gkmcnees@comcast.net wrote:

>> Oh, that's pretty clear. My assertion was that Gary can't
>> model God's will upon ours because we can't know the mind
>> of God.
>
> What is the use of God speaking to us in Scripture if you
> can dismiss so easily what He says?

You're the one dismissing Scripture and replacing it with
your own doctrine. God says plainly that salvation is
not of works, and yet you repeatedly demand that man
make a choice in order to earn his salvation. You
spit on Christ and His suffering by declaring it to be
inadequate to salvation. Indeed, what's the use of God
speaking to us in Scripture if you're just going to
flush it down the toilet.



> You merely claim that, "Well, we cannot know what the word
> 'will' or 'wants' means when God says:
> 1 Timothy 2:4 'Who WILL have all men to be saved, and to come unto the
> knowledge of the truth.' AV
> or
> 1 Timothy 2:4 'who WANTS all men to be saved and to come to a
> knowledge of the truth'"

I said nothing of the sort. You rewrite my words almost as
badly as you rewrite Scripture.

You have some verses which use "will" one way. So what?
Nobody denies the truth of these verses. The difficulty
is that there are other verses which indicate that what
we think of as "will" might go the other way.

"He who believes and is Baptized shall be saved" from
which we conclude that it is God's will that anyone
who believes and is Baptized be saved. Likewise "He
that believes not shall be damned" from which we
conclude that it is God's will that unbelievers be
damned.

I sure don't care if you snip out all the verses you find
uncomfortable and then doctor up the remaining ones so that
you have a Bible you like. Knock yourself out. It does,
however, bother me a bit that you think everyone else should
subscribe to your heresy.



> This reasoning is no worse than that of the JW's and Mormons.

That's right. Always compare yourself to the worst case
so that you look good. My kids always tried that. "At least
I'm not doing heroin." It didn't distract me from the
petty crime of the day, and neither does your tactic.



> I take it to mean that we don't know the "mind of God" that we cannot
> know that which He has not revealed.


And yet you claim to know what He has not revealed.


> Now God says that He desires that all men be saved. He also says that
> He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He also says that He
> is not willing that any perish.

He also separates the sheep from the goats. I know that you
have this verse blotted out of your Bible, but the rest of us
have it.

Bart