The Commandments should not be followed ... Part 2

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This sounds like Ryan’s “predestination to grace only.”

Where do you find that in Scripture?
We’ve covered this with the apostasy discussion as well as numerous passages that show that believers can fall away and fall from grace. It is obvious to us that a person cannot fall from grace unless they have received it.
 
We’ve covered this with the apostasy discussion as well as numerous passages that show that believers can fall away and fall from grace. It is obvious to us that a person cannot fall from grace unless they have received it.
🤷 Those verses were not being offered in response to my question, but only as your assertion that believers can lose their salvation.

🤷 Where in the Scripture does one find any mention of "predestination to grace only?"
 
Sheesh, guanophore!! :doh2:This only had to do with “theotokos.”
My point is that the dogma is not based on the “allegory of scripture” as you asserted.
This has nothing to do with her predicated powers and exalted position in heaven.The original emphasis of the doctrine of “theotokos” was Christ, not Mary, and was based on what the Scriptures revealed about HIM.
Actually, that is not right either. The Arians were using the same scriptures, and coming up with different results (just as all the private interpreters do today). The Sacred Tradition was what was used to defeat the heresy. Sacred Tradition ensures that Scripture is interpreted in the way it was written.

I agree, the doctrine of the Theotokos emanated from heresies in Christology, and not about Mary’s ministry to the Body of Christ.
Code:
The doctrine may have been formulated prior to a canon of the Scriptures, but not prior to the Scriptures themselves.
There was no need. All the writers of the Scriptures personally knew Mary, and it would have been ridiculuous for anyone to assert she had other children. Most of the writers knew Jesus as an only child, or knew those that spent time with Him, and was aware that he had no womb siblings.
They were the objective source for the development of the doctrine.And yet, you have no evidence that the Marian doctrines were ever taught by the Apostles.
Well, we read it differently! 😃
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None of those men who formulated those doctrines quote any Apostles or Jesus.  So what objective proof can you provide that they're based on Divine revelation and not just the imagination of men?
Don’t you think that question belongs on another thread?

Let’s go back to the topic. Do you believe that Jesus honored His mother, as the commandment required?
 
Spend some money and get the cd set at the link below: It is a marvelous and informative piece of work that will help correct your thinking.

shop.catholic.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/online-store/scstore/p-CA155.html?L+scstore+fhnh7356ff9c9c9c+1222299893
That’s a CD for “questioning Protestants.” I’m beyond questioning. Been given the standard answers and now I’m asking for proof. Lots of assertions, conjecture and allegorizing Scripture.

There’s plenty of information out there which I’ve painstakingly read. It didn’t look like my 40 bucks was going to buy me anything more than what I’ve already studied on the issue and what’s been presented elsewhere for free. Thanks anyway, Pax. Appreciate it. 😉
 
Read the passage, guanophore instead of just spouting the standard un-thought-out apologetic.
This may come as a surprise to you, but I have never read, heard, or studied any apologetic on this point. I realized by reading your posts, and those of other Reformed posters here, that this verse was being twisted out of its tense to apply to those who have not yet been glorified.
The English definition of predestine is identical to that of a Greek Lexicon: to destine, decree, determine, appoint, or settle beforehand.

🤷 IOW, it’s a sure thing.
Ok. we read it differently. Catholics believe that God allows people to make choices other than His perfect will.
IMO, Catholics are very inconsistent in using that verse (1 Tim 2:4), as everyone knows that Catholics insist that “all” doesn’t mean “each and every person”.
Well, for the sake of this discussion, shall we agree that God desires most everybody to be saved? Aside from the vessels that were created for perdition?

The point is that God does not create people so they can be damned. But that is an issue for another thread, is it not?
Christ is the second person in the history of the universe to have been born sinless;
Is this related to following the commandments?
You’re projecting. ISTM that about 90% of the time, none of your responses to anyone have anything to do with the posts to which you respond. 🤷
Why don’t you just block them?
 
Moon,

I see that you have failed to grasp what scripture says, and that you have failed to address this post and what it means to receive power by way of grace and the implications of what it means to be in heaven.
I did address the post. What you mean is that I rejected what you imagine to be the believer’s power in heaven. And that the verse you quoted had anything to do with it.

You attached your imagination to your interpretation, but supplied no proof. I have yet to find any objective proof that saints in heaven, whether it be Mary, Peter, John, Paul, whoever, enter into the affairs of men on earth in any way, or have any power of influence over us. I have yet to find any objective proof that they can even see or hear us, much less have the power to hear prayers. We’ve been given no revelation on this. Lot’s of opinions, but no revelation: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us…” (Deu. 29:29). Doctrine should not be developed on silence. IOW, on men’s opinions or their fertile imaginations. These are the germs of apostasy.
 
Let’s go back to the topic. Do you believe that Jesus honored His mother, as the commandment required?
I already answered that question. You know I did because you changed your question from “loved” to “honored.” Which I said was what the Mosaic Law required. Jesus was born a Jew, born under the Law, and lived it perfectly. The Law did not require that a Jew exalt his mother. Go back and re-read my post. I covered it all.
 
I did address the post. What you mean is that I rejected what you imagine to be the believer’s power in heaven. And that the verse you quoted had anything to do with it.

You attached your imagination to your interpretation, but supplied no proof. I have yet to find any objective proof that saints in heaven, whether it be Mary, Peter, John, Paul, whoever, enter into the affairs of men on earth in any way, or have any power of influence over us. I have yet to find any objective proof that they can even see or hear us, much less have the power to hear prayers. We’ve been given no revelation on this. Lot’s of opinions, but no revelation: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us…” (Deu. 29:29). Doctrine should not be developed on silence. IOW, on men’s opinions or their fertile imaginations. These are the germs of apostasy.
This thread appears to have wandered irretrievably off topic.

What do you think is meant by the phrase "communion of saints’ in the Apostles’ creed?
 
OK. God predestines to glory.
Yes. It is someone who was also predestined to grace, remained faithful, endured to the end, and was saved.
ISTM that’s what you’re positing.
You said, Just because someone is “predestined to grace” doesn’t mean they are "predestined to glory."
What do you mean by "predestined to grace," then? Where do you find that in Scripture?
Salvation is a free gift from God. God knows who will accept it before they do it. People who accept this grace are “predestined to grace” because God new it before hand. If they are faithful and endure to the end they are “predestined to glory”, because God also knew that before hand.

Because they do not endure until the end doesn’t mean that God never gave them saving grace. It means that person threw it away. God knew all of this before hand. These are the people who are predestined to grace and not to Glory.
Proof? And, describe your freewill, and the abilities you ascribe to it, please.
Adam.

If Adam didn’t really have a choice, then God’s warning him not to eat the forbidden fruit would have been a meaningless threat. If Adam weren’t free, he would have already been predetermined (forced) to disobey the divine command, any warning from God would have been irrelevant. God’s sovereignty includes our free wil. It does not exclude it.

To argue that God was issuing a meaningless warning makes God a deceiver and a liar (and He is not).

in the hope of eternal life that God, who does not lie, promised before time began (Titus 1:2)

The only liar in the garden was Satan, the father of lies. And Adam chose to cooperate with Satan’s will instead of God’s.
Furthermore, Paul presents an analogy of a business transaction, and what v14 states is that the Holy Spirit is given as a pledge (Gk arrahbon), that the full amount will finally be paid (that’s the idea behind the word).
Do you think that God will welsh on His pledge, which pledge is the Holy Spirit? That doesn’t seem likely to me.
God is true to his promises. That doesn’t mean we are unable to reject his gift (even after we recieve the Holy Spirit).
Ryan, your partial quote of v18, and your lead in (that a down payment doesn’t equate to a done deal), indicates to me that you’ve left the context of the passage, for your Tradition.
Have you kept every gift ever given to you? If not, that doesn’t change the fact that you recieved it in the first place.
In context, what Paul is praying for is that the Holy Spirit whom they already have will deepen their understanding of what they possess in Christ.
I agree.
🤷 You’ve yet to offer any proof of “predestination to grace only.”
Every scripture quote in this thread, about losing salvation, is proof.
That’s a different topic, and more interested in the things in this post that precede this question.
I’ve answered your questions, so please answer mine. They are directly related to this topic.
Originally Posted by ryanoneil
And the Lord replied, "Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute (the) food allowance at the proper time? . . But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. (Luke 12:42; 45-46)
Would you agree a steward of God is predestined to be a steward?
Do you think God would put a steward in charge of his servants that was not justified?
 
I already answered that question. You know I did because you changed your question from “loved” to “honored.” Which I said was what the Mosaic Law required. Jesus was born a Jew, born under the Law, and lived it perfectly. The Law did not require that a Jew exalt his mother. Go back and re-read my post. I covered it all.
Ok. I agree that Jewish law does not require that a son “exalt” his mother. What would it mean for Jesus to “honor” His mother?
 
🤷 Where in the Scripture does one find any mention of "predestination to grace only?"
"And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Mt 13:22)

And countless other examples.
 
That’s a CD for “questioning Protestants.” I’m beyond questioning. Been given the standard answers and now I’m asking for proof. Lots of assertions, conjecture and allegorizing Scripture.

There’s plenty of information out there which I’ve painstakingly read. It didn’t look like my 40 bucks was going to buy me anything more than what I’ve already studied on the issue and what’s been presented elsewhere for free. Thanks anyway, Pax. Appreciate it. 😉
I understand the concerns about spending money, but there is a lot more material presented by Tim Staples then you are familiar with. It is very rich in material.

I think you’re right though…your mind is already made up.
 
We’ve covered this with the apostasy discussion as well as numerous passages that show that believers can fall away and fall from grace. It is obvious to us that a person cannot fall from grace unless they have received it.
🤷 Those verses were not being offered in response to my question, but only as your assertion that believers can lose their salvation.

🤷 Where in the Scripture does one find any mention of "predestination to grace only?"
The exact terminology you’re looking for is not in scripture, but the discussion we had eliminates any other possibility. This is a logic issue based upon the empirical data of scripture. I gave you examples of Ananias and Saphira as well as Simon the Magician. I also mentioned Alexander and Hymenaes. The discussion showed that they were saved and then lost it. The proof is pretty obvious.
 
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ryanoneil:
Yes. It is someone who was also predestined to grace, remained faithful, endured to the end, and was saved.
I think you’re going to your Tradition once again. The implication of your understanding of predestination is that the responsibility of remaining faithful is the sole purview of the human.

Paul’s definition doesn’t say a word about remaining faithful in the sense your post implies. Paul’s definition of the elect states ***the sequence of events concerning predestination:*Romans 8:30

and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. **That’s called Golden Chain of Redemption.
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ryanoneil:
Salvation is a free gift from God. God knows who will accept it before they do it. People who accept this grace are “predestined to grace” because God new it before hand. If they are faithful and endure to the end they are “predestined to glory”, because God also knew that before hand.
Your post asserts that ”the first grace can be merited.” Catholic Theologian, Ludwig Ott, asserts the opposite.

According to Ott:**Only incomplete Predestination to grace is independent of every merit (ante praevisa merita), as the first grace cannot be merited.**That the first is not merited is demonstrated by Paul:**Romans 9:11

for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls**If as you as say, ”God knows who will accept His free gift of salvation,” it is only because He has predestined them to do so, which circles back to the Golden Chain, which is a complete chain.
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ryanoneil:
Because they do not endure until the end doesn’t mean that God never gave them saving grace.
It means exactly that God never gave them saving grace.

🤷 By definition, Saving Grace Saves because it is Saving Grace!
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ryanoneil:
It means that person threw it away.
Again, that’s your Tradition, which attributes salvation to the human, and not to God.
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ryanoneil:
God knew all of this before hand. These are the people who are predestined to grace and not to Glory.
That’s your tradition. The only predestination spoken of with respect to salvation is to Glorification.

You have yet to demonstrate predestination to grace only except it be within the framework of your Tradition.

(continued below)
 
(continued from post #590)
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ryanoneil:
Adam.

If Adam didn’t really have a choice, then God’s warning him not to eat the forbidden fruit would have been a meaningless threat. If Adam weren’t free, he would have already been predetermined (forced) to disobey the divine command, any warning from God would have been irrelevant. God’s sovereignty includes our free wil. It does not exclude it.
Adam, as Christ, is a singularly unique human being.

Adam was created by the hand of God, you have not been created by the hand of God, but have come forth as the result of a sexual union between your parents.

Adam was created with the ability to choose either to sin, or not to sin.

As a result of Adam’s fall, his posterity has not been so “created.” His legacy to his posterity is that he has left them in the condition of being able only to choose sin.

Thus God observes that TRULY:**Genesis 6:5

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

AND:

Romans 3:10-18

10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one;

11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God;

12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

13 “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”;

14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,

16 Destruction and misery are in their paths,

17 And the path of peace they have not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” **That is why God’s predestination to salvation is an absolute necessity.

Without it, no one would be saved.
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ryanoneil:
To argue that God was issuing a meaningless warning makes God a deceiver and a liar (and He is not).
I don’t argue that God’s warning was meaningless to Adam—what Adam chose, he chose freely. God did not hold a gun to Adam’s head.
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ryanoneil:
God is true to his promises. That doesn’t mean we are unable to reject his gift (even after we recieve the Holy Spirit).
That is works salvation in that it asserts that salvation can be lost on the basis of human action.
If one cannot gain salvation on the basis of his actions, conversely, once given, he cannot lose salvation on the basis of human action:Romans 11:6

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.That truth is a knife that cuts both ways.
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ryanoneil:
Have you kept every gift ever given to you? If not, that doesn’t change the fact that you recieved it in the first place.
Salvation is a gift gifted by the will of God! God’s will cannot be thwarted!

That’s why salvific grace is said to Efficacious.

🤷 It is grace issued from the will of God to accomplish the purpose for which it is given.
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ryanoneil:
Every scripture quote in this thread, about losing salvation, is proof.
You have yet to prove "predestination to grace only," except within the framework of your Tradition.

The only predestination with respect to salvation articulated in scripture is to glorification.
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ryanoneil:
I’ve answered your questions, so please answer mine. They are directly related to this topic.
**Ephesians 4:11

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers**
 
"And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Mt 13:22)

And countless other examples.
I think this is a very good example. The seed sprouts,and grows. Jesus is clear that the seed is the Word of God, which cannot sprout and grow without grace.

I think the problem has to do with the Reformed idea of grace. I have been given to understand my some that “regeneration” (born again) happens prior to the seed sprouting. Catholics agree that the seed cannot sprout without grace, but we call this prevenient grace. All this is also based on a misconception of the nature of man. It goes back to the notion of total depravity. Apostolic teaching is that human nature is wounded, but that the human is still able to choose between right and wrong. Reformed teaching departs from this, and says (I think) that humans are not capable of choosing the good until they are born again. I think this because of the argument put forth that the carnal mind is hostile to God. I have visited with the Reformers on other threads about this matter, and have never understood how certain scriptures are dispensed with in order to cling to this view.🤷
 
I think most of your post was based on your Calvinist Tradition.
(continued from post #590)
Ephesians 4:11

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers
I’m sorry, I don’t understand your answer. Would you please answer again with a bit of explanation.

Thank You.

**
**Originally Posted by ryanoneil **
And the Lord replied, "Who, then, is the** faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge** of his servants to distribute (the) food allowance at the proper time? . . But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. (Luke 12:42; 45-46)

Would you agree a steward of God is predestined to be a steward?

Do you think God would put a steward in charge of his servants that was not justified? **
 
I think you’re going to your Tradition once again.
Of course! 👍 Sacred Tradition is what produced the text, therefore, the best understanding of it is to read it from the point of view of those who wrote it! :clapping:
The implication of your understanding of predestination is that the responsibility of remaining faithful is the sole purview of the human.
Only in your mind, sandy. Scripture itself is very clear that “it is God who is at work in you to will and to do His good pleasure”. Whatever we do that is not in faith is sin.
Code:
Paul’s definition doesn’t say a word about remaining faithful in the sense your post implies. Paul’s definition of the elect states ***the sequence of events concerning predestination:***Romans 8:30
Indeed it does. And does so in the past tense. He is referring here to those who have completed the sequence. We know the identity of some of these because they are mentioned in Hebrews 11. They comprise the “cloud of witnesses” that surround us in faith.
sandusky;4125389:
and these whom He predestined
, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. That’s called Golden Chain of Redemption.
Although Paul sees himself in this chain, he also says that a mature attitude is not to consider that one has already arrived. He also indicates that he, too, may be disqualified.
It means exactly that God never gave them saving grace.
Well, we read it differently. 😃
Again, that’s your Tradition, which attributes salvation to the human, and not to God.
Sandy, this is a shameless misrepresentation. The NT was written by, for, and about Catholics. Everything in it is Catholic, and nothing in it contradicts what is taught by the Catholic Church. Where it is written “you are saved by grace, through faith”, this is an expression of Catholic soteriology.
 
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ryanoneil:
I think most of your post was based on your Calvinist Tradition.
What I’ve offered regarding predestination is what is clearly taught in Scripture, and that is that with respect to salvation, only one predestination is taught and that predestination
is to Glory.


🤷 You have yet to offer a statement in Scripture teaching ”predestination to grace only."
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ryanoneil:
I’m sorry, I don’t understand your answer. Would you please answer again with a bit of explanation.
Would you agree a steward of God is predestined to be a steward?
Do you think God would put a steward in charge of his servants that was not justified?
I’m sorry, then, I obviously misunderstand what you are asking in light of the passage you quote.

Please be more specific in question.
 
Adam, as Christ, is a singularly unique human being.

Adam was created by the hand of God, you have not been created by the hand of God, but have come forth as the result of a sexual union between your parents.

Adam was created with the ability to choose either to sin, or not to sin.

As a result of Adam’s fall, his posterity has not been so “created.” His legacy to his posterity is that he has left them in the condition of being able only to choose sin.
Ah. See? You learn something new every day! I am continually amazed with Reformed Theology.

Ok, so I will bring the same question forward that I have brought in the past, why does God offer a choice to people that are not able to make it?

" If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it." Gen 4:7

Why does God imply that Cain can choose? Why does He imply that Cain can “master” sin?
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Thus God observes that **TRULY**:**Genesis 6:5**
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

AND:

Romans 3:10-18

10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one;

11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God;

I think if you look at the passage from which this is quoted you will easily see that it starts out “the fool has said in his heart, there is no God”. Both of these passages are talking about unbelievers. How is it this principle is easily applied for you in other places, but not here?

Clearly, God decides to save Noah and his family , so not “everyone” displeased him unto death. 🤷
sandusky;4125399:
I don ’t argue that God’s warning was meaningless to Adam—what Adam chose, he chose freely. God did not hold a gun to Adam’s head.
But Adam was made differently, and was able to exercise a choice that the rest of us cannot?

Then, God continued to expect manknd to choose the good, even though we were incapable?
That is works salvation in that it asserts that salvation can be lost on the basis of human action.
If one cannot gain salvation on the basis of his actions, conversely, once given, he cannot lose salvation on the basis of human action:
Romans 11:6

No, salvation is based on grace. Salvation is lost when there is a separation from grace. Sin separates us from God. The nature of sin has not changed from the beginning. Man is separated from God by sin.

It is grace that saves, through faith, not human action. When that grace is lost, through unbelief, then one is separated from saving grace. Scripture calls this “fallen from grace”.
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
That truth is a knife that cuts both ways.

Salvation is a gift gifted by the will of God! God’s will cannot be thwarted!

Something is amiss in this soteriology. Otherwise, how is it that some are said to thwart God’s grace?

" But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves. " Luke 7:29-30
 
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