Question of the unsaved/ no question!

• Messages sorted by:[ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

Brother Harvey,

You wrote:
>Brethren I am appalled at  some of the fancy foot work on this thread!

It would be nice if you specified which 'fancy food work' your mean.  I 
hope you are not implying that anyone delibrately tried to dance 
around the truth or worse, obscure the truth.  Therefore, I would like 
to revise and clarify my answer.

I wrote:
> It is my personal belief that at the very least God requires all 
> man to walk in the light that they have been given.  

Please notice that I said "at the very least" in regard to man 
walking in the light that they have been given.  I still believe that 
this is true.  Jesus said He was 'The Light of the world'.  Clearly, 
light here is a metaphor for understanding.  

"But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, 
because there is no light in him."    John 11:10

I also wrote:
> God is righteous in all His ways.  He **is** a rewarder of 
> all that diligently seek Him.  If one seeks after God with 
> all his heart, mind and strenght, he will be found of Him.
>
> "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; 
> but now commandeth all men every where to repent:"    
> Acts 17:30

This is plain enough; God commands **all** men **every 
where ** to repent.  No exceptions, no excuses.

I also quoted:
> "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the 
> world are clearly seen, being understood by the things 
> that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so 
> that they are without excuse:"    Romans 1:20

Now, while it is true that Romans was written to the 
saints (ie the church, born-again Christians) at Rome, 
Paul begins his epistle, and at various other times 
within it, with a commentary on the state of mankind in 
general and the status of Gentiles and Jews in particular.  
Verse 20 is such a commentary.  In the beginning, all of 
mankind 'knew God' (eg Adam and Eve).  They in turn 
passed that knowledge in some way on to their 
decendants.  At some point, mankind began to serve the 
creature instead of the creator, going beyond the sin of 
Cain (humanism) into animism and outright idolatry. 

"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified 
him not as God, neither were thankful; but became 
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart 
was darkened."    Romans 1:21
 
"And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into 
an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, 
and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." 
Romans 1:23

But since the heavens still declared the glory of God, those 
people, though they may have lost the direct knowledge of 
God as revealed through His people, were without excuse. 
My point about this is that God is always righteous and just. 
If He condemned those before the law and the prophets who 
had no written (or even oral) testimony, then He is righteous 
and just to condemn those who today may have no written or 
oral testimony.  In mentioning the formerly 'unchurched' of the 
Old Testament, I was trying to establish a precedent, not an 
obscuring of the present gospel.

I also wrote:
> Same gospel to the Jew and to the Gentile, to the bond and 
> to the free, to the Barbarian and to the Greek.

In this day of grace, there is but one gospel, no exceptions. 
It is that the only 'efficacious' (ie effective) thing is the death, 
burial and ressurrection of Jesus Christ.  We then must believe, 
receive and obey this same gospel.  The offer is made to 
'whosoever will'.  Our job as witnesses is to go into all 
the world to every creature to make sure they are aware 
of this message.  If anyone does not here, the debt is 
incurred to us (see Romans 1:14).

I also agree that there is little scriptural evidence for 'excusing' 
a child from the requirements of salvation.  The only thing I 
could come up with is this:

 "But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, 
to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."    
Matthew 19:14

"For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, 
and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: 
else were your children unclean; but now are they holy."    
1 Corinthians 7:14

I do not say that these verses answer the question, just that 
they are the only thing I can find on the subject.

Finally, Paul has this to say on the subject of the grace of God.

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared 
to all men,"    Titus 2:11

The grace 'hath appeared', it has 'become visible' to **all** 
men.

Kathy (wanting to be absolutely clear) Dimick
Falkville, Alabama
kdimick@colsa.com
kedimick@hotmail.com

"For to me to live is Christ"