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Gay Episcopalian bishop predicts other churches will welcome gays
Agence France-Presse. | 8/06/03

Posted on 08/06/2003 8:17:24 AM PDT by kattracks

The US Episcopal church's first openly gay bishop predicted that other churches would soon follow his denomination's example in welcoming gays into their leadership.

"I suspect that before too very long, other denominations will also follow and welcome openly gay and lesbian people into leadership positions. That's my prayer," Gene Robinson told ABC television on Wednesday.

A majority of the church's House of Bishops on Tuesday voted 62 to 45 to ratify Robinson's appointment as bishop of New Hampshire, church officials said, ending three days of contentious debate.

Conservatives within church ranks, many of whom have fiercely opposed Robinson's election on the grounds it violates Biblical teachings, were quick to express their disapproval, and a group of 24 bishops threatened to resign if he were elected.

"Well, anytime anyone decides to leave the church, it's a very sad thing. And I certainly have been praying and will be praying every day that such a thing does not happen," Robinson said. "Indeed, I don't think it needs to happen."

"The Episcopal Church in this country, and the Anglican community worldwide, the great gift we bring to the world is we are able to maintain a wide diversity of opinions on various issues while holding our faith in Jesus Christ as central and the thing that binds us together as the body of Christ. So I think there's no reason for us to come apart," Robinson said.

The Episcopal Church, the US branch of the Anglican Church, has more than 2.1 million followers, making it the 10th-largest Protestant church in the United States.



TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 62to45vote; 62votes; episcopal; fallout; gay; homosexual; homosexualbishop; queer; schism
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To: autoresponder
That is very clever!;o)
I wish gay Bishop Robinson had been zotted, though.
Thank you for the ping!
301 posted on 08/06/2003 6:00:37 PM PDT by dixiechick2000 ("The Prez is as focused as a doberman on a hambone!"---Dennis Miller)
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To: MarMema; Wordsmith
>

Other Anglican Churches and Organizations

(many conservative)

The Anglican Catholic Church
The Anglican Catholic Church of Canada
The Anglican Church in America
Anglican Communion
Anglicans Online
Anglican Province of America
Anglican Province of Christ the King
American Anglican Council
The Anglican Mission in America
The Charismatic Episcopal Church
Lambeth Conference
Old Catholic Church of America
Order of St. Vincent
The Prayer Book Society (Ecusa)
Reformed Episcopal Church
The Traditional Anglican Communion
The Conference on Anglican Unity
Sodality of the Most Holy Rosary
Traditional Anglican Documents
Episcopal Missionary Church
Episcopal Orthodox Church
United Episcopal Church of North America


The group leading the charge against the gay movement in the Episcopal Church is Episcopal Shield

302 posted on 08/06/2003 6:13:54 PM PDT by TaxRelief (Welcome to the #1 discussion board dedicated to the sustenance of a free republic.)
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To: jethropalerobber
the mormon church does NOT teach that being gay is a sin, therefore there are many gay people who enjoy all of the rights and blessings of full membership.
...
it seems to depend largely on the person's willingness seek forgiveness and try to avoid future transgression.

Man are you wrong. see Church's attitude toward homosexuality Openly gay members are excommunicated as long as they or practice it or teach that it is OK to practice it. If a Bishop does not excommuniate them he is not following church doctrine. Please inform your Regional Representive after taking to your Bishop and Stake President if they are not responsive. They will be disciplined and replaced if necessary. This happend to an entire Stake in Utah for teaching that children couldn't attend church.

Now expirementors and other members that came to their Bishop with the intention of repenting are not exfcommunicated automatically. I indicated as much saying we "try to love them into changing their ways."

You are right people seeking repentance are given that chance although all bishops should take Temple rights away in this case for a period of time.

303 posted on 08/06/2003 6:17:27 PM PDT by ImphClinton
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To: All
One question : what's worst, this or the Pope telling that the evolution theory is compatible with believing in God ?
304 posted on 08/06/2003 7:28:17 PM PDT by Truth666
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To: Steve_Seattle
I think Christians started out worshipping in dark corners, basements, and in their homes. I bet true Christians will eventually have to go underground again. Be ready.
305 posted on 08/06/2003 7:38:06 PM PDT by virgil
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To: reflecting
"Paraphasing; "and Jesus said 'Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem how many times I would have gathered you under my wings.....and you would not.'" --- Clearly showing the desire of God is not met because of the choice of man....." ~ reflecting

Members of man-centered religions get reeeeeeeeeeally angry at Jesus when he flat-out tells them this:

"..NONE can come to me UNLESS it has been granted to him by my Father." [John 6:65]

The answer to your misunderstanding is found in the item below --- IF you're interested. If not, excuse the post.

God's Part and Man's Part in Salvation

By John G. Reisinger

God and man must both do something before a man can be saved. Hyper-Calvinism denies the necessity of human action, and Arminianism denies the true nature of the Divine action.

The Bible clearly sets forth both the divine and human as essential in God's plan of salvation.

This is not to say, as Arminianism does, God's part is to freely provide salvation for all men, and man's part is to become willing to accept it.

This is not what we said above, nor is it what the Bible teaches. In order to understand what God's Word really says and to try to answer some "straw dummy" objections, we shall establish the subject one point at a time.

ONE: A man must repent and believe in order to be saved. No one was ever forgiven and made a child of God who did not willingly turn from sin to Christ.

Nowhere does the Bible even hint that men can be saved without repentance and faith, but to the contrary, the Word always states these things are essential before a person can be saved.

The one and only Bible answer to the question "What must I do to be saved?" is "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

TWO: Every one who repents and believes the gospel will be saved.

Every soul, without any exception, who answers the gospel command to come to Christ will be received and forgiven by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Philip Bliss put the truth to music when he said, "Whosoever will, forever must endure...

If we can be absolutely certain about anything, we can be sure that Christ will never void His promise to receive "all who come to Him." As old John Bunyan said, "Come and welcome" is the Savior's eternal word to all sinners.

THREE: Repentance and faith are not vicarious but are the free acts of men.

Men, with their own mind, heart, and will must renounce sin and receive Christ. God doesn't repent and believe for us~we repent and believe.

Turning from sin and reaching out in faith to Christ are the acts of man, and every man who so responds to the gospel call does so because he honestly desires to do so.

He wants to be forgiven and he can only be forgiven by repenting and believing.

No one, including God, can turn from sin for us, we must do it.

No one can trust Christ "in our place," we must personally, knowingly, and willingly trust Him in order to be saved.

Now someone may be thinking, "But isn't that what the Arminian teaches?"

My friend, that is what the Bible teaches-and teaches it clearly and dogmatically.

"But don't Calvinists deny all three of those points?"

I am not talking about, or trying to defend, "Calvinists" since they come in a hundred 'varieties.

If you know anyone that denies the above facts, then that person, regardless of what he labels himself, is denying the clear message of the Bible.

I can only speak for myself, and I will not deny what God's Word so plainly teaches.

"But haven't you established the doctrine of free-will and disposed of election if you assent man must repent and believe and it is his own act?"

No, we have neither proven freewill nor disproved election ... since it is impossible to do either.

We have merely stated exactly what the Bible says a man must do in order to be saved.

Let us now look at what the Scripture says a sinner is able to do and what he is not able to do.

FOUR: The same Bible that states man must repent and believe in order to be saved, also emphatically states that man, because of his sinful nature, is totally unable to repent and believe.

All of man's three faculties of mind, heart, and will, which must be receptive to gospel truth, have neither the ability to receive such truth nor even the desire to have such ability.

In fact the exact opposite is true.

Man's total being is not only unable to either come, or want to come, to Christ, but every part of his nature is actively opposed to Christ and truth.

Rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is not a passive "non-action," but a deliberate volitional choice.

It is deliberately choosing to say "no" to Christ and "yes" to self and sin.

No one is "neutral" in respect to God and His authority.

Unbelief is just as much a deliberate act of mind, heart, and will as is faith.

This is what Jesus meant in John 5:40 when He said, "You will (you are deliberately making a choice) not to come to me."

Yes, unbelief is an act of the will. In fact unbelief is active faith, but unfortunately it is faith in myself.

To believe and preach points One, Two, and Three, without also preaching number Four is to grossly misrepresent the gospel of God's grace.

It is to give a totally false picture of the sinner and his true need.

It shows only half of the man's sin.

It misses the most crucial point of a lost man's need, namely, his lack of power or ability to overcome his sinful nature and its effects.

The "gospel" which is concocted out of this view is only a half gospel. It is at this point that modern evangelism so miserably fails.

It confuses man's responsibility with his ability, and falsely assumes that a sinner has the moral ability to perform all that God has commanded.

The "cannot" texts of scripture are either totally ignored or badly twisted by this perversion of the true gospel of God's saving grace.

Please note a few texts of Scripture that dogmatically state some things that a lost man cannot do:

Man cannot see-until he first be born again. (John 3:3)

Man cannot understand-until he first be given a new nature. (I Cor. 2:14)

Man cannot come-until he first be effectually called by the Holy Spirit. (John 6:44-45)

We do not have space to go into all the "cannots," but these three are sufficient to show that a sinner absolutely cannot (notice it is not "will" not) come to Christ until God first does something in that sinner's nature.

That "something" is what the Bible calls regeneration, or the new birth, and it is the exclusive work of God the Holy Spirit.

Man has no part whatever in regeneration.

FIVE: The new birth, or regeneration, is God giving us the spiritual life that enables us to do what we must do (repent and believe), but CANNOT DO because of our bondage to sin.

When the Bible says man is dead in sin, it means that man's mind, heart, and will are all spiritually dead in sin.

When the Bible speaks of our being in "bondage to sin," it means that our entire being, including our will, is under the bondage and power of sin.

We indeed need Christ to die and pay the penalty of our sin, but we just as desperately need the Holy Spirit to give us a new nature in regeneration.

The Son of God frees us legally from the penalty of sin, but only the Holy Spirit can free us from the power and death of our depravity in sin.

We need forgiveness in order to be saved, and Christ provides complete forgiveness and righteousness for us in His death.

However, we also need spiritual life and ability, and the Holy Spirit provides it for us in regeneration.

It is the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration that enables us to savingly receive the atoning work of Christ in true faith.

God is a triune God, and no person can understand His 'so great salvation" until he sees each blessed Person of the Godhead playing a distinct and necessary part in that salvation.

No man can declare the "glorious gospel of grace" and leave out the Father's sovereign electing love and the Holy Spirit's regenerating power as essential parts of God's work in saving sinners.

To speak of "God's part" in salvation as only being one of "providing" forgiveness and man's part as "being willing" to accept it is to ignore both the Father's work of election and the Spirit's work of regeneration.

This not only makes man a full "partner" with God in the work of salvation, it credits man with playing the decisive roll in the deal.

How dreadful, and ridiculous, to give Christ the glory for His work on the cross, and then give sinners the credit for the Father's work in eternity (election) and the Spirit's work in our hearts (regeneration).

It does great dishonor to the Sovereign Spirit to say, "The Holy Spirit will perform His miraculous work of quickening you unto life as soon as you give Him your permission."

That's like standing in a graveyard saying to the dead people, "I will give you life and raise you up from the grave if you will only take the first step of faith and ask me to do it."

What a denial of the sinner's total spiritual inability.

Amazing!

The root error of the Arminian's gospel of freewill is its failure to see that man's part, repentance and faith, are the fruits and effects of God's work and not the essential ingredient's supplied by the sinner as "man's part of the deal."

Every man who turns to Christ does so willingly, but that willingness is a direct result of the Father's election and the Holy Spirit's effectual calling.

To say, "If you will believe, God will answer your faith with the New Birth," is to misunderstand man's true need and misrepresent God's essential work.

SIX: The Scriptures clearly show that faith and repentance are the evidences and not the cause of regeneration.

Suppose a man who had been dead for twenty years greeted you on the street one day.

Would you conclude that the man had gotten tired of being dead and "decided' to ask a great doctor to perform a miracle and give him life?

I'm sure you would instead, exclaim in amazement, "Man what happened to you? Who brought you back to life?"

You would see he was alive because he was walking and breathing, but you would know these were evidences of a miracle having been performed on him from without and not the results of his own power of will.

Just so when a spiritually dead man begins to perform spiritual acts such as repentance and faith-these spiritual "fruits" show that the miracle of the new birth has taken place.

Let me illustrate this with a Biblical example. Acts 16:14 is a clear proof of the above.

By the way, as far as I know, this is the only place in the New Testament that uses the phrase "opened heart," and the Bible gives the whole credit for this "opening" to God's power and not to man's will.

Modern evangelism does the exact opposite and credits the opening of the heart to the power of man's "free will."

Remember that we are not discussing whether man must be willing to open his heart. We settled that under points One, Two, and Three.

We are looking now for the source of power that enabled man to perform that spiritual act.

Arminianism insists that man's free will must furnish the willingness or power, and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit of God furnishes that power or ability in the new birth.

Let us examine the one text in Scripture that uses the phrase "opened heart" and see if it agrees with our previous points:

"And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." (Acts 16:14)

The NIV says: "The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message."

First of all we note that Lydia did indeed "attend" or listen to the words of Paul.

She gladly heard and willingly believed his message. As we have already shown, she had to do this in order to benefit from the gospel and be saved.

Lydia's attending," or hearing and believing, illustrates points One, Two, and Three above, and refutes hyper-Calvinism, (which says the elect will be saved regardless of whether they hear and believe the gospel or not).

Lydia did choose to believe, and she herself did it only because she wholeheartedly wanted to.

She did not do it "unwillingly" nor did God hear and believe for her.

It was her own response and it was a most willing response.

Next, we notice exactly what God did. We see here demonstrated what God must do before Lydia can be saved.

(1) He provided a salvation of "by grace through faith" that could be preached. Obviously "the things spoken" by Paul were the gospel facts concerning the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and surely this Lamb is God's gracious provision.

(2) God also brought the message of His provision to Lydia. He sent a preacher to tell her about this great plan of salvation.

God went to a lot of trouble to provide such a gospel-He gave His only begotten Son up to death.

He went to great ends to provide such a preacher as Paul-read about it in Paul's testimony in Acts 22.

It is at this point that Arminianism departs from the Bible and proceeds to apply human logic to the above truths.

They tragically fail to look at the rest of the Biblical text and see that God must do something else.

(3) God must open Lydia's heart (or give her spiritual life) so she will be able to believe.

Her natural mind is blind, her natural heart is averse to God, and her will is in bondage to sin and spiritual death.

Only the power of God can free her from this graveyard of spiritual depravity.

The giving of this life and power is solely the work of God.

Notice that the Bible explicitly gives God alone the credit for Lydia's heart being opened.

It is impossible not see that in this text unless you simply refuse to accept what God clearly says.

Look at the words carefully: . . whose heart the LORD OPENED...

Notice also how clearly the Holy Spirit teaches us the relationship between the cause and the effect in the conversion of Lydia.

God was the One Who opened Lydia's heart, that is the cause, and He did so in order that she might be able to attend to the truths that Paul preached, that is the effect.

Now that is what the Word of God says!

Do not bluster about "dead theology" or throw Calvin's name around in derision, just read the words themselves in the Bible.

If you try to deny that the one single reason that Lydia understood and believed the gospel was because God deliberately opened her heart and enabled her to believe, you are fighting God's Word.

If you try to get man's "free will" as the one determining factor into this text, you are consciously corrupting the Word of God.

God's grace not only provides salvation, but His power also gives us the ability to both desire and receive it He works in us "both to will and to do."

His working in us to "will" is the new birth, and, I say again, this work of regeneration (new birth) is totally the work of the Holy Spirit.

The moment we lose sight of this distinction between being "saved by faith" (the act of man) and being "born again by the Holy Spirit" (the act of God), we are heading for confusion and trouble.

We will be convinced that man is able to do what the Bible emphatically states he is unable to do.

The necessity of the Holy Spirit's work being thus theologically denied, it will not be long before it is ignored in actual practice.

This is the plight of modern day evangelism.

Since the evangelists are convinced that the new birth is within the power and ability of man's will, their man made "me theology" has become far more important than the theology of the Bible, and organization and advertising are absolute essentials to success while the necessary work of the Holy Ghost is all but forgotten.

It is true that lip service is given to the need to "Pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance," and cards asking people to "promise to pray every day" are always sent out months in advance of the big campaign.

However, some people are not sure if the promise to pray or the other pledge (to give money) which is always included ( "only your gifts can make this great campaign possible") is the most important to the success of the campaign.

But that's another subject for another day....

LINKED FROM: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/cultsheresy.html
306 posted on 08/06/2003 7:40:55 PM PDT by Matchett-PI (Hey useful idiots! Why do America's enemies desperately want DemocRATS back in power?)
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To: F16Fighter
"They call wrong, right and right, wrong."

As homosexual offenders, like all sinners, were admonished to turn from their sin in Old Testament and New Testament times, so to, we all, including homosexuals, are admonished to turn from our sins today. It's not a "gift from God". It's not an acceptable behavior.

"God is the same yesterday, today and forever."
307 posted on 08/06/2003 7:48:52 PM PDT by Victor K (VictorK - "The most uncommon thing you'll find these days is common sense." jk)
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To: MattGarrett
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satin displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, sign and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie. 2 Thessaloninas 2:9-11
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. JUDE 7
As for those who voted for this:
Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion. These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. JUDE 11-13
308 posted on 08/06/2003 8:01:20 PM PDT by Revel
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To: Aquinasfan
"This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3-5 How do you reconcile this passage with Calvin's doctrine of double predestination?" ~ Aquinasfan

### Your comprehension of the above verse is hindered because you only have a shallow, superficial understanding of the Greek word *pas* (translated *all*). [Explanation below]

"I've never understood the psychological appeal of Calvin's teachings, except that perhaps adherents to his doctrines so want to be certain of their own salvation that they're willing to accept a God who positively wills the damnation of others. I guess that's a price they're willing to pay." ~ Aquinasfan

### Your ignorance of Biblical Christianity (which you sneeringly call "Calvin's teachings") is profound.

Jesus says to you "...NONE can come to me UNLESS it has been granted to him by my Father" --- LONG BEFORE Calvin was ever born.

Read it and weep:

"For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of *all* men, SPECIALLY of those that believe." (1 Timothy 4:10)

Note the word "specially".

The first clause suggests only *the offer* of salvation.

*The accomplishment* of salvation is evidenced in "those who believe".

The free offer is an offer which only the elect (those who believe) will ever accept.

Jesus says so:

Jesus: "...NONE can come to me UNLESS it has been granted to him by my Father." [John 6:65]

Arminians want to read the Greek word *pas* in 1 Timothy 4:10 as "all without exception"

*Pas* doesn't necessarily mean "all without exception" in the New Testament. It rarely means that, in fact. The New Testament word *pas* is, rather, a distributive universal--for which we have no single-word equivalent in English.

For example, the NKJV translators finally noticed, after years of protest by many exegetical scholars, that the simplistic translation of "all" in the KJV rendering of 1 Timothy 6:10 is dead wrong.

The love of money is NOT the root of *all evils without exception*, but of *all kinds of evil*.

This is why they changed the translation when they published the NKJV.

Most of the modern translations of 1 Timothy 6:10, not just the NKJV, render the pas as a distributive universal, not a simplistic universal.

The Greek *pas* is referring to "all kinds of men" in 1 Timothy 2:4. It's talking about socio-political classes of men. Salvation is distributed through all strata of society --- from the least to the greatest.

So, 1 Timothy 2:4 is NOT saying that God wills that everyone (without exception) be saved.
309 posted on 08/06/2003 8:59:23 PM PDT by Matchett-PI (Hey useful idiots! Why do America's enemies desperately want DemocRATS back in power?)
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To: wimpycat
"He [Satan] can make people believe that God is not God, that sin is not sin, that good is evil and evil is good, that what exists doesn't exist (including himself) and what doesn't exist exists. He's rarely implicated because he's rarely suspected--he's the ultimate Man Behind the Curtain.

Well put and worth repeating...

310 posted on 08/06/2003 9:42:07 PM PDT by F16Fighter
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To: SuziQ
Thanks for the recommendation...
311 posted on 08/06/2003 9:45:00 PM PDT by F16Fighter
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To: nyconse
I completely understand how you feel, I was raised Catholic and they have gay leaders, now the Episcopal/Anglicans now accept it, this is the reason I am contemplating converting to Evangelical Christian faiths like Baptist, Pentacostal and the like
312 posted on 08/06/2003 10:11:16 PM PDT by BlindedByTruth (Get the U.S out of the U.N! That is the blind truth by this blind man!)
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To: Steve_Seattle
The United States Congress has socialists in positions of power, but they have limited controlof the government.
313 posted on 08/06/2003 10:41:56 PM PDT by RobbyS
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To: PhiKapMom
``God has once again brought an Easter out of Good Friday,'' he said.

That's one of the most blasphemous statements I've ever heard. One day Mr. Robinson will cower before God and beg forgiveness, but it will be too late. I would not want to be in that man's shoes.
314 posted on 08/06/2003 11:21:43 PM PDT by ChocChipCookie (Beware: the Chip is pissed.)
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To: quark
strange how a Nigerian bishopis the one to point this out....
315 posted on 08/06/2003 11:28:44 PM PDT by Cronos (Bush 2004)
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To: utahagen
Same here, the oldest church communities with few dogmatic bones of contention (as compared to that with the ePIScopalian institute (I refuse to call it a kirk) ) should be reconciled. The problems seem more political than dogmatic.
316 posted on 08/06/2003 11:31:28 PM PDT by Cronos (Bush 2004)
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To: Matchett-PI
The love of money is NOT the root of *all evils without exception*, but of *all kinds of evil*.

Name the evil, whatever it may be, and it is possible that someone has arrived there due to the love of money. Similarly, name the person, whoever it may be, and it is possible that he or she is destined for heaven.

317 posted on 08/07/2003 12:07:17 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
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To: Matchett-PI
Interesting factoid: Charles Haddon Spurgeon came to Christ at the preaching of a lay Methodist. I think the various denominations spend entirely too much time dissing each other.
318 posted on 08/07/2003 12:17:20 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
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To: kattracks
"I suspect that before too very long, other denominations will also follow and welcome openly gay and lesbian people into leadership positions. That's my prayer," Gene Robinson told ABC television on Wednesday.

This will make that wheat/chaff sifting all the easier.

319 posted on 08/07/2003 12:21:52 AM PDT by L.N. Smithee (Just because I don't think like you doesn't mean I don't think for myself)
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To: Matchett-PI
"This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3-5 How do you reconcile this passage with Calvin's doctrine of double predestination?" ~ Aquinasfan

### Your comprehension of the above verse is hindered because you only have a shallow, superficial understanding of the Greek word *pas* (translated *all*). [Explanation below]

"I've never understood the psychological appeal of Calvin's teachings, except that perhaps adherents to his doctrines so want to be certain of their own salvation that they're willing to accept a God who positively wills the damnation of others. I guess that's a price they're willing to pay." ~ Aquinasfan

### Your ignorance of Biblical Christianity (which you sneeringly call "Calvin's teachings") is profound.

I sneer at Calvin's doctrine because it's evil. What else do you call the teaching that God positively wills the damnation of people regardless of their actions?

Besides, the teaching is not Biblical. It's purely Calvin's invention.

Jesus says to you "...NONE can come to me UNLESS it has been granted to him by my Father" --- LONG BEFORE Calvin was ever born.

Yes. And it means that those who "come to the Father" do so by the grace of God. This has been the constant teaching of the Church. But the idea that God positively wills the damnation of others, regardless of their actions, does not necessarily follow.

"For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of *all* men, SPECIALLY of those that believe." (1 Timothy 4:10)

Note the word "specially". The first clause suggests only *the offer* of salvation.

Yes. God desires the salvation of all men and Jesus' death on the Cross makes the salvation of all men possible. However, men are free to accept or reject Him.

*The accomplishment* of salvation is evidenced in "those who believe".

You're reading the grace of final perseverence into this passage.

The free offer is an offer which only the elect (those who believe) will ever accept.

Yes. That's true. But we can't know with certainty who the elect are this side of the grave.

You know, I've yet to meet a Calvinist who was one of the reprobate. I wonder why that is?

Arminians want to read the Greek word *pas* in 1 Timothy 4:10 as "all without exception"

*Pas* doesn't necessarily mean "all without exception" in the New Testament. So, 1 Timothy 2:4 is NOT saying that God wills that everyone (without exception) be saved.

So it doesn't necessarily mean "all without exception," yet you jump to that conclusion, a perverse conclusion that does not conform with reason or Scripture. Reason tells us that God is good and just. Scripture tells us that God is love. So how can a good and loving God damn people to hell regardless of their response to Him?

I'll stick with the dogmatic teaching of Christ's Church regarding predestination and salvation , and give a pass to the heretical Frenchman ,who teaches without authority.

320 posted on 08/07/2003 5:04:00 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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