The Ability Or Inability To Welcome Divine Truth

#2, #3, and #5.

 

What a cop-out.

 

“It seems as if you are saying” Is a certain indicator that one is at least making an attempt to restate. However, unless the original is restated with accuracy and restructuring is unattended the attempt fails.

One of the harshest statements is found in both Matthew 7 and Matthew 15 concerning not wasting time presenting the gospel to certain folks.

An illustration:

Sitting with men used to intellectual exercise, one brought up the Scriptures concerning salvation.

The reactions were varied, but in particular some were hostile and vicious.
They revealed themselves as having the same attitude as the dogs of the time of Christ.
Dogs were not inbred lap dogs of today, and the attitudes of such ancient dogs can be still be seen in the life and reactions to God’s Word.

It is not that some do not see, but not seeing they have become viciously opposed by forcefully rejecting. The stronger the rejection, the less obliged the believer is to contend with them.

This is a most uncomfortable and (imo) least of the teachings by Christ. It goes against the evangelical thinking, yet is still the truthful presentation.

 

Never get tired of reading that list of excuses.

 

#2 That verse is taken out of context.
Self-explanatory, but I'll play anyway. The verse in Matt. 16 where Peter answers Jesus and says he is "the Christ, the Son of the living God", was special revelation given to Peter by God regarding the identity of Jesus. This doesn't mean that God gives any and all believers special revelations to divine truth.

John 3:27, "A person can receive only what is given them from heaven," has nothing to do with believers receiving divine truth, it's about the validity of John's baptism as a forerunner of Jesus baptizing people.

#3. That verse is not written to the people you are claiming.
The verses in Matthew 13 are written specifically to the 12 apostles, or if you don't agree on that point, at the most he is speaking to the Jewish people and not Gentiles. Jesus is explaining why he speaks to the Jews in parables. The answer is so that they WON'T understand what he's saying. This implies that they WOULD understand if he were to speak plainly. The 12 apostles CAN see it because Jesus "has given understanding to them," and them alone.

#5 You are not smart enough to understand the doctrines of grace.
This is what Iconoclast is saying when he says,

 

Faith comes from hearing the word of God, Romans 10:17.

Faith is a result of God giving repentance.

Sanctification from God's truth and sanctification of the Spirit of God, John 17:17; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14.

Without God's intervention, Romans 3:11.

 

#4

 

Icon, if your point is that divine truth is God-given, I do not think any Christian will disagree with that. We are not able to understand divine truth without the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:12). However, not all divine truth is the same. The divine truth that the disciples and later, the Apostles, received from God was a step beyond what other Christians receive. When Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ (Matthew 16), that truth was given to Peter in-the-moment by the Spirit. We have access to that same truth today in Scripture. All these things should be self-evident to a believer.