The last three or four posts at CAMPONTHIS have been on calvinism vs arminianism (TULIP). This is the great debate that will continue to rage on until the end of time but I did want to comment.

First off, I don’t consider myself to be a calvinist nor do I consider myself to be an arminian (though at times in my life I called myself by each)…I consider myself a Christian (follower of Christ) and that is all.

A few general comments about both sides…these are very general and by no means are they meant to be sweeping…I think there are excellent Christian teachers with good doctrine on both sides of the argument. Now on to the stuff that will make people mad.

It seems many calvists are elitists. They seem to think that they have somehow received some scriptural enlightenment that a non-calvinist could never attain. They seem to think that calvinism is the ultimate understanding (be all and end all) of the scripture. I suppose when they reach the next level they will understand that they are wrong.

Arminians, on the other hand, try to be too logical and rely too heavily on their feelings and what “they” think is right. If it doesn’t make sense to them then it can’t be. God must conform to their “feelings” and judgements on right and wrong.

Many people come into the Christian world as arminians or through arminian channels. I think the general progression may be for arminians to become calvinists (or partial)…the problem is that many people stop there…and all of a sudden they think they have reached the pinnacle of understanding since they have come from arminianism into calvinsim (sometimes kicking and screaming at first)…they view calvinism as the meat and armininism as the milk.

Keeping with the analogy above…the truth is…if arminianism is the milk, then calvinism is the baby food (cereal) and calvinsists won’t understand that until they are eating solid foods and eventually meat.

The debate will rage on I’m sure, however, the cool thing is that we will see both our arminian and our calvinist brothers in heaven…because it is not whether you hold to the Canons of Dort or the Arminian Articles of Remonstrance or any mix and match thereof…it is whether you trust in Christ as your Savior (and serve Him).

Since I didn’t really go into any doctrine on the subject…allow me to violate your conscience and leave you with this.

• Christ died for the sins of the world –that is, everyone. (and the arminians say woohoo)
• Only the elect will be saved –those whom the Father calls. (and the calvinists say woohoo)
• …and the clincher…Both of these statements are 100% true, there is no second step, no matter how much it violates your reasoning or your finite little mind. (and they both say boo)

While I’m at it I might as well throw this one out there too…

• Man has 100% free will.
• God is 100% soveriegn over everything (every little detail).
• …and the crowd cries, “That isn’t possible!”…bzzzt wrong answer.

When you start to reconcile the ideas above (that is, when you start to conform your mind to them instead of trying to conform them to your understanding) you are starting to eat more solid foods. The thing is, once you start to eat more solid foods, you will find that the amount (types) of solid food can be overwhelming…it isn’t just milk (one choice) or baby food/cereal (a few choices) anymore… The more you study the scripture, the more you realize you may not know as much as you thought you did.

AMDG

It seems there is quite an issue heating up in the Bible translation world (at least in the Christian blogosphere) about gender.

I would like to know what the big deal is.

Why is it only now that people are starting to have such a huge problem with “men” or “man” being used to refer to men and women or the human race?

Does the women’s lib movement have anything to do with it?

Where will it stop? Will we revise history to change Armstrong’s words (that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind)?

I have never been a fan of polictically correct terminology and the fact that it is now starting to wiggle its way into Bible translation is most disturbing.

AMDG

Matthew - Healing

( Matthew 8:7 NET.) Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
( Matthew 8:8 NET.) But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed.
( Matthew 8:13 NET.) Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; just as you believed, it will be done for you.” And the servant was healed at that hour.

All three of the above verses are related to one event (faith related).

( Matthew 9:21 NET.) For she kept saying to herself, “If only I touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
( Matthew 9:22 NET.) But when Jesus turned and saw her he said, “Have courage, daughter! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed from that hour.

Faith related. Also, after this verse and the next one on the list another faith related healing event took place. See ( Matthew 9:27-30).

( Matthew 12:10 NET.) A man was there who had a withered hand. And they asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” so that they could accuse him.
( Matthew 12:13 NET.) Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and it was restored, as healthy as the other.

General.

( Matthew 12:22 NET.) Then they brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus healed him so that he could speak and see.

General, demon possession related to sickness.

( Matthew 14:36 NET.) They begged him if they could only touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

This could either be general events or faith related events.

( Matthew 15:28 NET.) Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Faith.

( Matthew 17:16 NET.) I brought him to your disciples, but they were not able to heal him.”
( Matthew 17:18 NET.) Then Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment.

This should be read with surrounding verses as it goes into detail about faith.

I removed quite a few verses on the list that just mentioned healing and didn’t go into detail about the event itself. It is interesting to note that passages that go into detail usually discuss faith. We basically cover seven events out of Matthew…of which five are faith related, one could be either, and one was a demon possession.

More to come…

AMDG

First off, since this subject could get long I am going to break it up into multiple parts. The question is…

Is there a connection between faith and healing? …and… Is there a connection between sickness and demon possession?

These posts are not long exegetical studies in the Greek. They are merely observations and English Version word studies. At some point I may post a more exegetical study on the subject matter.

I briefly touched on some of the subject matter in this post. I wanted to go over it in a bit more detail and also add “faith” into the equation.

Methodology: (KISS Principle) The posts are basic word searches within different English Versions of the Bible (New Testament only). Each verse is then examined in context and commented on. Since this isn’t an exhaustive study the list of verses may not be 100% complete. Verses will basically be broken down into three categories. Most of the searches will be from the NET since the ESV will show up if you put your mouse over the Scripture reference.

• General - general healing (without any of the below).
• Demon Related - healing/sickness accompanied by demon possession.
• Faith Related - healing accompanied by faith.

Obviously, there may be some verses that cross categories or don’t fit squarely into one of the categories. Again, this isn’t an exhaustive exegetical study. Comments on all posts will be open as usual.

Initially, I started writing the first post from this point on. However, I decided that (even trying to keep it simple) it was getting too long and complicated. I have decided to make this post just an introduction and then create different posts (parts) covering only a certain amount of matierial at a time. In addition, I may start to focus more on healing events instead of general mentions of healing, otherwise, it could get lengthy and I’m not sure it contributes (or takes away) from the point. One other thing I may try to do is discuss the healing/faith vs healing events and then go back and discuss the demon/sickness events. However, I will have to see how that pans out as they may cross a bit.

AMDG

Yet another holiday has passed that I don’t celebrate (Valentine’s Day).

However, I ran across this post and I had to link to it.

The more we study Christ the more we should understand about His love (what love really means).

It is easy to get caught up in the tearing down of brethren because their doctrine may vary from your own. How many people lose site of love and what it really means in the process?

AMDG