Posted on 09/07/2003 6:36:06 PM PDT by nobdysfool
The Christ of Arminianism
The Bible warns us that in the last days in which we live there will be many false Christs-those who claim to be Christ but who are imposters. Jesus said, "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many." (Matt. 24:4-5). We who profess to be Christians must take heed. We must be very careful that we are not deceived. Our calling is to trust, love, and follow the true Christ and Him only. We may have nothing to do with the false Christs who are so numerous in our day.
We know about the Christ of the cults and other religions. He is a good man, a prophet, the first creation of God, a great spirit, a divine idea, or even a god himself. But he is not true and eternal God. He receives his existence from another who is greater than he. He is not the Christ of the Bible. We are not deceived by this Christ. He is a false Christ.
We know about the Christ of Roman Catholicism. They profess that He is true God. He suffered and died for the forgiveness of sin. He arose again, ascended into heaven, and is coming again. But he is not a complete Savior. The Christ of the Roman Catholics can not save sinners without their own good works and the intercession of priests. He is not the Christ of the Bible. We are not deceived by this Christ. He is a false Christ.
There is, however, another false Christ who is much more dangerous than the Christ of the cults and the Christ of Roman Catholicism. He has deceived people for many years and he continues to deceive millions. This Christ is so dangerous that, if it were not impossible, he would deceive the very elect (Matt. 24:24). He is the Christ of Arminianism.
This false Christ is extremely dangerous because in many ways he appears to be the True Christ. They say that he is true God, equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. They say that he died on the cross to save sinners. They even say that he saves by his grace alone, without the work of man. This Christ will have nothing to do with the Christ of the cults and the Christ of Roman Catholicism.
But watch out! Be warned! The Christ of Arminianism is not the Christ of the Bible. Do not be fooled!
1. The Christ of Arminianism - loves every individual person in the world and sincerely desires their salvation.
The Christ of the Bible - earnestly loves and desires the salvation of only those whom God has unconditionally chosen to salvation. (Ps. 5:5, Ps. 7:11, Ps. 11:5, Matt. 11:27, John 17:9-10, Acts 2:47, Acts 13:48, Rom. 9:10-13, Rom. 9:21-24, Eph. 1:3-4)
2. The Christ of Arminianism - offers salvation to every sinner and does all in his power to bring them to salvation. His offer and work are often frustrated, for many refuse to come.
The Christ of the Bible - effectually calls to Himself only the elect and sovereignly brings them to salvation. Not one of them will be lost. (Isa. 55:11, John 5:21, John 6:37-40, John 10:25-30, John 17:2, Phil. 2:13)
3. The Christ of Arminianism - can not regenerate and save a sinner who does not first choose Christ with his own "free will." All men have a "free will" by which they can either accept or reject Christ. That "free will" may not be violated by Christ.
The Christ of the Bible - sovereignly regenerates the elect sinner apart from his choice, for without regeneration the spiritually dead sinner can not choose Christ. Faith is not man's contribution to salvation but the gift of Christ which He sovereignly imparts in regeneration. (John 3:3, John 6:44 & 65, John 15:16, Acts 11:18, Rom. 9:16, Eph. 2:1,Eph. 2:8-10, Phil. 1:29, Hebr. 12:2)
4. The Christ of Arminianism - died on the cross for every individual person and thereby made it possible for every person to be saved. His death, apart from the choice of man, was not able to actually save anyone for many for whom he died are lost.
The Christ of the Bible - died for only God's elect people and thereby actually obtained salvation for all those for whom He died. His death was a substitutionary satisfaction which actually took away the guilt of His chosen people. (Luke 19:10, John 10:14-15 & 26, Acts 20:28, Rom. 5:10, Eph. 5:25, Hebr. 9:12, I Peter 3:18)
5. The Christ of Arminianism - loses many whom he has "saved" because they do not continue in faith. Even if he does give them "eternal security," as some say, that security is not based upon his will or work but the choice which the sinner made when he accepted Christ.
The Christ of the Bible - preserves His chosen people so that they can not lose their salvation but persevere in the faith to the very end. He preserves them by the sovereign electing will of God, the power of His death, and the mighty working of His Spirit. (John 5:24, John 10:26-29, Rom. 8:29-30, Rom. 8:35-39, I Peter 1:2-5, Jude 24-25)
As you can see, although the Christ of Arminianism and the Christ of the Bible may at first seem to be the same, they are very different. One is a false Christ. The other is the true Christ. One is weak and helpless. He bows before the sovereign "free will" of man. The other is the reigning Lord Who wills what He pleases and sovereignly accomplishes all that He wills.
If you believe and serve the Christ of Arminianism, you must recognize the fact that you do not serve the Christ of the Bible. You have been deceived! Study the Scriptures and learn of the True Christ. Pray for grace to repent and trust Christ as your sovereign
Perhaps. But you well know I could find dozens of examples of your saying the Arminian "god" is weak and small. That was just the latest.
Peter thought your perfection was due to the grace of God.
1Pe 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle [you].
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. "
Doesn't say we cannot reject our ordination.
If they refuse they were never called.
I don't think your God is 'bigger', just arbitary, capricious and definitely not the God of the Bible.
Winston
The fact is if you make man superior to God and give man a will that is superior to God's will , then you have made man god and God weak in His ability to do that which He desires. I say that because it is an accurate assessment of how arminains see God in relationship to man.
Rn, all those years you spent as an Arminian you know that is a distortion. I'm not gonna argue with you over it.
But you know.
One thing that comes clear as you read and re-read scripture is that God's Kingdom is composed of certain people (the foolish, the weak, the unlovely) whom he has chosen for His own Purpose. The Kingdom of God was never meant to encompass the whole human race. In the OT those outside of Israel perished, once Israel was chosen. God didn't choose them because they were a mighty nation, they were the smallest of the small. There were very few apart from Israel that found favor with God. Jesus and Paul both make this clear. Jesus spoke in parables so that "seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear". Paul wrote
Rom 9:6-8 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. (8) That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Abraham fathered at least one other child: Ishmael. But the promise was through Issac. All men are by nature children of wrath. God's Justice is beyond reproach. If He chooses to show mercy on some, who are you to say He can't? Who are you to say "That's unfair"? What's unfair about it?
I'm associating being imputed with righteousness as being better than not being imputed with righteousness. Is that the quibble?
What is inaccurate in your statement is the idea that those who are imputed with righteousness are somehow more deserving, and that they then believe themselves to be more deserving. Nothing cvould be further from the truth! It is totally undeserved, and it is actually humbling because I, for one, absolutely know that I don't deserve it. I don't think I'm better than anyone else, I consider myself blessed beyond measure, and most undeservedly, and I want to share it with others so they can experience it too. "Freely you have received, freely give". From an abstract standpoint, certainly it's better for the individual to be imputed with righteounsess versus not being imputed, but the righteousness has nothing to do with the one it's imputed to, and everything to do with the One imputing it (God).
But that's just it, Corin. You DON'T know until you step away from it enough to see what it is you've been doing! You can't see the forest for the trees! It's kind of like the old saying, "when your up to your waste in alligators, it's difficult to remember that your objective was to drain the swamp."
Forget it... You are just intellectually or emotionally incapable of reading a sentence without loading it up with all sorts of nonsense that isn't there. Life is one big straw-man fallacy to you, isn't it? It's like you can't ever read an argument without first translating it into an argument you have a ready-made response to. You're completely incapable of perceiving any novel thought or idea. You are so blind that you have no idea that you ARE blind, because you've never seen light. And I realize now that I am foolish to even waste time trying to communicate with you.
And you will read that and say to yourself, "See! I did my part! I proclaimed the truth and he rejected it!" and I will become to you just one more example of someone rejecting Christ, proving to yourself that there are just some people who are predestined to reject your "truth." And you won't even know that I accept Christ and his cross and his love and his discipline and his warnings not to take his love for granted and his reproach and his healing and his salvation and his church.
Isn't that what you've just done here? Load up sentences with all sorts of nonsense that isn't there?
You only have as far to look as the mirror. Repent, rejoice, Christian.
By this post, you have demonstrated to all here that you are a Liar, and the truth is not in you.
It is not name-calling to state the truth. Cite me one post in this thread where I have called anyone a name. I'll tell you right now that you CANNOT. Cvengr, you have lied, and you know that you have. Furthermore, you steadfastly refuse to apologize as I and other have asked you to many times for questioning my salvation after I made an orthodox Christian profession of faith, simply because I disagreed with you on some points of doctrine. That is the mark of a proud and arrogant man, and it is you who needs to repent and receive restoration. These things need to be done publicly, because you have committed the acts publicly. This is not optional. Simply signing your posts to me with "Rejoice Christian" is not an apology.
Repent publicly of your lies and falsehoods, not only to me, but to others here who have tried to point out the errors of your doctrines, not to tear you down, but to encourage you to wisdom and knowledge of our Lord.
I have nothing to repent for in this matter, C. You, on the other hand, do, and you're just adding to it.
Repent, and then rejoice, Christian.
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