In the course of a thread in this forum, a couple of brethren asserted that Jesus Christ is not God's criterion for election (I didn't say "salvation", I said "election").
If I understood their position correctly, it's something like this:
We don't know what is God's criterion for electing someone; that criterion is a mystery.
God elects someone unto salvation from eternity past, and then saves that person in time through Jesus Christ.
That is, you weren't chosen unto salvation because of...

Mysticism, what does the Holy Scriptures say about it?

2 Peter 1:21
"For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit".

Mysticism?

1 John 4:1
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world".

More mysticism?

2 Corinthians 12:2-4
"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third...

Do you think that Bible teaches it? Why/why not?

This has probably been discussed before, but I am thinking about this passage and wondering what some of you might think.
“Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?” 1 Corinthians 15:29
Some believe that Paul meant a living Christian baptized in place of a dead Christian who never had been baptized (someone like the thief on the cross, for example). The Mormons have finessed this into a major doctrine and...

Hello

White nationalism is on the rise. Anyone here want to talk about it with me.
Neo-confederates involved in the church?

For those who say that God "looked down the corridors of time" and merely provided the Cross as a remedy to something that would happen to His plan (and He didn't have to look far. Maybe you should call it a "cubbyhole of time.") ...

What was His original plan? To frolic naked in a garden paradise till the world was over populated?

Robinson, John (c. 1575–1625), pastor to the *Pilgrim Fathers. Very little is known about his early life. He was a native of Lincs or Notts, probably studied at Cambridge, was ordained in the C of E, and seems to have held a curacy at *Norwich. He later became a *Puritan, joining the ‘gathered Church’ at Scrooby Manor, Notts. In 1608, owing to severe measures against Nonconformity, Robinson and his congregation were forced to flee to the *Netherlands. In 1609 he settled at *Leiden, of which...

This subject came up on another thread in another sub-forum here. I'm posting this in this sub-forum so all Christians can wade in, Baptist or not.

Personally, MY definition of it in Scripture is that all people are predestined to go to either heaven or hell, depending upon one's righteousness, and, for us under the New Covenant, whether or not we came to Jesus in genuine belief & submission.

I know, I have another thread going. But I had to get this one going just to point out some absurdities.

In the recent KJVO book on translation mentioned in the other thread, A Practical Theology of Bible Translating, by Steve Combs, there is a resource section in the Appendices on pp. 257-259. He recommends some really useless stuff there, but this one caught my eye: Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible, by Jeff Brenner, since I had never heard of it. Check it out at:...

Is your church moving toward elder rule/lead?

Is your church elder rule/lead?

What pitfalls and advice might you give to any prospective pastor considering candidating in an elder lead/rule church?

Does a church ever revert back from elder rule/lead to congregationalism?