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a. This is just your caricature of what you think people who do not believe in OSAS must experience. However, no one before Augustine in the Fifth Century believed in OSAS as it is currently taught. Even Augustine believed that, in addition to having an encounter with God, a person had to be...

A. Simply calling another person's view nonsense does nothing to either prove your premise or to disprove theirs. Nevertheless, rather than offering any textual evidence you seize upon the fact that the author does not specifically CALL them believers. However, given the numerous context clues...

I think the way most of us have learned to visualize this incident is based on a misconception. Whenever my father described Jesus whipping the money-changers he told me Jesus used a Roman scourge in which were tied bits of sharp metal and bone. While this suited him it did not ring true for me...

Sometimes I think theologians over-complicate things. The word GRACE (Grk: charis) is one of those words that I believe has been overly amplified. In the days when the Apostles were teaching the universal language was Koine Greek and xáris was an ordinary word meant, basically, "favor" It...

One of my favorite evangelistic scriptures though it is not usually used for that purpose is Matthew 16:24-26: Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, [as a sheep] he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wants to save [or cling to] his...

The original Greek text states, "a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law" Luther did not think the verse sufficiently expressed exactly what he believed so he presumed to ADD the word ONLY into his German translation so that it would be understood to mean "justified by faith...

(a) Just because physical and spiritual events are comparable in certain respects does not mean they are in EVERY respect. There are no perfect metaphors. Rather than learning what the various points of comparisons between the two different types of birth you conflate them in a way that the...

As a teen, I was also in the occult, including astrology and reading tarot cards. I went through a period where I began to sense malevolent presences around me. It was so strong that I could actually tell where they were. After joining a Bible Study group, I learned that these presences were...

You are absolutely right about this. Augustine missed it primarily because of his abysmal ignorance of the Koine Greek language and his tendency to trust his own judgement which was contaminated by his extensive immersion in Stocism and Manichaeism which he imported like a computer virus into...

a). When John 3:16 says God SO loved the world the word SO is the adverb houtōs (oὕτως) which means thus, so, or in this way. Or (referring to what precedes or follows) so giving His only son to die for us was HOW the Father loved us. b). This is reinforced by Paul in Romans 5:7-8 : …7 Very...

I agree that people do not necessarily need to have a precise vocabulary to understand concepts. However, the "underlying concept of divine determinism" vs human "free will" was well known in the First Century by Jewish sects such as the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes who had differing views...

I apologize for misunderstanding you. I thought you were attempting to establish a particulat view by comparing it to other systems of theology. What specifically is your point about anthropolgy?

What you call anthropology is really more about hamartiology, that is, how God determines what is sinful and how He justly brings brings an unrepentant sinner to judgment While many religions and philosophies assigned guilt according to the actions of their tribal/racial chieftons and kings, God...

In the Middle East at the time of Jesus three sects of Judaism existed: the Sadducees who denied any interference in human affairs on the part of God. On the opposite side were the Essenes who ascribed everything that happened to divine predestination. According to Josephus, the Pharisees held a...

The terms you use here - Calvinism, Arminianism, Reformed Provisionism are anachronistic with respect to the ECF since these theological constructs simply did not exist when the Early Church Fathers were teaching and preaching. In fact, until Augustine came in the Fifth Century, no one taught...

I am not Orthodox but my father was and so is my son. I used to work as a counselor for the Orthodox Church due to my connection to them through my father. Of course, I never recommended that anyone do anything I myself did not believe - such as venerating the saints or "asking them to pray for...

I am in agreement with many modern Anabaptists on many points. In addition, I have a connection to them through my sister and her family who are members of an Anabaptist community. What is interesting to me is how much hatred the so-called "Reformers" had for a much smaller group of Christians...

No, I do not believe in replacement theology. Replacement Theology does not allow the Jewish people any part in God's redemptive plan. The Jewish people retain not only have the original promises given to them through Abraham, they also have an essential part to play in God's plan for the Last...

Let us examine this claim to see if it comports with what the scriptures say. The author of Hebrews tells us this about the NEW COVENANT: 13 By speaking of a new covenant, He (God, speaking by the prophet Jeremiah) has made the first one (i.e., the Mosaic covenant) OBSOLETE; and what is...

The source I cited was A. T. Robertson who authored the massive, highly detailed reference book: A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research which links New Testament Greek to everyday ancient speech using historical papyri. This work remains a major tool for...