(2 Cor. 5:18-19) " And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."

Note the distinctions made between 'us' and the 'world', and 'their trespasses'.

What is the World? (Eph. 2:2) "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of...

I assert with confidence that,

1. God's omniscience allows Him to be the most free and most creative Being, omniscience in no way reduces His transcendence -- Does the LORD have freedom as the greatest creative Being? I ask because does God have to decide from eternity past all He wills to do in whatever future occurs? If God knows the future exhaustively, which would have to include His own future works, then He at one time might had more freedom and creativity than He does now. He must...

Friel tackles this. Frankly, I think even he's too squishy on it, but he does concede it's time for Pastor's to get firm and denounce it.

“ego kai ho patros hen hesmen” (John 10:30). Which literally translated reads: “I and the Father, one we are”.

Is Jesus here speaking only of “unity of will and purpose” with The Father, as some suppose? That the Greek “hen”, does have this meaning, is clear from the Prayer of Jesus in John chapter 17, where He says, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”. Here Jesus is...

Read all of 1 John it echoes two groups of people those who are saved and those who reject God throughout the whole epistle.

The believer believes the Testimony.

The unbeliever does not believe the testimony says GOD is a LIAR. ---> the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar
What is the testimony? --->11And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
So what is the UNBELIEVER not believing? The Testimony.

What does the...

On another thread the discussion drifted (my fault this time) to N.T. Wright.

I made the comment that at one time most scholars considered Wright the expert in Pauline theology. These scholars include John Piper (one of my favorites), J.I. Packer, and R.C. Sproul to name a few. The time he was considered an expert was prior to his opinion that the Reformers had misjudged Pauline justification by allowing their circumstances with the Roman Catholic Church to influence their view of first...

The central doctrine in Calvinsm is Total inability.

The central point in Christianity is the death , burial and resurrection.

Which one still exists without the doctrine of Total inability?

Which one cannot exist without the doctrine of Total inability?

thoughts ?

1st Corinthians 15, the claim is universal atonement is part of the Gospel, and therefor is needed for salvation.

Since Paul is reminding them about what he preached,
Paul actually told them "Christ died for their sins", while they were lost.

How could Paul do they and believe in a limited atonement?
Does 1st Corinthians teach universal atonement is part of the gospel, and therefor needed for salvation?
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you...

“Tell me how man is not totally depraved, and totally unable to believe prior to regeneration in light of these passages: Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 2:14, Eph. 2:1; and Col. 1:13. How would you reconcile the Greek work "nekros" in describing the sinners spiritual condition?”

This is a typical off the shelf deflection of truth posited over and over by various Calvinist accolades.

What does “totally depraved” mean according to Calvinism. It means we are in a spiritually dead condition, with dead...

I am a longtime student of history. I have wracked my brain periodically for four years, since becoming a Christian, to understand the End Times prophecies of the bible. I was streaming a sermon on Sunday when I was taught an interesting factoid. To have an understanding of Revelation it is best to use imagery from the Old Testament since the prophecy was written to those familiar with the orally given Old Testament. Another trick is to identify one thing you do get in Revelation's imagery...