Posted on 02/27/2011 8:08:19 PM PST by Natural Law
Faith Without Works? Do Calvinists Actually Read the Christian Bible? Is anyone as mystified as I am at this contradictory and unbiblical Calvinist “Sola Fide” idea that faith without works is sufficient for salvation? How can Calvinists reject James Chapter 2 which states that; “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?” (James 2:14) and "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). To do so is antithetical to Scripture.
The Calvinist rejection of James is at best substitutional, permitting Calvinists to conclude that works naturally follow from and are only a result of true faith thus requiring no conscious commitment or consideration. The result is a negation of the call to Beatitude and a rejection of the obligations of the Second Greatest Commandment issued by Jesus Himself.
Borrowing from Hinduism many fringe Calvinists actually practice a form of the Brahiminst caste system in which they profess that their own Salvation was secure from the beginning of time and no obligation exists toward the less fortunate and needy because God rejected their election from the beginning of time.
The substitution of actual, contextual Scripture for the more flattering personal interpretations is a return to the Gnostic heresies that the Church successfully rejected more than a thousand years earlier. They attempt to seek truth through Scripture on their own despite the admonition of Peter who stated; “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20).
Faith alone is insufficient. Adam and Eve had faith yet fell. They spoke directly with God yet succumbed to sin. What about Paul, whom many Calvinists give greater credence than Jesus, when he says; "And if I should have prophesy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could move mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." (1 Corinthians 13: 2).
Perhaps the citations some will more closely identify with; the demons whom Jesus expelled.
"And behold they [the demons] cried out saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" (Matt 8: 29).
The demons had faith certainly equal to that of the Calvinists. Not only do they profess that Jesus is the Son of God, but they also have a profound knowledge of Scripture and profess belief in the final judgment. Peter didn’t profess that Christ is the Son of God in Matthew 16:16-- eight chapters later. Why didn’t Jesus didn't make the demons the rock on which He built His Church? He required Works to build His Church.
Straw man.
By scientific discovery. How can you argue for an earth that is only 6000 years old when there are discoveries found by scientists that are older than that?
I’m NOT proposing that the world is only 6000 years old. Have you read the rest of my posts? The earth is billions of years old probably. The only evidence we have of the actual age of the earth is the evidence that science provides.
hmmm.. ‘gap theory’ — well it is fascinating, but confusing. Logically it seems ok, but I have to read this in depth and with the rest of the Bible as CB has quoted. I have no knowledge at all on this, so cannot make any kind of positive or negative comment on this.
To believe in Genesis is not ‘nonsense’ — evidently your group have been misled by “pseudo-scientists”. I’m an engineer and to me science is what you can prove, it is experimental and based on observation or results. All of this evolution bit is not scientific — it is speculation.
NL is correct —> Glaube an den Herrn Jesus, dann werden du und alle, die in deinem Haus leben, gerettet is German, Deutsch wie die Deutschen sagen. Pure German, not Frisian. The Frisian language has additional circumflexions and accents. What you have given is not even Pennsylvania Deutsch which was/is west-central Germanic, but you’ve given pure, modern German.
Judaism believes that the satan (literally, “one who causes to turn [astray]”) is created by G-d and totally subservient and yet is tasked with a mission to make man stray. He in fact wants man to overcome for in the end he too wants G-d’s will to be fulfilled. An analogy is given that he passes the buck to someone who understands less clearly about G-d and His will. And in turn that (angel, being, etc) passes it to another (4-levels removed...ask your local kabbalist—but not Madonna’s) until the one holding the stick is on such a low level that he doesn’t understand at all that the original task came from G-d...and this emissary really does want to cause man to stray just for the sake of it. Anyway...it’s how we resolve the existence of a satan yet maintain that there is nothing (not even ‘evil’) that isn’t completely of, by, and subservient to G-d.
The conversation we were having was about taking the Bible as the final authority and NL made a snide comment about what language I used as the authority. I then posted a verse in several different lanquages including Hebrew and Greek. On of the languages was Duetch and I listed it as Dutch. The only response NL could come up with was the straw man about the language. It stemmed from the discussion you and I were having about how I interpret the scriptures. It’s a stupid sidebar. Who cares whether it was Dutch, German, Swedish or whatever. The point was that the scriptures say the same thing if they are translated correctly from the original Greek and Hebrew.
Also, translations from languages to languages are always difficult, especially into a Germanic language and very much so into English since there is a loss of cases and of nuances.
Thus the need to refer to the original Greek or Hebrew interlinear to better understand in context. Even studying and having some understanding of practices and customs of the age helps.
Yes, one of the biggest failings since the 50s (caveat:I was born in 78) is that we don’t learn Latin and Greek in school. It should be mandatory — leaning Latin or Greek or even Sanskrit has been shown to imrpove a child’s maths ability and also knowing another language besides your own can help expand your mind.
"Gap theory" says that the verse "and the earth was formless and void" should be translated "and the earth was made formless and void." In other words, between the first two verses of Genesis an entire world was created and existed before being decimated by its inhabitants (the "fallen angels"), and the remaining days of Creation were a period of "reconstruction" so a second world could take its place.
There are Orthodox Jews who believe on it based on the "scientific evidence" for an "old" universe as well as their interpretation of the Qabbalistic teaching that HaShem "used to create and destroy worlds" before creating this one. Some (such as Rabbi 'Aryeh Kaplan zt"l) hold that these previous "worlds" were on this earth and that fossils are remnants of them; others such as the last Lubavitcher Rebbe (zt"l) said these previous worlds were spiritual and not physical.
There are secrets regarding the Creation, but I am not privy to them. That being the case, I reject the "gap theory" as unnecessary.
That’s it exactly. HaSatan is merely an angel of G-d doing his designated jobs. The notion that he is an independent principal of evil at war with G-d is sheer unadulterated dualism and a denial of true Monotheism.
As far as salvation is concerned I would agree with you. However, being stuck with the “young earth” perspective Christians who don’t understand begin to lose faith if faced with evidence of a much older earth. I have seen too many who have begun to doubt because they haven’t been taught that this earth is much older and scripture does not contradict the billions of years.
"Salvation?" What's that?
However, being stuck with the “young earth” perspective Christians who don’t understand begin to lose faith if faced with evidence of a much older earth. I have seen too many who have begun to doubt because they haven’t been taught that this earth is much older and scripture does not contradict the billions of years.
::Sigh:: Whatever floats your boat.
Actually, my comment was about the problems associated with "winging it" in the interpretation of Scripture and used language as but one of the areas where error can arise. You then proceeded to provide an example of the perils.
Actually he has given us Hochdeutsch, or High German. That is the Latinized grammar structure and conjugation established by the Church when it first made German (which was not a language, but a language group with literally hundreds of dialects) a written language.
It's amazing how many bizarre, grotesque misrepresentations you can fit into a single sentence. You're the Salvadore Dali of theology.
Cordially,
Actually the increasingly bizarre theologies arose from the Reformation and have increased asymptotically ever since.
Next take the case of the Brahmins as the elite elect and compare that to Calvinism's "elect"
Finally, the concept of Total depravity, compare that to maya in the Hindu system.
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