Arminianism and Calvinism

I agree. Everything is of God here. And faith does come from hearing the Word (the gospel is, indeed, the power of God who brings salvation to all who believe).

The part where I do disagree is that I understand Ephesians 2 to be speaking of salvation as a whole (to include faith) as this gift.

 

They did get grace. They had received the "elementary teachings about the Christ [the Messiah]", of repentance and faith, of the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.Should they turn back, abandon what they had received (here, turn back to Judaism) then they will find no other Christ. "For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, received a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned." But these things are not the things that accompany salvation (verse 9). We are not talking about a general grace, or (since you mention the passage) about Israel and the prophets. We are talking about the grace of salvation.

Guess which verse is in holy scripture and what is not at all holy scripture:

A
Hebrews 6:9
But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.

B
Hebrews 6:9
But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, lest you fall from grace into apostasy.

 

Sure. First, no child deserves to drown in a lake. And men are responsible for each other (the answer to "am I my brother's keeper" is yes, we are. Not only that, but Christ commands us to love one another. And not only that, but it is by this love that we prove ourselves to be children of God. The child could be thankful...probably should simply for saving him from drowning. I don't think that a man would let children die to show the world how great he is. This does not really make sense.

The man that pulled out the children from the lake did, at least show love towards the children (at least an act that could be described that way). Insofar as being "honorable", what was the circumstances and motivation? Did the man have anything to do with the children falling into the lake? Was he a lifeguard just doing his job? Was he acting for an audience? There are too many things really unknown for us to say if either truly acted honorably.

And where were the children's parents? The parents of these children need to be held accountable for leaving them unsupervised (I take it they were too young to be playing around the lake alone).

 

“A” is right. It explains Hebrews 6 – we are not talking about the same type of grace (we are not talking about…as @Revmitchell noted, grace that is the flip side of salvation.

And to answer your quiz: we obtain our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. In other words, we are saved by grace through faith and not of ourselves. It is the gift of God.

 

Thanks.
I'm just not fond of the extra-biblical parable method. We use illustrations to illustrate, not as doctrine itself. They are not expected to stand on their own.

 

Read James White's book, especially his dealing with that silly illustration. It was not only thoroughly debunked, it was shredded.

 

Post #49 and Post # 53.

 

1Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.


Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.