Quote:
Originally Posted by Timmy
Not impossible, perhaps. But some will think they are, but aren't. You list some of the requirements. This is your understanding of them (which probably has changed over the years, and may change again, as you might admit!  ). If you have it right (or will some day have it right), you're fine. Trouble is, you can't know if and when it's right, with 100% certainty. Those who will cry "Lord, Lord" will have thought they got it right. |
Do you think Paul, Peter, and the other apostles believed themselves to have gotten it right? If so, then why can't you or I? Are we any different than they? I think not, for God is not a respector of persons, right? If God gave them the assurance that the things which they embraced as truth were correct, then why would He not do so for you or I? The only reason why this might not be possible is simply because we don't believe it to be so.
No, I entertain no doubts that the things which I now hold to be the truth regarding the elementary principles of the teachings of Christ shall ever change. Why? Because I possess that same Spirit which all of the apostles also held, and it is He who promised to "lead and guide into ALL truth."
Yes, there will be "many" who will appear at the judgment and claim that they had it all right, but there discover, and this to their astonishment, that they did not. But why wait until then? To suggest that it is not possible in this life (that is to say, before death) that one can know with 100% assurance that their beliefs are true and proper, is to suggest that God somehow takes delight in keeping one doubting until judgment day. If such were true then it is referring to beliefs which are absolutely foreign to me.