Did He Visit My Church?

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Too funny!  Did the writer of this satirical article visit my church during my pastor's 8-month-long series on Romans?  

 I am absolutely convinced that my dogmatically-predestination pastor did a series on Romans specifically so he could talk about predestination for EIGHT MONTHS.

 (The good thing that came out of it is that I ended up thoroughly researching this issue and studying the Bible to come to the conclusion that I don't believe God predestines whether we go to heaven or hell.)

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Updated: Alana L. 5Q (robots)

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Point #5 still (updated):  Q:  "Sovereign, sovereign, sovereign, sovereign."     Robots? As I said in the last post, I believe that  God gave us free-will and an awful lot of room to make real decisions that affect things - because He wanted real people, real relationships, not robots.  "Oh, but we don't think people are robots controlled by God," says the Calvinist. Oh, really?  Then I must have misunderstood:  John Calvin   ( Institutes of the Christian Religion,  book 1, chapters 16-17, bold added in all quotes ):  " ...  the counsels and  wills of men are so governed as to move  exactly in the course which he has destined ....   the devil, and the whole train of the ungodly...[cannot do any evil or even move a finger] unless in so far as [God] permits - nay, unless in so far  as he commands . " John Calvin  ( Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God ):   “ ... how foolish and frail [it...
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List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

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I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
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Should "Satan" Be Capitalized?

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(reposted from my other blog)             I’ve read a lot of things lately where Christian people won’t capitalize the name “Satan.”   They say it’s because they don’t want to give him that much credit or attention.               And while I can appreciate that sentiment, why do I still capitalize his name?             Because the inspired Word of God does.   "Satan" is a name, not an adjective or a common noun.  But a name.  And names get capitalized.  And so if the Bible capitalizes his name, identifying him as an actual being, who  am I to act like I know better?             One author in particular said he barely talks about Satan because he doesn’t want to focus on him in any way.   He doesn’t want to give Satan that much “air-time.”       ...
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#2: Embracing Hope, Jan. 2016 (repost)

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[Reposted from my other blog, from January 2016.  This comes shortly after the "Wrestling With God" post, the summer when I found myself utterly discouraged by life, by gardening.  When it seemed like one thing after the next just kept going wrong.  This was my call to hope again.   Update:   I mentioned in the last post that my mom is currently trying to drink herself to death.  I got a call last night that she was found unconscious at a friend's house after drinking since 10 a.m. that morning and taking a bunch of Librium.  They called me last night to tell me that she was in the hospital with a blood alcohol level of 375, unconscious, and not breathing on her own.  (A couple days ago, she went in with level of 400.)  They had to put tubes in her lungs to keep her alive.  It's the fourth time, they said, that the ambulance was called on her in about a week.  I tell ya, it seems almost supernatural that she hasn't died yet....
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Why Are Christians Apologizing For The Truth?

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So there's this article out about Christians going to a gay pride parade and holding up signs saying they are sorry for how they treated the LGBTQ-community. It's one thing to apologize for making anyone feel unloved or unforgivable ... but it's another thing to apologize for sharing the truth.  And that's what this "apology" sounds like.  I think that it's not apologizing for mistreating LGBTQ-people; it's apologizing for the Bible.  It's watering down the message of the Gospel to make other people feel good about their sins.  It's denying our need to repent and seek righteousness.   It's denying God to please man. Should we really be softening the Gospel so that it doesn't offend people in sin when the Gospel is meant to offend people in sin?  When it's meant to cause people to reevaluate the way they are living and to change what's wrong so that they can get right with the Lord?  When it's meant to bring eternal li...
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"Are Calvinists Saved?"

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(I added some new notes to the end of this post, August 23, 2020.) Here's a video from  Beyond the Fundamentals  that's well-worth watching:   Are Calvinists Saved? The most thought-provoking part (for me) was when he asks (paraphrased) "How do Calvinists know they're saved, that Jesus died for them?" You see, I would say that I trust in the truths of the Bible.  I trust that when God says He loves all people and wants all people to be saved, He means He loves  all  people and wants  all  people to be saved.  I trust that when He says Jesus died for all people and all sins, He means that Jesus died for  all  people and  all  sins.  I trust that when He says that we will find Him if we seek Him with all our hearts, He means that we can seek Him and find Him.  I trust that when He commands us to choose whom we will serve, He means that we have to choose whom we will serve.  I trust that when He ...
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Pre-Chosen People? Is God's Call Irresistible?

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(Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) John 6:37 :   “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”              This one confused me for awhile.   It sounded like Jesus is saying that all the people that God has pre-chosen to be believers are destined to come to faith in Him.   And that only those who are chosen by God will come to faith.              But I’m not sure if that’s what this is really saying.  
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For All The Young American Socialists:

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For all those young, budding socialists in America, who seem to want socialism despite the fact that it's destroyed almost every other nation who embraces it, here's a cautionary tale about what it really is: France Reaps Decades Of Socialism And Open Borders France's Welfare State in Meltdown Mode... Yes, the idea of free stuff for everyone, shared resources, and allowing everyone and anyone into the country sounds nice and sweet and loving and open-minded.  I think most of us want the best for everyone.  We would love to see everyone getting along, having all their needs met, living the "good life."   But it's not an issue of what we want to see happen; it's an issue of what works.  And in the end, socialism just doesn't work.  It is self-sabotaging.  (I am not referring specifically to France in what I say here, just using that article as an example of what socialism leads to.)    Think about it:  If everything you worked for...
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"Bring me pain, Lord, if it brings You glory!"

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(Reposted from my other blog.)  I’ve always found the statements of “I want the Lord to do whatever He wants in my life to bring Him the most glory possible, even if it means bringing me pain” to be inspirational … and a bit “off.” Wh en I was 21 (half my lifetime ago), I went to Papua New Guinea for a summer on a mission trip.    And I told my mom that I picked PNG over any other place because it was so remote and primitive.    I said that I wanted to have everything taken away to really challenge me, to grow my faith in new ways.    And I meant it.    I really did.    My heart was in the right place. But my mom said something wise, something that stuck.    She said, “Don’t ask for that!    Never ask for that!    Because He could take away everything – your legs, your eyesight, your health, your home, etc.” Wow!    So true. As I thought about it, I realized that I didn’t really want God to do...
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Leaving Calvinism: Steven Hitchcock

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Here is the short, simple  testimony of a former Calvinist  from Australia, Steven Hitchcock, author of  Recanting Calvinism .  I have not read his book, but there are some really good, concise points in this post. Such as when he talks about the problems with Calvinism's view that God has a hidden Will which undermines and contradicts His revealed Will.   As he points out, if we accept the idea that God has a secret Will that can override what He says in the Bible, then no one can know anything for certain.   If Calvinism is true that God can say one thing but mean another - such as saying He loves all people and wants all people to be saved but He really hates most people and predestines them to hell - then why can't He say (as Calvinists believe) that He elects some people to salvation ... but He's really elected  no one  at all?  If He can't be trusted to say what He means and mean what He says in the Bible, how can Calvinists...
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