FallentoReason Wrote:Secondly, while it might be true that Christians disagree on the nature of salvation (surprise surprise...) I guess I'm approaching it from what I know, and what I know is that in my every day life, the Christians I know act and talk like it's about knowing and believing in Jesus. I unfortunately had to live through the hardship of losing a friend to suicide, and when I told a leader at youth group that he was a Buddhist, he started sobbing. Pretty evident that even my entire church believes that there's a bunch of propositions that need to be confessed with one's mouth in order to get to the pearly gates.
I lost one of my youth to a car accident when I was a youth leader in my church. I will never forget walking into our kitchen and hearing the news of her death, tears flowed, my heart sank because I loved her as I loved the rest. I believed her not to be saved because of comments made in class, this is one of the reasons it hurt so much. Your youth leader was showing his sense of loss even though he/she did not know your friend, that is a response when one is in a relationship with God, most wouldn't cry but would have a sense of loss, it's all about being a part of God.
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
