The third assumption in Augustine's thinking is his experience, based on personal observation, that some humans are not saved. In his own life, Augustine observed that some babies die before being baptized. For Augustine, reconciliation to God in Christ is impossible without baptism.1 Not everyone who was baptized was ultimately saved, but baptism for him was a "condition sine qua non" for salvation.2 Therefore anyone who died without baptism likewise died without hope of salvation. Combined with his views of God's unlimited power and humanity's helplessness, Augustine reasoned that those who died without baptism were never elected to salvation in the first place.
I’m told one of the high-lights of the 2006 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina was the formal exchange between Drs. Al Mohler and Paige Patterson on the biblical doctrine of election. Entitled “Reaching Today's World Through Differing Views of Election” each speaker took a different perspective on biblical election, Calvinistic and non-Calvinistic respectively. Especially enlightening are Al Mohler’s words defending Five Point Calvinism against the charge of Hyper-Calvinism >>>
I’m personally appreciative Al Mohler responded to “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation” (TS) released to the public last week by Dr. Eric Hankins, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Oxford, Mississippi >>>
Below is a file uploaded to my site, a file about which I was made aware by Christian author, Cathy Mickels. Parents whose children attend Liberty University need to read this document. What the document contains from Driscoll's own words is provocative. It's mundane. It's crude. And, at times, it's vulgar. It's also necessary. Were my children attending LU, I'd want to know that LU decided to bring in Mark Driscoll to sexualize my kids with his bogus authoritarian interpretation of the Song of Solomon >>>
Brumbelow's book on abstinence cannot be overlooked by those who insist on affirming the questionable moral assertion that consuming alcoholic beverages for pleasurable purposes remains a choice indicative of ones "freedom" in Christ. Pastors to seminary presidents are already purchasing this volume >>>
I don’t know if it’s unintended ignorance or intentional intellectual laziness on the part of many Reformed apologists, but options for theological accuracy coming from some of the more well-known websites are fast disappearing. Alpha & Omega, the apologetic website of extreme Calvinist* James White, recently put up a piece on free will written by contributor, Alan Kurschner in which Kurschner flatly denied human responsibility implies the concept of “so-called free will.” I offered a brief critique, pointing out the obvious flaw in Kurschner’s reasoning (and most all strict Calvinists for that matter).
Recent Comments