Posted on 01/05/2010 9:46:47 PM PST by the_conscience
I just witnessed a couple of Orthodox posters get kicked off a "Catholic Caucus" thread. I thought, despite their differences, they had a mutual understanding that each sect was considered "Catholic". Are not the Orthodox considered Catholic? Why do the Romanists get to monopolize the term "Catholic"?
I consider myself to be Catholic being a part of the universal church of Christ. Why should one sect be able to use a universal concept to identify themselves in a caucus thread while other Christian denominations need to use specific qualifiers to identify themselves in a caucus thread?
We also see the tribe of Aaron set apart as priests, God’s portion of the land.Was this anything they attained? Did they choose to be born in Aaron’s tribe? If Aaron’s priests are set apart, it’s no small leap to see the priesthood of believers set apart.
However, arguing from the silence in Scripture on the matter
. . . is . . . something of an exercise in foolishness.
Sure He does.. He uses it for HIS purposes.. to believe otherwise is to say God is helpless over evil..
Not only does God allow it but He ordains it to occur..He is sovereign over all things..
As an example of God ordaining an evil event..only look to the cross which was ordained before the foundation of the world
Evil does not hold God hostage.. He restrains evil..it does not restrain Him
INDEED.
JONAH argued . . . regretted it.
8And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
ping to above
You do not understand reformed doctrine, so when you say something like this it just shows what you do not know..
Men DO HAVE a "free will" , but it is God that sets the parameters of that freedom.. man can only choose from the set of choices before him..
It is God that chose your family (your genetics if you will), God chose your sex, your nation of birth , your educational choices were determined by you sex.IQ, nation of birth, place of residence, family income etc..God gave you choices BUT He set the expanse of those choices.
You can not choose out side of them. You can not make yourself into a genius or change your race or family financial situation..
It was God who determined your genetic makeup.. He placed in you a preference for corn over cauliflower, He knows when faced with that choice what you will choose because He ordained that preference. He gave you a preference for blue over green, He knows that given a choice what color you will choose , because He ordained the preference.
God knows every sinful preference we have because he did not or does not or will not restrain it.
So God knows if you have a preference for porn, that He Himself does not restrain you will choose that sin.
Natural man is no longer made in the image of God..(Although we retain a semblance in some respects. After the fall man was begotten in the image of our natural father Adam (see gen 3)
Adam, made in the image of God could choose to sin or not to sin, after the fall, man lost the ability not to sin... everything he did was sin before God, because the relationship was broken. God made a way for man to deal with that condition on a temporary basis with the blood sacrifices that man could cover his sin with.
That of course was a type of Christ..
A man that comes to Christ in faith, regains his standing with God..He now can once again choose to sin or not sin.
As has been discussed earlier, man is no longer the servant of sin, but a servant of Christ and because his heart and mind and will have been renewed, born again, he now hates sin and chooses grace..
This man is not perfect or sinless, he still can fall to the flesh, but he now HATES the sin, he no longer loves it...He knows he now has an advocate with the Father,Christ.. His new will desires to repent and turn from his sin
So you see yes, a saved man can and does choose sin sometimes.. but we hate it and rebuke it and repent before God, because it is a burden and a barrier to a full relationship with God.
So God did not know that Moses was going to plead for the people?
Is the speaking against the Holy Spirit resistance to regeneration? IOW, denying THE GOSPEL.
Mar 3:28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
Mar 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
Mar 3:30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
We can certainly go down lots of speculative rabbit holes . . .
I don’t know what reality looks like from God’s perspective, of course.
I just try to take His Word as He has written it and reveals it . . . usually step by step . . . and as literally and at face value as seems to remotely fit.
Of course God knows all things . . .
I don’t have a solution for all the Biblical . . . conundrums.
Not necessarily even for one.
I’m just glad God knows me and I know Him as much as I can and super glad my name’s in The Book.
I'm thinking along these lines as well. The one unforgiveable sin is to "speak against the Holy Spirit". IOW, those that deny The Gospel will not be saved. Also, it implies everyone will be given that opportunity to accept or deny The Gospel.
If I'm right it's just one more example of how deserving we are of God's wrath in that no one can deny that the Holy Spirit called them. Does it mean there is some degree of free will involved I'm not sure. From the individual's perspective it sure seems like it, but from God's percpective I don't see how. God knows what we will do before we our born. God already knows who will answer the call and who won't.
I’m about to leave the house, so I don’t have time to respond to much...but THIS is silliness:
“No wonder you dismiss the sovereignty of God as easily as you did in the other post, and now call it “Hogwash.”.
As I’ve explained multiple times before, and you have never refuted, if God, in His sovereign will, GIVES me or others a choice so that we can freely accept or reject His will for us, then denying compulsion is ACCEPTING His sovereign will.
While we both accept the sovereignty of God, we differ in what we believe God has decided. You believe He desires compelled obedience, and I do not.
So here is a question - when you sin, do you do so because God compels you to sin? Today, you will sin...or at least, most of us will do so. When you are in the act of disobedience, are you obeying God’s will for your life?
Paul says:
“1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous ( that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7Therefore do not become partners with them; 8for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord...
...15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” - Ephesians 5
Does any of that sound like compelled obedience?
Why does Paul tell Christians not to get drunk? Why does he tell us “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us...” if we can do no other? And if we can do other, are we obeying or disobeying the will of God for our lives?
Are we dancing, or chained to the back of God’s pickup?
And if we dance, who has decided to dance with us?
Men are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for God's glory alone according to the Holy Bible which alone is our only authority for faith and conduct.
False traditions of men
It didn't make itself good, just as we cannot regenerate our hearts ourselves.
God commanded us to keep the ten Commandments, is that possible?
Matthew 5:48: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.'...Is this possible??
lets look back
Leviticus 11:44 'For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth.
The answer to can you obey the command of God in this is of course no, we can not obey that command...but hear what God says about that command
Ephesians 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
The same is true of repentance... man can only repent in a godly way through Christ.
To have true repentance one must hate sin. An unregenerate man does not hate sin, he loves it.
So our desire to come, our ability and desire to repent and the ability to trust in Christ alone as our Savior all come from Gods drawing us and His work of regeneration in us.
We come and we confess not because we were seeking Him, but because he sought us.
John 6 tells us that no man can come unless the Father draws him. Scripture is very clear on who does the drawing and the work and will of saving.
Jhn 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: Jhn 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God./
We were born and we lived as spiritually dead men walking until God gave us new life.
Eph 2:1 And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;
The bible is full of stories of men that sought repentance
King Saul’s tears and confession looked genuine, but soon after he resumed his attempts to murder David (1 Samuel 24:16-22).* Saul’s second confession to David sounded equally compelling but it was also false (1 Samuel 26:21).
There are those like Lots wife that appeared to walk from the sin... but keep looking back with longing
We know that some had a human will to repent.. but just could not do it think of Esau
Hbr 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected:for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
There was NO PLACE for his "repentance"
Likewise the man Judas sought repentance, only to find it not
Mat 27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
Mat 27:4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What [is that] to us? see thou [to that]. Mat 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
That is the fruit of SELF repentance !
The only repentance that brings forgiveness is that which GOD gives
Act 11:18 — When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Self repentance is death, God giving repentance gives life
The difference?
2Ti 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Repentance is an act of Gods grace in a regenerated heart. It is a work of God to turn men from sin to Him .
Repentance is a grace, and must have its daily operation, as well as other graces. A true penitent must go on from faith to faith, from strength to strength; he must never stand still or turn back. True repentance is a continued spring, where Thomas Brooks
So few realize that our faith to believe is actually a gift. It is Gods Faith operating in us .
Phl 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
Jhn 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, [that ye believe on him whom he hath sent
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:
Faith comes through grace
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Act 3:14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; 15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. 16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
We are not looking at human hope or human faith .. but at a supernatural faith brought by God to the man . This is not faith the train will be on time or that the sun will rise in the morning ... This is a supernatural faith, to believe what others with human faith deny
1Cr 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Solo Christo! Sola Gratia! Sola Fide!
All men deserve to go to hell, there is not one man or woman that deserves to be saved.
All men are sinners and no man can ever deserve to stand in His presence.
We are born in sin and man can never solve the sin problem by our own works or rituals. Only God can in His mercy save us.
So what divides those in heaven and those in hell is not sin, for all men are sinners. It is only the grace and mercy of God thru Christ that saves.
Undeserved , unearned mercy. Heaven will be full of sinners, just as hell will be. The difference is that they have a Savior, one that did what they could never do, keep the law perfectly and then impute that righteousness to the saved. We have a Savior that took the punishment we deserve and took the full wrath of God on our behalf.
He has redeemed us, bought us with a price, so we are no longer our own, but we are His. THAT is what separates those that will bun in hell and those that will be in heaven, Gods grace!
God orders all men to repent because that is His command, it is not dependent on our ability
In Matt. 12:32 Jesus says if we speak against Him it can be forgiven, but not speaking against the Holy Spirit. If Jesus is not referring to the The Gospel, which hasn't been fulfilled yet what would He be referring to?
Read the Bible to learn why you believe.
Ishmael, through his son Nebaioth (Nabit), is the ancestor of Adnani Arabs. His descendants include the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Both Ishmael and Isaac were present at the burial of their father, Abraham.
To the causal reader, Ishmael is Abram first son. However YHvH states differently The author of Hebrews spends a great deal of time See Stephen in Acts: Rav Sha'ul discusses Hagar and her son in Galatians 4 I have to disagree with your statement.
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
Genasis 22:2 He said, "Take now your son, your only son,
Ismael was born to Abram before YHvH breathed His Breath
whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah,
and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains of which I will tell you."
into him and changed his name to Abraham.
and ink on Isaac in chapter 11. Acts 7: 32 'I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS,
I commend that you read Genesis 17 to understand Ishmael.
THE GOD OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC AND JACOB.'
Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look.
in detail as to the spirit and the flesh.
I guess I am not too interested in building my own god to my liking...I just trust the scriptures that says " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"( Gen 18)
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