XPost: alt.christnet.christnews, alt.bible   
   From: usenet@christrose.news   
      
   ========================================   
   Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:07:59 -0500   
   <765knkhaeodljh4hf63qjgfu5onflri95r@4ax.com>   
   Watchtower Heretic James  wrote:   
   ========================================   
   >>       “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,   
   >>        and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish,   
   >>        but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a   
   >>        robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed”   
   >>        (Hebrews 1:10–12, ESV).   
   >>   
   >> Peter confirms the present heavens and earth will be dissolved by fire,   
   >> and that we wait for new heavens and earth:   
   >>   
   >>       “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are   
   >>        stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and   
   >>        destruction of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 3:7, ESV)   
   >>   
   >>       “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of   
   >>        people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,   
   >>        waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because   
   >>        of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the   
   >>        heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his   
   >>        promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which   
   >>        righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:11–13, ESV)   
   >>   
   > Notice, the new heavens and earth will contain righteousness. Thus it   
   > refers to PEOPLE, not the physical heavens and earth.   
      
   That conclusion does not follow from the text. You are collapsing a   
   distinction the passages carefully maintain.   
      
   Peter does **not** say the new heavens and earth *are* righteousness. He   
   says righteousness **dwells in them**.   
      
   “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new   
   earth **in which** righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13, ESV).   
      
   Grammar matters. “In which” locates righteousness. It does not redefine   
   the thing being described. People dwell **in** houses. Houses do not   
   *become* people. The same logic applies here.   
      
   Peter already identified what is being dissolved:   
      
   “The heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire” (2 Peter   
   3:7, ESV).   
   “The heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies   
   will melt as they burn” (2 Peter 3:12, ESV).   
      
   Those are not people. People are judged *on* the earth. The earth itself   
   undergoes dissolution. Peter distinguishes consistently between:   
      
   – the heavens and earth   
   – the ungodly judged   
   – the righteous who dwell afterward   
      
   You cannot suddenly redefine “heavens and earth” at the conclusion to   
   mean “people” without contradicting the argument Peter just made.   
      
   Hebrews blocks that move even more clearly.   
      
   “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth… they will perish… like a   
   garment they will be changed” (Hebrews 1:10–12, ESV).   
      
   The author contrasts:   
   – the Lord, who remains   
   – the created order, which changes   
      
   People are never described as garments God rolls up. Creation is.   
      
   Isaiah makes the same distinction you are erasing:   
      
   “The heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a   
   garment, **and they who dwell in it** will die in like manner” (Isaiah   
   51:6, ESV).   
      
   Three categories:   
   – heavens   
   – earth   
   – people who dwell in it   
      
   If “earth” already means “people,” Isaiah’s sentence collapses into   
   incoherence.   
      
   Revelation seals it:   
      
   “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the   
   first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1, ESV).   
      
   John does not say “the wicked passed away.” He says the **first heaven   
   and first earth** passed away. Then he immediately shows people dwelling   
   in the new creation (Revelation 21:3–4). Again, location, not identity.   
      
   So the biblical pattern is consistent and unbroken:   
      
   – The present heavens and earth undergo dissolution and change.   
   – God brings forth new heavens and a new earth.   
   – Righteous people dwell in that renewed creation.   
      
   Righteousness inhabits the new creation. It does not redefine the words   
   “heavens” and “earth” into “people.” That reinterpretation is   
   imposed,   
   not derived.   
      
   You are not following Peter’s argument. You are replacing his nouns at   
   the conclusion to protect a prior commitment. Scripture does not permit   
   that move.   
      
   --   
   Have you heard the good news Christ died for our sins (†), and God   
   raised Him from the dead?   
      
   That Christ died for our sins shows we're sinners who deserve the death   
   penalty. That God raised Him from the dead shows Christ's death   
   satisfied God's righteous demands against our sin (Romans 3:25; 1 John   
   2:1-2). This means God can now remain just, while forgiving you of your   
   sins, and saving you from eternal damnation.   
      
   On the basis of Christ's death and resurrection for our sins, call on   
   the name of the Lord to save you: "For 'everyone who calls on the name   
   of the Lord will be saved'" (Romans 10:13, ESV).   
      
   https://christrose.news/salvation   
      
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