Delayed Response

[SovereignGrace]

Calvinism is TULIP. Every letter of TULIP is based on the New Heart taking place before any faith is ever expressed towards God. Take away the Calvinism doctrine of when the New Heart is given and every letter falls with the exception of maybe perseverance which is actually preservation. If one letter falls it is no longer Calvinism. And here we see at least 4 of the 5 would fall if they put the New Heart in it's proper order.

Riddle me this:

How did those piled up bones in Ez. 37 and Lazarus in John 11 have the ability to rise from the dead if life happens after belief?

 

[steaver]

Riddle me this:

How did those piled up bones in Ez. 37 and Lazarus in John 11 have the ability to rise from the dead if life happens after belief?

You believe Ez. 37 is speaking about being born again?

 

[Darrell C]

Riddle me this:

How did those piled up bones in Ez. 37 and Lazarus in John 11 have the ability to rise from the dead if life happens after belief?

Ezekiel 37 speaks of the restoration of Israel, which holds both a view to their spiritual as well as physical resurrection, both concepts being within the imagery.

Lazarus was raised only physically, he was not glorified, hence the riddle would be your question, lol.

The Life which Christ came to bring is often equated with physical life as seen in the Old Testament, but Christ compares the life provided in the Wilderness with the Life He came to bring, distinguishing between the eternal and temporal.

And of the "fathers," He states..."they are dead." This points out they were not recipients of the Life He came to bring, which is a simple enough point, seeing that we can pinpoint the time when the "bread of Heaven" came down from Heaven, which was when Christ came. To impose this life into the Old Testament above the prophetic references to it does a great disservice not only to what Christ taught, but will hinder a sound and balanced view of the teachings of Scripture on many fronts.

Lazarus did not "believe" on the Cross of Christ, which we see in John 6 is required. That is the means of partaking of the Bread of Life, and that is what we memorialize when we partake of Communion.

Nor, I would add, do we see that belief followed life, but that Lazarus was only resurrected physically, and while may have had belief that Jesus was the Christ, does not equate to full understanding of what Christ came to do. The reason is the Mystery of the Gospel, though prophesied, and spoken by Christ Himself, was not made known until after Christ actually died, was resurrected, returned to Heaven, and sent the Comforter. It was at that point he ministry of the Holy Spirit took a direct focus on revealing what was only foreshadowed and not made known in the Old Testament.


God bless.

 

[Yeshua1]

Darrell,

You have to understand what is at stake here for the Calvinist. If they were to accept the overwhelming biblical evidence that regeneration does not cause belief, but rather is the result of belief AND the calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ, then Calvinism is destroyed. Which of course would be a great thing, but for some reason they are bewitched by it.

Now once a person is born-again, then belief is sealed forever because one becomes a new creation having the Spirit of Christ joined within them as one. One cannot stop believing in that which they have a personal knowledge of is an absolute truth. You are one with Christ, Christ in you.

One must have a new heart and mind as a gift from God in order to place faith in Jesus though, correct?

As sinners have carnal minds, and cannot know the things of God, not even desire to know them by themselves, correct?

 

[Yeshua1]

You believe Ez. 37 is speaking about being born again?

No, not to the NT sense of the term, as towards individual sinners being saved, but toward future national isreal receiving Jesus as messiah!