Originally Posted by rhutchin

God also wants those who are not to be saved to know what is going on, so that if they do not like that outcome, they can do something about it.

Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic

But no one knows anything about what heaven and hell are like. How can a man like or dislike that which he knows nothing about?

Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic

Many Christians argue that hell does not exist.

Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic

Why should anyone accept a God who refuses to explain why he kills people and innocent animals with hurricanes, and caused animals to kill each other?

Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic

Do you ever intend to discuss God breaking his promise to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar? You evasively asked me to start a new thread on that issue. You made one serious post just for show, and conveniently vacated the thread when you quickly got into trouble. Obviously, your apparent boldness is a masquerade.

Originally Posted by juergen

On the other side of the coin, according to a Calvinist perspective, Christians don't choose God either, God makes that choice for them.

Originally Posted by juergen

I thought the whole reason why God left the choice up to Adam and Eve was so that he wouldn't have to make them choose him, which, in the end he ends up doing with every single human being.

Originally Posted by rhutchin

You know that which the Bible says about them. No more; no less.

Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic Do you ever intend to discuss God breaking his promise to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar? You evasively asked me to start a new thread on that issue. You made one serious post just for show, and conveniently vacated the thread when you quickly got into trouble. Obviously, your apparent boldness is a masquerade.

Originally Posted by Ez. 26:7-21 (RSV)

[7]"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will bring upon Tyre from the north Nebuchadrez'zar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers.
[8] He will slay with the sword your daughters on the mainland; he will set up a siege wall against you, and throw up a mound against you, and raise a roof of shields against you.
[9] He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.
[10] His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as one enters a city which has been breached.
[11] With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets; he will slay your people with the sword; and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground.
[12] They will make a spoil of your riches and a prey of your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters.
[13] And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.
[14] I will make you a bare rock; you shall be a place for the spreading of nets; you shall never be rebuilt; for I the LORD have spoken, says the Lord GOD.
[15]"Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in the midst of you?

[16] Then all the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones, and remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments; they will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit upon the ground and tremble every moment, and be appalled at you.
[17] And they will raise a lamentation over you, and say to you, `How you have vanished from the seas,
O city renowned,
that was mighty on the sea,
you and your inhabitants,
who imposed your terror
on all the mainland!
[18] Now the isles tremble
on the day of your fall;
yea, the isles that are in the sea
are dismayed at your passing.'
[19]"For thus says the Lord GOD: When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you,

[20] then I will thrust you down with those who descend into the Pit, to the people of old, and I will make you to dwell in the nether world, among primeval ruins, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you will not be inhabited or have a place in the land of the living.
[21] I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more; though you be sought for, you will never be found again, says the Lord GOD."

Originally Posted by juergen

Not according to Calvinism. They can't do a damn thing, because God didn't regenerate their understanding in order to do something about it. Telling them they should do something about it, when they can't because God won't let them (he didn't predestine them) has absolutely no value to them, because they can't do anything about it, because God won't let them, because they are not to be saved, because they are not predestined.

Originally Posted by makerowner

Tyre is now the 4th largest city in Lebanon and Nebuchadrezzar never took the island.

Originally Posted by makerowner

Actually, we know considerably less, because the Bible accounts on the subject are contradictory and the knowledge of the authors is unknown.

Originally Posted by makerowner

So might makes right?

Originally Posted by rhutchin

Is the current city of Tyre the same as the ancient city of Tyre? Given that the verse says, "...though you be sought for, you will never be found again...," maybe the old city of Tyre has disappeared forever and a new city was built to replace it.

Originally Posted by rhutchin

Does that make it impossible for you to know whether God is working in your life and to object if you do not like what you see happening? Regardless what the Calvinists say (and I am a Calvinist), that does not stop you from knowing what is happening to you.

Originally Posted by rhutchin

It doesn't matter. All that matters is that God is in control of your destiny and can do with you as He pleases.

Originally Posted by makerowner

I think this sentence belies that claim: “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”; a claim the the Son of Man has that power, not just God.