WHY TEACH SALVATION FOR ALL?
godfire.net/eby/godwill3.html
A good writing to discuss! 
Amazing. I wish I had more time to read it right now, but using such staggering numbers like that is a really smart technique. Also, there is some pretty sweet poetry in there.
Thatās an interesting article. I look forward to reading more of it. His discussion on 1 Tim. 2:1-6 is encouraging and reminds me of a statement in the Lordās Pray - āYour kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.ā In the Present, the flow of salvation is from the Eternal to the Present. Everyone is saved in the Eternal realm of God, and thus we pray for all to embrace the salvation of God in the present. Example: instead of us praying for āJoeā to get into heaven, we should pray for Joe to embrace in the present (on earth) the salvation that he has in Christ (in heaven). Our Eternal Salvation has been accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ, and we recieve that salvation today through faith; so that salvation is truly by Grace (in the eternal) through faith (in the present). Salvation is not about us getting into heaven (for Christ has already accomplished that for us); rather, salvation is about getting heaven into us!
Itās about death and not be being held captive (forever) by it. Itās the Great Hope that humanity is no longer in Adam but in Christ, who was the first to beat it, and by beating that last enemy, will set the captives free. Which was His stated mission.
Any other definitions of āsalvationā or ābeing savedā are lame in comparison. āSaved from povertyā āSaved from injusticeā āSaved from ignoranceā Yeah, itās a lot of things - but donāt miss the forest for the trees. In other times, when you were lucky to live to 40 and your children died like fliesā¦ they knew what they were saved from. Death. The Great Hope was and is the hero of mankind.
Iāll die soon enough and you will too. Donāt be fooled by religious fluff. Stay focused.
Let me explain my previous post. Everything is about the resurrection - if that is not true, then all the rest is just talking gas. But is it so taken for granted that we often miss the shocking wonder of it. It was mind-blowing to all of the churchās (and the worldās) early generations after the event. Not a myth but a fact witnessed in history.
There is no guarantee that as a Christian that you are going to āhappyā as the world (and us!) count happiness. We are all like thieves on the cross with a death sentence on our heads. Itās coming at us like a freight-train and it is impossible to love an enemy who will take everything from you. Death.
People need to be reminded that THAT is what we are saved fromā¦death. Cold and lifeless, forgotten and eternalā¦if it had not been for Christ. Just a reminder.
If this is all about being sweeter and better people than our neighbor, or more successful, or spiritually superior, or praised by the religious, or getting an ego boost - then this is all in vain. I wonder sometimes if the religious can stop being religious long enough to grasp humanityās hope as their own, i.e., to join them. To be human, to be a sinner. To be saved from death with them. That might be asking too much.
Meanwhile, weāre supposed to be impressed with their ātestimoniesā as though a fart and the Great Hope should be granted equal air time. What a world we live in!
Good posts Ran!
Jesus said love you neighbor as your selfā¦we are supposed to be transforming into the image of Christ from glory to glory (2 Cor 3.18) everyday. Iām not a sinner saved by grace anymore ( i used to be) Iām a new creation or new species in Christ. Iām the righteousness of God in Christ. Iām a born again child of the most high God. Iām a saint, not an old sinner. No where in the NT are born again children of God classified as sinners. 
Thatās just ego-talk. One day youāll wake up and itāll be gone. Then, what will you do? Call on His Grace to save you again? What a roller-coaster youāre on and donāt even know it.
You either accept the word of God or you donātā¦its just that simple, Ran.
Not totally true, Ran; there is a sense in which we are a new creation in Christ, it just takes time to fully manifest like anything natural does. If this werenāt true, itād mean that the statement that Christ gives us new life is for all intents and purposes meaningless.
I think youāre right about Aaron himself, though; he isnāt producing what we would recognize as fruit of the Spirit but using the energy to obtain it to instead prematurely to talk big, when goodness has no need to assert itself.
Like peacocks wandering the walkways of the zoo,
Who have twice the autonomy the giraffes and the tigers do,
Saying,
āNo one can stop me! No one can stop me!
No one clips my clawsā¦
Now everyone watch me! Everyone watch me
Scale these outside walls!ā
Oh you, pious and profane!
Put away your praise and blame,
A glass can only spill what it contains!
To the perpetually plain, the incurably inane
A glass can only spill what it contains!
Acceptance of the truth is always through oneās paradigm - itās like a filter or a lens. So we both can say that the Holy Spirit opened our eyes and resides in us to help us with that āfilteringā - of which, because weāre human, entails all sorts of factors: gender, dna, experience, culture, intelligence, etc.
No one believes exactly as you (or me) on all points (including minutia which can grow into schism). So to say that one āsimply holds the truthā over another who is saying the same thing is to miss Paulās observation that we ALL are looking through a veil at all this - so the beginning of wisdom is to admit the truth that one is half-blind like everyone else, and human in spite of whatever āgiftsā one may perceive to possess.
I accept that truth from Paul, who put no confidence in himself. He didnāt help to convert whole regions of the earth by expecting a minutia lock-step. He preached Christ crucified and resurrected. The first of humanity. Simple is good.
Well, I love Aaron - heās full of vigor and certitude. But he has some things to learnā¦all those gray areas where certitude must give way to faith - thatās tough on the old ego. Heās allowed religion to dehumanize himself. Heās a patsy. Every Christian has the ability to stand outside of religion. He really hasnāt done that yet.
Loved the poem. Is it yours?