penned wrote:
isn't kind of like if the used baby diaper fell in the brownie mix and you just pulled it out and kept stirring, baked it up and served it to guests?
not a good batch!

ladybug wrote:
Actually, we should despise Calvinism. The Bible doesn't call us to follow men now does it? Did the doctrines of grace originate with John Calvin or Jesus Christ? Should Calvin be entitled to any credit or share in God's glory? It seems to me too many have made Calvin their 'idol' and lash out at those who dare expose their 'golden calf'.
John UK, bless you for saying 'I talk of Jesus, not the men who brought me to Jesus.'
" I am the LORD; that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images." Isaiah 42:8
To worship Calvin is comparable to the RCC worship of Mary; idolatry is alive and well within the Reformed camp. May the Lord search hearts, may repentance be wrought, may there be a forsaking of and fleeing from idolatry. May Christ rule and reign supremely in the hearts of His people. God forbid He be forced to share His throne with Calvin, Luther, Mary, or any other idol exalted by man.

Really wrote:
Liza, the reformed never reformed far enough. They carried a great deal of baggage from the RCC from whence they came. The RCC and 'reformed' have always persecuted Baptists, and it will always be the same.
Their basic approach to the Bible is that there is no difference between the OT and NT, between the old and new covenants.
So just as the OT nation was a mixture of believers and unbelievers they assume that the NT church will be the same. Just as babies were circumcised so they assume babies should be baptized. The Abrahamic covenant to them is the Covt of Grace which guarantees salvation to them and their kids. They believe they stand in Abraham's place! Just as the OT nation had a hierarchical leadership structure, so they assume the NT church will also have a hierarchical structure. Just as the OT nation was a theocracy and church and state were the same, so they assume we should still have 'Christian' nations where church and state are the same. Just as heretics were killed in the OT, they think it should be the same in the NT. They don't look for NT proof of any of this. They just assume it carried over from the OT to the NT.

Michael Hranek wrote:
Liza J.
What a beautiful question, for a child of God to ask someone they care about.
It goes right along with: 'Have you been born again?' I appreciate Ladybug's caring enough to aks this too.
Sarah, my wife, and I have been talking a little bit about it this morning. We are married and have an anniversary coming up soon. And being married we can look back and appreciate that before someone is married they can only imagine what that is like, married people can tell them all about it, and still it is impossible for an unmarried person to really know what it is like untill they are married themselves.
And similarly, I have to think you already now the reality of what I am writting, it is with being 'born again', someone who is will have their very own testimony of what God did in their lives to bring them to Salvation and the enormous change, literally into a new creature in Christ, that even the best of religious people cannot understand like Nicodemus couldn't, until they themselves are born again and Scripture is clear:
'Ye must be born again.'
Jesus said so and I rejoice, I think you do as well, everytime we find others who are too.