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Both of those. The inability of man is not organic, but moral. To explain this, if a person had to walk on the ceiling in order to be saved, that would clearly be unfair. Mankind is simply not physically constituted to walk on the ceiling. But man's inability is not organic or...

Spurgeon et al believed what (almost?) all Calvinists believe: that the Gospel must be preached to all, in the hope and expectation that God will open the hearts of His people to receive the words spoken to them (Acts 13:48; 16:14). The idea that the Gospel should be preached only to the elect...

Very much germane. Either we were born spiritually dead - in which case we needed to be born of the Spirit - or we were born spiritually alive, in which case no new birth is necessary. However, in John 3:7, our Lord tells Nicodemus, "Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again."...

Just so. 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' I am not talking of sinless perfection, but if someone claims to be born of God, there should be some sort of family resemblance. See also Matt. 12:33-35...

Thank you for your kind words on my profile.

I don't think the tithe applies in N.T. churches. 'So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.' My church has never required any particular level of giving from our congregation, yet God has always supplied our needs.

You may well be right; I don't know the answer. I agree with you that banning all musical instruments sounds a bit like overkill.

I came across this quotation from a guy called Theodoret of Cyrrhus, an eminent Church father who lived in the early 5th Century; Question; If songs were invented by unbelievers with a purpose of deceiving (Genesis 4;21), and were appointed under the Jewish Law because of the childishness of...

I'm sorry. I interpreted the words, as meaning "not spiritually dead." My mistake.

:rolleyes: If we were not spritually dead (Eph. 2:1 etc.), there would be no need for us to be born anew. Indeed, the term would be ridiculous.

'Let all things be done decently and in order.' 1 Corinthians 14:40. Some years ago we had a couple move into our street and the guy proclaimed himself to be a Christian. He invited me to his church in the city 7-8 miles away, and since the meeting was in the afternoon, I said I would go...

You would not know a Stoic, Neoplatonist, Gnostic or Manichaean if one bit you on the leg. I think you probably would know a Pelagian though. However, I am not going to mess up this thread any longer. If you want to pursue your show of ignorance any further, open a new thread. I apologize to...

I googled up Alice Cooper and this is the AI comment: Yes, Alice Cooper is a committed Christian. Despite his dark stage persona, he has spoken openly about his faith in Jesus Christ, crediting his faith with saving him from addiction. He is known to read the Bible and pray daily, and he attends...

These religions are far more complicated than that. I studied Classics at University as an unconverted teenager and I did study something of Platonism, both in its earlier form in Greece and its later form in the Roman Empire. It is a fact that many (most?) of the early Church Fathers were...

You have not proved that he did. According to all I have read, he left them behind when he became a Christian.

I'm not sure they are. I read that when the Shah was booted out of Iran, there were only about 250 Christians in the country. Today, apparently, there are in excess of a million. These people have come to Christ in the teeth of the most vicious persecution. The N.T. does not tell us to try...

I don't believe this is correct. Mani taught that the universe could be explained as a conflict between the two equal forces of Light and Darkness. Humans must realise that they are a mixture of these two forces, and devote their lives to purifying themselves from all darkness. To purify...

Oh boy! I actually quoted some of Augustine, and you couldn't be bothered to so much as mention it. I know more about Augustine than you may suppose. I know that before his conversion he was into Manichaeism and then Neoplatonism. That is no secret. But what does it matter? 'Therefore, if...

If he was the guy heading up the link, I didn't warm to him. He was just one long sneer. I think the lady pastor might have done better with Luke 10:25-29 and Gal. 2:10, but let that pass. My view is that instead of preparing what we may think of as Christian political manifestos, we will do...

I tend to agree with you. I dislike rock bands in church. However, I find it more difficult to say that they should be banned in every church. As I have said, there are no musical instruments mentioned in the N.T. I know some folk who take that to mean that there should be none in church...