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My comment: That was understandable to me when I was little boy of 5 or 6 watching a flannel-graph of Jesus standing at the door of my heart and knocking. It was Good News to me then.

Your response: Amazing! [knock, knock, knock] wc perverse little heart now not bringing forth from its abundance, but rather "goodness and righteousness": Oh, hi Jesus, I accept you as my God!

Well, you may make light of it at your foolish peril. [Cf. Matt 18:5 ("...whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me....")]

It occurred at a VBS at a little Evangelical Free Church in the neighborhood of my grandmother's house but, yes, it did make a big impression on my young heart.

Having read your colleagues clipping and chiseling and twisting of this Scripture in an ill-designed attempt to remove its universality, I was struck by how that same flannel-graph story would sound in one of your Calvinist churches.

'Well, boys and girls, here is Jesus knocking on the doors of all the good Calvinist churches in our community, offering to come in and root out unsound Arminian doctrine that may have infected us. And here is the board of trustees meeting to consider His proposal. ...."

Now, the kindly woman (whose name I never knew) who told that story was no theologian. She probably didn't know Greek. She probably didn't read a Calvinist commentary before giving the little flannel graph story that morning. And, of course, she wouldn't have pretended to know an ounce of the useless construct knowledge with which you have cluttered your mind. But I say without fear that she knew much more of the essence of the Gospel than you do, sir.

And I will be eternally grateful she did.

And, by the way, I tell my little grandchildren the same story in the same way. And if you wish to make light of that, have at it. I am sure it will be worth a few Calvinist yuks at the construct defenders meeting. But my little granddaughters will have the opportunity to meet Jesus no matter what your foolish construct says.

For a Supreme Being that according to the apostle John "is love", He sure does seem awfully anxious (from a Calvinistic point of view) to damn a whole bunch of non-elects to hell.

What I have a hard time understanding is, if these poor, craven and depraved souls were pre-destinated from the beginning to end up in hell, why didn't God just bypass this whole "mortal" thing, cut to the chase and send them there immediately? I mean, they obviously deserve it (if Calvin was right, that is), so what's the point of giving them any Earth-time at all?

I guess it's for bigger minds than mine to fathom.

It occurs to me that Bruce Hornsby may just be a Calvinist:

"That's just the way it is, some things'll never change..."

Fortunately, he gives the game away:

"... ah, but don't you believe them..."

Well, you may make light of it at your foolish peril.

winston, let me post the scriptures for you again:

"And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,... Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

HELLO! This is not the GOSPEL as you claim. This is a call to the church to return to fellowship with Christ.

God does not stand at the door of a perverse and wicked heart and knock to be let in. The perverse heart will speak from its abundance. The perverse heart will tell Jesus off!!! The problem is that you Arminians think the heart of man is basically good and speak forth righteousness.

Can you tell me what the GOSPEL is; you can do so in less than 5 words? OP and I are waiting for you to tell us what the GOOD NEWS is.