“Theologians”, who defend the “dogma of eternal perdition” and at the same time want to include in their philosophical-fantastic system the thesis (for them it is a thesis, theorem, axiom… whatever, but by no means the experience of their spiritual life) “God is Love” and “justify” (theodicy) God in the face of the “fact” of eternal perdition of beings (for whose salvation the Son of God gave His life!!!), say: they themselves are to blame, they themselves wanted it, according to their deeds… and many other nonsensical words! From what spiritual (often demonic) state is born such “theology”? Creators of such “revelations” are beings (people and angels) who have never truly repented, have not confessed, who have not yet recognized their sin, their impotence, and their inability to overcome evil by their own strength, have not felt the need for the Savior. At confession, we ask God for mercy, not condemn ourselves: myself guilty, according to the deeds – to hell you!? To me, Lord, according to mercy, and to others according to justice, according to deeds, they themselves are to blame… – this is a terrible state, which feeds on hell!
“They themselves are guilty” – say people who have never repented, have not seen the need for mercy for themselves and, what is even scarier, – they see themselves as saved, in the Kingdom of God. The Holy Fathers saw themselves in hell (see Part I), and those “philosophers” see themselves in Paradise, because they have not known either themselves or God… and they all say: “according to Scripture”. Quotes “for” universal hope for salvation are incomparably more than pedagogical, but a fly is a fly – on a flower meadow it looks for filth and if it does not find it, flies further… Like attracts like!
The father spanked his child (educating her), and someone from the side sneers: so he and need, scoundrel (does not sympathize, does not suffer with – and so he and need, why so little got to this scabby). About such a “theologian-holy man” is spoken in the parable of the prodigal son – the elder brother…
Therefore, let us not spy on the mysteries of God’s providence, “Who wants all people (and angels – V.A.) to be saved”. By the way, if such “theologians” are right (are right), then God is the most unfortunate being, because He wants to save everyone, bring everyone to the fullness of being, Happiness, and He will never succeed, He will not be able to save free beings and bring them to the fullness of being!??
Who gave you the right to say that God cannot do good, that God cannot save, when you have never seen or experienced Him? For those who have met Him, who have known Him, who have united with Him, affirm that God is Love, and Love is omnipotent! “No,” the theologians say, “He cannot save.” These theologians, assured of their place in the Kingdom of God, would surely be humbler if they saw themselves among those whom God might not save, or at least acknowledged such a possibility. Instead of engaging in idle talk and compiling collections of quotes, they would be repenting, shedding tears over themselves. But these sanctimonious ones are not like those whom the Lord will not save or who do not wish to be saved. What arrogance, what pride—fruits of fantasies and dreamy ‘theology’, a spiritless life! Are you measuring your strength against God? Have you tried to intercede for someone and failed, and therefore conclude that God cannot?
Yes, God cannot save us without us. But that doesn’t mean that someone won’t be saved! It doesn’t mean that God cannot so present Himself to us (having prepared us in advance through His providence, made us able to accept Him) that we “cannot” (will be unable) to refuse (e.g., the encounter of Jesus Christ and Saul, later Apostle Paul, on the road to Damascus). I must accept God myself, but first, I must meet Him. In Part I, we talked about illnesses, sorrows, through which the Lord makes us able to meet Him and freely accept (and choose, but one who meets God and sees Him as He is, has no choice). The devil, Adam chose because they did not know themselves (that life, happiness is not in themselves, that Happiness, Life is God) and did not know God (had not yet united with Him in a free act of self-sacrifice, renunciation, self-forgetfulness…). But to meet God, one must be somewhat like Him (primarily in ascetic humility). Therefore, the Lord, in His providence, prepares a dwelling within every free creature; and then the encounter (meeting), which will be the beginning of an irreversible process of deification. When exactly this pivotal moment will occur in the life of each hypostasis is a mystery of God’s ways, and you must be vigilant!!!
P.S. When reading Holy Scripture, we must remember that it speaks of two types of knowledge (recognize from the context what it refers to): rational (knowing about something at the level of information, logical constructs without directly experiencing the reality about which I know; knowing and understanding the indicator of reality; formally-energetic) and ontological (knowing something; experiencing the reality being learned with all one’s being). We will often denote the latter type of knowledge with the word “knowing”. To know (to learn) is the process when the knower and the known become one whole (interpenetrate each other; when it comes to personalities, there occurs perichoresis: I in You, and You in Me). For example, knowing about an apple, that such a fruit exists, touching it, even tasting it (knowing about the apple with the five senses is rational knowledge) – is knowing “about…”, but to truly know the apple is to consume and digest it into one’s flesh and blood (to incarnate it), to become one whole – when it’s no longer possible to separate the apple from me, the apple has become me. Because when I hold the apple in my hand – it can be taken from me; even when I have eaten it – until I have digested it into my flesh and blood – I do not truly know it, because it can be in the stomach and not digest, and come out whole. (Another example: The two natures in Christ are united unconfusedly and indivisibly; iron in fire – when the sword is heated to red-hot – iron and fire are one whole, now you bake with iron and cut with fire). For example, Adam knew Eve – it’s not about Adam finding out that he has a wife named Eve (rationally, as a fact outside him), it’s about the two of them becoming one – one flesh! Knowing is not necessarily a continuous process (e.g., cold iron is placed in a furnace and heated (warmed) to red and then it cools down again: fire and iron separately (cold iron), one (heated, red-hot iron) and again separately (the iron has cooled): the iron “knew” the fire, “had” an ontological experience of fire). “I know intellectually, rationally” and “I know, have learned or am in the process of learning” – we need to remember these two dimensions when we do theology (we clothe our experience in words and hear the experience of another in words; or better said: we point to our experience and hear (sensually: with the five senses) the pointer to the truth). Rational knowledge has value (weight) only when it is an icon, a call to knowing (learning) Theology – it’s a springboard to God-knowing (faith (= trust) comes from hearing – see below) – the existential knowledge of God (the purpose of a creature’s existence –