Discuss Theology

The Lord is in Heaven and does whatever he wishes. [Proverbs 21:30; Psalms 135:6]

Luther wrote in this commentary on Galatians that the forgiveness of “our sins” is one of the most important parts of the gospel. It is not only the sins of the unbelieving world but also “our” sins. John wrote that : If we confess “our” sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive “us, our” sins and cleanse “us” from all unrighteousness.

The last of the 4 most important points of the gospel is that Jesus was raised from the dead, in accordance with the Scriptures.

point number 2-Christ was buried. This really is important in that it underlines that Jesus really did die. some Moslems believe Jesus was put on a cross and then replaced by Judas Iscariot up there. Jesus then went to Istanbul.

Part one: “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” 1Corinthians 15

You can not get much more basic than that now can you?

I studied under men who thought there were multiple authors of the first 5 books of the Bible. Jesus said Moses wrote them, that is good enough for me. How we fit in a description of his own death into that is open for discussion but for sure everything else, Moses penned it.

I believe there really was a guy named Noah, who with his family survived a a catastrophic flood which was worldwide. This is the minority opinion among evangelical scholars who see the flood as local, I simply disagree with that because of the tone of the whole bible which argues for a worldwide, cosmic catastrophe.

A friend asked me yesterday what I thought about the whole Creation/Evolution debate. I believe in specific creation of the order from Genesis 1 with each category created after its kind. I therefore do not believe in Darwinian style evolution. Neither do I believe that agreeing with me is necessary for salvation on these points.

C.S. Lewis stated that God loved him into a corner and saved him. I think this is a good literary picture of irresistible grace. I suppose Paul could have resisted Jesus meeting him on the Damascus
Road in AActs 9. In Acts 26:19, Paul states that he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision on the road to Damascus. So, that implies that it would have been possible for him to be disobedient. Paul could have looked up to heaven from the ground, blinded and said “i am not going to do what you have told me to do.” He could have done that, but it is fairly non-credible to believe that any human being would have responded that way to a heavenly interception from God himself. So, yes, I believe in irresistible grace with the Acfts 26:19 proviso.

Calvinists through the centuries have discussed this one as Jesus died only for the elect. That being written, some have stated that they questioned whether Calvin himself actually believed this. I actually ask this question about Calvin as well. Instead of limited atonement, some have re-labelled it as a definite atonement-that is that Jesus died for a specific group of people. These Calvinists point to the elect as that “definite” group in favor of limiting the atonement. On this one, I part company with historical Calvinists and plead for 1 John2 where John writes that Jesus did not only die for our sins but for the sins of “the whole world”.