neo-x wrote:The only thing I can say is that when I look at the gospels, I see a God who would leave the 99 who are in the fold and goes for the one who is lost. He doesn't pre-determine whether the lost one one is going to reject him or not. And that is what probably saved a sinner like me in my darkest times. So that is what I believe. Everyone needs saving that is why we are ordered to evangelize because people need to hear this message. Its easy to sit in your comfy chair and think the lost ones are not worth bothering about but I wonder if Christ would do that. I think the lost ones are the all that heaven looks for, to see someone saved and rejoice in that.
I totally get where you are coming from neo but maybe it isn`t Him that is pre determining whether the lost ones will reject Him? Maybe He just knows who will. Don`t get me wrong, I am having a real hard time getting my head around this but I do have total faith in Him.
I agree that everyone needs saving but not everyone wants to be saved, maybe it is those that are placed where they don`t hear the message but that brings us back to my original point that then, surely, they are the ones in desperate need of the message?
I get that this may run deeper than TULIP or Calvinism or whatever, it is something that perhaps only He knows the answer to.
I am torn here, part of me thinks that in reality, there will be very few that genuinely will not, or cannot, hear the message but then who will help them? If they don`t hear the message then they have nothing to reject. If they have nothing to reject it isn`t their choice, is it? Perhaps this is where His fore knowledge comes in?
I am 44, and it`s only recently that I have really heard and understood the message but I was looking for God, always. I read all I could, rejected a lot of stuff as it didn`t feel right and kept on looking. I
knew I was missing something, something vital, so I kept on looking. Seek and you shall find. What is the actual saying? If you look for me with all of your heart and mind, you will find me? Maybe that applies to those who haven`t heard the message, maybe their salvation starts with them looking which brings me to my earlier point of feeling God.
I don`t have all the answers, and to be frank, some of this just plain baffles me but I do know this. He will never turn away from anyone who is looking for Him, wheteher they have heard the message or not.