- If the fetus a woman is carrying in her womb is not a human being, why is someone who kills a pregnant woman charged with two counts of homicide?
- If the fetus a woman is carrying in her womb is a human being, why isn't that person counted when the census is taken?
- If the Calvinist teaching that a person once saved is always saved is true, how do Calvinists explain the New Testament passage Hebrews 6:4-6 which clearly states that a person who "has been enlightened" and "has tasted the heavenly gift" and "has become a partaker of the Holy Spirit" can "fall away"?
- If the Arminian teaching that a saved person can be lost but he can get saved again is true, how do Arminians explain the New Testament passage Hebrews 6:4-6 which clearly states that if a person falls away it is "impossible to be renewed again to repentance"?
Here is the passage that should cause both the Calvinist and the Arminian wings of the Christian religion to rethink their respective entrenched positions:
"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and of the powers of the age to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame." --Hebrews6:4-6
We could get into a big discussion here about whether "falling away" and "backsliding" mean the same thing or two different things, and whether one or both or neither indicates losing one's salvation, and what is apostasy exactly, and though the Prodigal Son may have lost his fellowship with his father he didn't lose his relationship with his father, but we won't because it is just too confusing.
If you want to chime in with your thoughts, be my guest, but I will not publish any comment I deem to be hate speech. Yes, I suppose that is a form of censorship, but (a) it's my blog and (b) I don't care.
I really don't know, Robert, but I try to live in an honest and considerate way in accordance with the Church of England morals I grew up in, although I no longer go to church.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tasker.
DeleteYou present philosophical questions. Often those are interpreted by the person affected.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Emma.
DeleteI long ago stopped trying to analyse the myriad of inconsistencies in The Bible. In my experience it is interpreted by people in the way they want to interpret it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughts, Graham.
DeleteI should add that, although I left The Church many many years ago, I still try to lead my life like Tasker does and with those same morals even though I left the church decades ago and consciously became atheist nearly 20 years ago.
ReplyDelete...and for those too, Graham.
DeleteWhen you start talking about Calvinists and Arminians I get flash backs to my chaplaincy course. There was a single class on these lines of thinking just to make sure we knew a little about it and a couple of fellas turned it into a thesis worthy overview of church history. I hope they are never my chaplain.
ReplyDeleteAll of your questions are unanswerable and I don't even try. Each of us is answerable to our own selves and our higher power with no need to compare or compete
Thank you for your thoughts, kylie. When you say "higher power" it reminds me of what Alcoholics Anonymous say. Was your chaplaincy training through the state, the Salvation Army, or some other group? If I remember correctly, the S.A. fall among the Wesleyan-Arminian-holiness traditions doctrinally.
DeleteBob, I did my training through The Salvation Army's Eva Burrows College. I was working for them at the time and my fees were paid through the employee development program.
DeleteI did Disaster Chaplaincy Training through a state government program.
We are, indeed, of the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition.
Good questions, RWP, and ones I've wondered about. Many things in the Bible still mystify me, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that only we are confused, never God. I love that I don't HAVE to understand it all, but when it's all said and done, to just trust Him and rest in that.
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting, Pam,. It's good to hear from you again with such good, sensible thoughts.
ReplyDelete