tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8703320929713135568.post2269058172185681178..comments2023-09-30T19:38:26.301-05:00Comments on A Watchman on the Wall.....Armed and Dangerous: alihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08925030030295543289noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8703320929713135568.post-4807867492083784492012-05-15T20:08:48.579-05:002012-05-15T20:08:48.579-05:00Lyn,
I’m always amused with how Calvinist dogma is...Lyn,<br />I’m always amused with how Calvinist dogma is called “doctrines of grace,” when the reformed God has no grace for those he created to send to hell. I do not deny the need to strive for holiness and the need to not take His grace in vain. But that isn’t the issue.<br /> God over and over commands sinners to obey Him, to repent, and to follow him. To choose to serve Him. If man is unable to do any of this, then God is a liar to command people to do what they cannot do. We are give the choice of following God or making ourselves God. Your abuse of the many passages you cited is typical from Calvinists, and will take much more time to properly exegete them than is possible here on this blog. Your entire diatribe - yes, typical Calvinist diatribe - is nothing I haven’t heard a zillion times from Calvinists, but never find in Scripture.<br /><br />You say only a minority of Calvinists believe God chooses who will go to hell, but that is the only logical conclusion of Calvinist theology - which really isn’t Calvinist; he just stole from Augustine.<br /><br />I fully understand Calvinism, which is a system which blasphemes God and badly misrepresents Him. Calvinism has done much damage to the Christian faith and had caused divisions in many churches I’m familiar with - the Calvinists come in and take over and if you don’t agree with their theology they ask you to leave. Augustine was the primary origin of this nasty doctrine (try reading ante-Nicene fathers and you won’t find such teachings), Rome built on it and most of the Reformers did not leave Rome far enough behind.<br /><br />By the way, most of my favorite teachers are Calvinists, but all I do is tune out the Calvinist doctrines when I listen to them or read their works. Unfortunately, most people aren’t as discerning and suck it all in.Glenn E. Chatfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04117405535707961903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8703320929713135568.post-86269463169730657712012-05-15T14:47:23.880-05:002012-05-15T14:47:23.880-05:00Glenn,
You could not be more wrong when you assume...Glenn,<br />You could not be more wrong when you assume those who hold to the doctrines of grace believe they can do nothing to be 'unsaved'; the Bible warns against taking God's grace in vain. If God truly saves you, you will not take His grace in vain and you will strive for holiness because you have the Spirit of the living God living within you and empowering you. 'For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus' - Phil. 1:6 I do not doubt the sovereignty and power of a mighty God to save me and keep me until that day. That does not mean I can live any way I want, I must walk in obedience to His word and I desire to do so because He is my Lord and my Master, not because I am trying to 'earn' salvation; it's already mine because of grace. <br /> <br />If sinners can simply choose to follow Jesus, then why do so many reject and instead choose to go to hell? After all, Christ Himself tells us that many are on the broad road. Only a fool would make such a choice. If God did not choose us and we have free will to choose Him, what do you do with verses like Joh 15:16 "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit" or Act 13:48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.' or Eph. 1:4 'just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world' and 2Th, 2:13 'But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.' or Rom 9:11 '(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)' and Rom 9:15 'For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." <br />Rom 9:16 'So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.' <br />Also, I do not believe God 'chooses' sinners to go to hell, they go there because of unbelief. There may be those within the Calvinist camp who would think otherwise, but they are not the majority. As for your misunderstanding of unconditional election, you cannot choose to follow Christ because you are dead in sin as Ephesians 2:1, 5 clearly states. It is only after God 'quickens' the sinner that they can respond. I am disappointed that you would say "God will decide whether or not He will force you to be a follower", this shows how little you know and understand of the doctrines of grace. God forces no one to follow, it is only after He regenerates a sinner that they would or could follow because all, including you and me, are born dead in sin and would or could never choose to follow a God who is holy and the exact opposite of what we are. We all love our sins and cling to sin with white knuckles until saving grace is administered by the One who is sovereign. <br /><br />What most fail to understand is that God does not 'owe' anybody salvation and that we are all deserving of eternal wrath. When you understand how depraved man is then it isn't hard to comprehend what we deserve. It isn't that God saves some... it's that He saves any.lauriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18418345528794992198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8703320929713135568.post-17681540444992598032012-05-10T09:30:20.953-05:002012-05-10T09:30:20.953-05:00Ah yes, I thought about that. His message so subt...Ah yes, I thought about that. His message so subtle, so deceptive, so accepted by so many.<br /><br />We must be wise as serpents, harmless as doves and pray diligently for discernment - for who does not 'like' Dr. Stanley. <br /><br />And then there is his son...alihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07054051343233418255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8703320929713135568.post-51937685160368950202012-05-09T10:08:30.178-05:002012-05-09T10:08:30.178-05:00Well, if you think about it, this is not unusual t...Well, if you think about it, this is not unusual teaching for those of Reformed/Calvinist theology. After all, if God chose you for salvation there is nothing you can do to be unsaved. If God chose you to go to hell, there is nothing you can do to be saved. To them election is unconditional - you don't have to choose to follow Christ at all because God will decide whether or not He will force you to be a follower.Glenn E. Chatfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04117405535707961903noreply@blogger.com