An interesting take on salvation

When I got home from SC, I was so angry at Janet. I wanted her to be wrong about God's inflexible nature on the idea of salvation for only those who say the Jesus prayer in a certain, good-little-Protestant way. I wanted to prove her wrong. I wanted to get her back for being so callous about my sister's salvation (or lack thereof), and in the next breath balking at the idea that Katherine may be going to the same place she is.


I searched the Internet for passages disproving the idea that you only have this one life to accept Jesus. I found something, an article by Richard T. Ritenbaugh, and I cut and pasted it below. 


A few days later, I researched Ritenbaugh. He's a quack. He doesn't even believe in the triune God. So back to the drawing board I go. But I'll leave what I found below, because this is the post I wrote, and it's all part of the growth process, I suppose.


2 Peter 3:8

Isaiah says that God "inhabits eternity" (Isaiah 57:15), so time to God takes on different dimensions. He can function outside of time if He so desires. These verses, however, give us a rough guide that a thousand years equal one day in God's prophetic revelation to man.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
God's Master Plan

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2 Peter 3:8-9

Three times in four brief verses (I Timothy 2:1, 3-4, 6), God states He has planned for the salvation of all. Since He desires to save all men, they must all be given an opportunity for it. It is very obvious from human experience that very few among all mankind have ever heardthe gospelor come to the knowledge of the truth.

Verse 6 also says that Christ is a ransom for all, and this will be testified or witnessed of in due time. The way Paul wrote this shows that the testifying is still future. In other words, many had not heard of Christ's ransom forsin, and Paul indicates that he expected many then living and many yet unborn would also die without hearing of it. But it would be witnessed to all in due time becauseJesus Christis the only name under heaven by which men can be saved.

God's plan, humanly speaking, covers a long time. Like Paul, Peter clearly says that God does not desire anyone to perish. Other scriptures indicate that some will, but it is not God's will that they do so.

The critical factor in these verses isrepentance. How can a person repent if he does not have knowledge of thetruth, if he does not know the purpose God is working out, of what he should repent, why he should repent, or by what means his sins are forgiven? The overwhelming majority of people who have ever lived on earth fit into this category! These things remain untestified to them.

I Corinthians 15:21-23adds another important revelation to this mystery. "For since by man came death, by Man also came theresurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming."

Simply put, God is proceeding according to a plan. All die, but that sameallwill also be made alive, resurrected in a certain order according to God's plan. Verse 26 reads, "The last enemy that will be destroyed is death"—it has not yet been destroyed! This means that God's plan is still continuing, and in due time the opportunity for salvation will come to all, even though God must resurrect many to that opportunity. Most churches exclude most ofthis worldfrom salvation because they are not part of their group. Why do people scoff when we point out that God will give all mankind the chance to conform to His image?

John W. Ritenbaugh

Read more:http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/bible.show/sverseid/30531/everseid/30531#ixzz1KjWRpJSj