December 2013

I have not historically spent much time, if any, obsessing on the various sexual liberation agendas in our culture. But it has come to my attention that perhaps the most troubled and confused people in our current society are those who accuse Christians of hate speech and homophobia for simply wanting to share the gospel with them. Such groundless declarations of hate betray the speakers themselves as a people driven by irrational prejudice. In doing so they are creating a poisoned cultural, educational and political atmosphere which they teach others to hate Christians for something they don't even believe, nor has it crossed our mind .... since no true Christian believes he/she morally better and many of us have committed much worse sins. We are here to proclaim freedom to those enslaved, ourselves included. It is mercy alone which saved us, and certainly not any good in us.

It is one thing to say that you don't believe Christianity to be true but quite another to declare that it must come from hate. Sadly I do believe a large number of people promoting these cultural myths know this, but truth seems to go out the window for people when they have a political agenda. However, when such an agenda involves smearing others with non-existent motives, then this is a form of defamation and is ITSELF perhaps the worst form of hate there is. Perhaps THIS is the source of our very hostile, divided culture. If there are so-called Christians, who are hateful, and no doubt there are, surprising as it may sound to some, a more conservative view of theology is the answer to dealing with such ignorance and bigotry. Jesus who delivers ALL OF US from some form(s) of bondage, calls us to proclaim liberty to captives whoever they may be, homosexual or otherwise.

by John Hendryx

Many Christians will (reluctantly) acknowledge that there indeed do appear to be passages in the Bible, especially in the Gospel of John and the the theology of the Pauline epistles which strongly suggest that salvation is by grace alone, apart from the will or effort or cooperation of man (John 6:63, 65, 37; Rom 9:15, 16). However these same individuals will then quickly point out the "many" passages which give the appearance of teaching the free will of man to believe and follow Christ, apart from such grace. For example they appeal to passages in the Bible which say "if you are willing", "if you will hear", "if you will do" and they assume that such appeals to man demonstrates that he has a free will to believe.

Recently one individual with this view pointed out a similar type of passage in Jeremiah 26 where the Lord declares:

"Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4Say to them, 'This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.'"

The person who quoted the passage said the phrase "perhaps they will listen" is proof positive that man has a free will to repent and believe on their own and that the bible does not present such passages as deception.

by John Hendryx

Visitor's Question: Why does the Bible condone genocide? Was that just the Old Testament "god" who demanded that? It is clear that in the book of Joshua, God commanded the Jews to utterly wipe out people groups that inhabited Canaan. If this is so, why didn't Jesus denounce him? Christians often try to avoid this question, it seems to me.

Response: Actually, I am surprised that this question should be avoided, as it provides one of the clearest illustrations of a most significant truth in the Bible: Not only did God take the lives of those He ordered the Israelites to kill (the Canaanites) – He also takes the life of everyone on earth. The peoples of Canaan may have faced the death penalty earlier than expected, but in essence, their fate was no different than ours. We are all subject to death. Death, as the Bible reveals, is the just penalty imposed for Adam's disobedience in the garden (Genesis 2:16-17; Rom. 5:12-14). Thus, not only may God take life as He sees fit – He does take the life of every last human on earth (see Heb. 9:27). We should not lose sight of this alarming truth: death is not natural, it is not a normal process of time and chance, nor is it a necessary mechanism of evolution. Humans were created to live, and the fact that they do not speaks to a terrifying reality – we are all born under divine wrath and judgment.

The subsequent quotations are extracted from "The Bondage of the Will," which Luther believed to be his most significant work. The doctrine of faith, as expressed in "De Servo Arbitrio," is deeply grounded in Scripture. Should Luther's thesis be correct, then all religions that are founded on human ability are fundamentally mistaken.

Luther was responding to Erasmus' claims that humans possess a natural moral capacity to obey the gospel. Erasmus assumed that all of God's commands to obey demonstrated that we had the "free-will" or moral ability to fulfill them. Erasmus frequently inquired, "If we are unable to do anything, what is the purpose of all the laws, precepts, threats, and promises in the Bible? All these commandments are worthless if nothing is attributed to the human will. If it is not within the power of every person to keep what is commanded, all the exhortations of Scripture are necessarily meaningless." In response, Luther with great acumen and sarcasm reveals why Erasmus' notion of free will is an erroneous and unscriptural doctrine that ultimately undermines the gospel itself.