Delivered said:
So let me get this straight you are saying, or your belief is that a person who does not speak or read Hebrew, Chaldean, Greek or English is already unrighteous as all have sinned and so they deserve to be condemned to hell, as we all do.
Absolutely not. How did you come up with that? What I'm saying—in fact, what the Bible itself says—is that ALL men are unrighteous sinners. It doesn't matter whether you speak Hebrew, Chaldean, Greek, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Hindi, Tibetan, Swahili, Arabic, or anything else: we're all born dead in our sins, and so we all deserve to go to hell.
While those of us who speak English had King James (sent by God for us exclusively) to translate the Bible for us, that we are specially singled out by God to hear from him as, "His Sheep hears his voice", and He just said all the world but did not mean it.
Huh? I didn't even used the King James Vesion in my post, I used the New American Standard Bible. (Besides, King James didn't translate anything, he simply authorized a particular translation to be made.) We as English speakers are not especially singled out by God. Anyone who hears and receives the Word of God in ANY language is chosen by God. People from every tribe, tongue, and nation are elect. That doesn't mean, however, that every single individual person is elect, however, as is clear from Rom. 9—obviously, Esau was not elect, nor was Pharaoh. In fact, they were "vessels of wrath prepared fro destruction."
You are also saying that when the Bible says in John 3:16 that God so loved the world he was only referring to the few who are able to read and understand the English Language, and you dont think that this belief is just a little bit pretentious and bordering on the outer limits of Gods' plan for the many persons who were a part of the group spoken of in Acts 2:39, John 3:16, and that number so great that no man could number in Revelations 7:9 "After that I beheld and lo a Great Multitude which no man could number, of All Nations, and Kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and ...." These Nations must all speak English or the fact that there are still many more languages left to be translated for the Bible then this would mean that owing to the tremendous time and editing period for this type of translation, Christ must not be coming just yet, or when the Bible said all Nations it really meant all the Western Nations!
No, no, no, and again I say, NO! You really should not be put so many words in my mouth. In John 3:16, the "world" referred to is the world of the elect, those who have been set apart from the rest of the world and appointed to eternal life (cf. Acts 13:48: "and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed"). They are not from the Jews only, but from every nation of the world—and they certainly don't have to speak English. The Word of God may be translated into any language, and special miracles by the Holy Spirit are not necessary for that. No one is required to read English, Hebrew, Chaldean, or Greek to comprehend and receive the Gospel. What is required is that the Holy Spirit soften our hearts so that we may receive the Gospel we hear—in whatever language we know.
I believe in predestination, the bible states it clearly. I believe that God alone knows all who are saved, He saved them, it was His plan and He is not a man that He should lie.
The bible does not state however the precise time when the prophecy would fail or that it would be forever. Or whether it was a particular set of prophecy that failed. It also did not state a precise time when the Tongues would cease nor did it say that this was a final act, and there would be no more tongues. So I cannot accept these scriptures to as proof that your belief is sound.
The biblical gift of tongues was a sign that the New Covenant would include people from every nation. It was especially important for the Jews, so that they did not try to force Gentiles to become Jews or vainly think that Christ's blood was shed for Jews alone—and so that they would also see that God had judged the Jewish nation for her disobedience and the Old Covenant would be done away. Once the Old Covenant had failed and the Bible had been completed at the close of the Apostolic Era at the end of the 1st Century A.D., then tongues and prophecy and revelatory knowledge ceased. They were not so that people could go into the rest of the world and speak languages they didn't understand so that they wouldn't have to translate anything!
You absolutely cannot tell an Omnipotent being that because you put one meaning to His inspired Words that it means that He must stick to your beliefs. That is the thing with God, He is God and He does what He wants without your permission. Our finite minds cannot comprehend His infinite thoughts. Our imperfection cannot comprehend His perfect will. He is not restarained or contained by our personal prejudices whether they are hidden prejudices or pronounced ones.
The old "God-in-a-box" trick, eh? Well, guess what? YOUR understanding of the text REQUIRES that God continue to give the charismatic gifts. You are putting God in a box and requiring that He continue to do such-and-such or else His Gospel won't be spread! Would you dare say that God still expects us to eat kosher or to sacrifice animal? It's too bad that God Himself has shown in His Scripture that we need no longer look for these signs, because we have His Scripture completely available to us.
He does continue to heal persons inspite of our theologies stating that which is contrary. He does continue to speak to persons, move upon their heart and draw them unto Himself as He will.
I never claimed otherwise! God does indeed heal people and draw them to Himself. However, He does not use prophecy, tongues, or revelatory knowledge to do so anymore: He uses the preaching of His complete Word in Scripture.
There is a popular club that I attended often before I entered my walk with the Lord Jesus, and one night during the musical performance of an admitted cult member, someone in the audience felt Gods' presence and heard His call and converted to Christianity.
There are countless other stories of persons hearing directly from God and always these meetings were confirmed with two or more other persons separate from the incident and with a bible verse.
If they say they heard any audible voice from God, then they are liars. If they were converted apart from the conviction of sin, they were not truly converted.
Fortunate for those who exist outside of the Bible belt, Gods' plan includes them as well. He does not think like us and His plan is for all the world. He does know who will answer His call because He is God of All creation.
He decided before the universe was created whom He would choose to be born of the Spirit, people from all the nations of the world, and those who are born of the Spirit alone can answer His call. But He did not choose every single person!
Once again I asked the questions to see where we were in terms of whether we were on the same page or not and we are not. It does not mean that I will condemn you to hell for your beliefs, or call you an heretic, as I can only pray that we all come into the perspicacity required to teach each other and those needing to hear from us, so that we can be that spotless Church that He is returning for soon.
Well, sir, I thank God His Scriptures are perspicuous and that I don't need to understand Hebrew or Chaldean or Greek to read them. Praise God He has made it possible to translate the original languages into every language in the world.
