My Friend RT, God knows who are His, He knows who is and who isn't. He knows who should be saved and who should not be saved. God is long suffering not willing that any should perish. Does that mean die without salvation? or does that mean not coming to the knowledge of the truth?Now lets read the verse and see whom Peter is referring to, is he referring to the World or the Church."The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."Us-ward, the Church. Jesus said, "I pray not for the world, only those that you have given to me". What a statement to make, it goes against our tradition in praying for the world. But Jesus doesn't want us to pray for the world, He wants us to pray for one another. Why? So we can love one another. Why?"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."More people have come in via thru this LOVE more than anything else. It's not done thru pumped up preaching or songs, it's done when you and I love one another to death, it's thru that love that the world takes notice, and wants to be apart of that. They are not interested in doctrine, or creeds or liturgies and sacraments, when they see that kind of love, they will be drawn to it. Some will kill some will join.There is more in this verse, lets consider Repentance.Repentance? Us, repent? It seems that if we lack knowledge or wisdom, we lack because something else is taking our time. For example, Martha was perishing for a lack of wisdom in her ordeal with trying to get things set up for dinner, but Mary had wisdom and her table was set to receive from the LORD. Martha was rebuked by Jesus. You see, it's says, "MY PEOPLE perish for a lack knowledge". When you and I lack wisdom and we fail miserably in our attempts to do the right thing, we are perishing. When believers such as ourselves do not understand why we do the things that we do, we are perishing for a lack of knowledge and understanding of what to do. That is why we should seek after wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding, because she will lead you and guide you into all truth, so we won't perish in our thinking.That is the meaning of that verse.Now the meaning of John 3:16 is talking about salvation thru faith. In seeking God, I have found God to be both Beautiful and Ugly at the same time. His ways are truly higher than our ways, and His ways are past finding out. I know a fraction of His ways, but I don't know them all. He takes us thru experinces, some are good and others are down right scary. If I told this forum some of those ways, I know that they would either see me or God as out to lunch, because when it says His ways are higher than ours, that really means that they are beyond our reach to understand them unless He comes near to reveal them.When you forsake all that you have been taught and all that seems dear to you in the ways of theology He comes near to bring something that you long for, truth. Truth that is not buried in philosophical mishmash, but truth that brings you closer to Himself. It's like the carrot before the horse, only the LORD holds out the carrot to you so you can get a taste, and then he allows that carrot to swing back and forth again, but all the time your wanting that carrot your moving in the direction He wants you to, otherwise if that carrot wasn't there you probably would have seen all that was taking place around you and wanted to turn back. But the carrot is the LORD, and His ways taste sweet and sometimes His ways taste bitter. In my last post, I meant all that I said. Those who do not understand lack understanding. God is not stupid, He knows who are His and He knows who will be saved.WarmlyKarl :-)