LOOKING TO PRAISE AND WORSHIP JESUS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. 18 No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known].

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Novelty?

The following is from that latter comments on"Free Grace Theology Blog". They are from a man who claims to know Calvinism backwards and forward, a man who claims that Calvinists follow the man Calvin instead of the Bible. Let's see if you can pick up on the irony here -

"This is very easy to say. Just think about the fact that nearly EVERY, pastor, teacher, commentary, systematic theology, confession, of EVERY Christian denomination teaches doctrine which would make it impossible for anyone to ACCEPT what we teach! Just think that there are hundreds of verses in the Bible which SEEM to contradict Free Grace Theology, and ALL of them are "explained" in such a manner by almost all that they rule out the Free Grace interpretation. Further, even the very few denominations, (Once Saved Always Saved Baptist churches are one exception), still in the large part teach a "muddled gospel." Even most of them teach that if one apostatizes completely, and denies Christ, he was not saved, although this is contradicted by their Once Saved Always Saved doctrine. Refined Free Grace theology is a very rare teaching. I fully believe that Free Grace Theology is the only true soteriology, but I do not think that the very good exegesis of verses which SEEM to deny Free Grace Theology are easily come by. I believe that Zane and Bob and others at Grace Evangelical Society have been a real gift to the church, a gift which by the way, is either not known or rejected by most of Christendom. "

"This is what I mean. The same is true of John 11:25-27. The truth that Zane pointed out is obvious AFTER it is explained. The same is true of I John 5:1. I think that millions upon millions have read John 3:16, and I John 5:1 and considered that they believed them. I know I did. I didn't see the obvious in these passages even after I was saved for a long time. It has not been until recently, (in the last few years: that the obvious has become obvious.) Grace Evangelical Society's major goal has been to teach the obvious - that eternal life is given by faith alone in Christ alone. There have been numerous JOTGES papers directed to this point. Hundreds of pages have been spent exegeting verses which SEEM to deny our Free Grace understanding. It seems very likely that a person who is sincerely seeking light on this subject could have a very difficult time reaching the truth when every commentary, systematic theology, Bible teacher, and preacher is teaching that it is not true. After all, there are lengthy passages which SEEM to contradict our understanding of all these verses. Sure, they can be explained, by good exegetes, like Zane, Bob, and others from Grace Evangelical Society but the reasoning is certainly not trivial nor it is obvious."

"I guess I should rephrase my position. I believe that millions of professing Christians THINK that they believe John 3:16 who don't. And they will never come to that realization until we confront them show them that they really do not believe it. BUT it is not John 3:16 in isolation which will ever change their minds. They are too deeply embedded in error. To be convinced of the truth they need to have teaching about the "one drink," never thirst. Eats bread never hunger, etc. There are Greek "experts" which teach that the present tense of "believe" pisteuo, means "continue to believe," which supports Arminianism and Calvinism. A very recent book, "Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics" by Daniel B. Wallace, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, teaches this error. And of course, almost ALL other Greek grammars also teach this error, Since both Arminianism and Calvinism and almost every other denomination teach this. In one of Zane's talks, (papers) he cites an older Greek authority who shows that this is wrong."

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