Calvinism is Gospel !
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rogerg,
No. My point is Salvation is not something we get for saying I "believe." Faith is the power that fuels a converted life. Faith is not just what we claim to believe. Jesus tells us to feed the poor. If we refuse we have no saving faith. Jesus says take up your cross daily and sacrificially and we say nope that is just "forbidden works". Patmos John says that lukewarm Christians God will spew out of His mouth.
It is simple. If we claim salvation and hate then we are only fooling yourself and ignoring God's two prime directives: Love Him and love your fellow man as much as we love ourselves. These are not WORKS these are actual and natural result of what Christ calls "faith." We all sermonize and rail about what the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is all about. IMHO, It is the irresistible power to change your life in the image of Jesus the Christ or it is nothing at all.
Faith is the power in a converted life. We can claim all the faith in the world that our coach is a winner, but if we are unwilling to get in the game, our claim of faith from the stands is little more than false hope wishful thinking. Paul says we can have enough faith to move mountains but without love we are wasting our time. Love is 100% action, risk, challenge, purpose and daily recommitment.
This bogus definition of works is, IMHO, just an excuse to continue to live our lives exactly as they were pre-faith because a fat, foul mouthed Roman Catholic Monk, Luter, convinced us that what we think and what we theoretically believe is everything and the converted life is a sin because it requires a change in every step, walk, word and action in our life and they are "works." The reality on the ground is if Christianity resides only in our brain, that form of Christianity is useless to us, to God's purpose for our lives and useless to the One who came to both save us and recruit us to His purposes . He came to save us from our self-centeredness. Christianity was first called the Way because it was an obvious change of their daily lives from their old way of living to their new Way of living. Faith was visible in the walk not in the talk.
I am sorry. Many Calvinist said to me, Jesus saves only those he wants.
To think otherwise would mean the Blood would have been wasted on those who would not be saved to begin with.
I was told that the blood of Jesus can't be wasted or ineffective NOT to save those he has called and chosen. Therefore They were predestinated for salvation even if they were not seeking to be saved to begin with. I hope that is clearer.
False, Jesus Christ saves His People from their sins Matt 1:21 and Faith believes that fact.
Faith to believe in Jesus is way easier than the faith to follow Jesus daily. Most of his lost followers once had faith to. Faith is not an intellectual construct. It is a real life construct. We do not want or need life changing faith, we have only a comfortable theology that frees us from the requirement to change. We are told that Jesus loves us "just the way we are." Jesus does all the work while we sit in a church for a few hrs a month or not at all, but we get heaven no matter what. Welcome to 21st Century non-Catholic Christianity of comfort, wealth, prosperity and blessings all guaranteed by our head nod to a 60 second pulpit prayer sometime ago on a date that we can't quite remember. But we got saved so we are good.
The distortion of the Gospel is not about the definition of works but our self-serving definition of "Faith." We believe in Jesus like we believe in America. They are equal parts hope and belief in something good. You know, something we all need.
That is not what the free gift of salvation is based on.
You do not earn salvation by feeding the poor.
You receive the gift of salvation simply by believing in Jesus.
Romans 10:12
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches
for all who call on Him.
Some of them?
Of course.
It is a normal part of living in the midst of the angelic conflict God has ordained for this time in history.
Bob Dylan nailed it with a song that everyone in my generation heard on the radio all the time.
Your confusing the free gift of salvation with the resultant Christian lifestyle.
I don't see it. I see sheep. I see heard God's voice. I see children of God. I think your reading into it.
I don't see regeneration first, then faith in Christ happens.
I'm watching Dr. Leighton Flowers go over John 10, two hour video but seems worth it so far.
Magenta,
Sorry, I don't know what a CDS is. Help me out.
I have been a student of the bible for 72 yrs. Very intensely so for the past 25 yrs. I am also a student of history, technology and science. Each provides challenges to continuous learning. I do not believe in "A Truth" in any area of life including the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. I believe in evolving truth as I learn more and understand more. I have an unshakable faith that there is more to learn as my God seems so much bigger and more complex than the simple easy God of prepackaged religion.
My life long mission to is continuously learn the facts that build a growing body of truth. To me truth is a lifelong quest. I have seen many find something they want to put in shrinkwrap and take it home and call it "Truth." It becomes their truth but it is dead truth, so they call it "The Truth."
Perhaps a good metaphor might be going to a museum and spending time on a regular basis studying and enjoying the beauty of the art. After while you began to gain new insights to what was always there from the beginning but you did not see it right away. Perhaps later after really grasping what is in front of you, you begin to gain a mental image of the creator of the art. After further study it is the master creator that comes more clearly into focus. The study is required to gain authentic appreciation first for the art..what was created and only then are insights into the creator meaningful. All of God's creations are His art. All the scriptures are images of various painters expressing beautiful and sometimes painful word pictures of their inspiration about the loving Redeeming Creator.
On the other hand, there tons of prepackaged Truth. In just Christianity alone there are thousands of people reproducing religious Truth handed down from generation to generation each with a different prepackaged Truth for sale. The advantages are they are simple, logical in their unique ways, highly documented and rigorously conventionalized in a 16th - 18th century kind of way. They each are very different but each has Truth for sale. The advantages of buying one of the Truth packages is that it takes no real effort because there is nothing new or valuable to learn and all the defenses against all the other Truth sellers is already in the package.
Inquisitor
That is not what I am saying. I am saying they are all one thing for nothing. You can't have one without the other. Christianity is not a lifestyle. Christianity is a Way or it is nothing.
Ephesians 1:13
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,Key word is AFTER... you heard the word of truth, trusted, and believed.
...You were sealed.
Step 1: Heard, trusted, believed
Step 2: Sealed by Holy spirit
That's one of the ends of Calvinism
Here's another verse
John 1:12
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the [a]right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Keyword is become. These non-children of God were given the right to become children of God... to as many as RECEIVED and BELIEVE on his name. This is obvious to me , but if Calvinism were true, then it should read in reverse. It's based off as many RECEIVED and BELIEVED, not based off as many have been regenerated.
These have been given the right to become children of God. And of course man has no power or ability to become children of God. So, the next verse reads "who were born out of the will of God, not of man's will"
Read these carefully, and think outside a little of your Calvinist box and you'll see it.
Issue is Calvinists are indoctrinated heavily and have invested so much... I think it's hard for them to see
To be frank, that's how it always reads, but these verse are the clearest to me.
My point is that there is nothing whatsoever that we can do to get it - it's a gift given solely and freely unto His chosen by an exceedingly merciful and gracious God the Father through Jesus Christ the Savior (God the Son). Jesus Christ is its apex: salvation and everything that pertains to salvation comes from/through Him, nothing to obtain it comes from man.
You hear the gospel and believe.
When you believe the gospel then you receive the Holy Spirit.
After you receive the Holy Spirit then you can live the Christian life.
We boast in Jesus daily, we worship Jesus, we rejoice in Jesus.
We pray without ceasing.
1 Corinthians 2:2
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
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