Great Schism in the Body

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Episkopos

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In my young life as a Christian, I've come to recognize that the great schism in Christianity is between Calvinism and Arminianism. Monergism vs. Synergism. OSAS vs. Conditional Salvation.

If I'm being honest, I must admit that both sides have scriptural support for their views.

Why did God allow this to happen? He could have written the scriptures in such a way that would have fully supported one position over the other; God did not. How come?

No flaming.

God bless!
The reason is that we expose ourselves by the way we think. God is looking for us to believe from the innermost part of us. The inner man is in the deepest part of us. Many people believe from a superficial part of themselves (the outer man). There is no depth to the outer man...it's all about survival and advantage and putting on a facade. The outer man is connected to the law of sin and death.

About half of believers have no depth of soil (see the parable of the sower). So in order to expose the shallow believers, the truth is given in a polarity...2 poles. Like a magnet. Without the two poles coming together there is no power. So then people will read the Bible and shallowly believe having one pole of the truth (without power) is enough to save them. This flies in the face of the truth. So the Bible warns us about having a form of godliness but denying the power.

Whatever pole a person chooses to believe in he will deny the other pole thereby denying the truth.

And the more you try to convince the outer man that they are wrong about what they believe the more they will defend what they have accepted...thinking that you are wrong for NOT being as exclusive as they are by rejecting half the truth as they do.
 
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amadeus

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1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

People were not just haphazardly choosing to become Christians during NT times after clicking through channels on a TV, or deciding to go to a local church service. The Lord was specifically choosing those who would have the gospel preached to them and who would not. This was true of Cornelius and his house (Acts 10), of the Thessalonians (Acts 16), of the twelve disciples being specifically chosen by the Lord, and of the specific people Christ Himself was sent to minister to, and then the apostles after Him, whether they be Gentiles or Jews. The Spirit of God was guiding every bit of it; who went, where they went, when they went, and to whom they preached to.

This was still the case when Peter was writing this letter. Those belonging to the church had been specifically chosen by God to have the gospel preached to them; people targeted by His Spirit, whom He knew would be especially receptive to Him. But this did not mean they had no freewill; they were simply chosen to hear the gospel and have the Spirit poured out upon them if they received it. Though especially receptive to it by the foreknowledge of God, the decision was nevertheless still theirs to make on whether they would walk in it or not thereafter.
Yes, and God called men to preach or teach or minister, who either refused the call or accepted it and then failed to follow the lead of the Spirit of God following their own heads instead. God knew that some He called would choose not to heed him. We see this in Judas Iscariot:

"Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?
He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve." John 6:70-71

Jesus knew, God knew... that Judas would choose the pathway of betrayal, but the choice to do so was that of Judas himself: God knows what choices we will make, but the choices are ours! The correct alternative is to always allow God to lead us. We are, in our flesh alone, unable to lead ourselves the right way:

"O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jerem. 10:23

A man without "eyes to see" from God is blind!

"And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?" Luke 6:39

Carnal me, leading myself, will also fall into the ditch!
 
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Enoch111

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@Hidden In Him what do you make of a verse like 1 Peter 1:1-2?
Divine election is according to the foreknowledge of God. God knows the end from the beginning. Therefore He already knows who will obey the Gospel and who will not. Therefore He predestines or elects believers to be perfected and glorified so that they resemble Christ perfectly: For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Rom 8:29)

Now even though this is as plain as day, the Calvinists perverted the doctrine of election to teach that God predestines some for salvation and others for damnation. And that is a damnable doctrine.
 

friend of

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Now even though this is as plain as day, the Calvinists perverted the doctrine of election to teach that God predestines some for salvation and others for damnation. And that is a damnable doctrine

Okay fair enough
 

Lambano

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So surrender the hunger to say, "I must know!",
Have the courage to say, "I believe!"
For the power of paradox opens your eyes,
And blinds those who say they can see

(Michael Card, God's own Fool)
 
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