer be a minister, and perhaps that we shouldn’t have fellowship with him, but to say what will become of his soul, that’s really beyond us. And it’s also impossible for any pastor not to err in some ways. They’re human. We’re not ultimately relying on him, but on God’s grace.
And too, even over our lives our beliefs change. Suppose we believe in baptism by immersion, as we know the Lord was baptized that way, but it is a church that sprinkles with water which reaches a person living in a remote place, and that person comes to faith in Christ and is baptized into that church. Can we say that person isn’t saved because he or she wasn’t baptized in what we believe is the right way, or the best way? These questions and uncertainties might seem to cause agony, but they also refine us, and we’ve been promised fiery trials here that are for our own spiritual good. It’s not a matter of being lost in unresolvable problems, because we will come closer to the Lord as we seek the answers.
I have read the Bible, but it didn't take the first time.
Believe it or not, for me it's been other books, like The Harbinger, My Descent Into Death, A Second Chance at Life, Heaven is Real, But So Is Hell, and finally True Life In God most of all, that have helped remove whatever blocked me from a Scriptural understanding.
During the obama years, my life had a long run full of upheavals and those losses in life that are hard to take and even harder to come back from.
Yet somehow during that time, I found Him and His Peace, for which I am grateful.
Still a work in progress, though, but at least I'm not a walking dead zombie anymore.
Thank You, Jesus!
A letter from a soul in hell...Yikes! Way too close for comfort.