How are we to respond to the gospel?

 Are you following the Calvinistic argument? 

Here it is put very simply: 

God tells man they SHOULD keep all the commandments.  Man CANNOT keep all the commandments.  God also tells man they SHOULD humbly repent for breaking commandments.  Therefore man also CANNOT humbly repent for breaking commandments.

  If the fallacy in this argument is not obvious to you, please allow me to explain by way of analogy. 

Back when my kids were younger we did a family activity that our church had suggested. I stood at the top of the stairs with my three children at the bottom. I said to them, “Here are the rules. You must get from the bottom of the stairs to the top of the stairs without touching any of the railing, the wall or even the stairs. Ready, go!” My kids looked at me and then each other and then back at their mother. With bewilderment in their eyes, they immediately began to whine and complain saying, “Dad, that is impossible!” I told them to stop whining and figure it out. The youngest stood at the bottom and started trying to jump, slamming himself into the steps over and over. The more creative one of the bunch began looking for tools to help build some kind of contraption. Another set down on the floor while loudly declaring, “This is just stupid, no one can do that!” Finally, in exasperation one of the kids yelled out, “Dad, why don’t you just help us?” I raised my eyebrows as if to give them a clue that they may be on the right track. The eldest caught on quickly. “Can you help us dad?” he shouted. I replied quietly, “No one even asked me.” “Can you carry us up the stairs?” he asked. “I will if you ask me,” I said. And one by one, I carried each child to the top after they simply asked. Then, we sat down and talked about salvation. We talked about how it is impossible for us to get to heaven by our own efforts, but if we ask Christ for help then He will carry us. It was a great visual lesson of God’s grace in contrast with man’s works.

 But suppose that my children’s inability to get to the top the stairs also meant they were incapable of asking me for help. Imagine how this story would have played out if it was impossible for my children not only to get to the top of the stairs but equally impossible for them to recognize that inability and request help when it was offered. 

This illustrates the mistake of Calvinism. 

Let’s go back to their fallacy above as it relates to my story: Dad tells his kids they SHOULD get to the top of stairs.  Kids CANNOT complete this task as requested.  Dad also tells the kids they SHOULD ask for help.  Therefore, the kids CANNOT ask for help.  Do you see the problem now? The whole purpose of presenting my kids with that dilemma was to help them to discover their need for help. To suggest that they cannot realize their need and ask for help on the basis that they cannot get to the top of stairs completely undermines the very purpose of the giving them that dilemma.

 The purpose of the father in both instances is to get others to trust him. The law was not sent for the purpose of getting mankind to heaven. Just as the purpose of the activity was not to get the kids to the top of the staircase. The purpose was to help them to see that they have a need and that they cannot make it on their own. Calvinists have wrongly concluded that because mankind is unable to attain righteousness by works through the law, they must also be equally unable to attain righteousness by grace through faith. In other words, they have concluded that because mankind is incapable of “making it to the top of the stairs,” then they are equally incapable of “recognizing their inability and asking for help.” It does not follow and it is not biblical. 

Paul said: Rom. 9:30-32: “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.”

 It seems Calvinists would have us believe that because pursuit by works fails in attaining righteousness that a pursuit by faith would not even be possible. This is simply never taught in Scripture. When Calvinists are pressed on the obvious implication that SHOULD implies COULD, they appeal to the demands of the law, which is like appealing to my demands for the children to get to the top of the stairs without touching anything. 

I did not make that demand with the expectation of my children actually doing it, after all it is impossible. I made the demand to help them realize they could not do it without my help.

 So too, God did not send the law with the expectation that we could actually fulfill its demands. That is not the purpose of the law. According the Scripture, “No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin” (Rom. 3:20). The law is a “tutor” who points us to our need for Christ (Gal. 3:24). The law was never sent for the purpose of being fulfilled by mankind, just as the stair-climbing activity was never intended to be completed by my kids. It was a “tutoring” lesson to teach my children that they must rely on someone else, a useless activity indeed if they are somehow incapable of coming to that realization or admitting their need for help.

 If my kids are as completely incapable of understanding their need for help in getting to the top of stairs as they are in getting to top of the stairs without help, then why would I bother with the activity in the first place? 

Likewise, if mankind is as completely incapable of trusting in the One who fulfilled the law as they are in fulfilling the law themselves, then what is the point in sending an insufficient tutor to teach them a lesson they cannot learn? 

As Traditionalists, we actually believe God sent the world a sufficient tutor, the Calvinist does not. The argument that SHOULD implies COULD remains virtually unanswered by the Calvinist who appeals to the law as their example. 

That is, unless they can demonstrate that it actually was God’s intention for us to fulfill the law’s demand in order to attain righteousness. After all, to conclude that man cannot fulfill the purpose of the law’s demands begs the question, because it presumes man cannot fulfill the purpose of the law by believing in the One who fulfilled its demands. 

Basic common sense tells us that if one ought to do something, he can do it. This is especially true if one is punished for his failure to do that which is expected. 

In 2 Thessalonians 2:10, Paul says of the unrighteous, “They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth in order to be saved.” And in John 12:48, Jesus said, “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.” 

Scripture never once says that we will perish because of Adam’s sin. But over and over again it says that we will each be held accountable for our response to the clear the revelation of God. According to Paul, all men stand “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20), yet Calvinistic doctrine gives mankind the best excuse imaginable: Judge: “Why did you remain in unbelief?” Reprobate: “I was born hated and rejected by my God who sealed me in unbelief from the time I was born until the time I died due to the sin of another.” Can you think of any better excuse than that? I cannot.

~ Leighton Flowers

Shootings and such....

I guess I will weigh in on the shootings and the media hail storm that follows. It's really sad that we, as a 'civilized' generation, experience the horrific displays of hate and insanity that we are seeing, the world over. People being shot in church, mowed over by vehicles, stabbed, bombs, etc.While we want to scratch our heads and wonder what is going on, it seems pretty clear that things are not getting better. we are, instead, watching our society corrode and circle the drain. Amazing how we have more laws than we had one or two centuries ago and yet people are more lawless than ever before. People might debate the causes for this madness; mental illness, extreme religious ideology, or maybe political hate groups. Maybe some, or all of this could connect a dot or two, but one thing is certainly at the root of the problem. Lack of God's influence. The Bible says.that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked ( Jer. 17:9). Governments and people have taken any mention of God out of schools and the public square. So without the influence of God in our lives, man turns to lawlessness. Why we are not even suppose to teach our children to 'act and think right' in public. "Let them express themselves" they told us. Well, now they are doing just that! Without a measuring stick, how can you determine right from wrong? Good from Evil? Decent from Obscene? Yet it is frowned upon to display the Ten Commandments on public grounds or at school any more. There are currently debates as to whether we should have a pledge of allegiance in classrooms, and we have eliminated prayer. Well, there you have it, America! You've gotten what you demanded! And are we really surprised that we have such lawlessness in our midst?  Our country's founding fathers understood ( and stated) that this country should only be governed by the adherence to and fear of the Almighty. But we continue to let the media and non God fearing groups control the direction of our once great nation. Statesman Edmund Burke understood the sin of silence with his famous quote,
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". We need to rise up and
 1)PRAY!
2)Vote out the criminals in Washington who fill their pockets at the expense of our children's future and make a mockery of morals and
3)Spread the love of Jesus.
After all, He came to save us from this "present evil world" (Gal. 1:4). Last but not least, Be Alert!!! God bless the USA!!!

Really Ferguson?

I wanted to start this blog out by stating that first of all, I am NOT a black man in America I am white. I am sure that there are incidents of bias that happen every day in this country. Things that I might not notice, because they don't affect me...I'm white.
   That said, we are not back in the 1950's. Laws have been passed that prevent any company from holding anyone back from achieving their dreams of success regardless of race or religion. While I understand the passion of the black community in America, because of their right and expectation of equality. I find it completely ridiculous that the protesters in Ferguson are acting the way they are.
  I have read the transcripts that were released by the grand jury. Officer Wilson acted out of fear for his life and safety. I wasn't there. I cannot tell you if he acted appropriately or not. That's why they have investigations and trials and grand juries. Now that the grand jury HAS spoken, it is a done deal. I am satisfied that justice was done as far as the law states. Whether or not everyone agrees with the findings is another matter.
I am completely okay with people demonstrating their disgust for the system and protesting....hey, this is America! This is our right! I proudly served in the military to defend that right...but what saddens me, is the idea that burning down neighborhoods is the correct response. Looting does not prove any point but only that the looters need to be arrested.
Then you have the president and msnbc wording their narratives that maybe the police have it "in for" young black men. That is absolutely racist and race baiting. Msnbc called it the war on black men. REALLY? It is completely RACIST to even turn this into a BLACK-WHITE thing. It was a horrific event where a young thug charged a police officer who was trying to detain him, and the cop told him to get on the ground, the thug responded by running toward the cop and the cop stopped him with lethal force. That's all this was. Anyone wishing to make it anything else needs to get a grip. I am so sorrowful to the Brown family. They lost a son and now they choose to buy into the lie that their son was a victim.  I am sorrowful to Officer Wilson and his family. They are caught up in a huge mess that will haunt them forever. Where can this family go that someone won't unjustly hate him for only doing his job? I am sorry for the business owners who have been looted or burned out. And to the whole community that is caught up in the largest demonstration of madness that we have seen in decades.

May God bless our country and may people come away from this realizing that we all need Jesus!

Coexist?

You have all seen this coexist bumper sticker. What does it mean? What are people trying to say? Do they even know? I did a little research on the meaning of the bumper sticker, here's what I came up with.

the C with the star is the cresent moon symbol for islam.

the O is the symbol for peace, 

the E is the symbol for males/females, 

the X is the star of david, symbol for Judaism,

the I is dotted with a Wiccan Pentangle,

the S is the symbol for the yin-yang or confucinism,

the T is the symbol for Christianity.

What does all of this mean? 

On the outset, it seems very innocent, that all of these religions and different ways of thinking should  just coincide and be together without any conflict whatsoever. We are all Gods children, after all, and should we not find common ground even though our search may take us down different paths? Should not the basic tenants of our faith teach us to be tolerant of others? Don't all roads lead to God in heaven? As long as we are sincere? 

I cannot answer for all the religions or thought processes that are represented by each letter of this bumper sticker. I can however answer what Christianity teaches about the questions we have presented here. The word coexist literally means: "1, to exist together or at the same time. 2, to live in peace with each other especially as a matter of policy." So literally this means I don't need to question anything the other guy is doing or believing.   It's an effort to get all people to GO ALONG, to NOT offend, to accept anything and everything, to do what's right in ones own eyes! After all, they seem so sincere.

Sincerity alone will not get us into heaven. We cannot afford to be silent and let our fellow man go to hell because he's following a false religion, if we say we truly love him. We must all pray and seek for opportunities to witness for God. If we really believe scripture, then we cannot be tolerant of other religions. I'm not saying be hateful or mean, to the contrary, speak the truth in love.

what did Jesus himself say? 

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 3:36 he that believeth on the Son have everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

What does the Bible Say:

1 Timothy 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

John 10:1 Verily, verily, (Truly, Truly) I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 

John 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 

1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 

1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

We must tell them..........

Muhammad, Buddha and Allah NEVER laid down their own life for you! Only Jesus loved you enough to go to the cross for you! JESUS Loves You! Please repent and accept Jesus as Your Only Saviour Today! 

Boots on the ground?

Pres. Obama has stated that he does not want to put combat boots on the ground in Iraq. I look at all the money we spent over there and lives that have been lost and the tragedies that have happened to our military families. All as a result of the War in Iraq. Don't get me wrong, I am a patriot. But I guess as I grow older, I am weary of being the world's police. We have pulled out of Iraq, and it doesn't take two years before it all starts crumbling again. And what did we gain for all of our trouble?  Loss of precious American blood, increased national debt. Now the Iraqi government is blaming the US for its troubles. Seems like we always try to help these countries and yet they still hate us. It just gets a little old. And I don't have a lot of confidence in our current administration either. So if you guys don't mind, I wish we would just sit this one out.

coupon update

Susan and I went to the bilo store this past Sunday. we used coupons and bought all the buy one get one deals.. we got a hundred eighty dollars worth of groceries for 100 bucks. not bad for not knowing what you are doing

Tylenol PM

after working all weekend doing projects at Susan's house, and then going straight over there after work today to do more projects. I'm laying down on my bed.. waiting for the Tylenol PM to kick in. I need to get numb and sleep.... goodnight to all!