preachinjesus said:
This is a HUGE conversation to have and I think we do well entering it with caution and spiritual prudence.
Dr. Bart Ehrman's salvation is definitely something I wouldn't want to be having to determine...that is why it is best left to God to know. I would say that he what he has done to the Gospel and Scriptures (not the same thing) is quite henious and very difficult to reconcile from an orthodox Christian perspective. He should be cast out of any Christian bookstore and church he might himself in and our people be warned that he has left the pack of faithful believers and is dangerous.
Dr. Ehrman did come out of a strong, evangelical background and went to Moody Bible Institute and was quite faithful until he went to graduate school. Then he began wrestling with some difficult questions. Clearly now he says he isn't a believer (even though his wife is a strong Christian who has stayed with him during his struggles.) His spiritual stuggle has been a long time coming, but he has been only been forward about it recently.
I don't know if Dr. Ehrman is or ever was a Christian. I deeply struggle with that question and can't reasonably answer it. While I accept and believe completely in eternal security of true believers (I don't buy fire insurance Christianity) Dr. Ehrman's case presents one of the more reasonable points about someone who has tasted the heavenly gift and walked away if there ever was one. It deeply pains me, and I struggle with this topic.
great convo btw
All I can say is that none of us here, no man wherever and whenever he existed on this planet, was with God in eternity past when He planned the salvation of a people whom He foreknew, and I have never seen in Scriptures where it says that whoever He redeemed He redeemed on the basis of their theology, their vast knowledge of Scriptures, their expertise in the Hebrew or Greek languages, their kindesses, goodness,righteousness, or anything else by which we measure people and say "he's saved", "he's not", "him, oh, well, what do you think" ?
I do know that Paul wrote to Titus, "not by works of righteousnesses which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us". Also, that he quoted God's reply to Moses as Moses interced for Israel, and God's reply was "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and compassion on whom I will have compassion".
I do know also that by and large, in the Bible, when salvation is mentioned to those who are already in the churches of those times, it has to do with being saved from false doctrines, false theology, false creed, unrighteous generations, and so on, which makes me think that as far as Paul was concerned, and also the other writers, the eternal salvation of God's people is no longer in question.
What they are trying to separate those in the churches from are philosophies that gratify the flesh rather than exalt Christ.
