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Search results

  1. H

    Romans 5:12-21

    There's less distinction between this and Calvin than you might think. For Calvin, the fall corrupted human nature. That corruption makes it impossible for us to be morally perfect. For Calvin that meant that without Christ's intervention, we were unable to be saved. This is actually pretty...
  2. H

    Disruptive church trends of 2018

    Yes, I agree. There are lots of studies and position papers about how to bring younger generations into church. I think most of them are irrelevant. My diagnosis is that our young adults still mostly believe in God. But they don't see church services as having enough value to get them up early...
  3. H

    Suspended for "not following school instruction". Good for him.

    I read a detailed article in the Washington Post. There are a couple of interesting things. First, he wasn't against the protest. He felt that he shouldn't be made to take sides on a political issue. But the point I noticed in quotations from the school is that they had effectively disarmed...
  4. H

    Genesis story of creation "Days" literal or not?

    I see no reason to doubt that the days are intended literally. The wording "evening and morning" seems to make the intent pretty clear. Of course creation wasn't actually done in 6 days, but trying to interpret Gen 1 in some weird way so it can sort of agree with science seems like a losing battle.
  5. H

    Why is he called the HOLY Spirit?

    I very much doubt that anyone managed to memorize that fairly long discourse when hearing it, so I wouldn't bet on the wording being precise. But at least in NRSV Jesus uses Holy Spirit once and "Spirit of truth" 3 times during that discourse. Language throughout the NT varies, with simply...
  6. H

    Unforgiveable sin.

    I'm not sure I understand the question. The passage refers to the Spirit in three ways: Spirit of God, Spirt, and Holy Spirit. Luke's version says "the finger of God." As far as I know, Holy Spirit is simply a common term for the Spirit of God. I don't think looking deeply at the definition of...
  7. H

    Unforgiveable sin.

    The theme of the passage quoted in the OP is what power is behind Jesus' actions. Some claim it's Satan. Jesus argues that that's self-contradictory. It is in fact the Holy Spirit. He then says that rejecting him can be forgiven, but not rejecting the power that's behind him, the Holy Spirit...
  8. H

    Questions an atheist friend wanted to ask part 3.

    I'm not sure it didn't happen. Scholars believe Matthew and Luke used a common source, which is called Q. Luke says "Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were...
  9. H

    Why do some Christians believe Hell is an invention?

    Jesus talks about hell. Christians usually think he knew what he's talking about. There are lots of unconventional opinions: that hell is a symbol for destruction, that no one ends up there forever, etc. But it's hard to deny that Jesus speaks of judgement in some form. The idea that hell was...
  10. H

    Some Lutherans don't believe Jesus is God

    "God is fully present in Jesus" is classic modern theological language. Those who would be reluctant to say "Jesus is God" would normally have no problem at all saying that. (At least not unless we're speaking of folks like Spong.) Similarly "Jesus Christ is both God and human" is a statement...
  11. H

    Some Lutherans don't believe Jesus is God

    I appreciate the attempt to deal with what is so far gossip. But "Jesus is God" is probably not a phrase you want to use to define orthodoxy. It's not present in any of the classical creeds that I'm familiar with, nor is it in the Book of Concord (unless I've missed something). While I don't...
  12. H

    Some Lutherans don't believe Jesus is God

    No names or details about theology have been given. So nothing could be pointed out because there isn't enough information to do so.
  13. H

    Inspiration of Scripture

    Here's a good review: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/archeology-hebrew-bible.html Here's a more detailed discussion of the Exodus and where the people of Israel came from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/moses-exodus.html There are more radical versions, that think the whole OT...
  14. H

    Inspiration of Scripture

    There are two major models of inspiration. One is that the text itself is inspired. The other is that the events described come from God, but that Scripture is a witness written by humans describing their experiences with God. In that case it's not the text itself that is inspired but the things...
  15. H

    Inspiration of Scripture

    Huh? Archaeologists currently tell us that OT history isn't very accurate until the time of the Kings. There are debates even about the kings, though I tend to accept the overall picture starting about with Judges. In the NT, while there may be issues of detail, the picture of Jesus we get...
  16. H

    Double Predestination

    This passage doesn't say anything about how people became Jesus' followers, just that the Kingdom was prepared for his followers.
  17. H

    Double Predestination

    I think a more typical Arminian position (e.g. http://evangelicalarminians.org/the-facts-of-salvation-a-summary-of-arminian-theologythe-biblical-doctrines-of-grace/) is that the fall does incapacitate man, and God's gracious action is needed to bring us to the point where we have the possibility...
  18. H

    Double Predestination

    Limited atonement means that Christ died only for the elect. Of the 5 TULIP points, it's the one that Calvin doesn't explicitly teach.
  19. H

    Double Predestination

    As to Reformed beliefs, the majority of Reformed today hold traditional confessions sort of loosely. Starting with the early 20th Cent it's clear that the idea of God choosing some people to be damned was thought to be a problem. Hence in 1903 "declaratory statements" were appended to the...
  20. H

    Double Predestination

    The choosing is equally active. But not the way the choice is carried out. There's no negative of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Having chosen to reject someone, God simply leaves them alone, to fail on their own. Calvin wants to be clear that people's failure is their own fault, since there's...
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