No, it reinforces eternal security. A son never loses his salvation. He can only lose his fellowship which the prodigal (please not the word "prodigal") son did.
No way, Jesus said he was both dead and lost, terms never used of a believer.
Well now you know.
He was a son. That would indicate that he was saved. It depends on how you look at it. Maybe he was an unsaved son. That is a possibility. In that case he was a self-righteous, selfish, self-centered sinner, who cared for nothing but himself, and was not even glad to see his long lost brother come home. What a hypocrite!! Some people certainly know hot to pretend to play the part. But God can see the heart.
The father did not rebuke or correct his son when he said he had not transgressed at any time his commandments. In fact, the father confirmed this when he said, "Son, thou art EVER with me". He was NEVER separated from the father and NEVER would be. Look up the word "ever".
Children have an evil nature from their womb onward. There is no such thing as innocence any more. We are all under the curse. They only two that were truly innocent were Adam and Eve, and that was before they sinned. No one, not even infants, have known innocence since.
That is the very question up for debate. Just because you say so doesn't make it so. You have not one verse of scripture that says we are born dead in sin, separated from God, while I have provided scripture that says God made man (plural) upright.
Romans 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
--It simply means that before he was saved he thought he was in the midst of the will of God throwing Christians into jail and persecuting them. The law, at that time did not condemn him. He was alive without the law, for he thought he was doing the law.
When the commandment came, that is, when he realized the reality of the law, convicted by the Holy Spirit, he saw the enormity of his sin, and it was as if he died within himself. He called himself "the chief of sinners."
Paul didn't say he mistakenly believed himself to be alive at one time, which he could have easily said. No, he said he was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and he died. You add to scripture when you say he "thought" he was alive, there is nothing of the sort said in this verse.
1 Peter 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
--As in Isa.53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray, but the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
We depraved creatures have already gone astray. But now we have come back to the one who created us. There is nothing difficult in this. I don't see your problem here.
You contradict yourself. If we are born separated from God (as you say), then we could not return to God. Words have meaning, the word "return" means to come back to some place you have been before. I cannot return to Utah, because I have never been to Utah. I CAN return to California, because I have been to California before.
No it doesn't. This verse, along with many others, is used by most cults. The cults love the Book of Ecclesiastes more than any other book of the Bible because like this verse, it is so easy to take them out of context and make them mean something that they don't mean. Why was Ecclesiastes written? By whom? What is its theme?
"Vanity of vanities saith the preacher, all is vanity."
"There is nothing knew under the son."
Solomon, with all of his wisdom, riches and power seeks to prove that happiness cannot be found outside of God. Thus the verses, like the one you quoted are from the perspective of a secular philosopher, for that is how Solomon is viewing life. He is demonstrating that life cannot be found outside of God.
Eccl.7:29 is what an unsaved man would say about the spirit of man, not what a Godly man would say about the spirit of man. Solomon doesn't get to what God says about the matter until the last chapter of the book.
Well, when you take Scripture in its context it fits just fine.
And calling people with whom you disagree a cult is an old tactic as well. Solomon simply said that one thing he had found, that God hath made man upright, but they (plural- showing he is speaking of all men) have sought out many inventions.
All of these scriptures are very straightforward and simple to understand unless a person's mind is blinded by a false doctrine. They all agree. Solomon said man was made upright, Paul said he was once alive, Jesus told three stories, and in all three stories the subject was not originally lost. The shepherd originally had 100 sheep, one went astray and was lost. The woman originally had ten coins, one was lost. The father had two sons, one left home in sin, became dead and lost. 1 Pet 2:25 says we were as sheep going astray (just as Jesus described in Luke 15), but are now returned (which Jesus also showed when the lost sheep was recovered). Jesus twice said the boy was alive "again" which would be impossible if he were born dead in sin and separated from God as you believe. All of these scriptures agree easily and refute your view.
You are simply hanging on to Original Sin because that is what you were taught. I also once believed OS because that is what I was taught as well, until I realized the scriptures contradict it over and over again.
What is one the favorite verse of Calvinists to prove Total Depravity?
Rom 3:12 They are all
gone out of the way, they are together
become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
I've seen Calvinists (and non-Cals) quote this verse dozens of times and say it proves we are born sinners. It does no such thing, it does not even mention our birth. To the contrary, it says we have "gone out" of the way. To "go out" of the way you must first be "in" the way. You cannot go "out" of your house unless you were first "in" your house. It says we are together "become" unprofitable. You cannot "become" unprofitable if you were born that way. If you were born rich, you would never tell anyone you "became" rich, you were ALWAYS rich. But if you were originally poor and worked hard until you were wealthy, then you would tell someone you were once poor, but "became" rich.
Words have meaning. You, like others try to twist scripture that is very straightforward and easy to understand. You must perform mental gymnastics to explain these scriptures away.
I accept it as literal, and
all of these scriptures agree without the least twisting or wrangling of scripture whatsoever.
