Reply #19: That's probably the "normal" interpretation [View All]

[Dogmudgeon]

The problem with free will arguments (pro or con) is that they depend on causality being part of spiritual existence. That may not be the case.

As for rejection of God, it may be relative. If a person rejects God under the effects of human sin, is that really a rejection? This is why I think that the spritual universe may be a lot bigger than we are used to imagining it. Suppose someone like a Hitler had 100,000 years -- or ten million -- to work through his evil? What if it only takes ten seconds? (And these scenarios still assume a causal spiritual universe.)

If Jesus is our spiritual "buddy" -- a likely situation given the Gospel(s), if a constricted phrase for it -- then we won't ever have to go it alone.

We can't really know at this point in our existence. All we do know is that when we die, that will be the end of Earthly life -- maybe. For everything that comes after it, we have to go on faith.

That's why when I hear "get saved NOW or suffer eternally!" I have to laugh. That's as pagan an idea as ever existed, and it actually comes from the early Celtic tribes.

Faith in Jesus is the cure for theophobia. And for evil, too.

--p!