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<DIV>I was just citing the source you were discussing. That's all. There is
another verse or two, which I can't find at the moment, that does talk about
those that never got the chance to hear the Good News. And they will have a
chance for salvation. Maybe Rev. Ev can help me here. But I know of one or
two verses, sadly I don't know exactly where it is. I'll have to go through my
notes and see if I can figure out which ones I want. (I sadly have notes all
over my Bible and in the back. Sadly I don't know how to organize them.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Also the Bible speaks lightly of Christ going down into Hell and preaching
to the lost souls (Like three or four verses spread out). I know it's argued
left and right whether the Bible is quite literal or not. And when it even
happened. I lean towards it happening during the three hours of darkness after
Christ died. Could you imagine 3 hrs of eternity in Hell? Eek! But I
digress.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My point: I was just citing what you were quoting so everyone else would be
on the same page.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Lance<BR>John 8:32 "You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you
free."<BR></DIV>
<DIV>On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 22:27:31 -0500 "Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies
List" <<A href="mailto:gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net">gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net</A>>
writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid">
<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="PADDING-LEFT: 10px; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid">
<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></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>