Passion Prattle

To: Hank Kerchief; OrthodoxPresbyterian; MarMema

Thanks Hank Kerchief on your excellent sourcing. I think we need to go back to St. John of Damascus, linked earlier (#135).

OP, Job was definitely worthy of salvation, in God's eyes at least, and he is not the only one even in the OT. Jews, unlike Christians, do not believe man(kind) needs saving. Jews, (remember) believed that works make one righteous and that a decent human being was acceptable to God. Christianity, among other things, sees a slightly different, more complex, yet perfectly simple God.

One's salvation in Christianity is never earned. We will never be perfect, but we can keep trying. Theosis is a life defined by a firm belief that trying to be as much as possible in God's image will make us better human beings. It may not be enough for slavation, but where is the error?

I am well aware of the Calvinist view. Calvinists are not alone in their belief that God sees humans as little more than tools in His workshop, to use and discard as He wills. Muslims and Hassidic Jews share those views and deny free will. Forgive me, but how does such a belief protect against moral depravity, since all human actions can be attributed to God's will?

In the end it's always God's will that prevails -- whether He wills it or whether He wills not to will it. In other words: do Calvinists allow for God to allow something to happen without His intervention, because He wants to?

141 posted on 03/04/2004 6:31:19 AM PST by kosta50

Thanks for the name change, I like the Polycarp genre better.

142 posted on 03/10/2004 7:17:53 PM PST by drstevej (Repentant prayer of saints is the precursor to genuine revival.)

LOL! I simply requested they change it back to "Polycarp."

The mods are the ones who made it "Polycarp IV." Think that was a jibe? ;-)

143 posted on 03/10/2004 8:07:23 PM PST by Polycarp IV (PRO-LIFE orthodox Catholic--without exception, without compromise, without apology. Any questions?)

No doubt. Pretty funny at that!

144 posted on 03/10/2004 8:09:05 PM PST by drstevej (Repentant prayer of saints is the precursor to genuine revival.)

If I go see The Passion of the Christ on Sunday, how many of the ten commandments have I broken?

II
IV

And if during the movie my wife's giant tub of popcorn looks mighty good to me and I grab a handful while she has her eyes closed how many more of the ten commandments have I broken?

X
VIII

And if I say it's all Mel Gibson's fault, have I added another?

IX

=======

A Sunday School student was asked to list the Ten Commandments in any order.

He wrote, "3, 6, 1, 4, 8, 5, 9, 10, 2, 7".

145 posted on 03/11/2004 7:19:10 AM PST by drstevej (Repentant prayer of saints is the precursor to genuine revival.)

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