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<DIV>On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 22:40:44 -0700 "Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies
List" <<A href="mailto:gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net">gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net</A>>
writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px">
<DIV>Matthew 25:31<SUP>
<P>31<FONT color=#ff0000>"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the
angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. </FONT>32<FONT
color=#ff0000>All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will
separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from
the goats. </FONT>33<FONT color=#ff0000>He will put the sheep on his right and
the goats on his left.</FONT><FONT color=#ff0000></P></SUP></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Lance<BR>John 8:32 "You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you
free."<BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Hi Lance, </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Nice to hear from you. I'm not sure what you meant to say by presenting
these verses, but that is the beginning of the citation I referred to in
responding to Rev. Ev. <Oh, I see later that Quama provided the
remainder.></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My point was, if you read a little further, there will be people who never
heard of Jesus, or never knew that they professed faith in Jesus or did anything
for Jesus, who will be amazed to hear "I was hungry and you gave me to eat..."
etc. and on that basis welcomed into the reward prepared for them since the
foundation of the world. Likewise, there will be people who consider themselves
devoted servants of Christ who will be dumfounded when they are sent over to the
goats, because "inasmuch as you did it not for the least of these my brethren,
you did it not for me." Notwithstanding any other presentation in any other book
or chapter, and taking as a given that EVERY word and verse are true, I can take
no other meaning from this than that there will be non-Christians welcomed into
paradise.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As to the appearance of conflicts with "No one comes to the Father but by
me" and similar statements, I reconcile them as follows:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>1) God obviously looks at these things in a much more complex way than the
human mind, looking for simple explanations, can accept. As long as we find a
simple guide to our own relationship to God, we need not worry too much whether
our neighbors found exactly the same path. We do need to worry about those who
have found no path, because they are empty, and Satan himself is a great
emptiness, a void.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>2) Since the reward is premised on "inasmuch as ye did it for the
least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me" -- they WILL come to the Father
"through me" whether they know it or not. That is probably the strongest one
from an evangelical perspective.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>3) John 14 has, I believe, and this is only my belief from my own reading
and study, been grossly misunderstood. The question the disciples asked was not
"can non-believers be saved" but "how can we know the way" and "show us the
father and it suffices us." Jesus was dealing with the disciples on their own
lack of faith and understanding, and Phillip's question bordered on idolatry.
This was not a dividing line between the saved and the unsaved for all time and
all humanity. Its dangerous to take a single verse out of context, especially
when other verses, and chapters, pose a different message.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But, I don't know what your original meaning was, since you only cited the
text and didn't say. So I won't run on any longer.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Siarlys</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>