Featured God's Word to the Calvinist

Your church is your church. It has nothing to do with the church in ancient Philadelphia.
What I observe in your posts is a desire to label everything and then judge by the label you have assigned. What you do is not grace filled, but instead it is legalistic and removes grace.

 

Poor DL Moody, it seems he will forever be attacked on this forum for being "the first to make money off of the ministry." A preposterous and easily disproven claim.

 

John Bunyan, the "Calvinist"?
He spent many years in prison because he refused to give up preaching during a time that non-conformist preachers were not allowed in England.

I like him as well.

 

Again, rocky, I want to point out something...
Were the Roman Catholic-back authorities who killed William Tyndale, a "Calvinist" long before the term existed, gracious?

No.

Therefore, my best advice is that we all strive to obey the Lord's commandments in our conduct...
To seek peace and to follow it.

 

You are adding to scripture to promote your agenda. It does not split the churches up over time. They were all then present.

 

You base salvation on acting like a Christian which is hypocrisy. But if you are saved, you will do the things believers so because of the saved nature in the new birth. It's the nature of the New Birth to hear the truth and seek repentance.

 

Sure, but do you honestly believe that nobody in the 18 centuries of Christianity preceding him profited off of a ministry? It's an absurd assertion, yet you continue to repeat it in your devotion to this historical scheme you've adopted.

 

Yet ( that I know of ), John Bunyan believed in ( at least ) "unconditional election", "total depravity" , "irresistible grace" and "the perseverance of the saints" which is commonly called "Calvinism" today.
All one has to do is read Pilgrim's Progress and some of his other works to see it, especially his own biography, "Grace Abounding To the Chief of Sinners".

My point?
There are both graceful and graceless people out there who profess Christ, rocky.

It's not their doctrines that make them ungracious or condescending towards others;
It's their flesh in which no good thing dwells ( Romans 7:15-25 ) along with the very real possibility that they may not be who they claim to be...

Christ's sheep.

 

God's Word to all mankind says we can harden our hearts by the practice of deceitfulness.

In the movie "Star Wars" we are told some can be "seduced" by the "dark side." God's word warns of the seduction by the pleasures of sin. They did not accept love of the truth, due to the empty deceit based on the traditions of men.

Why did Jesus speak in parables in Matthew 13? Because some in His audience could "hear with faith."
Why did God harden the hearts of the non-believing Jews in Romans 11? Because some could "hear with faith."
Why were the men of Matthew 23:13 able to be entering the kingdom? Because they were able to hear with faith."
Why did Paul speak to new Christians "as to men of flesh" in 1 Corinthians 3:1. Because men of flesh can also hear "milk" with faith.

Why in over 5 years has not one Calvinist accepted the truth. Because ... what does His word say?

 

Van,
God's word says where deceitfulness actually comes from:
" But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:" ( Matthew 15:18-19 ).

Our hearts are already hardened towards God, from birth:
" The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." ( Psalms 58:3 ).

God's word itself answers that:
" And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." ( Matthew 13:10-11 ).

" What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. " ( Romans 11:7 )

It says,

" No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." ( John 6:44-45 ).

" But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father." ( John 6:64-65 ).

The answers to your questions are all there, Van.
Study it deeply, and you will see.

 

Respectfully,
I find that I cannot.

I can say, that to me, whether or not a person is saintly is of great value...
But whether or not a teacher's teachings are in line with sound doctrine is even more valuable.

I also recognize that we, as believers, are all walking messes were it not for His grace and mercy.

For truly,
It takes the power of the Spirit to overcome our sinful flesh and to make His Son, in us, to shine through...
And it takes the power and patience of His Spirit to teach us, despite our being dull of hearing, His every truth.

That's part of why I admire him.

What the Lord caused him to see in the Bible, I find even more admirable;
Simply for the fact that the Lord showed great grace to him in the midst of his hardships.

As for James 3:13-18...
I agree, sir.
I hold that no one who names the name of Christ should ever seek to war against their fellow man.


I wish you well, sir, and I take my leave of this thread.

May the Lord bless you with much wisdom and knowledge in your studies,
and may you always be reminded of His great grace towards you through the sacrifice of His Son.

 

Eternal security is undeniably supported by scriptures.
Loss of salvation is likewise undeniably supported by scriptures.
Hence the long-standing disagreement between Christians (despite Acts 15).
The question is: what dispensation are you quoting from? Those seven churches are primarily tribulation churches, not church-age churches.
In the church age, salvation is entirely by grace through faith: therefore eternal security.
In the tribulation and the millennial kingdom, as it was under Moses' law, salvation is by faith and works: therefore loss of salvation.
- Cue the howls.

 

Yet another copy and paste of non-germane nonsense to avoid the topic.

If our hearts were already hardened, God would have no need to speak in parables, or to harden hearts of some Jews, and the men of Matthew 23:13 could not have been "entering the kingdom."

Calvinists seem unable to even comprehend scripture, and are certainly unwilling to address that scripture teaches their view is bogus.