N
Did Jesus Die on The Cross for The Just/Elect/Saved Whose Names Are Written in The Book of Life OR
- Thread starter MerSee
- Start date
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
yet here you are
Yup, someone has to expose synergism for the bankrupt heresy it is.
Perhaps looking intently at the old heart would lift the fog and help you understand why a new heart is promised and necessary under the New Covenant:
Gen 6:5
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually
Gen 8:21
21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
Jer 17:9
9 "The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?
NAS
Matt 9:4
4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?
NIV
Mark 7:21-23
21 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23 "All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."
NASB
Prov 28:26
26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,
But he who walks wisely will be delivered.
NAS
Yup. Calvinism is synergist. Calvinism makes faith work, even though the Bible says it is not work. And since faith is required for salvation, Calvinists have to do the work of believing to help God save them. Synergists they are.
It appears you have no comprehension of Grace whatsoever. Grace empowers a person to believe the gospel and repent of their sins. Just as Lazarus responded to Christ's gracious command (call) and its attendant power to come forth from his tomb, so it is with the spiritual dead whom Christ also raises from their tombs. Furthermore, even faith itself is a gift from God and not of ourselves.
What the Reformed rightfully believe is that a person's salvation is a miracle of God. There is no synergism with supernatural acts of God.
Of course that, as well. A cold heart of stone can never believe the gospel, nor can such a heart ever harbor godly thoughts, intentions or desires in it. Such a heart can only rage against God.
Oh yeah...one other thing about faith. It is a work to believe the gospel. It is God's work!
John 6:28-29
28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
NIV
And Paul expresses this work as a gift from God (Eph 2:8-9). See also Phil 1:29.
That's an awful translation. This is the work of God is followed by a "hina" clause, not a relative clause which would strat with "hoti".The text actually says, "This (touto) is the work/effort of God (the effort God requires) so that (hina) you may at some point believe ((pisteuEte) into (eis) the one He sent."
The text is not saying that it is God's effort to make some believe in the one sent.
It is saying that something mentioned earlier is the effort God requires of you, so that at some point you might believe in the one sent.,
The Apostle Peter gives us great insight in his second Epistle, 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.
Peter shows us we are part of the process (Election) but it's our job to confirm being Elect.
Peter shows us we are part of the process (Election) but it's our job to confirm being Elect.
Everything anyone does is because of grace. Believing lies is only possible because of the gift/grace of intellect. You Calvinists make faith a work. It is irrelevant that God calvinistically graces the gift of faith to empower you to believe. Unless you believe you will remain lost. So you have to believe to be saved. But since Calvinists make faith work, Calvinists are saved by their believing, their work in believing by the grace of God. You are a synergist.
Having a new heart in this age does not make us perfect. It doesn't mean that we'll never stray. But it does make us sheep of Christ's pasture, which means Christ will not let us stray very far. He will always bring us back to the fold just the way he did with Peter.
Luke 22:31-34
31 "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
33 But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."
34 Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me."
NIV
Notice that Jesus didn't tell Peter..."if you turn back". Jesus faithfully preserves his sheep as their Good Shepherd. Peter stumbled, yet not as to fall.
Reformers present a "Loving God" who for His Own purpose and Sovereignty has personally sent most of His creation to an eternal hell.
But He's a "Loving God" who made them specifically to keep the flames a roaring.
But He's a "Loving God" who made them specifically to keep the flames a roaring.
The work that God has BEGUN, he will bring to completion. We did not begin the work, we do not sustain or maintain the work, nor do we complete it (Phil 1:6). All salvation is a gracious of gift of God. And his great and precious gift empowers his saints to be willing actors on HIS world stage. The Story of Redemptive History is God's Story -- it's his Play on his World Stage. And he not only wrote the script, but he's directing the play as well (Prov 16:9).
It's sad that you cannot believe the scriptures. You seem committed to twisting and perverting the scriptures by your carnal reasoning, which has become your ultimate authority in life.
But as for this "Calvinist", by God's grace I believe what is written.
How is God unjust by giving all the God-haters of this world over to the free reign of their dark minds, hardened hearts and seared consciences? Isn't the Doctrine of Reprobation the quintessential example of God honoring vaunted integrity of man's free moral agency by letting him do as he pleases? After all, if God as Shepherd of his Sheep, does so much as to lift a finger to save a weak, vulnerable, helpless stray who has wandered off, then he's characterized as a tyrannical monster by you NRs for having the audacious temerity to force his will upon any of his helpless sheep.
Such duplicity is beyond my comprehension.
Of course it can...for a season! It just will not continue in that denial.
And you misunderstand John's teaching. John did not teach the heresy of Perfectionism. Instead, he taught this:
1 John 3:9
9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
NIV
And,
1 John 5:18
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.
NIV
This last passage is a great companion to the Luke 22 passage I quoted earlier. Peter sinned by denying his Lord and Savior, right? But he very soon afterward repented of his sin. Did not Jesus in Luke 22 tell Peter "and WHEN you return"? Didn't Jesus tell Peter that he would pray for him? So...who kept Peter safe, according to the above quoted passage...if not Christ? Isn't Jesus greater than the evil one? Or can the evil one snatch any of God's sheep from the Good Shepherd's hands?
Big difference in the concept of predestination.
If one is predestined to be saved it also means those not saved were predestined to be eternally damned.
That in no way reveals a true Loving God.