MadeFromDirt

@RSprouseNews @wusa9 Don't look at this as a message from God about America and what our gov't should do. Look at it as a reminder from God that our power is puny, and our time is limited. How will we stand before our Creator when He asks if we loved all neighbors? In Christ alone there is safety.

@Soteriology101 God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. So evil is temporary for the elect. How is faith genuine and saving, if one rejects this promise?

There is a HUGE DIFFERENCE between the question of whether it’s evil for God to choose not to intervene to stop a heinously evil event when He has the ability to do so and the question of whether He [decreed/planned/caused/originated/designed/ordained/or by some means brought about] that heinously evil event. We shouldn’t equate the two. If you use the language of the latter but you only mean the former, you’re not being clear with your language. And if you think there isn’t a significant difference between the two, I am not sure we can have a rational conversation. NOTE: Before you bring up the choice of Christ to lay down His own life to the hands of already rebellious men on Calvary as your example of God bringing about heinous evil please read: soteriology101.com/2017/10/01/sho…

@Sean_McDowell Death is permanent for those who must "enter its gates". I am using the word death here in its most broad sense -- the point of these verses is not the nature of hell or destructuon -- the point is that a remnant of mankind through generations to come (the church) is saved.

@MadeFromDirt So, the point is that death is permanent, and one's place is permanent?

QUESTION: Hell is described as having "gates" (Matt 16:17-18). Is that to keep people from leaving Hell, from entering Hell, both, or something else?

@rootcausesleuth @SaintsArmed Probably in the discussion the lines and definitions became blurred about primary and secondary causes, and planes of existence. The elect work out their salvation in fear and trembling.

@MadeFromDirt @SaintsArmed I just had some long threads with true “reformed” bros who all insisted that the sinful desires of men come from them and not God.

Calvinists only please: True or False: God decrees whatsoever comes to pass except the sinful desires of creatures.

@SaintsArmed There is nothing that exists outside of God the Creator, who is infinite, timeless, eternal, perfect, and unlimited in power and energy, and all acts of God increase His magnificence and glory. All that is created is utterly dependent on God for life and all that is experienced.

@MadeFromDirt @ProvisionistP @Soteriology101 @Mindtrap028 Can you give a brief explanation then of what Calvinism is?

@ProvisionistP @Soteriology101 @Mindtrap028 Nothing to see, anyone responding "True" is not a Calvinist.

@Soteriology101 @Mindtrap028 Need a “Show Results” next time so you get engagement from free willers and so we can see what others said.

@CSLewisDaily I guess digital marketing specialists with psychology degrees don't understand the concept of propitiation as told in passages such as Romans 3:24-26, 1 Corinthians 5:7, Ephesians 5:2, Hebrews 2:17, Hebrews 7:27, & 1 John 4:10, and the whole covenantal history between God & man?

The idea Jesus “paid the price” isn’t found in the Bible. beliefnet.com/faiths/christi…

I don’t understand why I get these random posts in my feed from people I don’t follow and who don’t follow me. They’re not viral posts either. They’ll have like 4 likes. And they’re not about anything I usually post about or comment on.

@Soteriology101 The rock exists and all things about the rock exist because of God, from Him, for Him, and through Him, including whether or not He chooses to move that rock, and including whoever would get the idea to stand before God and demand He comply with their command regarding that rock.

@MadeFromDirt Non-sequitur Proof that God can’t create a rock so big that He can’t move it doesn’t prove that He can’t create a rock He chooses not to move

Could God at specific times USE already evil men to BRING ABOUT an evil event for a greater good without being the One who brings about all evil desires and events of all times? If not, He isn’t all that powerful or creative. If so, Calvinists have absolutely no proof texts to demonstrate their concept of theistic determinism.

@Soteriology101 Holding out loving hands or even loving in general is not the same as granting regeneration that brings a faith that saves.

“But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” Romans 10:21 “The Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods…” Hos 3:1 When we read the Bible, we see God holding out his loving hands to some who continue to rebel and thus find the doctrine of irresistible grace to be unbiblical.

@Soteriology101 Christ's yoke is easy and His burden is light.  But heavy is the burden for those who seek and claim to operate their existence under their own rules, regardless of their sin, and accuse God of being unjust to those who do.

If God wills that humans make meaningful, responsible moral choices that He does not causally determine, and God’s will cannot be thwarted, then libertarian free will must be true. Our inability to explain how God creates such free agents does not undermine this any more than our inability to explain how God creates something from nothing undermines creation ex nihilo. Therefore, the burden lies on the theistic determinist: prove that God actually wills humans to make only choices that He exhaustively determines—including the choice of most theists to reject determinism.

@Soteriology101 How does someone know if the King rejected them before they were born or loved them before they were born?

Who is the King you’re rejecting? One who rejected you before you were born or One who loves and provides for you?

@Soteriology101 Our lack of knowledge of who are the elect is the reason why God commands us to call all to faith. We then participate in the regeneration of the elect. How are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? Faith comes from hearing, hearing through the word of Christ.

Calvinists, Either God loves and has provided the means of salvation to the people you are calling to faith and repentance; or you are potentially misleading them by calling them to a provision that doesn’t exist. Your lack of knowledge of who the elect are doesn’t change that fact.

@BoHunt89876209 @Soteriology101 Really it is not at all like the dog and the T-bone steak, because by nature fallen man does not desire God, while by nature dogs desire food.

@Soteriology101 Like chaining a dog to a tree and calling it with a T bone steak, knowing it cannot come. Twisted and not biblical.

@DrFrankTurek Foreknowledge is predestination. How can anyone change an outcome that God already knows?

Free Will, Predestination, or Both? #Theology

@SoteriologyA1 Thank you for this. Also, for some believers, fully surrendering their human desire to feel control is part of the process as they move & work toward sanctification, by the Spirit, in fear & trembling. But for other professing believers, they never surrender, and they fall away.

🚨 A Plea for Charity: Understanding the "Nicodemus Fallacy" in Modern day Debates: To my fellow brothers and sisters who hold to the Sovereign Grace of God: It is time we stop accusing Provisionists of intentionally misrepresenting our positions. When we hear our neighbors describe the work of the Holy Spirit as "divine rape," "robotic programming," or "puppet strings," our immediate impulse is to cry "Slander!" We assume they are willfully twisting our words. 🔑 But what if the issue isn't a lack of integrity, but a lack of Spiritual discernment? Consider the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3. When Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God," did Nicodemus... intentionally... lie about Jesus’ meaning? Of course not. He simply received a Spiritual Reality through the only filter he had: Natural Discernment. "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?" Nicodemus wasn't being a troll; he was being a literalist. To his natural mind, "birth" had one definition: a physical, horizontal event involving a womb. Because he could not discern the spiritual nature of the new birth, Jesus’ words sounded like physical foolishness to him. From the Womb to the Operating Table... Fast forward to today. Imagine a biblically consistent Calvinist standing in the place of Jesus, saying: "You must have your heart of stone replaced by God’s sovereign grace." Now, imagine a Provisionist... like Leighton Flowers... standing in the place of Nicodemus. When he hears "heart change," his natural discernment immediately translates it into a horizontal, physical mechanic: 🚩 "That sounds like a surgeon sneaking into my room at night, cutting open my chest, and forcing a change on my blood-pumping organ while I'm asleep." 🤔 Is this an intentional misrepresentation? 💡Or is it simply the... exact same underlying mechanism... that drove Nicodemus? The Provisionist is often "locked out" of the distinction between Faculty Ability (the physical/mental equipment to choose) and Moral Inability (the spiritual nature that refuses to choose God). When they hear "cannot," they hear "broken vocal cords" or "physical chains." When they hear "sovereign decree," they hear "coercion." To the natural mind, the things of the Spirit are "foolishness" (1 Cor 2:14). If we truly believe this scripture, we should not be surprised when our neighbors describe our theology in "foolish" ways. They aren't necessarily lying; they are simply describing the "horizontal" shadows they see because they haven't yet been granted the "vertical" discernment. ⚔️ Instead of meeting their naturalistic renderings with frustration, let us meet them with sympathy. Let us stop treating a discernment deficit as a moral failing. Let us pray that God would grant them the same spiritual eyes He once granted Nicodemus. May He lift their gaze from the "operating table" of horizontal mechanics to the "throne room" of Sovereign Sustenance. Until the Spirit breathes, the "womb" and the "surgeon" are all they can see. Let’s pray for the breath of spiritual discernment upon them. #Calvinism #Nicodeism #Provisionism

@5solas Yes, the serpent in Eden was the first.

@DrFrankTurek The human race is already lost. We have no power of our own over sin and resulting death. God created the human race to fail, but some He saves by His grace, and to His glory. We do not know who He saves, but this should motivate us to share this Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Do people who never hear the Gospel go to heaven? Or are they eternally lost? Let's explore what the Scriptures have to say on this matter and what it reveals about God's nature.

@ThomasSKidd @hunterbaker @dandarling @ActonInstitute All sectors of society benefit from the involvement of Christians thoughtfully executing their duties, following God's counsel, which is always wise and sound. But the abuse of faith without wisdom or compassion turns it into selective moralism & hypocrisy in eyes of unbelievers.

The Virtue of Patriotism acton.is/48IJHBD via @hunterbaker @dandarling @ActonInstitute