This is probably starting to get off topic and becoming a never ending discussion but, lets continue till the admins close it.
iano writes:
You can refuse to open your eyes to the truth of oil and persist in the notion that that warm liquid is water. You would be doing what the Bible says those who will perish do: they refuse to love (or to put it another way; suppress arrival at) the truth.
In theory and in paper, this sounds like a good analogy. Now, can you give me a good practical, everyday example of situations when we feel it's water but it is in fact oil? This analogy can be used against you. What if it is you the one who is because of your faith(binding you), feeling oil when the true liquid is water?
iano writes:
Thoughts are real, are they not? They are not tangible in the sense that oatmeal is though. So much for empiricism as a full and final means to arrive at what's true.
Thoughts are real when they are looked at for what they are; chemical reactions in your brain. If you imagine a chair for example, the thought that provides your brain with an image of the chair through the different processes in your brain is real, not the chair you are imagining. A line must be drawn between what is real and what is imaginary.
iano writes:
Different folk have different takes on Paul means. He speaks elsewhere (in Romans 8) about predestining being something God does to people that he foreknows. If God foreknows you then he predestines you. If he predestines you he calls you. If called, you'll be justfied and glorified. Foreknowing is first in the queue - with all else happening automatically once that first domino is tipped over.
So... Can i take this as a yes, that you believe in predestination?
iano writes:
"Before the creation of the world" there was no time (let's suppose). In which case God chose me in the eternal realm. But the eternal realm also exists after the world, and time, has been wrapped up. We might thus consider this world and this time as a realm contained within a 'bubble' around which exists the greater timeless eternal realm.
All of which means he chose me in the same realm that exist after the world will come to an end. Meaning he can chose me on the basis of my response to him in this world. And thus predestine me to be transferred to his kingdom before the world began
To sum up: my own view is that everyone gets to chose (in effect) their eternal destination. God knows their choices eternally, that is: before they've made it - because he is simultaneously present after they've made it. And he predestines those who (effectively) choose for him to be subjected to the process of salvation that transfers them from the kingdom of darkeness into the kingdom of light. Foreknown (because they are known afterwards), predestined to be called, called as a result, justified (made righteous in Gods eyes), glorified.
Hmm. I respect your opinion/faith but I find this to be speculation. And speculation, cannot be debated. Theres no evidence that can possibly take you to this kind of theory. You can pull out the "bible says it so it must be true" card but that will only make me conclude that the author was speculating as well. You''ll need to start making a case for the existence of a soul and that it is inmortal or eternal and still you'll have all your work ahead of you to come up with something like the opinion you stated here.
Edited by Itachi Uchiha, : grammar
With my eyes there's nothing you can do that I can't see through.