To: 2nd. Adam
My dear friend 2nd. Adam
As I ponder your past post on this thread it has suddenly become clear to me that the issue at hand is not a lack of understanding, rather it lies in a very deficient Faith. A lack of belief so severe that it leads to a confused mind.
Faith too weak to be able to understand that God is all Powerful, that God loves us with an incomprehensible Love. That God is Perfect Humility, and will go to unfathomable length’s to aid in the salvation of souls all stem from a lack of Faith not in God per sae, rather in Who and What God Truly are and must be.
I base this on what I call my Fourth Grade Comprehension test. Take a class of Fourth Graders, and read to them John 6: 52-68, Mt. 26: 26-28, Mk. 14: 22-24, Lk. 22: 19-21, and 1 Cor. 11: 23-28. And then simply ask them what they heard. Will they comprehend it? Maybe, maybe not, but they will tell you what was read.
It is an evident lack of faith in Gods Greatness, Gods Love for us and Gods desire that all men are saved.
Now this previous statement is big part of the problem. The Bible clearly tells that Salvation is not a done deal, and that lack of understanding, too comes from not really knowing anything [or at least very little] about The Divine Nature of God. This topic is seldom taught in the realm of Protestant Theology. Most preachers will speak of God’s Attributes, but I don’t ever recall hearing one speak of Gods Divine Nature.
The root of the issue seems to lie in the lack of comprehension that God must be, has to be, and therefore is a Just and Fair God. Predestination, OSAS is a failed Theology that over looks these facts. We are created by God, for the very precise purpose of PROVING our love for Him. [Isaiah 43: 7, 21 Heb.13:15 and Rom. 14:11]. That is the fully precise purpose for being “made in His image” [Gen. 1: 26-17] with some similar attributes [Gods are Perfect, ours are very imperfect] “namely a mind, intellect and freewill”, all of which are “Spiritual Things” like God Himself. To deny the right use of these God given attributes is a most serious error, and that is exactly what OSAS and Predestination do. They do not permit humanity to fulfill the precise reason we were created and they fail to comprehend that God, being God, must be “fair.”
And what is “Fair” about some persons being predestined before birth, to either heaven or hell. Or what’s “Fair” about OSAS, which too denies the purpose of God giving ONLY HUMANITY, a mind, intellect and freewill. Gifts this special and unique must have a specific reason.
Luke 10:16 “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Mark 3: 13 “And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons: Simon whom he surnamed Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Bo-anerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.”
Titus 2: 15 “Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. “
Eph. 2:19 “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; [SINGULAR] in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
Mt. 28: 18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
Mt. 18: 15 "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; [SINGULAR] and if he refuses to listen even to the church, [SINGULAR] let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you [SINGULAR] bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
1 Tim. 3:15 “if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, [singular] the pillar [singular] and bulwark of the truth. [singular] Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion:”
Eph. 2:19 19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; [SINGULAR] in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
1Tim. 6: “Teach and urge these duties. 3 If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing; he has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among men who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. There is great gain in godliness with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, and * we cannot take anything out of the world;”
:thumbsup:Carlan
). And Peter DID sin, lots, just like almost all humans, with the exemption of the blessed mother. And yes, TONS of saints have overcome sin to enter into heaven, Saint Augustine as an example. So I’m not getting your point, thats what makes them so great. Also, I can’t think of anytime Peter “took credit” for anything Jesus had revealed. And God the Father did not reveal that to him, when he first started following Jesus, he thought he was a prophet, until’ Jesus told him other wise. I don;t get your point there either, could you explain?
Carlan