Posted on 09/30/2002 9:19:01 AM PDT by PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain
By contrast, if someone told me that he was a Christian and certainly understood the NT better than I, and I ask him well what's so special about the tribe of Judah and the lion associated with it, and I got only a blank stare, I would certainly wonder about the depth and interest he has for his religion, now wouldn't I?
Yes the minister had this 10 page typed copy, which was given on the "Great and Dreadful Day" and "The Wrath of the Lord,” and we spoke a lot on predestination. The name was the Covenant Presbyterian Church.
Like I said I was a mainline mutt, meaning I visited many Christian Churches, before I joined the Presbyterian Church. I was looking at that time for the most respected church.
No one in those days talked about conversion, for if you believe in Jesus that was a given. One choose a religion that suit your belief.
Oh my, ...That was dad???????? I didn't recognize him in that condition, I thought he was a homeless person trying to break into my house.
Let me know the next time you kick him out of your barn and he hitches to Florida, and we'll feed him this next time.
(^g^) JH
For now that is mission impossible!
Be of Good Cheer!
Sharon
***
Thank you for explaining you reply on the Torch.
When I mention others also have multi names, I was not condoning the act, only showing it was a common practice. I choose not to continue this practices, for it gives the wrong impression.
Be of good cheer,
Sharon
I wasn’t trying to say that Calvinism was “inconsistent with the preaching of the Gospel.” What I was trying to point out was that just like jude24 was making a comment about Arminianism, an Arminiast(?) could make the same claim about Calvinism, if you get my meaning.
The problem here is that you know that there are inconsistent Arminians that preach the gospel as if God is sovereign over salvation, even praying that God would move upon them, but you can't find any Calvinists who have any confidence in man's "free-will".
I suppose so. This I do know, if there are human beings involved you will have inconsistency and hypocrisy, count on it.
Thank God for such Arminians. Are you one of these?
Hoo boy, here goes.
Like I said, I fall in between the Calvinist and Arminiast camps. I believe both are true. ‘But how can that be’ you ask. Well, I will tell you.
God has three basic attributes(I’m sure you can come up with more, but I am focusing on these three). His first attribute is His Omnipotence. God is all-powerful. There is nothing God cannot do.
Secondly, God is Omniscient. He knows everything. There is nothing God does not know.
Thirdly, God is Omnitemporal. God is everywhere at the same time, and He is also everywhen at the same time. God is. To speak of God “looking into the future” or “remembering the past” is absurd if you think about it. There is no future or past with God. There is only the constant “now.”
Ecc. 3:15 illustrates this attribute of God by saying, “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.”
Let’s take that attribute of God and see how predestination and free-will interact. I was saved on November 11, 1992. On November 10, 1992 I was a hell-bound sinner like the majority of humanity. However something happened to change that, I came to believe in Jesus Christ as my Saviour. From my perspective there had been a change in my position. The change was from a hell-bound sinner to a Heaven-bound Saint.
Let’s move on to God’s perspective. He decides to create the Universe. He counts the cost. God does not start a Creation and wait to see how it turns out. God is present at every event of the Creation at the same “time”(if we can still use that term when speaking about God). The Bible tells us that God does not change. When God created the Universe He knows my decision, He knows I am His. From the Eternal, I have always been His. There has not been a change in my status, indeed there cannot be a change in my status before God because if there were than that would cause Him to change and we know He does not change.
To God my decision is irrelevant because I am His, from the beginning of Time on into Eternity. Since I am His, He has predestinated me to become conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, and so on and so forth.
To me my decision is everything. Without my belief in Jesus Christ as payment for my sins I am destined for Hell, and rightly so.
Well this post has gone on long enough. If you would like me to clarify something, just ask. I’ll be happy to try. ;^)
Not at all. His choice was made before the foundation of the world.
Point well taken.
Only after God did a work on his will (and heart by implication). Just as hed had done to Abraam... Otherwise, how do you explain Ps 14:3, Ps 53:3, Rom 3:10-12? None seek for God unless God first seeks him!
I have multiple love handles - does that count?
Ok, then on what basis did God choose who would be Elect and who would not be Elect?
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