You challenged the whole structure of Calvinism based on one Scripture:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

I replied in summary with a Scriptural interpretation of Rev 22:19 as follows:

[color:blue] Verse 19 is sometimes misunderstood as teaching loss of salvation, but in fact, it teaches loss of reward (I Cor 3:15 with I Cor 9:27). This can be reasoned through: if one has eternal life, then one surely will not need eternally to eat the fruit of the tree of life in order to maintain eternal life, or 'maintain’ and 'eternal’ are mutually exclusive terms.

Furthermore, there is both the 'water of life’ and the 'tree of life’ (22:1–2), and this debarment is from the tree only. It seems best, therefore, to understand that the tree of life represents the benefits, or rewards, of eternal life—the enhanced quality of eternal life which is an element of reward. Likewise, as we saints inherit a part in the holy city (21:7), the heretic forfeits this inheritance.

YOU ANSWERED [color:red]Though your response to my post was well versed, I pointed out in my reply that not only the tree of life, but the holy city would also be taken away if a man violated this final warning in scripture. Please note: There is no in-between, you are either living in New Jerusalem together with God (as all who overcome do -- Revelation 3:12), or burning in Gehenna outside. :

And you defended your philosophy (Joshism) with
Revelation 22:15 "For without [the city] dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."

Once again your interpretation is flawed. [color:blue]Of course you never responded to the tree of life illustration????

As far as the phrase [color:red]take away his part it simply means that he had no part in the first place. Look again at those men in 2 Pet 2:1 and the like??? These men had no REWARD or INHERITANCE in the first place......look at Dabney below for further as it concerns Christians.....

Additionally you state [color:red] as all who overcome do -- Revelation 3:12, but I ask to look at the context of Rev 3:21. Do you understand the meaning of the term Christian? You stated that Perseverance of the Saints is overthrown elsewhere in your posts. But, do you really understand the context of Rev 3:21 (your scriptural defense???)?:

As John concluded the letter to the faithful church at Philadelphia, Christ promised four eternal blessings to the one who overcomes (another name for a Christian; 1 John 5:5 [smile).

The first promise is that Christ will make him a pillar in the temple of God, and he will not go out from it anymore. A pillar represents stability, permanence, and immovability. Pillars can also represent honor; in pagan temples they were often carved in such a way as to honor a particular deity. The marvelous promise Christ makes to believers is that they will have an eternal place of honor in the temple of God (heaven). To people used to fleeing their city because of earthquakes and enemies, the promise that they will not go out from heaven was understood as security in eternal glory.

Christ’s second promise to the one who overcomes is that He will write on him the name of His God. That depicts ownership, signifying that all true Christians belong to God. It also speaks of the intimate personal relationship we have with Him forever.

Third, Christ promises to write on believers the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. Christians have eternal citizenship in heaven’s so-called capital city, the new Jerusalem. That is yet another promise of security, safety, and glory.

Finally, Christ promises believers His new name. Christ’s name represents the fullness of His person. In heaven, believers will “see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2), and whatever we may have known of Him will pale in the reality in which we will then see Him. The new name by which we will be privileged to call Him will reflect that glorious revelation of His person.
The exhortation He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches closes all seven letters. And of course ONLY those whose hearing has been spiritually changed to be enabled to hear will be able to listen and comprehend.

Josh have you listened? Josh have you comprehended? This tells us allot about you!

Please read what Dabney had to say about your topic:

It is objected that this election cannot be immutably efficacious, because we read in Scripture of saints who are warned against forfeiting it; of others who felt a wholesome fear of doing so; and of God’s threats that He would on occasion of certain sins blot their names from His book of life, etc. Rom. 14:15; 1 Cor. 9:27; Ps. 69:28; Rev. 22:19; 2 Pet. 1:10. As to the last passage, to make sure our election, is most manifestly spoken only with reference to the believer’s own apprehension of it, and comfort from it; not as to the reality of God’s secret purpose.

This is fully borne out by the means indicated—diligence in holy living. Such fruits being the [color:blue]consequence, and not the cause of God’s grace to us, it would simply be preposterous to propose to ensure or strengthen His secret purpose of grace, by their productions. All they can do is to strengthen our own apprehension that such a purpose exists. When the persecuted Psalmist prays, Ps. 69:28, that God would “blot his enemies out of the book of the living,” it by no means seems clear that anything more is imprecated than their removal from this life. But grant the other meaning, as we do, in Rev. 22:19, the obvious explanation is that God speaks of them according to their seeming and profession. The language is adapted ad hominem . It is not intended to decide whether God has a secret immutable purpose of love or not, as to them, whether they were ever elected and effectually called indeed, and may yet be lost; but it only states the practical truth, that wickedness would forfeit that position in God’s grace, which they professed to have. Several of the other passages are in part explained by the fact that the Christians addressed had not yet attained a comfortable assurance that they were elected. Hence they might most consistently feel all these wholesome fears, lest the partial and uncertain hope they entertained might turn out spurious. But the most general and thorough answer which covers all these cases is this: Granting that God has a secret purpose infallibly to save a given soul, that purpose embraces means as fully as ends; and those means are such as suit a rational free agent, including all reasonable appeals to hope and fear, prospect of danger, and such like reasonable motives. [color:blue]Now, that an elect man may fall totally, is naturally possible, considering him in his own powers; hence, when God plies this soul with fears of falling it is by no means any proof that God intends to permit him to fall, in His secret purpose. Those fears may be the very means designed by God to keep him from it.

Robert L. Dabney, Topical Lectures on Scripture, Index Created by Christian Classics Foundation., electronic ed. based on the Banner of Truth 1985 ed. (Simpsonville SC: Christian Classics Foundation, 1996).


Reformed and Always Reforming,