New Year's Resolutions -- Final Form

I actually do not do this every year but this year I have decided that I need some sort of kickoff to some of my future plans so New Year's Day will do.

Resolution #1: To memorize two books of the Bible this year -- Ecclesiastes and 1 John -- 17 total chapters, 327 Verses. Easily done if I took one verse a day but review means I would have to take it at two verses a day. Want to be able to quote them like I was reading them.

Resolution #2: Learn Latin: before the end of the year I want to finish Wheellock's Latin -- I have the book, workbook and reader and it is high time I put them to good use.

Resolution #3 Write a non fiction book and a fiction book before the end of the year -- If I am ever going to be a writer I need to push it this year. Means putting something on paper everyday.

Resolution #4: Finish the whole year as a bodybuilder -- no slacking off of training or diet.

All of this should put me closer to my lifetime goals and keep me out of trouble.

I will also continue to blog everyday -- the only resolution from last year I kept. Well sort of anyway.

Tiptoeing Through the TULIPs -- Part 6 -- P -- Perserverance of the Saints or Nothing Can Stop Us Now.

Perseverance of the Saints (POTS) is a doctrine I would probably like to believe in except for one thing -- There is at least one entire book of the Bible against it -- Hebrews.

POTS basically states that those who God gives his grace to through U, L and I will automatically Persevere and will not be lost no matter what. The saint automatically perseveres even if he lives a sinful lifestyle or really has no relationship with God. Come to Think of it I remember Romans 6 has something to say about that as well.

POTS combined with Irresistible Grace leads to one of the most devilish doctrines of all time -- Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS). If grace can not be resisted and the saints cannot lose their salvation then it seems the most logical conclusion. I know there are some branches of Baptist and Reformed Thinking that discard I and P for a form of freewill defense but honestly I think Calvin is right: If T.U.L. is true than I and P are inevitable. But then again, I think Calvin was completely bonkers about the whole thing.

Getting Back to Hebrews and POTS. Two Problems 1) The entire book of Hebrews is written to Jews who have come out of Judaism for the sole purpose of convincing them to stay in Christianity and not turn back to Judaism because the New Covenant with Christ is better than the Old. If there is no real danger of losing ones salvation as POTS claims, then why would the writer of Hebrews be worried about this happening in the first place? 2) Hebrews 6:4-6 -- For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. Now this is odd isn't it -- if it is not possible to lose ones salvation then why talk this way?

Now I know that those who hold to POTS and OSAS say that this paragraph does not describe a person who is saved, but then that also has problems 1) If they are not really saved, then what exactly are they falling away from? It is hard to fall from something you never had to begin with. 2) If this verse were written about anything else but falling away and we saw this verse: For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, What would we say it describes then? If this does not describe salvation,what then does it describe?

Suppose it read instead:For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, to be deceived (change for example purposes only).

You could bet then people would be saying that those who are saved cannot be deceived. But because it talks about falling away from these things; it cannot be salvation because to the POTS Believer salvation cannot be flalen away from. It would directly contradict his doctrine. This is probably one of the greatest cases of eisegesis (reading what we want to be in Scripture) in the modern/port modern world today. This is what happens when a doctrine trumps a plain reading of Scripture.

Nope. Don't See POTS or OSAS as true. If fact I have rejected the whole thing and next week I am going to tell you why.

Next: Stepping on TULIPs -- Why I reject Calvinism.

Tiptoeing Through the TULIPs -- Part 4 -- L -- Limited Atonement or Jesus' Blood Can Only Do So Much

Now, in Calvinism, the central core of the system is Total Depravity and Unconditional Election. Once a person accepts these the remaining things of TULIP just follow.

Limited Atonement states that because election is unconditional then Jesus only died for the elect. Some versions state that Jesus' sacrifice only applied to the elect, but either way, atonement is limited to the elect.

I have two objections to this
1) The first is that this is patently Unbiblical -- 1 John 2:2 -- "and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." John basically states that Jesus blood and sacrifice is a propitiation for every sin committed; not just but Christians but the whole world. There are other verses like this but only one is necessary.

2) Doesn't this limit the power of Christ's blood? Seems to. It means that Christ's power over sin only extends to those who are the elect. After that Jesus' blood has no power.

Now as I do not accept T or U anyway, it does not follow for me that atonement is limited but applied to anyone who accepts it by faith.

Next: I -- Irresistible Grace or God the Spiritual Rapist