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Dear Brad and Pilgrim,
I seem to have interrupted the gentle pond of correspondence between you both.

By no means Straw - you started the whole conversation. And I thank you for it. I also hope that you do not mind that I expanded the conversation somewhat to include very young children and the mentally incompetent (hey, no jokes about me!). Being a relatively young man who has not yet been blessed with children of my own (though I have many beloved nieces and nephews), and not being a pastor, I have never really felt compelled to come up with an answer to this question, leaving it solely to the perfect justice and mercy of God (where of course I still leave it). But this whole exchange, which was well under way before I chimed in, has encouraged me to try to come to a more solid understanding of the matter. I do appreciate that nobody pounced on me for voicing my hesitating dissent.

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Brad, I am really sorry that I chipped in like that it was a most unneccessary chirp.

No problem. Obviously you are not alone in thinking that my views, or at least the way that I have stated them, in some way compromise God's sovereignty and aseity. Of course, I do not think that they do, but it would be an unloving and uncaring brother who did not try to point such an error out if he believed that he discerned it.

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Your thoughts have been so illuminating, both yours and Pilgrim

I think Pilgrim's have - I think my own have illumined only my own uncertainty and confusion; but if they have stimulated genuine and pious reflection, then I am grateful.


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