Calvinsim (?) in Scripture

No Question Mark Is Needed

Don't you have the assurance of your salvation ?

Read John 20:31 : But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ , the Son of God , and that by believing you may have life in his name .

Read 1 John 5:13 : I write these things to who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have etewrnal life .

If you are a believer in Christ ( and all which that entails ) you are saved , elect and bound for glory . Your name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life . A true believer is elect . A real Christian does not become elect .

The Scripture asks us to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith ( see 2 Corinthians 13:5 ) . We are also enjoined to make our calling and election sure . ( see 2 Peter 1:10 ) .

No such question mark need hang over the soul of any authentic Christian .

 

True, (though I would say it was before Creation), but you tantalizingly, you have not answered the question asked by Rippon:

Don't you have the assurance of your salvation? ​

Your note at the end of the OP was:

No mortal man will ever know whether (or not) his (or any other's) name is written in the Book of Life until the Last Day at the end of time. Rather, all go through their whole lives with that question mark (?) hanging over their souls.​

I strongly suspect that it was that note which prompted Rippon's question. How can you reconcile such an idea with the verses Rippon quoted? Did the apostles and other believers of whom we read in the New Testament give the slightest idea that they were not sure that they were saved?

 

No question mark here. I know for I know my God, my God that Saved me, also keeps me.

 

==That is unBiblical. The Bible is clear that true believers can have full assurance of their salvation.

What did Peter urge his readers to do? He urged them to "be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you" (2Pet 1:10). If you could not be certain, if you could not be sure, then Peter's advice is misleading. However, since the Holy Spirit inspired Peter's writings, his advice is not misleading. A believer can have full assurance of his salvation. You can be sure you are one of the elect. Throughout his letters the Apostle John gives people several ways they can know for sure that they are truly saved. In chapter 5 of his first letter the Apostle states "these things I have written to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1Jn 5:13). If we truly believe in Jesus, we can know that we have eternal life. The Apostle Paul was certain about his salvation. Notice that he said that "the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly Kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (2Tim 4:18). The Scriptures do not teach that we cannot be sure. If you are not sure you need to make sure.

 

EXCELLENT start! "Conversion" is what it is called, BTW.

John 6:28-29
Therefore they said to him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" Yeshua answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom He has sent."​

QUESTION: Does this mean that "belief" is not any work that we work or do, but rather solely the work of YHWH-God?

CONCLUSION:...Note: No mortal man will ever know whether (or not) his (or any other's) name is written in the Book of Life until the Last Day at the end of time. Rather, all go through their whole lives with that question mark (?) hanging over their souls.[/quote] No, wrong conclusion. You just said that if we have a change of heart, we are saved. How do you come back on that and say that we can't know?

skypair

 

If the Puritans of Colonial New England actually spent their whole Christ lives wondering if they were saved or not, then I would say that they were wrong. 1 John 5.13 says:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. ​

I cannot see how that could possibly be interpreted as meaning something such as:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, but you still will not know whether you have eternal life, indeed I, John, cannot say that I know I have eternal life.​

Although what earlier Christians said and believed is important, different groups of them believed different things, so we must look to the Word of God. Yes, we will still disagree, as our forebears did, because none of us can have a perfect knowledge of the bible in this life, but because it is God's Word, it is a far more reliable source than any group of mortals, be they Puritans of Colonial New England or anyone else.

 

==As a person who spends a lot of time studying 17th century New England History, I would say they were wrong. Their views on these matters lead to some interesting problems. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons they had to institute the Halfway Covenant. When a person makes salvation so uncertain, so difficult, they are not only going against Scripture they are also pushing people away from the Gospel with their legalism. If that continues long enough, that local church will die due to a lack of members or it will compromise in order to gain new members. And that is exactly what they did in my opinion, they compromised. I would also point out that not all New England puritans agreed with the legalistic system they set up. One historian of the period, David Hall, even suggests that this uncertain system was one of the causes behind the witch movement.

 

GREAT post!