All humans are in the book of life, come what may.
According to the Bible, having your name in the book of life, is very important.
Those whose name is not in the book of life, are thrown into the lake of fire for eternal punishment.
The Bible, however, gives no positive indication that any human is not in, or will ever be removed from the book of life. It says all humans are in Christ forever*.
Here’s all the times the BoL is mentioned in the Bible and what can be taken from them:
· Psalms 69:27-28, has a psalmist ask God to blot people out of the book of life, but it doesn’t confirm if this is a practice God partakes in. But the seed is sown by this, and so humans fear it, so Jesus assures us through John in Rev 3…
· Rev 3.5, has Jesus saying He will not blot out the names of “those who overcome” from the book of life, but He will confess their name before His Father and before His angels. This is an assurance in case overcomers fear losing out. He doesn’t in fact say He will blot out anyone else’s name. This is not a warning to those who don’t overcome, but an assurance none the less to those who do. It could have been implied Christ might blot out the names of humans, but to think this requires a huge assumption to be made. Given the severity of the implication, such an assumption should not be taken.
· Phil 4.3, has Paul saying his co-workers and some women’s names are written in the book of life, having helped him and the gospel. It doesn’t say they wouldn’t be in the book of life, had they not.
· Luk 10.20, Jesus said to the 70 returning having commanded demons out in Jesus’ name, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” It doesn’t say “book of life”, but other scholars have also assumed it to be referring to that. It does not say that only these 70 (and Christian humans like them), unlike other humans, had their names in the book of life. It says your names are written in Heaven and demons names aren’t. All humans should therefore rejoice!!
· Dan 12.1, Here we have the word “nation” (as in the sheep and goats’ proclamation), and trouble measured against times when there were and were not “nations”. And “your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book”. People are written in the book. You have to want some people excluded from the book, to read it that is only those written in the book who are delivered.
· Rev 17.8 “those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world” Demons, dwell on the earth and won’t be in the book of life. This doesn’t necessarily imply some humans aren’t in the book.
And that’s it. This is all the references to the BoL!
Seems all Humans are in it and won’t be taken out for any reason.
Some counter arguments rely on folk conflating being in the book of life, with entering the Kingdom of heaven, but there’s no way of suggesting the Bible considers these two things as the same. They just aren’t the same.
Rev 21.5 Jesus says, “Behold I make all things new”. He does not say “except for some humans”.
This argument therefore suggests that all humans will be “rescued” in some way and that a preferential afterlife is pretty much guaranteed however you behave and whatever you believe in your lifetime.
However, the bible also makes it clear that “zoe”, a “richness of living”, more abundant than you can possibly imagine, is available in this lifetime, only to those actively believing in Jesus, getting their identity and knowledge from His spirit. This is a freewill choice, take it or leave it whilst alive on earth. You may think you’ve got it good and all this religious stuff will ruin your fun, and to be fair most of what Christians suggest would affirm this. But what the creator, as described in the Bible, wants for you is better than what you’ve got on your own and better than you can imagine – and it’s not for the afterlife, it’s for now.
The bible also alludes to an “uncomfortable transition period” to the second heaven and earth, with new bodies, that involves “painful” removal of self-harming character traits and refining us. This again is a freewill decision, to be renewed in this way, but apparently not a decision, given the insights we will have in the afterlife, that anyone is realistically going to say “no” to.
* God's plan for all humans existed before time.
John 17:5, Jesus prays to the Father, asking to be glorified with the glory he had with the Father before the world existed.
Ephesians 1:4, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love”. The “us” here is not caveated with “only humans who believe the right thing and/or do the right things.”
Colossians 3:11 “… there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”