(The name of this thread reminded me of something . . . have you read The Annoying by Bunny Hinder?)
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I wonder if there are two vessels out of the same lump, that is, one for wrath and one for honor; or, is it that out of the lump which was made into a vessel for wrath, that same vessel was remade into a vessel for honor. The former seems to accord with humanity in the world. The latter seems to accord with my own experience of being born of Adam, a mortal vessel (mortality being the wrath of God against sin.) Subsequently, I was born (again) of God and was transformed into a vessel for honorable use in the temple.
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They don't like the idea God will abolish death (so there is an end to the second death, which is the lake of fire.) They really go ballistic when told there is actually no clear quotable statement in the Bible that any human being ever goes to the lake of fire in the first place. This "Bible fact" is still very surprising to me, though I discovered it some time ago. It is also something I haven't told many who are already committed to believe in ceaseless torture for ever. Their deaf rejection to whatever I say is already so total and, to certain things, so hysterical, I wouldn't be very surprised if they'd exhibit behavior consistent with a grand mal seizure when being told such good news. We can't fulfill Gods command to love our neighbor as our selves that way.
We are told to suffer as though in bonds with those who are in bonds. I'm sure we'd search for any possible mercy if we thought we were headed to the lake of fire. This pitchin' a fit is also a sort of sleight of hand to distract from their not having any verse to stand on. They use this and the arm of the flesh to silence and remove exposure of the truth.
The closest thing to a human in the lake of fire concerns the false prophet, which seems to be a spirit, not a man, when all references to it are checked. By "the beast" I take to mean the animal impulses of the flesh, "the false prophet" as the religious sentiments of the flesh and "the devil" is what animates the flesh. Such statements as, "If any was found whose names were not in the book of life they were cast into the lake of fire..." that "if" is the correct translation and it is never answered. We don't know if any were found. When it speaks of all liars having their part (not all, not allotment or inheritance, but "part") in the lake of fire, either we could say that includes every human (but Jesus) or by that time all had been cleansed, sanctified and changed so there were then no more liars, because, again how many, if any at all, is never specified in the text.
What I consistently wonder the most at is how sure they are without studying it and they don't even know how to study it. That is commonly what I attempt to teach them first. I'm sure there is some good in presenting how reliable the Bible is for faith and doctrine, as many books and sections in books explain. But, without knowing how to implement the authority of the Bible, it is a broken tool. That authority can only be exercised by knowing what Scripture does or does not say. Few humans on their own are capable of such knowledge. It is through the use of concordances you determine if something is written or not. With computers and even free programs it can be done at the touch of a few buttons these days. The rule I eventually discovered was stated by A. E. Knoch something like this: "Confine your confession of faith to the actual words chosen by God to make His revelation known."
