About a month ago someone named Evelyn had this to say in response to my blog in general:
Calvanism: How do you explaine this?
Passage 2 Peter 2:20:
20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
1 Corinthians 15:2:
2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
To which I responded with:
Hi Evelyn,
Explain what? Calvinism affirms the truthfulness of these passages just as much as they do the truthfulness of such passages as John 6 and Romans 9. If you believe that the two passages you have quoted somehow contradicts my position then you will need to present an argument for me to consider. As it stands, all you've done here is prooftext under the guise of posing a question.
I haven't heard back from Evelyn so I would like to go ahead and briefly comment further on her passing shot at Calvinism.
Aside from the fact that she's obviously prooftexting, she simply misses the mark. Her quoting of 2Peter 2 and 1Corinthians 15 appears to be aimed at the doctrine of "the perseverance of the saints". Since this doctrine is the logical and theological conclusion of other more basic and foundational doctrines (i.e. God's sovereignty, the nature of man's will, election and reprobation etc.), her passing shot is virtually meaningless. It's like she's trying to stop a train by disabling the caboose or killing a rattlesnake by cutting off it's tail. It's simply not going to get her anywhere and only serves to highlight the bankruptcy of argumentation from the non-Calvinist side and further strengthens my convictions in regards to Calvinism being the truest expression of the gospel of our Lord.
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3 comments:
Have to love those arguments.
But I wish all Christians--wheteher Calvinist or not, would stop playing the verse game.
Yes debate the issues using scripture, but do more than saying--hey this verse trumps yours!
How do the verses fit together to tell the same story--that's what I want to hear.
Well said, Pilgrim. Hey, even my church, whose pastor is (unfortunately, to say the least) non-calvinistic, believes in "eternal security." That to say, not just calvinists hold to this truth.
Blessings, and Merry Christmas ya'll.
Tom
Doctrine Matters
Yeah I agree with Pilgrim, I mean if you just think about what the doctrine of perseverence says than you really will understand that the Corinthian citation is in no way a challange to it. If you don't persevere in faith your faith was in vain...not effective...or not genuine.
The simple thing that really sold me on the perseverence of the saints is the nature of regeneration. I just ask Arminians who want to defend their free will over eternal security "So do you just decide to stop being a new creation?" I mean good night! How ridiculous, here's my born again membership God, don't want it anymore...
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