I have been taught that predestination, mentioned in Romans 8:29, has to do with our sanctification, i.e. that our lives would show forth Christ, the fruit of the Spirit. Could you tell me what you would teach about this?

A good friend and I were talking a while ago, and he brought up the subject of Jesus’ sacrifice. He said that while he believes Jesus died for our sins, he doesn’t believe Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. He said in order to pay the penalty for our sins Jesus would have to suffer eternal hell. This is something I had never heard before. Is he right?

Someone discussing how Jesus has paid for our healing quoted Isaiah 53, “by His stripes we are healed”, but said it was also by the crown of thorns that Jesus wore. I know that stripes refers to the marks of the whips on His back, but this man was insisting that the crown of thorns was payment also. I haven’t heard much over the years about the significance of the crown of thorns. Could you give me some more detail on this event in the Lord’s crucifixion?

While reading your  post on “Abraham And The Jews Of Today” a question came to me. In Genesis 22 it says that God tested Abraham and told him to offer his son Isaac on one of the mountains He would show him. Many of my teachers past and several preachers I have listened to have said that Abraham was devastated, heart sick, and full of remorse to have to offer his son as a burnt offering, yet he reluctantly did what God wanted him to. I don’t think that was how it was, and would be very pleased to know your thoughts on the subject.

I had always thought that if you accepted Jesus as your savior you were saved and went to Heaven to be with Him for Eternity, and if you rejected Him you would spend eternity In Hell ( Lake of Fire). But a lot of preachers today say that if you are not saved you will be separated from God forever which is true but not complete in my opinion and some of the young people I am talking with say, “So what? I am separated from Him now and it is no big deal.” Other pastors say you will suffer eternal death and again they say, “So what? A little pain and then oblivion.” Will you help and once again I request that you tell me if I am wrong.

I have a list with the names of people (my family,my friends, and people I came to like) and I pray for their salvation regularly. I put this list before the Lord and pray for them as it comes from my heart. But I have a few questions about this kind of prayer. My first question is, does it make any difference if the person for whom I pray lives far from me, on another continent and doesn’t even know me very well? My other question is, how can I make the prayer for a person’s salvation the most effective?

I’m struggling with trying to understand and accept the idea of willfully, consciously sinning and still being saved. For example, if someone decides to commit adultery, or hurt a child sexually, or kill an unfaithful wife, you’ve explained that they’re still going to heaven if they have previously accepted the truth of Jesus Christ as Son of God and their Savior, Redeemer. It seems to go against every moral, spiritual conduct to have no eternal consequence in choosing to do the above. I understand they’ll have earthly consequences (jail, remorse, etc.), but are we sure that God will give entrance to heaven to a soul who chose to bring death to others?

When you say that you don’t think the Bible supports the “God is in control” idea in the universal sense, you are saying that God is caught off guard when bad weather happens and the people of earth are subject to chance or luck. I will agree with you that that is true in a limited sense but only when you are talking about non believers. In a “limited sense” I believe there is no chance or luck in a believers life and the evil one can only have the control the Father lets him have. So you believe that God just sits back and lets things happen and only gets involved when He wants to use natural events to make a point?

Please can you explain the word “ordained” (Modern King James Version) in Acts 13:48. “And hearing, the nations rejoiced and glorified the Word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Does it mean those ‘chosen’ for eternal life?

I have been reading Matthew’s Gospel and came across this verse – “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” Matthew 10:32-33. Is this referring to people who deny Christ full stop or those who refuse to witness? In light of this how would this affect their salvation?