Certainly not a simple doctrine.

Originally posted by sonship
...

[b]"Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and My God!

Jesus said to him, Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." (John 20:28,29)

Blessed are those who believe WHAT?. That is believed that Jesus is God. ...][/b]

You have to be one of the more dishonest and deceitful Christians I ever came across, I have always known that and many others here notice it. You manipulate the words of the Bible to suit the doctrine of your religious sect.

Christ is certainly NOT telling Thomas : Blessed are those who believe .. that Jesus is God.

Here is the whole passage:

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. (John 20:24-29 KJV)

Anybody with a minimal amount of english language skills can see that the problem Thomas had is that he could not believe that THE OTHER DISCIPLES SAW JESUS AND JESUS WAS RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD.

So Christ's response was "blessed are they who believe that he was arisen even though they did not see"

Like I said earlier .. you do not understand Paul who spent a great deal of time telling Jews [many of whom do not believe in the resurrection] that Christ died and was arisen.

Pathetic.

Originally posted by divegeester
...and you ridiculed him.[/b]

That's true,...on more than one occasion.

Originally posted by Rajk999

I missed your question to me.

I asked you a direct question earlier and you did not reply.

Do you think that Christ died for Christians only?

He died for the whole world.
The substitution of the death takes place for those who believe into Him.

1.) He died to take away the sin of the WORLD -
"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29b)

2.) He will save "His people" from their sins - " ... and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21)

If you say "I don't want Jesus. I don't want to be His people. I do not own Jesus Christ but deny Him" - know that He will save "His people" from their sins.

This should mean the same thing as First Timothy 4:10. God is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe -

English Standard Version
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Originally posted by sonship
I missed your question to me.

I asked you a direct question earlier and you did not reply.

Do you think that Christ died for Christians only?

He died for the whole world.
The substitution of the death takes place for those who believe into Him.

1.) He died to take away the sin of the WORLD -
[b]"Behold, the Lamb of God ...[text shortened]... he living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
[/quote][/b]

"His people" or "His disciples" is defined by Christ himself ... no need to speculate and guess : its those who follow his commandments:

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
(John 8:31-32 KJV)

Originally posted by Rajk999
"His people" or "His disciples" is defined by Christ himself ... no need to speculate and guess : its those who follow his commandments:

[b]Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
(John 8:31-32 KJV)
[/b]

His commands -
Including His word that we eat Him that we may live by Him -

"As the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me shall live because of Me." (John 6:57)

Did you eat Jesus today ?

I know that I ate Jesus today so that I could live because of Jesus today.

Originally posted by Ghost of a Duke
Does it matter then if one is a Christian or not? (If Christ died for all men).

Sure, Christians may get to travel in first class, but even atheists get to board the plane.

The answer is a lot more practical than that.

Would an atheist board a plane if he did not believe there was a pilot?

Sure, he may be ABLE to board if he likes, but WOULD he?

My point is that the choice is his.

Originally posted by Suzianne

Would an atheist board a plane if he did not believe there was a pilot?

An atheist would be redemptively shoved onto the plane. He would have no choice in the matter. Hey, don't take my word for it. here's Pope Francis:

"All of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can..."The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!...We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there."