Guess I'll go through it again and see if I have any other comment . . .
It's refreshing to read a Calvinist who lets God be God in straight forward Biblical ways without trying to box Him into a tidy little box.
"I can only speak for what I believe and why I believe it. If you disagree then that is quite alright. As Romans 14 says, we are not to pass judgment on our brother's (and sister's) debatable issues. And the spiritual gifts is definitely a debatable issue."
I find that an entirely Biblical position! As is the following about I Cor 13 justifying Cessationism:
"The only place in Scripture that explicitly states when gifts will cease is 1 Cor. 13:8-13. In part it reads, "When the perfect comes the imperfect shall be done away with." Some vigorously maintain that the "perfect" is the completed Bible and, therefore, the extraordinary gifts are no longer needed. If someone wants to believe that, fine. But I do not think these verses can be used to support cessationism. This is why. Verse 12 says, "...then we shall see face to face." The word "then" refers back to the phrase "when the perfect comes." Since the only infallible interpreter of Scripture is Scripture, a quick examination of the way God uses the term "face to face" should help us understand this passage better.
The phrase is used throughout the Bible and always means an encounter with a person. When God uses it in reference to Himself, it means a visual, personal encounter with Him (Gen. 32:30; Ex. 33:11; Num. 12:8; Duet. 5:4; and Jer. 32:4). Likewise in the New Testament. There it is also used in speaking of personal encounter (2 Cor. 10:1; 2 John 12; 3 John 14, etc.). "When the perfect comes...then we shall see face to face" seems, most logically, to refer a personal encounter; at least, that seems to be how God uses the phrase."
I don't see how any Cessationist could have any idea any further that I Cor 13 was the least bit useful to their argument.
And, as the author says--there ARE NO OTHER VERSES IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE saying such a thing. Actually there are none close to saying such a thing. Trying to get the Scriptures to say such a thing becomes a grossly convoluted mental gymnastics/rubber Bible exercise.
Another solid explanation is:
"It would seem most consistent with scripture to say that "...as I am fully known" would refer to a salvation relationship between Jesus and the Christian. At the return of Christ we (the ones known) shall know fully; we shall see face to face the One who is our Savior. "
And the following sentences speak of the KNOWING so excellently, imho:
"Also, we don't "know" Jesus through the Scripture; we know about Him from the Scripture (John 5:39). Instead, we know Him by personal encounter (John 1:12; 1 Cor. 1:9) through the Holy Spirit's indwelling. We don't know fully right now, even though we have the Bible, because we still are corrupted by our sin nature. In our fallen state we can only see Christ through sin-clouded eyes. We see a reflection of Christ in the Word. When Jesus returns the reflection of the truth will pass to clear understanding (the way childish thoughts give way to mature ones) when we receive our resurrected bodies, no longer have to battle sinful flesh, and can see Him face to face because "we shall be like Him" (1 John 3:2).. "Then we shall know fully." "
Utoh-----the following flushes the Cessationist position down the toilet and slams the lid shut most resoundingly:
"Interestingly, 1 Cor. 1:7 may be consulted here. It says, "Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed." (NIV)"
Rather starkly clear, imho! IF ONE CLAIMS TO TAKE SCRIPTURE AS THE AUTHORITY AT ALL--THAT ONE PASSAGE SHOULD SETTLE IT! But there are many more! Perhaps that's why the Cessationists have become suddenly silent. It's abundantly clear FROM SCRIPTURE, that their gig is up. They asked for--actually DEMANDED such Scriptures--but when presented with them, they seem to turn tail and run headlong into the silent corner! LOL.
Here's another absolutely clear proof that the cessationist position is bankrupt:
"The Greek word here for "revealed" is apokalupsis. It means the apocalypse, the return of Jesus. In both this verse and 1 Cor. 13:8-13 the gifts, which aren't differentiated as to which kind they are, are connected to the return of Christ, not the completion of the Bible. "
The following is such a concise and lucid declaration of fact--I just have to cheer and repeat it as is:
"Argument 2: Present day tongues are further revelation and must then be equal to Scripture and should be included in the Bible. But since the Bible is not to be added to, the gift of tongues (and therefore, the rest of the spiritual gifts) must no longer be valid.
This is a faulty argument because the Scripture itself recognizes inspired revelation that is not to be added to the Bible: "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church" (1 Cor. 14:26). "
I realize that groups of folk ARE SIMPLY NOT THE LEAST BIT INTERESTED IN OBEYING SCRIPTURES on the above passage's score--both IN Pentecostalism AND OUT of it. But the Scripture is very clear. And we all suffer when we avoid running our meetings accordingly.
As society breaks down in the end times and house and other secret meetings occur more and more all around the world, the meeting described in Scripture above WILL BECOME THE NORM. PRAISE GOD. Pretty sad that it will take such persecution and other traumas to bring us to the place where we FINALLY FOLLOW THE SIMPLE CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS IN THE MANUAL about how to run our meetings!
Here's another great paragraph by this Calvinist brother. Goodness--so much agreement!
Here, in the Corinthian church, revelations were given that were not made part of the Bible. This shows that there were, for a lack of a better word, "different" kinds of revelation: one from the prophets and apostles meant for canonization and another through the Spirit to be used in the church for edification--not canonization. So, in my opinion, for someone to maintain that revelation today is a threat to the Canon does not consider 1 Cor. 14:26, is not applying scripture properly here, and is being illogical.
INDEED! They are not being logical, AT ALL.
I do believe that he could have also added this fact. HOW DID SCRIPTURE COME TO BE RECOGNIZED AS SCRIPTURE??? Essentially by a 300 year process of application, sorting, praying, observing, understanding--culminating in the Council of Trent, I believe it was.
That was a group of flawed, sinful believers guided by Holy Spirit in discerning inputs from Holy Spirit to be assessed as authentic and worthy of inclusion in The Canon . . . this after 300 years of application of said Scriptures.
Somehow, that group of sinful believers was supposedly more saintly than any group following I Cor 14:29 today? Hogwash.
NO! I'm not suggesting that groups of believers now deciding on whether a given tongue interpretation; dream & interpretation; prohecy etc. is authentic and worth attention and application OR NOT--I'm NOT suggesting that such groups are more or less equal to the task of also adding to Scripture. I'm not suggesting that AT ALL.
I am noting that the process is essentially similar, THOUGH MARKEDLY ABBREVIATED IN TIME and probably often in terms of quality spiritual experiences and maturities of ALL the members in the group.
I suppose it is CONCEIVABLE that millenia or some such centuries hence, God could decree that some such events from various representative believers experiences could be collected into a book and Canonized. But I doubt it will happen. I don't see it as necessary at all. He declares that Heaven and Earth shall pass away but His Word, not. Sounds pretty special to me--though we don't precisely know what HE MEANT by "HIS WORD" in that sentence.
The author does well with the following in a short space:
Argument 3: There is such misuse of the gifts that they couldn't possibly be real.
First of all, misuse of the gifts implies their existence. They couldn't be misused if they did not exist. The only real position to be taken here would be that the use of the gifts really is no use, but is only fakery and self-deception.
I don't see the tedious elaborations that follow as all that interesting though they are a quality refutation of the idea of the cessationists.
Certianly gifts are misused--AS IS PLAIN SCRIPTURE EVERY SUNDAY IN CALVINIST AND NONCALVINIST PULPITS AROUND THE WORLD.
I loved the author's strikeouts of Scripture to illustrate the Bible the Cessationists are left with. I think it's duplicitous slight of hand rationalizing on their part to pretend that they just cross out sentence after sentence and verse after verse of THE MANUAL; OF HOLY SCRIPTURE and all the while pretend they have done no violence to the Text nor to The Church thereby.
It is mental gymnastics to say that this and this and this and this and that and that and that have absolutely no application for us as Believers in our era but we will sort of pretend that they are still HOLY Scripture. We'll consider them sort of quaint decorations that were maybe unwisely left in.
What sacrilige! imho, of course.
When we see God, it will NOT be how much Scripture we have read. It will NOT be how much Scripture we've even memorized.
I love it when folks who've never heard of Jesus hear the Good News, receive Him wholeheartedly and take a few scraps of Scripture and APPLY THEM EARENSTLY, HUMBLY IN CHILD-LIKE FAITH--AND GOD AND HIS SPIRIT AND SEEMINLY HOSTS OF ANGELS DESCEND AND MIRACULOUSLY CONFIRM WITH WONDEROUS SIGNS FOLLOWING.
And satan and his goons tuck tail and run faintly whimpering that they've been bested and it's painful.
I LOVE THAT.
I gather Father gets a big tickle out of it, too!