It is worthwhile to note that the commandments in Leviticus 20 against such things as Child Sacrifice (v 20:2), consulting mediums and necromancers (v.20:6), Sexual Immorality (adultery, men lying with a male as with a woman, (v 20:10), bestiality (v. 20:15), were given to Israel to set them apart from the nations around them. God declared that he was judging these OTHER nations because of these things. So this standard was not for Israel alone. See Leviticus quote below:
Visitor:
I have two hesitations about TULIP. It starts with total depravity while the Bible starts with God, and man made in his image. Second, we as finite beings, live in a time bound world. We cannot begin to explain a perspective from outside of time. God knows the end from the beginning but we make choices everyday. We are not puppets. We don’t explain away these choices because God knows the end. As Joshua said, Choose you this day who you will serve.
Response:
a) Adam by nature was obliged to obey God, without thereby having any right to a reward.
b) God had created him mutable, and he also possessed no right to an immutable state.
c) His natural relationship to God already included the he, if sinning, must be punished by God.
d) All this was a natural *relationship* in which Adam stood. Now to this natural relationship a *covenant* was added by God, which contained various positive elements.
e) These positive elements were the following.
J. I. Paker has made the point that all the tenets of Calvinism--that faithfully biblical system of theology that joyfully embraces the rich, comforting, God exalting, self-abasing, Christ-honoring, scriptural message of the sovereignty of God in salvation and all things--reduce to one overarching claim: "God saves sinners." Each of these words is important for understanding what the Bible teaches about salvation. First, God saves sinners. God, not man, saves. He does not make us potentially savable. He does not enable us to save ourselves. He saves.
Dear saints,
I came across this and thought it would be worth sharing.
This is an excerpt from The Epistle to Diognetus, one of the earliest pieces of Christian apologetic writing. While we are not sure of the author, it was probably written sometime in the 100's. For the sake of reference, Justin Martyr, the most well known apologist of the early church, lived roughly 100-165.
“If there were ten thousand thousand millions of worlds, and as many heavens full of men and angels, Christ would not be pinched to supply all our wants, and to fill us all. Christ is a well of life, but who knoweth how deep it is to the bottom?
This soul of ours hath love, and cannot but love some fair one. And, O, what a fair One, what an only One, what an excellent, lovely, ravishing One is Jesus! Put the beauty of ten thousand thousand worlds of paradises like the garden of Eden in one.
Many years ago as a college freshman, before I knew the Lord, a friend of mine and I, while on some mind altering substance, decided to take a drive into the mountains:
I said, "let's take this road."
He asked, "where does it go?."
I answered "nowhere"
He replied, "I like that place." And so we went.
