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Why I’m Not a Calvinist?
Varnel Watson
Steve Webb Does this fit your conviction of not being a calvinist?
Carl Murphy
Varnel Watson
Carl Do you not BELIEVE IN “FALLING AWAY” FROM GRACE? http://www.pentecostaltheology.com/do-you-believe-in-falling-away-from-grace/
Carl Murphy
I believe it much harder than someone folks think. I do not believe in the semantics of being saved over and over. Christ went to Calvary once for you, not 50 times. You either believe that he died for you or you don’t. The belief, that faith is either real the first time or there was no salvation for which to start. So you either believe or you don’t. Which brings us to the act of sinning or breaking God’s commands. I am not talking about Ex. 20 but rather all the teachings of Christ. Christ tells us that if we love him we will keep his commandments. He other words, do you love Christ or do you not? Are you a follower of Christ, one that works for the kingdom, one that gets battered and bruised or are you simply a fan that shows up on Sunday, or Saturday night and sway to some music for an hour reminding Jesus and attempting to convince yourself that you are all in. “Here I am to worship”. I am sure Jesus is saying ready? I didn’t know that till you told me because I know your heart. I believe salvation is a forever life changing event, you believe and you accept and you follow. Sure there are moments of failure, Peter being the great example, I believe in grace, that his grace is sufficient to cover all my sins, not just the ones folks think should be. I believe that nothing can remove me from the hand of God, however I can repudiate his grace
and love and be lost. But then the question arises, if I truly believed, if I truly experienced the love of Christ why would I leave? Because it’s too hard? Because the world offers something I want, then the question arises did I take his yoke upon me, if I did then I walk his path, I walk next to him and he keeps me pointed in the right direction, turning neither left or right. I believe there are many fans of Jesus out there, they sit in the stands, they wear the team colors and they shout and scream go Jesus, but putting on the jersey with Jesus name on the back doesn’t make you part of the team. Think of the folks that went to see Jesus heal the sick and perform miracles and then get free food as he fed them with a few fish and some bread. Gee the crowd was all on Jesus side, dinner and a show, the next morning they were still there, why? Looking for breakfast. They hunted Jesus down saying where’s breakfast, when he said all he had was the bread of life they left. They were all for him till the goodies stopped. How many walked away saying, I told you he was a fraud? (Just like folks today that pray and don’t get the answer they want) So Troy, I believe a lot of folks are going to be disappointed on judgement day when he says depart from me and they yell we did this or that, and he replies I NEVER knew you. Being a Christ follower is total surrender, it is working the master’s fields and it is basking in his glory for he is our father, and just as I longed to hear my earthly father tell me he was proud of me, I long even more to hear it from Jesus. Just because I have a lapse in judgment does not divorce me from my earthly or Heavenly Father, for he is much more forgiving and his grace extends far greater and he does not require I beat my breast and sit on a dung hill an beg for forgiveness. He knows my heart. It is only when I, like the prodigal son load all my possessions on a cart and declare I am leaving, I don’t need you is when we lose out, and we are not losing our salvation, we are willingly giving it back.
Tim Renneberg
That will preach
Mike Stidham
The Freewill and General Baptists, who are Arminian, teach that such an apostasy is a long, long process of heart hardening and once you have turned away and apostasized, according to Hebrews 6 there is no coming back. Such an approach makes more sense than “If it’s Tuesday I must be unsaved.”
David Rollings
There is a companion volume Why I am not an Arminian