Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God Jesus was talking about was God’s kingdom He is going to set up in Israel during His millennial reign. It wasn’t about “going to heaven.”
I agree.
This I think evangelicalism has turned into a bit of a formula, i.e., a prescribed program to be follow into the presence of God and that without it or until this route is followed one remains supposedly “lost”. I’m no longer convinced this is actually accurate.
As I understand it… Jesus in Jn 14:6 isn’t laying out a formula to be followed (standard fare as per ‘the Roman road’… which again in my understanding is a misunderstanding and thus misapplication of relevant texts) but rather, he was stating as FACT that he and he alone as being the sole means whereby anyone was to have any experience with God, regardless of their knowledge of Jesus himself. IOW… ALL who experience God do so solely on the basis of Jesus’ relationship with the Father.
What you have stated, Davo, is another rendering of the inclusivist position. Let me share an important point - from the link:
David (Davo) said:
Huge… that puts a real strain on the ‘evangelical Christianity’ that so many rely on. It is because of Christ and what he did that all can now experience the Father (God). Has nothing to do with ‘believing’ or ‘Coming to Christ’ but what Christ did through the cross. 
Hmmm 
I wasn’t actually making a/the case for “inclusivism”… that was HFPZ’s conclusion from what I’d said.
Yes, but Jesus’ point was He was the Father’s mouth-piece i.e., “the Prophet” (Deut 18:15; Lk 1:76-77; 7:16; Acts 3:22-23) and as such they needed to heed his words i.e., “repent and believe” as per Lk 13:3-5, BECAUSE IF they didn’t they would also “likewise perish”… from this catastrophe they could be delivered aka “saved”.
Well not really BECAUSE that reality although inaugurated through his ministry was yet to be consummated through the cross. But the point I was making was… anyone in life who have had a genuine experience of/with God have done so solely BECAUSE OF Christ’s obedience to his Father and THIS IMO didn’t/doesn’t require a “personal knowledge” of Christ — Jesus was God’s ultimate way, truth, and life — thus his statement declaring such.
There are a number of characters recorded in the bible who were CLEARLY God’s chosen (elect) who were NOT part of, and quite distinct from, Yahweh’s covenant community i.e., the people of faith. IOW they had genuine experiences of/with God apart from knowledge of Christ.
Sure, I have no problem with that as far as it goes. BUT I do that if ssomeone, never hearing of Christ, has a genuine experience of the one true God, then I would expect that person, hearing the truth about Christ (not just an ‘every head bowed, every eye closed’ type of thing) would welcome it; if he did not, I would question the ‘genuine experience’.
$.02
Well the gentile Cornelius is a prime example of this. He was actively heard and blessed of God i.e., he had a genuine experience etc, and so came into a more excellent way; but that said, his pre-Christ experience was genuine and real.
Apart from him you have likes of Yahweh’s gentile kingly priest Melchizedek… NOT of Abram’s blessed community, but the one empowered to impart Yahweh’s blessing (Gen 14:18-20). There is also Yahweh’s gentile shepherd messiah Cyrus (Isa 44:28-45:1-3, 13). There is also Yahweh’s “servant” Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 27:6). These were ALL God’s people APART FROM God’s faith community… food for thought!
Good examples. My point was prompted by folks who claim to have a ‘spiritual experience of god’ or a general ‘sure I believe in god’ but if you bring up Jesus Christ, act like you’re crazy. An experience of God that rejects Christ is not an experience of the true God. Of course many who have not heard the name ‘Jesus’ can be graced an experience.
Here are some other scriptures that(imo) validate that point of view.
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately** accusing or else defending them**, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. Romans 2
Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” 2 Tim 2
I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man Acts 17
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Rom 1
Jesus perfectly embodied the divine nature, “He is the radiance of the Father’s glory and the express image of His nature”(Heb 1)
Before law or gospel, Abraham was the friend of God. He is the father of faith. He recognised God, I think, according to Romans 1, and was therefore recognised by God.
IMO God’s plan from the beginning was the emergence of the divine nature throughout all creation- as it says in Romans 8- the restoration of all things, setting all creation free from futility into the glorious liberty of the children of God(partakers of the divine nature)- a process emerging through the ages, like “Let there be light” began the emergence of the earth and the heavens out of the “tohu and bohu”(without form and void) of the primordial state.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.…
If God was evident through creation, so that men are without excuse… their must be an “inner witness” to Him in the innermost being of the creature. If the law was a Shadow, a visible but still cloudy image, then Christ crucified is the clear image… " But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." This(imo) as God has been raising the creation out of futility in stages, so that each creature(being) will find his ir her place in the “all in all”- after all things have been gathered into one in Christ through “an administration executed through the completion of times”.
So anyone whose conscience is excusing them as in Romans 2, or is seeking/groping for Him as in Acts 17, will rejoice to see HIs face. If the God of this age has blinded their eyes then they cannot see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ- but the Lord knows them that are His, and all those who have been His, who have never heard His name. Any logical mind understands that through the ages there have been millions, maybe billions- who never heard of the law or the gospel.
For me the parable of the “Good Samaritan” demonstrates this principle above all the other verses combined.
Yeah I get that… but even then “I’d” be inclined to cut them some slack BECAUSE who knows just how whacky or crazy “Jesus” has been portrayed to them by some of Jesus’ supposed representatives; if you know what I mean.
Again IMO that might come down to context.
Act_13:48 Now on hearing this, the nations rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and they believe, whoever were set for life eonian."
If one is not set for life eonian, they will not and cannot believe.
Who sets one for life eonian?
Answer: God.
How long is life eonian?
Answer: It is life pertaining to the eons.
What eons?
Answer: The eon to come (1000 years) and New Earth.
What happens to those who are not set for eonian life and therefore do not believe? When will they come into salvation?
Answer: at the consummation of the eons.
Why will they be saved?
Answer: Christ ransomed them too.
Like you I also don’t mean to be a “Debbie Downer” E but you’re showing me that the rigid literalism so often found in Calvinism and Arminianism is alive and well in Universalism as well. The harsher literalists spend time separating out this group from that, applying legalistic terms from Scripture to one group and not another. I’m gently suggesting this leads not to the power of the Bible–its truth–but to its dissemination and the age-old corruption of God’s meaning by this poring over and trying to line all God’s decrees up from a literal point of view. This the Jews of Jesus’ day did and He chastised them for it (Mat 23). Imo the power of Scripture is that God directed its formation and endued its truths such that each one applies to every individual. You can never find the truth of Scripture by plugging literal meanings one into another…the house you build this way will, like that of all literalists, necessarily fall.
Everyone dies for their own sins. The miracle of the atonement is not that Jesus died so some could escape while others pay, but that when we kill ourselves with our sin He lovingly resurrects us. I’ve heard Christians talk about those nasty Jewish religious leaders who hated and killed Jesus–never realizing that in all the Bible, Old Testament and New, God is holding up a mirror to every person. You, I and every person are the Pharisee who plotted against Christ. We shouted at Pilate to kill Him. We stood in the shadows and nodded smugly while He was tortured and crowned with thorns. Those who separate out groups and apply various decrees or see some as good and others bad live out Luke 18:10-14…and again, universally, all do at various and sundry times. If all Scripture does, as I suspect, apply to all, then humanity’s hope lies in Christ’s utterance, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do” applying also to the same all.
I’m not claiming there is no distinction between good persons and bad, saints and sinners, etc. These are valid differences in time and space, but God’s decrees in our Spirit-breathed Bible are universal. The power of Scripture is not in its literal sense.
God’s kingdom, power and glory only lasts 1000 years in Mat 6:13 and not forever?
God spoke (His promises) to Abraham for a limited time, maybe 1000 years? What happens after that?
In Jn 6:51 everyone who partakes of Christ gets a promise to live for some period of time?
So the slave doesn’t remain in the house for 1000 years but the Son does? This doesn’t make sense.
Jn 12:34, the Jews understood from the OT law that Christ would abide for a while? Forever would be better.
So John’s understanding in Rev 1:6 is that glory and dominion will be to Christ for some unknown amount of time? Who takes over the reigns after this?
Well, if you understand for ever (for an ever) as “for an eon” then, yes, the kingdom of God Christ is going to set up in Israel lasts for 1000 years. That is the duration of that eon.
After that, the earth is destroyed by a world-wide conflagration and a new earth emerges. The new earth eon is the final eon in God’s program with mankind.
That is correct. That is quite a blessing to have. Do you think if one gets to live through the duration of the 1000 year eon that that somehow cheapens the blessing?
So you think a slave should be a slave to someone for eternity?
Here is the verse: Joh 12:34 The throng, then, answered Him, "We hear out of the law that the Christ is remaining for the eon, and how are you saying that the Son of Mankind must be exalted? Who is this Son of Mankind?
They couldn’t see how Christ had to die if He was to remain for the eon. When Christ returns He will remain for the eon when He sets up His millennial reign in Israel.
Rev 1:6 and makes us a kingdom and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and might for the eons of the eons! Amen!"
The Israelite believers are to be in a kingdom which lasts through the 1000 year eon and then the greatest eon of the eons before: the New Earth. The 1000 year eon is a known amount of time. The final eon is not given a specific duration. We just know the Bible says the eons end individually and collectively. When the final eon ends, then we will know all in the heavens and all on the earth have been subjected to Christ and then Christ subjects Himself to the Father and then God is All in all (see 1 Cor.15:20-28).
Joh 6:68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we come away? Declarations of life eonian hast Thou!”
Christ had declarations pertaining to the eons to come.
The Bible says all the eons end. Eonian life is not eternal life. Immortality and incorruption is the closest thing we have to eternal life. When the eons end we believers still live because we will have put on immortality and incorruption (see 1 Cor.15).
Rom 5:12 Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and thus death passed through into all mankind, on which all sinned -"
We don’t die because we sin. We sin because we are dying. We are dying due to what Adam did, not due to anything we did.
Likewise, all mankind will be made alive due to what Christ did, not due to anything we did. (see Romans 5:18,19).
Hopefully, nobody thinks God behaves this way 
http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/nakedpastor/files/2013/09/trickster-god.jpg
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LOL, lov it. That is so perfect. God have mercy on those who cannot see His divine nature and plan for man.
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