Well, I had in mind Aaron37’s idea that persecution is a sign of being ‘in the truth’ when that is not necessarily so. His gospel looks exactly like Islam’s to me - and was developed 600 years after the cross. I think the propensity of religion is to reject the good news and to substitute it with another gospel that ensures their new message is heard.
Thanks for this post, Aaron. I hope to get back to you on this when I get the time to look at these verses more in depth.
lol I just realized that there is a typo in the title of this thread. I hope everyone knows that this topic has nothing to do with saliva.
I didn’t even notice the typo until you pointed it out. But hey, Jesus did use saliva one time to heal a blind man… 
Some might like to be aware of the evidence why some of us think that the Bible teaches universal salvation rather than annihilation.
Is the Doctrine of Limited Punishment, Terminated by Destruction True?
auburn.edu/~allenkc/annihil.html
Another online book that shows why we believe the Bible teaches universal salvation rather than annihilation is ALL IN ALL by A.E. Knoch.
WILL UNBELIEVERS BE ANNIHILATED - chapters three and four
(If necessary copy and paste the following url into your browser address bar)
lighthouselibrary.com/read.p … or=||KNOCH, ADOLPH E||&type=&what=author
There are also several expositions that do the same thing on a less comprehensive scale. They are accessed through the search engine at the top of the front page at
tentmaker.org
For example, two are
ETERNAL DEATH ANNIHILATION ONE STEP OUT OF HELL
tentmaker.org/books/EternalDeath.html
Or
JUST WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THE WORD DESTRUCTION?
hell-fact-or-fable.com/destruction3.html
Perhaps like the people of Noah’s day who are also described as having “descruction” as their “end”,
even though they will yet be resurrected & may have had the gospel preached to them while dead:
Genesis 6:13, New International Version
So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.
I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
The destruction (Phil.3:19) might also concievably continue to, or into, the afterlife or a future age or ages, e.g.
the millenium or lake of fire or both.
Another take is that Phillipians 3:19 refers to believers who cannot lose “life eonian”, but suffer loss in other ways:
John 3:16
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ARE NOT ETERNAL - Kenneth Larsen
Jesus knew that John 3:16 was not the end of the story…that’s why He continued to John 3:17 and talked about the salvation of all mankind!!!
Jesus makes no attempt to use verse 16 to negate or qualify verse 17. He simply makes both statements side by side as if both are completely true. The reason He does this is that both ARE completely true.
We see this over and over in Scripture, especially in the writings of Paul – a statement about people who have faith now (maybe a warning or exhortation or encouragement about the benefits of taking part in the kingdom of God a.k.a. the next two ages of life on earth) right next to a statement about how Christ accomplished the justification of all men. See Romans 3:23-24 and 5:18 and their contexts for example. This is no big deal; none of these statements negate, qualify (change), or contradict each other, because both concepts are 100% true. Some will be saved from death early and take part in the kingdom of God, and everyone else will be saved from death later.
To attempt to use some statements (about those who get saved early) to negate the others statements (about the eventual salvation of all) is to butcher the common sense rules of language and communication. We would never do this to each other in everyday communication; the only reason people try to do it to Jesus and Paul is because they cannot bring themselves to believe the plain statements about the eventual salvation of all mankind.
If I said to my kids, “Those of you who help me clean the yard today will get to go to a movie with me tomorrow, and next week I will take the rest of you to a movie,” I have made it very clear that all the kids will eventually go to the movies. My two statements do not contradict each other or negate each other in any way. This is the exact same thing Jesus does in John 3:16 and 17 – He makes two equally true statements. Yet “hell mindset” Christians try to make one statement negate the other in order to fit their preconceived inherited ideas.
“What About how the Bible says that those who do not believe will perish or be destroyed?”
tentmaker.org/FAQ/perish.htm
Sounds a lot like…
The verbal form of “απολεια” (often translated “destruction”) is “απολλυμι.” Yes, this verb can mean “destroy” but it can also mean “be lost.”
In Luke 15:32, the loving father said to his older son, "your brother … was lost (“απολλυμι”), and is found.” Clearly the prodigal son was not destroyed by his father.
Hi, I am new here.
You are correct as to the above. Also Christ came for the lost sheep:
Mat_15:24 “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the **lost **sheep of the house of Israel.”
Those sheep He was seeking to save were the lost/destroyed sheep. Obviously the idea of destruction was different to the Greek in Christ’s day than in ours. Being a destroyed sheep was often a prerequisite to being saved. None are so destroyed that they cannot be saved by the Ideal Shepherd.
In the Concordant Literal New Testament Keyword Concordance for “perish” it says “see lose.” For “lose” the elements are “from-whole-loose.” So, say a horse is kept fenced in. If it breaks out and runs loose it is running from a whole(some) situation where it was protected and cared for. Thus also can sheep get away from the flock and wander from their whole(some) situation and thus perish. But the perishing is not unending.