The Book of Life

[RevDWW]

How does one get their name in the Book of Life?


Rev 20:11 - 15
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, ccording to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Rev 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.


What does one have to do to get their name blotted out?

Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

[pelathais]

Ephesians 1:4 : We were chosen by God to have our names in the Book of Life (assuming that you were chosen as well, brother ).

Even before we could do either good or evil (Romans 9:10-13) God called us to be holy and without blame before Him in love. We don't do anything to get our names in the Book of Life. Our names are just there (or not, as the case may be) written before the foundation of the world!

And because our names are there we live a holy and blameless life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

pelathais, with his Calvinist hat on.

[SDG]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Ephesians 1:4 : We were chosen by God to have our names in the Book of Life (assuming that you were chosen as well, brother ).

Even before we could do either good or evil (Romans 9:10-13) God called us to be holy and without blame before Him in love. We don't do anything to get our names in the Book of Life. Our names are just there (or not, as the case may be) written before the foundation of the world!

And because our names are there we live a holy and blameless life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

pelathais, with his Calvinist hat on.

Powerful.

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Ephesians 1:4 : We were chosen by God to have our names in the Book of Life (assuming that you were chosen as well, brother ).

Even before we could do either good or evil (Romans 9:10-13) God called us to be holy and without blame before Him in love. We don't do anything to get our names in the Book of Life. Our names are just there (or not, as the case may be) written before the foundation of the world!

And because our names are there we live a holy and blameless life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

pelathais, with his Calvinist hat on.

Originally Posted by Daniel Alicea

Powerful.

Oh wait... this hat says Calvin Klein, not Calvinist!

Ezekiel 18:30-31 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Luke 13:6-9 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.

Rev 20:12-15 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

[RevDWW]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Oh wait... this hat says Calvin Klein, not Calvinist!

Ezekiel 18:30-31 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Luke 13:6-9 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.

Rev 20:12-15 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Now that is funny.

What's not so funny is that everyone that is not found written in the book of life, no matter what their works were, will be cast into the lake of fire.

[RevDWW]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Ephesians 1:4 : We were chosen by God to have our names in the Book of Life (assuming that you were chosen as well, brother ).

Even before we could do either good or evil (Romans 9:10-13) God called us to be holy and without blame before Him in love. We don't do anything to get our names in the Book of Life. Our names are just there (or not, as the case may be) written before the foundation of the world!

And because our names are there we live a holy and blameless life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

pelathais, with his Calvinist hat on.

But if all our names are there, then why even have the book or why have to open it to look and see if the name is there?

Isn't Rom 9:10-13 speaking about God's plan being fulfilled in Jacob? It doesn't seem to be speaking about everybody here, but Jacob and Esau in particular.

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by RevDWW

But if all our names are there, then why even have the book or why have to open it to look and see if the name is there?

Originally Posted by RevDWW

Isn't Rom 9:10-13 speaking about God's plan being fulfilled in Jacob? It doesn't seem to be speaking about everybody here, but Jacob and Esau in particular.

It really comes down to a paradox. There are two things which are both equally correct - but each also contradicts the other.

It's sort of like trying to look at both sides of a coin at the same time. If you're human, you can't really do it. You have to focus on one side of the coin and study it out before turning it over and studying the other side. Some people get stuck on one side and forget that there are two sides to the coin.

On one side is determinism or predestination. This was Augustine, Luther and Calvin. This side of the coin helps us to understand that there is nothing we can do to merit salvation or to earn our way into God's good graces. We are wretched and undone - except those who God "foreknew" (Romans 11; and yes the context identifies the "remnant of grace" in Israel- but the principle applies to the people of God in all times. The same thing with Romans 9 - compare Psalm 139:14-17 and Jeremiah 1:5).

Determinism places God in a position of absolute Sovereignty; a place where His choices and covenants are eternal and binding. Those in such a covenant can never fall from that position of grace (John 10:28-29)... but there is the other side of the coin too.

[RevDWW]

Originally Posted by pelathais

It really comes down to a paradox. There are two things which are both equally correct - but each also contradicts the other.

It's sort of like trying to look at both sides of a coin at the same time. If you're human, you can't really do it. You have to focus on one side of the coin and study it out before turning it over and studying the other side. Some people get stuck on one side and forget that there are two sides to the coin.

On one side is determinism or predestination. This was Augustine, Luther and Calvin. This side of the coin helps us to understand that there is nothing we can do to merit salvation or to earn our way into God's good graces. We are wretched and undone - except those who God "foreknew" (Romans 11; and yes the context identifies the "remnant of grace" in Israel- but the principle applies to the people of God in all times. The same thing with Romans 9 - compare Psalm 139:14-17 and Jeremiah 1:5).

Determinism places God in a position of absolute Sovereignty; a place where His choices and covenants are eternal and binding. Those in such a covenant can never fall from that position of grace (John 10:28-29)... but there is the other side of the coin too.

If this is true then how can one be blotted out of the book of life?

We can't be plucked out of His hand but can we squirm away?

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by RevDWW

If this is true then how can one be blotted out of the book of life?

We can't be plucked out of His hand but can we squirm away?

Both things are metaphors, of course. God is not really a giant anthropic deity capable of holding millions of people in His hand. We have to let go of the metaphors at time.

To describe an apostate - they didn't really "squirm away." They freely made choices. There may have been hypocrisy and deception along the way- but ultimately they chose to go away. I think it's important to put it like that because I want to emphasize the "security" that we do have in the arms of the Lord. I don't accept the doctrine of Unconditional Eternal Security; but we do have security and strength in Christ. We shouldn't let others define our terms for us.

A person is "blotted" out or "lost" because of the choices that that individual freely made.

[pelathais]

The other side is that of free will. This is where we find Jakob Arminius, John Wesley and Charles Finney. On this side of the coin we we see that it is our responsibility to hear and respond to the Gospel. Here we find that our names can be "blotted out."

If we stay here all the time we may end up thinking that we must earn our salvation through good works. If we stay on the other side we may fall into the "greasy grace." We need both sides, in balance.

But it is a paradox. To understand how we can have both Sovereign Election and a Free Will we have to accept the fact that these are mutually self contradictory- in human terms. But God is greater than anything we can know or imagine. To find Him we have to look at both sides equally- not favoring one over the other.