Hi Dave; thanks for this reply. I think it’s very helpful in clearing up some misunderstanding!
Ah, Ok. This does make sense to me, and I agree; I just wasn’t understanding where you were going with it from the last comment. That is an important distinction for sure.
Very good point!
Yes, I suppose there is something to this. I don’t really know what else to say about it at the moment!
Yes, there seems to be an imputed worthiness or righteousness from Christ in play here, just sort of hanging out and waiting for us. It occurred to me on further reflection that this purification/ worthiness that we’re speaking of is being held in Christ where our true identity lies. I can’t help but wonder what types of circumstances are required to get us to the place where we come to an end of ourselves so that we can even see the need to begin to experience what’s already there, but I do see how it’s problematic to equate the normal circumstances of living in a fallen world to a purification process. That’s actually one of the things that got me wondering about the whole process. If the lake of fire is not a process of purification in this life, and not a final punitive judgment then what is it, precisely? How does the basanizo look and function temporally and/or eschatologically?
Sure, I can see this as a fair point, and it may indeed be something of a pagan notion as I stated it, though that is not how it was intended. The modern medicine idea is not the most accurate comparison to be sure, but my thought was not to create an exact analogy, but to try to communicate a scriptural concept; namely that it seems that some type of “death” or “loss” is what leads to life. If we want to hang on to our life (apart from Christ) then we will lose it, but if we “lose it for his sake” (let go of that which hinders us from finding the life he has for us), we will find it. I can’t help but think that’s a process, and any process can sometimes be painful as part and parcel.
I had more ideas/ thoughts on this, but for some reason I just can’t seem to get them to solidify in my head at the moment, so I’ll have to hold off until later. Perhaps further comments in the thread will jog things a bit for me.