The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum What exactly was meant that death came about due to Adam and Eve's sin

Unfortunately you are incorrect but again. 1) My 'stance' does not stand or fall on my interpretation of 'foreknow'. My point to YOU is that, which you seem to either totally fail to comprehend or that you totally reject the premise of biblical hermeneutics, substituting the Bible's hermeneutic for one which is sometimes called a "Psycho-Statistical-Mean" hermeneutic. Simply put, one derives at a meaning of any particular word by it's common/popular understanding at a particular time in a particular social structure. I've explained this phenomena in great detail elsewhere so I'll provide you with only the "Cliff Notes" version. If you went around your neighborhood and asked each household what the word "run" means and recorded the answers and then added up the various responses, the one with the most 'votes' would be the definition used everywhere it appears. It appears that in this particular case, you have opted to define "know" as data about, a composite of information perceived, etc. I have incontrovertibly showed you for myriad biblical passages that this is totally incorrect. Again, a few pointed examples: Jer 1:5;Matt 7:21-23; Rom 9:11-13. Perhaps you have never studied in depth not only what 'foreknowledge' is but even more importantly, how it exists? Biblically, foreknowledge is the fruit of God's determinate council; His decree(s). God is Omniscient; He knows ALL THINGS because He has determined ALL THINGS according to His good pleasure. There is NOTHING which happens nor exists that God hasn't ordained from eternity. An architect can look at a blank lot and describe what a future building will look like down to the minutest detail. Why? Because he is the creator, the author of that building. His 'knowledge' of that building is the fruit, the result of his idea that first resided in his mind. See here: The Foreknowledge of God by A.W. Pink. 2) You have inserted something which I never wrote nor implied. In fact I categorically deny the statement that the definition of '[the]elect' is as you wrote: "who God loved and loved God". Nowhere is there even the slightest hint in Scripture that God elected anyone to salvation on the basis that they loved God. And how would that even be possible??? Before anything ever existed, God's election of a remnant of Adam's fallen race was based upon nothing other than God's good pleasure apart from anything whatsoever to do with the future recipient's of His mercy and grace. The Scripture teaches an "UNCONDITIONAL Election". There is and never was ANYTHING in regard to man which could have commended even one individual to God in order to be favored by Him. Among the myriad passages in Scripture that teach this, one that immediately stands out for me is Ephesians 1:1-14.

Thanks for this for it illustrates perfectly an example of the "Psycho-Statistical-Mean" hermeneutic you labor under. It is also a clear example of Eisogesis, i.e., inserting something into a text that doesn't exist. And thirdly, it demonstrates your arrogance and a despising of God and His Spirit for the Bible. Every jot and tittle is authored by God Himself and to even suggest that God should have written "agape" vs "gnosko" in Matt 7:23 if His intent was to convey that Jesus never 'loved' the workers of iniquity. Clearly the text as written says that Jesus never 'knew' them... which one cannot conclude that He 'knew' them, as you have admitted, i.e., He knew they were not born again . For He, Jesus knew everything about them; every thought, word and deed and thus called them "ye that work iniquity" which in Jh 6:44 are described as being the offspring of the Devil. So, the 'I never knew you' in this text cannot mean a 'knowledge about' but rather a 'love for'. It is those who work iniquity that God hates and will cast into the Lake of Fire.

1) Paul's statement at Mars' hill was addressed to the contemporary philosophers gathered there and making note to them he noticed the alter where upon it was written: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. What he explained to them was there is a known God and that He is the creator of all things, even themselves. And because even their own poets recognized that their existence was to admit that they were God's "offspring", then it was more than foolish to offer worship to their idols made of stone, gold, silver which are the musings of man's silly mental fabrications. Where you get any notion that this shows that 'our spirits were created sometime before the earth' is dumbfounding. Jesus in confrontation by the Pharisees told them that Abraham rejoiced to see my day... and expectedly they ridiculed Him since Jesus wasn't even 50 years old. His response was: [before Abraham was [Grk: genesthai = existed, came into being], I AM [Grk: ego eimi = eternal, the everlasting eternal GOD] (cf. Ex 3:14; Isa 43:13, 44:6, 48:12; Rev 1:8). This statement was to reveal and confess that this Jesus of Nazareth was not just a man but rather God existing in the person of the man Jesus. The infinity and eternity spoken of was of the Son; God the Son and not of the human person Jesus. One must never confuse the two individual natures of Jesus; man and Divine, albeit they being inseparable. See here: The Creed of Chalcedon. Why do you think that by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the Apostle Paul calls the incarnate Son of God the "firstborn of every creature" (cf. Eph 1:15,18; Rom 8:29)? Since the Son created all things, how could there be humans existing before the One who created all mankind? (cf. Jh 1:1; Col 1:15-17)