"1.) I believe that Christ died to save all of us from death — by making eternal life possible. As such — we have all been saved by His sacrifice — so identifying people as "saved" or "unsaved" is not relevant in my context. Christ has already saved us all."

This is the part upon which I have been dwelling most. I told you in a former post that I believed that Jesus died for everyone’s sins; I did not say that I believed that Jesus saved everyone (if I did say that - and I’m not going to take the time to double check right now - then what I meant was assuredly "everyone of His people").

I have given great thought to this matter, and consulted many sources for early church doctrine and history. I am beginning to change my position here. I didn’t believe that Jesus saved everyone; now I’m more sure that He did than anything else. I think that much has been lost in translations over the years. All this eternal suffering and torture seems to be nothing more than a lot of BS.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe everyone is going to have a lot of mistakes to answer for, and I think that there is going to be a lot of temporal discipline in store for everyone, some more than others. But as far as eternal damnation; I think Jesus wiped that away for all of us. I don’t think anyone has that to look forward to.

This change of mind makes me very happy…far more than I can express, really.

Which makes the Good News, truly Good News for everyone! Jesus died and took care of your sin! It’s over! Death is defeated!

"2.) I believe we are all endowed with a soul — "Made in God’s Image" if you will. We have this soul from the moment we are conceived and are identifable genetically as indivual humans — if not before."

I’m not going to contend this point, because I don’t know enough about it. But I would like to clarify what I have said before concerning "saved". I have used it in two very different ways, and I wasn’t clear about that earlier:

1) Saved - To have your sinfulness and guilt taken care of by the work of Jesus on the cross.

2) Saved - To have your mind renewed and cleansed by His Holy Word.

I still contend that until a person begins to go through the #2 process, they don’t have any concept of true right and wrong…not as God defines it. I think I’ve provided some pretty solid Biblical references for this position in prior posts. I hope my clarification as to the meaning of "saved" lends to better understanding of my position.

"3.) Evil occurs when man turns away from God’s Laws as spelled out in the Ten COmmanndments and Chrit’s Greatest Law — either knowingly or in ignorance."

I agree. But my contention is that man begins his life in a position that is turned away from God’s law. Until he begins to know and learn about God, he has no concept of true right and wrong…only what man has invented in his own mind.

I will make one concession. Everyone is connected. So if a child is born and raised by parents who, though they may not be Christian nor go to church, were nevertheless at one time influenced by someone who knew someone who knew someone, etc…who was exposed to the goodness of God, then it is possible that the child will learn from their parents some concept of right and wrong that they learned from someone who, ultimately, learned it from the oracles of God. But nevertheless, I believe that man is born totally void of God’s righteousness.

Actually, I’ll make one more concession. To the mind of man, even me, the difference between man’s inherent sense of right and wrong, and God’s righteousness, often seems to be a fine line. But as seen by God, that line is a broad and bottomless gourge, and it’s only healer Jesus. And for me, God is right about how wide this line is, not man. Man can see with his own eyes how broad this line is when he views it through God’s word.

lol…I’ll make yet another concession. The line of distinction between man’s concept and God’s is probably far less visible (to man) today than it was in the first century. That is because Christianity has had a broad influence on the world of the last 2,000 years. In the first century, the distinction between Christian and secular was as clear as night and day. That’s why Christians were killed right and left. Today, most Christians are far less devout than they were in the early centuries, and most secular people are far more acquainted with the common benefits of Christian ethics (it benefits a person to adopt many of the Christian ethics; even if they don’t believe in God, they find much to gained in this world when they conduct themselves in kindness, humbleness, love, patience, etc…). As a result, the line has become blurred to the point to where it makes sense why most people would say that everyone has an innate sense of what I would call God’s righteousness. But I would ultimately, and adamantly, disagree.

There will come a day, as the Bible says, when this line of distinction will become far more clear; indeed, just a clear, if not clearer, as it was in the first century.

"In our modern context I think the Jews can be seen as all people who are reared in homes where Faith in Jesus Christ is taught."

Most professed Jews would obviously disagree with you, but I say good point…bravo. Read the beginning of Romans closely, and you will find that Paul defines what a true Jew is…and it fits your description pretty closely.

"Indeed there are many many people who never have an "epiphany" moment where they consciously recognize Christ and ask HIm to come into their lives — because they have always had Christ in their lives, families and homes."

true.

"– The rest of the world are gentiles — able to discern what is right and wrong, and have God’s Law "written on their heart" because they have souls and through the power of the Holy Spirit can come to know God, Christ and the Holy Spirit — The Holy Trinity."

Indeed they can do this. But faith and the presence of the Holy Spirit in someone’s life comes by the hearing of the word of God. I believe that until they do hear the word of God, they cannot begin to understand right and wrong (note: "word of God" is, in itself, something that requires much explanation. Although it stems 100% from the scripture, it goes far beyond the idea of someone just spitting out Bible verses.)

Spart, you know that everything good comes from God, and that everything is sustained by His word. So it follows that everything good comes from His word. Surely you can agree that if someone lives an evil life, they have not been exposed to enough of God’s word. Again, I’m not talking about just reading the Bible, I’m talking about all of the love and goodness that comes from every word, thought, and intention, issued from God to sustain His creation. True righteousness comes from God, so unless someone is exposed to it, they cannot understand it. I think the Bible is clear in saying that man is born into this world without this understanding. No doubt many individuals are exposed to Spirit (word) of God immediately after birth, ultimately causing some to conclude in their later life that they were born good. But the scriptures say that man is born utterly sinful, and that it is the Spirit (word) of God which changes them.

"I believe the Holy Spirit is the Source of all good in this world. It is through being exposed to Good acts that people develop a conscience that can help them determine right from wrong. The concept of right and wrong is remarkably similar in various cultures and again I attribute this to the Holy Spirit."

Right on, brother. But how can you assert this? If a man develops a conscience through exposure to the Spirit, then how can he also be born with it?

I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve been writing "Spirit (word)". I’ve been doing it with purpose. The Word of God goes far beyond the idea of just the Bible. That is not to say that the Word is not wholly contained in the scriptures, but rather that it is more than printed text. Indeed, it is living and moving throughout the universe, and is merely represented on the paper that we call the Bible. As it is written "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…all things were created through Him (the Word)…" So how can we separate the word from the Holy Spirit?

"I believe that at the Time of Judgement we will all dwell forever in the presence of the Lord. At that time we will be judged not only by our works but by our hearts, our souls, our conscience. For those who truly love the Lord God with all their hearts, whether they call HIm as the Holy Trinity, Yaweh, Jahova, Allah, The Great Spirit, etc….this will seem like Paradise. For those who knowingly harden their hearts to God, who can not bear the concept of an everpresent all powerful, loving and forgiving Lord — to them eternity will seem like Hell, and there will be much nashing of teeth."

I agree to a large extent. But I don’t believe it will seem like hell to anyone forever. I think that heaven will at first be a very trying and painful place for many, because they will have to go through many of the pains and suffering that many Christians have had to go through in this world. Heaven, for the unbeliever, will at first be an entire 180 degree turn in their former philosophy. They will go from not believing in God, to believing in Him; they will go from hating Him, to loving Him as they learn what He is truly about; they will have to learn to change from their former way of life, when they lived for themselves, to now learning to live for God. As it is written "Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord."