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In the last post, I mentioned that the following items appear to be true:

- In order for an individual to be saved, God needs to explicitly “call” that individual;

- God is not calling everyone.

Assuming that the above items are true, that leads us to another question:

Question 5: Why is God only calling certain people? In other words, why doesn’t God just call everyone, so that everyone has the opportunity to be saved?

As mentioned above, people cannot be saved, unless God explicitly calls them. Also, God is not calling everyone. As a result, the people who have not been called by God cannot be saved. So, that raises an obvious question – why isn’t God calling everyone? Why doesn’t He just call everyone – so that everyone can be saved?

Many mainstream denominations believe that all human beings have complete control over their salvation. Basically, the belief is as follows: Every single human being can just decide to follow Jesus – and can therefore be saved – without God getting involved at all.

Overall, the belief is that God is not part of the salvation process at all. In other words, the belief is that every single human being can just “decide” to be saved – completely on his own.

Is the above idea true? Is it true that everyone can just decide to follow Jesus – and be saved – without God being involved in the salvation process at all? This post, and the one next week, will explore that topic, with a series of “questions” and “answers”.

Last week I asked a couple of questions to collect a cross section of people’s thoughts on the coming Kingdom of God. While the post has since developed into a discussion of another kind, I wanted to revisit these questions and answers with a few thoughts.

I have been observing lately both in my own life and in things I’ve read and heard that the expectation of the coming Kingdom has a very personal perspective. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Here’s what I mean - Christians are looking forward to the Kingdom of God/return of Jesus because we’re going to get a new body, we’re going to never die again, we’re going to see lost loved ones, we’re going to be able to have a lion as a pet, we’re going to share in a lavish banquet, we’re going to see an end of sickness, we’re going to not have to worry about war anymore - etc, etc, etc.

And at long last (sorry for the delay), here’s the conclusion of Homer D. Baxter’s - The Two Adams.

FYI - Here’s direct links to the other three:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

While the first Adam died and returned to dust because of his disobedience (Gen 3:19), the second Adam sits on the right hand of God fulfilling his official capacity as High Priest and Mediator.  He is the link between a righteous God and sinful mankind; mediating in man’s behalf; settling the differences between man and his Creator. When this priestly reign ends, which is better know as the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus will deliver it up to God (1 Cor. 15:24) and will assume his right to become King of Kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16).

Here’s part THREE of the four part booklet - The Two Adams, by Homer D. Baxter.  This is the first half of Part II - with the last half of it (or the final quarter) to come next week.  A fitting topic (The SECOND Adam) to present here this weekend where we celebrate the Resurrection of our Messiah!

I thought this portrayed the divergence between early Christianity and modern evangelism methods. (originally from this blog)

In our dialog on the subject of salvation it is important to recognize that there are three tenses used of salvation in the New Testament. The classic text for salvation in the past tense is Eph. 2.8

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

The context of Eph. 2 begins with a description of humankind as dead in trespasses, who walked according to the prince of the power of the air, who lived in the lusts of the flesh, and who were by nature children of wrath. Salvation in this context surely means being delivered from this predicament. This includes forgiveness as well as a cleansing.

I’m working on a strategy to talk to people about the subject of salvation. However, I can’t really remember too many of the verses or arguments used by people who believe in once-saved-always-saved (OSAS). Could you help me out by posting a verse along with some comments indicating how this verse would be interpreted in that system?

Despite the constant articulation of the not-by-works nature of the gospel by Protestants for half a millennium, the average person on the street still thinks that they will “pass” the judgment because they aren’t as bad as others or because they have done more good deeds than bad ones. Though this video leaves out much it does also express the concept of substitution rather well.

What would you agree with? What would you disagree with in this video? If you were to do the video over what changes would you make?

I just came across this 7 minute video about whether or not it is arrogant for Christians to say that there is only one way to be saved. This is a common complaint about Christianity–we are intolerant of other spiritual paths. But, suppose, just suppose, that there really is only one way that God has provided. If this is the case, then the other religions are the guilty ones, for they purport to provide a way to salvation and are unwittingly deceiving people into a false sense of salvation. It reminds me of the story of the guy who was shipwrecked and was the only one to survive. After floating around on his plank of wood for a day someone came by in a motorboat and threw him a rope to save him. Would the castaway respond with smugness and ingratitude, “What, you think you are the only person with a rope to save me?” No! He would grab the rope, because whether or not there are others to save him, this person is here and has the means to save him now. God has made a way for people to be saved, and that way is through Jesus, his only begotten son who died for our sins and was raised for our justification. If we turn him down, he will honor our right to choose, but let no one say that God is cruel to only make one way; that only insults the one who loved so much that he gave.