Hello y'all.
Thanks for the invite, don't mind if I do.
I need a break from "ANY HERETIC BELIEF, but NO TULIP" Christian Forums ... They are getting EXHAUSTING!
- No, Jesus is not going to save everybody ... no matter how "nice" you think He is and how many times you misquote Peter's reference to all the saints.
- No, The OT Law is still not the way to win God's favor.
- No, we are not going to hell for praising God on Sunday instead of ONLY ON Saturday.
- No, God is not patiently waiting for you to accept His gift of your own FREE WILL ... because ONE MORE TIME: Your WILL is FALLEN, in BONDAGE to SIN (that is Not Free).
- and on and on and on it goes ... any Heresy is permitted (welcomed, even) with only the BIBLICAL TRUTH restricted to a "special Forum" where it can be efficiently attacked ... (because EVERYBODY knows that Calvinism is unbiblical). [scream]
It is funny, I was just about to take a few months off from all "Christian" forums when I got an e-mail notification about the invite from Elf and saw a familiar "Starfish" avatar.
So INTRODUCTIONS:
1. WHO AM I?
Arthur. Raised atheist. Claimed by God out of crime/gangs while I was definitely not "looking to get saved". Studied the BIBLE under an African Missionary TO the United States at the Church of God (Wesleyan Holiness). Became a Baptist trying to reconcile what the Church taught (Wesleyan) with my ultra monergistic salvation experience. Now I have a wife and daughter (about to start at USF). I work as a Civil Engineer.
2. WHAT DO I BELIEVE?
While attempting to reconcile empirical reality, with Synergistic church teaching ... I discovered 4 truths by reading the Bible that I later learned had a name called "Calvinism":
- People are no darn good. ( T )
- God only knows why He saves anyone ... we certainly don't DESERVE it. ( U )
- God does the saving and he doesn't stop to ask our permission. ( I )
- God finishes what God starts. ( P )
It had never occurred to me to even ask who else Jesus had died for, It always seemed enough that He had died for ME [
and a bit of "none of my business"]. So I came late to ( L ) simply because I never gave it any thought.
Ultimately, the fancy-schmanzy name for my beliefs in PARTICULAR BAPTIST ... a monergistic, 5-point Calvinist, Credobaptist, continuationist. So in his infinite sense of humor, God selects an ATHEIST fully embracing NIHILISM and leads him so see Biblical Truth that practically guarantees that I will disagree with EVERYONE that I meet about something. Then God sends me out to "defend His truth in Love". I can usually do one OR the other ... but I keep TRYING to do BOTH.
Christian forums sure test me on that, though.
atpollard
