Thank you for your gentle attitude. Many are called (the wide gate) but few are chosen (the strait gate). Matt 20:16 - So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many are called, but few chosen. The church that Jesus set up has, throughout history, been referred to as, the little flock, the few, the remnant, etc. Just my interpretation, the scriptures seem to harmonize better for me with this interpretation.
The thing that you cannot understand is that the natural man cannot "respond" until
God choose an elect people before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4), because by his foreknowledge he could see that no one would choose him (Ps 53:2-3) God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back, they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth goon, no, not one. Yes, God choose us to believe in him, but the natural man described in 1 Cor 2:14 cannot believe in him until God regenerates him (Eph 2, especially verse 5). If God wants to regenerate a person, according to Eph2:5 they cannot have a choice of anything spiritual because they are "dead(a corps-Strong's definition) in sins.
I think it would help you understand my point if you would take a long hard look at 1 Cor 2:14 and tell me if the natural man is capable of doing those things you have suggested before he is regenerated as explained in Eph 2 especially verse 5. Spiritual faith is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) and the natural man cannot have spiritual faith before he has the Spirit. He receives the Spirit in regeneration.
I am sorry that my post #185 did not get attached to your comments. I am not too good with the computer.
Didn't mean to offend, Fredo. I am new. I am not against you, just bruised from some attacks of name-calling against me, which I have now done against you. Sorry. My bad. I won't ignore you. 'As iron sharpen iron'... Correct me whenever you wish.
I disagree. While committed atheists will reject them there are other unsaved people who might read and understand. Most likely they will really need to hear the word of God. This is done by a Christian witnessing to them. Faith comes by hearing. They will be more open to a friend sharing with them than a stranger accosting them. Those old enough to remember there was an evangelism event wanting to reach everyone in America and had the symbol of a hand pointing up.
I went house to house and talked to a lot of people. I only got 1 person who was interested. One atheist told me he never did anything wrong.
There is a problem you are ignoring. The creeds were written between 212 and 500. They are to define what a person must believe to be a Christian. Anything outside of them is to agree to disagree over the issues. There is a wide variety of issues being disagreed about. For instance the 5 points of Calvinism and Armenianism are totally opposite of each other. Both have long forms of the points with lots of scripture backing them up. There are gospel preaching denominations on both sides of the issues and some in between the 2 sides. Anyone wanting to believe that the Bible is clear cut on every issue should study both sides of this argument.
Nice academic overview. "The creeds were written between 212 and 500." Says it all. the original post was about 'to whom were the scriptures directed'. On that topic, perhaps you would concede many unsaved, uninspired academics find patterns in the scriptures and make 'rules' about them. Golly. Thankfully, my Father makes the rules and patterns that matter. I don't fuss about dichotomies generated by limited human intelligence. People see what they need to see and argue over words, as you know.
It is obvious that you have absolutely no concept of why those creeds were written. At that time bibles were scarce and very expensive. Creeds and some memorized scriptures were all they had until the printing press was invented. That was all they had back then so that was how Christianity was spread to everyone they could reach. That is who the scriptures were for, everyone.
Please explain to me why there are so many gospel preaching denominations that disagree with each other outside of the creeds. Creeds are the beliefs that a Christian must believe. Could it be as the elders back then said that outside of the creeds it was agree to disagree and back then like now there were lots of issues where disagreements occurred?
If we want to base our remarks on scripture, let us look at 1 Cor 2:14, The natural man (void of the Spirit) cannot discern spiritual things, they are foolishness unto him. He is not pron to pick up a bible to read, even if he did, it would not make sense to him. The only way that the natural man can discern spiritual things is explained in Eph 2, especially in verse 5. God regenerates him and gives him the Holy Spirit while he is yet "dead in sins" unable to respond to spiritual things. I cannot recall the scripture right now, but it says "only his sheep hear his voice".I disagree. While committed atheists will reject them there are other unsaved people who might read and understand. Most likely they will really need to hear the word of God. This is done by a Christian witnessing to them. Faith comes by hearing. They will be more open to a friend sharing with them than a stranger accosting them. Those old enough to remember there was an evangelism event wanting to reach everyone in America and had the symbol of a hand pointing up.
Can you give me a scripture where it says "they agreed to disagree"? The word CREED is nowhere mentioned in the scriptures. The scriptures must harmonize, otherwise, you do not understand the doctrine that Jesus taught.
