Quote:
Originally Posted by pelathais
At the heart of the issue is a paradox. It whittles down to the timeless free will verses determinism debate.
A "determinist" (Calvinist, Evangelical, educated Baptist, etc) might say something like this:
If God chose you from the foundation of the world to be saved, then nothing you do will frustrate the will of God. You will change your mind about sin, you will change your sinful behavior and you will of course be baptized. All of those things are brought about by the working of God's Spirit upon your sinful heart and are inevitable because you were saved from the foundation of the world.
A "free will" advocate (Like a Wesleyan, a non-Augustinian RC or Church of Christ) would say something like this:
You need to make a decision now. Choose who you will serve. Obey the Gospel and the teachings of the NT. Can't you feel the ministration of the Holy Spirit beckoning you to repent?
My view is that both sides are correct. We need to preach from both a free will and from a determinist point of view for balance. This is considered officially to be "heresy" by the UPCI, but so be it. Truth in balance will accomplish far more than a reactionary a paranoid approach to hill billy theology.
|
Your being sidetracked. The issue is baptism, is it a command and therefore necessary or was it an optional suggestion from Jesus.
Threaded Mode
