No one ever said that the gospel was easy to hear or ordained to tickle the ears of everyone . There are plenty of place where you can read an easy gospel. It just will not be posted by a Calvinist. So avoid us
From the article:
"We plead with our Reformed brothers and sisters..."
[One must assume that the writer is writing to people in the "Reformed" denominations.]
This, now, is their position:
[One must assume that he means the above described persons.]
Only the first three bullets could possibly be considered legitimate doctrinal positions of the persons set forth above. The final three bullets are conclusions which the writer has chosen to make, but which he attributes to the people he is castigating. The last two are particularly egregious:
On the other hand, the reason why the others are saved is not that God loved them, desired their salvation, and gave His Son to die for them (for He also loved those who perish, desired their salvation, and gave His Son for them), but that they, by their free will, chose to believe.
But, he saved the worst for last:
In conclusion, the damnation of the wicked is the defeat and disappointment of God, whereas the salvation of the believers is their own work.
Clearly, these "doctrinal position(s)" were made up, by the writer, and are not the actual doctrinal positions of any "Reformed" Christians.
If only the writer had read the article you posted yesterday, he would have known that this kind of attack was not appropriate. The following is a direct quote, from that article, with a minor modification: "[NON]-." 1) GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT:
You cannot expect [NON]-Calvinists to take you seriously if they can hardly identify themselves in what you write.
2) GIVE COMPLETE REFERENCES FOR WHAT YOU ARE SAYING: [NON]-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1152724/posts
Maybe you should send him a copy of the first article, and ask him to provide a source for the above "doctrinal positions," so we can see that someone actually believes them.
DG
p.s. The above is obviously (I hope) intended to be a sort of verbal irony. Although my point is serious, I hope that you, (and other defenders of Calvinism) will be able to see that the admonitions of yesterday's article apply not only to your opponents, but also to the defenders of Calvinism.
p.p.s. It is instructive that I, personally, tried to avoid this quagmire. If GeRPiLs had not used these tactics (and worse) against me, we could now be getting along, and building each other up, instead of trying to tear each other down.
Interesting. So, that IS the objective-- to be avoided by non-Calvinists. Hmmmm.
I Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
I Timothy 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Psalm 5 says God hates the workers of iniquity and they are destined for destruction.
But the semi-Pelagians here still insist that God loves everyone without exception when God says He doesn't.
I guess they think God was lying when He said He hated Esau before he was born or did anything too.
Malachi 1
1 The burden[1] of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
2 "I have loved you," says the LORD.
"Yet you say, "In what way have You loved us?'
Was not Esau Jacob's brother?"
Says the LORD.
"Yet Jacob I have loved;
3But Esau I have hated,
And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness."
Romans 9
Calvinism is not the Gospel. If it were, there could be no Christian non-Calvinists, and anyone who rejected the 5 points would be rightly termed heretics.
What about this part of the gospel? 1 John 2 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for[1] the sins of the whole world.