It's been about a year since I've visited this forum and not much has changed.. Most notably, I see the Calvinists are still mean spirited. Never could understand that. And I have yet to see a Calvinist in this forum present himself otherwise.
Accusations continue to be flung toward those who don't hold to the same belief system.. some totally unfounded such as being accused of serving a God, ie "an impotent god", other than the God of those who hold to Calvinism, even though Paul tells us, as Believers, that there is "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and IN YOU ALL." ...and then some to the point of questioning the salvation of those Believer's, who, by default, are labeled "Arminian" for not being "Calvinist", accusing them of having "hearts of stone", even though Peter tells us, as Believers, that God, who knows our hearts, purifies our hearts by faith.
Reading about the subject of "pride" here, I think the following statement is a form of pride in itself...
"The arguments that oppose these Reformed/Calvinist men here on the CDFF Biblical forum come from a group who between them do not have a single pastoral credential or earned degree in the study of theology."
One can boast all they want about their education and those who come to the same conclusion in study, but if that's what you fall on as the guide to judge whether a person is prideful when they disagree with you, then your standards are off base. Heck, Einstein was a genius without education.. God judges the hearts of men... not by the amount of years they spend in a university nor by the degrees to which they hold, but by their obedience to Him. Neither is He going to judge us for not following those who have a higher education. Pride is never seen as a good thing in the Bible, and as far as I know it is associated with those not walking with the Lord. Not only are you judging a person based on what you think is pride in them, and according to your standard of education, but you are also judging their relationship with Christ because of it. And you base it on their lack of education, spelling and grammar errors, and disagreement between you and your educated Calvinist list. And because of that disagreement, this somehow proves to you that your "...point has now been formally demonstrated and proven by the responses."
I think what I find most sad since reading some of these threads so far is the following statement...
"...the poor Arminian has no gospel � no good news at all. His gospel is a sham and a shame and leaves a poor sinner hopeless and helpless."
I do not consider myself an Arminian; that is your claim to those who disagree with Calvinism. But I can tell you that as a Born-Again Believer in Christ, I have a Gospel.. I have Good News, and neither of those "leaves a poor sinner hopeless and helpless." My Gospel is the gospel of Christ... the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes. To be truthful, I find it more hopeless to tell the poor sinner that while Christ died for the ungodly, He might not have died for him; that he may not have the opportunity for eternal life, thereby condemning him to eternal damnation. After all, that is what Calvinism teaches and its followers believe. Where is the good news in that? You cannot preach certain Scriptures without making yourself a liar based on your beliefs because those Scriptures are not intended for the unelect.. An example would be... "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." The Calvinist cannot, with all honesty preach that verse to the hopeless sinner and without doubt believe it applies to him, because he can't know whether that hopeless sinner is one of the elect, one of those sinners that Christ came into the world to save. Where is the Gospel of salvation in that? Where is the assurance of what you're preaching? Where is the assurance for the poor hopeless and helpless sinner found in your Gospel and Good News?
Dozens, if not hundreds of articles have been posted here explaining the Biblical doctrines of grace which some refer to as Calvinism. Yet, still those who don't like the doctrines, continue to misrepresent the position. WOW!
I ask you, is that intentional or from ignorance? If from ignorance, how many times (in detail) do you need it explained to you? WOW!
I also wonder why folks like yourself are TOTALLY BLIND to the ENDLESS RUDE AND CONTENTIOUS comments that the Calvinists on this forum have been subjected to day after day. WOW!. Again, you would have to be blind or intentional in your omission not to see that. WOW!
The Bible teaches what it teaches. I have yet to see anyone here show that any of the core doctrines that are ascribed to the label 'Calvinism" are false. And the simple fact is that I never will because the same doctrine that Jesus taught, Paul taught, and Calvin taught as have tens of thousands of others. The Word never changes.
As per my article about "Pride", let me clarify for everyone the message of the article. The message is plain and clear to anyone who wants to see it. It's not about formal education vs. lack of education. It is about being humble enough to learn. I compiled a list of some of the men that God has used throughout history to teach His body. I show that these men come from all walks of like: different ethnic backgrounds, different time periods in history, different denominational distinctives, different educational backgrounds, and so on. Yet, through all of their devoted study of the Word, they all came to largely the same foundational conclusions. John Calvin is NOT some isolated name in history.
On the other side of the argument against these Biblical doctrines, you have a collective bunch of contention and ignorance. You have people who are too lazy to spell check their writing. They are too confused in their heads to even finish a thought or word their comments intelligibly. This is the sign of mental instability. Their reasoning is unsound and illogical often contradictory. Most of the time they miss the central points of the posts or respond to things that aren't even there which proves that they have POOR reading comprehension. Yet, in all of this, they are SO FILLED WITH PRIDE that they cannot be taught a single thing. They think that they "know it all" WOW! It's the highest form of pride and foolishness that I have ever witnessed and it comes from the same handful of people here.
You ask: "Where is the Gospel of salvation in that? Where is the assurance of what you're preaching? Where is the assurance for the poor hopeless and helpless sinner found in your Gospel and Good News?"
The Calvinist is the ONLY one that can have any assurance that preaching the Gospel will yield any results. Why? Because the Calvinists believe the Word of God. They believe that Christ died for the Elect and that through the preaching of the Gospel those Elect will be drawn out by faith to repentance. Election ensures results. By contrast, non-Calvinists must cross their fingers and do anything that they can to convince and persuade their hearer to use his "free will" to respond. They assert that man is free to reject the salvation offer. Taken to the logical end, this belief does not guarantee them that a single soul will ever be reached no matter how much "gospel" they spread.
WOW!
Fortunately, Arminianism which has been rampant in mainstream Evangelicalism and Protestant churches is now failing itself. The results of the FALSE GOSPEL and FALSE TEACHING that accompanies it have produced a TOTALLY THEOLOGICALLY IMPOTENT Church -- marriages are failing at a rate as bad or worse than the secular world, families are being torn apart and destroyed, SIN IS RAMPANT on every side and so on. But hey, the entertainment is still top notch. Right? :laugh:
Arminianism and it's accompanying humanistic ideologies are a CATASTROPHIC FAILURE. The paradigm of death is now CHOKING ON IT"S OWN VOMIT. But don't worry, the Calvinist's will once again be there to pick up the pieces and hit the Biblical reset switch. :winksmile:
Another fine display of Calvinistic egotism....or pride in 'knowing' you're elect. Which I still have not received a reasonable explanation on how you KNOW you are elect.
Well, if being elect means acting the way you do, it's not for me.
I will take the peace I have with my assurance of salvation. I will take the promises of God and praise Him for His grace and mercy. I will tell those I meet about the Saviour that died for the sins of the world and that if they believe with heart and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, then they can receive God's free gift of salvation and KNOW that God will spare them eternal death.
I could have an army come against me and it would not matter to me in the slightest because the word of God is clear that "a thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand"
The more you and the others here come against me, the more certain I am of my message. You all are storing up rewards for me in heaven. Thank you very much. :buddies:
:laugh:...I smell Pride and Ego along with an~tag~o~nis~tic~ISM...Lord have Mercy...the poor Yahoo believes we are the ones storing up Rewards for him in heaven ???...That's the most Arse Backwards thing I ever heard....Oh my...Prophet Richard...where are you ???...this Yahoo needs a reminder how the storing up of rewards works....X <>< O
