Featured God Does Not Will Any To Be Lost, Some Men Do!

But you are confused with what Peter is saying here. If, as you say this refers to the "elect", then what you say is right, that they cannot ever be lost. This is not in dispute. The problem arises from God being "long-suffering" (bear patiently) with them? Why would He need to do this for His chosen "elect", who will all be saved? It seems rather pointless to say this. Also, as they cannot perish, as they are "elect", it is inconsistent to say that God "does not desire this", as their repenting and being saved is a guarantee. This does not fit with language used for the saved.

 

Thanks brother. sadly it is not as simple and straightforward as you make it out to be. Translations of the Bible in any language are the work of people who make use of whatever textual evidence there is available to them. When the KJV (which I love and use very much) was done, the available manuscripts and other textual evidence was limited in some ways, as since that time other discoveries have been made, some good and some bad. Again it is the job of the textual critic to try to establish the correct reading. Some examples are the ending of Mark's Gospel, the Lord's Prayer in Matthew, The woman caught in adultery in John, the famous text in 1 Timothy 3:16 for the Deity of Jesus Christ, and the Trinitarian text of 1 John 5:7, all of which have textual problems that need to be addressed. You are quite wrong to say that I am trying to demean anyone, as I like all on here am interested in establishing the truth. I began Greek studies about 35 years ago when I was told that my KJV Bible was wrong in John 1:1, where it should read "a god", and not "God". I later learned that the person was a Jehovah's Witness. Strong's can be good for some basic meanings, but is hope less when, for example our English word "come" has over 40 Greeks words, which have very different meanings!

 

Here is something of interest. In Isaiah 6 we read:

"Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ “Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed" (v9-10)

Paul, quoting this in Acts 28, says:

"‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.”’ (26-27)

In the account in Isaiah, it does not say who "shut their eyes", for example. But Paul makes this very clear, "their eyes THEY have closed", that they cannot accept the Gospel Message. There is no contradiction here, as Paul is quoting, not from the Hebrew Old Testament, but the Greek Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, which has Older Hebrew manuscripts underlying its text. So, clearly they cannot come, not because God is stopping them, but their CHOOSING to reject what the Bible says!

 

I think you are confused on what I believe!

 

Now, are you saying that the Bible is wrong? I have clearly shown from the Word of God, that people "Close their OWN eyes" to the Truth of the Gospel, because they "did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:12). You must put aside your preconceived ideas and accept what the Bible teaches, even though it might show you to be wrong!

 

"they closed THEIR OWN eyes"

 

Read the comments by the Calvinists here and you will see for yourself, that I am right, as "predestination to life" is a Calvinistic theory, and the Bible is opposite to this!