I believe that is speaking of believing men who married into
unbelieving families. Is there evidence to the contrary?

  The text in consideration deals with moral evils. Concerning them we are to understand how God would have us react to them; but in regard to the will of God in general, My favorite verses concerning His will are these:

  1. He works all things according to the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11), the word "counsel" signifying that will of His which is in accord with all His wisdom.

  2.  This is the will of God, even your santification.(1Thess 4:3). Since He works all things in accord with His will, our sanctification is certain. It is His purpose to (think about this)
conform us to the image of His own dear Son. That will not be completed until we have been glorified, but even now, our Father is moving us in that direction. All those in Zion go from strength to strength. He makes us more and more despise the remains of evil still with us, makes us long more and more for progress in righteousness. Someday His work in us will be complete--"Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin." As the song goes, "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!!!!"

  Faith is not mysticism. Neither is it blind. It is based upon
what has actually taken place in time, and the faithful witness of those who saw, felt, heard, and testified to those things which we believe by the power of the Holy Spirit's
accompanying witness to the gospel message.
  Mysticism unbridled by Scripture will always end in idolatry
and blind faith is faith without any basis. The certainties of history known by a person are not formed by mystic perception, nor does a person's understanding of history rest upon blind belief of those historical facts.

AW--very well said. It was according to God's eternal purpose
to be merciful and gracious that all else followed as a consequence. With that eternally in place it could not fail; without it, it could not be.

  Malificent--You say that in your mind hell is inevitable in the view of the christian mind. Not so, Not so. Nobody makes it on their own. The best get no closer to making it on their own than the worst of us. But Christ's own righteousness is freely given to ALL who turn away from hoping in themselves to rely upon what He has done. The same righteousness by which He triumphed over the grave is given as a robe of righteousness
for those who depend upon Him to wear as they stand before Him for judgment. How about THAT? Will THAT do? I'll say it will.

hanks, BEP, for opening this topic. One of my happy places in Scripture is Genesis chapters 13, 14 and 15. Notice the order in Scripture of three things in these three chapters and then contemplate the unfolding of God's eternal decree in that same order in time.
  Chapter 13--God's promise to Abraham concerning his fleshly seed.

  Chapter 14--Abraham's encounter with Melchizedec, a type of Christ

  Chapter 15--God's promise to Abraham concerning his heavenly (spiritual) seed.

  In that same order, God in time dealt first with Abraham's seed according to the flesh. Genesis 13

  Then, the glorious wonder of His appearing and work, Christ
Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth; Him of whom Melchizedec was a type Genesis 14

  Thirdly, in the same sequence, the gospel is sent to all Abraham's seed according to the faith of Abraham.

  I believe we are near the time when unbelievers in this country will openly display their hatred of God without shame.
The supposed "peace" between the world and the church has always been and is now a sham. Men without Christ are fully as wicked as they have ever been. The Christian foundations of this nation for a season shut the mouth of the wicked, placing a thin, glossy veneer over the wickedness of unbelief but now, as the wicked stridently claim this nation's roots are not truly Christian, those same blasphemers more and more engage openly in the wickedness which is natural to them.
  What is needed right now is a strong, unashamed witness for Christ to provoke those lost souls so that it may be made manifest as quickly as possible who and what they truly are who are anti-christs. As Christ said to those who would hide the truth of their wickedness, "fill up the measure of your iniquity."
  It is when the evil in wickedness is most clearly seen that men can most clearly realize the reality and nature of sin and their need to be delivered from the gross filthiness of it.

  I was raised on the KJV. I have since used the ASV, NAS, NKJV, and the ESV. Recently I have returned to the KJV almost completely. These other translations have their merits, but when the going is critical, I would not be willing to be stranded on an island with any other than the KJV. Some very reputable theologians, men of unquestionable, sincere faith,
have praised the ESV, but it deprives some of my favorite texts of the fulness of their richness. For example, compare these versions rendering of Jer. 30:19 - 31:14

  I prefer the judgment of BEP. He has had experience with the forum far more than our own. We cruise his forum for those posts which most interest us, but he is responsible for the well-being of the entire forum. I have no complaints against his stewardship.

  Recently a morman spent much time trying to sway people's
minds on this forum. I have since obtained "Kingdom of the Cults" by Walter Martin, as most recently updated by Ravi Zecharias. I thought you might be interested in the points made on page 192:

  "There are three sacred texts in addition to the Bible: The book of mormon, doctrine and covenants, and the pearl of great price"

  "The earth is one of several inhabited planets ruled over by gods and goddesses, who were at one time humans on other planets. Mormonism is polytheistic at its core."

"The trinity consists of three gods born in different times and places; the Father begot the Son and Holy Ghost through a goddess wife in heaven."

  "Humankind is the same species as God. God begot all humans in heaven as offspring of his wife or wives, who were sent to earth for their potential exaltation to godhood."

  Salvation is resurrection, but exaltation to godhood, for eternal life in the celestial heaven, must be earned through self-meriting works."

  Mormonism is the fastest growing religion in America. They deceive the uninformed, claiming to be the REAL Christians. The full hideousness of their heresies is hidden from those who are uninformed until they, with Satan, have snared them in their trap. The growth of this wicked deception is seen in the increasing numbers of their buildings, one of which is being built within a quarter of a mile from my home; and it is a large building. I encourage all my friends to become fully informed so we might fight more effectively against these absurd doctrines. What disgusting wickedness that they dare try to gain followers by claiming to be Christians.

  Ollie--The texts which you present speak of the deliverance from the law which we have through Christ's offering up Himself as a substitutionary atonement. Without that work, there would have been no deliverance for any of us, but now He has taken it out of the way, making possible peace between sinful men and the thrice holy God. In that sense
the handwriting of ordinances which were against us was abolished. God can now be just and the justifier of those who believe in Him, but His work did not destroy the law of commandments. The moral law still stands. In response to the question of whether or not Christ's work destroyed the moral law Paul said, "We establish the law." Sin is the transgression of the law and the continuing effect of the law is seen in 1 John where the apostle says, "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves...if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins..." This forgiveness is through His
atonement. The benefits of it apply only to those who are born again. Those who are without Christ are not under grace, but are still under the law and its power to condemn
to hell. Its condemning power is abolished to all who truly believe in Him. Therefore, we love His law, agree with Him in the holiness of it, and strive diligently to live in full accord with it. Those without Christ are under the full force of the law and its condemning power as written in 1 Cor 6:9 "Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." As written in 1 John 3:9, those who have been born of God do not continue in such sins.

  Asaph--you refer to both sides calling one another hairy ticks and then as, "so who is right?" That, friend, you already know. The Bible--the Bible alone settles the issue. That is thew reason that the watchword of the Reformers is "Sola Scriptura." Another thing which the reformation faith (some call it Calvinism) makes clear is that ALL GLORY belongs to God. So another phrase is precious to us: "Soli Deo Gloria."
  The thing about Arminianism which is most offensive to us is that Arminian doctrine would deprive God of much glory which is His alone.

  J Brown--Concerning the religion/psychology aspect of Christianity. There is a wealth-a massive body-of material
which deals with the interaction of which you speak.
  Christian Book Distributors (CBD.com) has many books at discount prices. They offer the Francis Schaeffer "Trilogy,"
everyone of the three volumes in that set would be suitable to what you indicate an interest in. It is available for $19.95.
  R.C. Sproul is another who writes and speaks thoroughly of that matter. One of his books is entitled "A Christian view of men and things." His website is: Renewing your Mind.com. There you will find a number of books by him on that subject. He also has volumes by other writers. Your best chance for a thorough, balanced consideration is in the materials of these two men.
  Concerning the "crutch" issue: Christian people believe the Bible which gives credit to God not only for the work of creation but for His providence also, which includes His preservation of EVERYONE. For example, in Acts 17 His is said to give to all "life, and breath, and all things." That is not an isolated reference of Scripture, but the same benefits from Him are spoken of in many places in Scripture. Those benefits
are not only to believers, but to unbelievers as well. Because believers acknowledge God's works of providence and give to Him the credit which He is due, unbelievers say that He is our "crutch." Yet those who charge us with that have the same benefits. They just don't accept that fact and so they say that they don't need a crutch. In the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon claimed fore himself the glory of
Babylon's greatness rather than acknowledge God's work in it. As a consequence, God deprived Nebuchadnezzar of those gifts of which God had blessed him, and you can find what he was in himself without God recorded in the account in Daniel.
  Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon scular historians are speaking of when they report the madness that came upon
him for a time. The Bible states that in God are hidden "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." We believe that, so we
have a "crutch." Those who think they have no need of Him and His gifts refuse of acknowledge Him, and so they consider themselves able to fare well without "a crutch."
  Have a good weekend.

  Petro--You are right about pelagianism. It is one of the most wicked and deceiving of heresies. Many theologians today recognise that the Arminian heresy of today recognise is
semi-pelagianism. It is clear from studying the two forms of doctrine that they intertwine and overlap on another. No doubt that is why Pelagianism came to you mind at the mention of Arminianism.

  Malificent--about judgment to hell. The truth of this matter is that God has already delivered His judgment concerning ALL of us. It is very common for people to imagine that just beyond death's dark horizon there is a gigantic balance scale.
supposedly, they soon end up before those scales. Good deeds are then placed on one side and bad deeds on the other. If their life measures up ok, they are accepted, but if the bad side of the scale is heavier, they are sent away.
  Guess what--those balance scales are not ahead of us. They are behind us. What I say to you applies equally to me and every other person. Those scales are behind us, and not one of us--not one of us--made it. God has already delivered His verdict concerning us--concerning ALL of us, and our situation is NOT pretty. Just as there is only one God who is the creator and judge of all of us, so also, there is only one God who can show mercy, and that God designed only ONE
way of redemption from our woeful estate. That way which He designed fully meets both all His requirement and all our need. Rejecting the only means by which He is pleased to remedy our woeful estate can only end in our destruction.