 |
| What did you read? Did you read INTO the text? |
This meme strikes me as an apt illustration of the common phenomenon in christendom: people handling the same raw data, but end up with diametrically opposite conclusions.
The way a man looks at a subject is often, to a great degree, determined by his prejudices.
For example, two devout students of the Bible can study the exact same Bible but they end up with vastly different conclusions.
For whom did Christ die:
- One says Christ Jesus died for ALL men and made salvation possible for all men, and that salvation is offered to all.
- The other says He died only for His people and actually saved them to the uttermost, and this salvation is sovereignly bestowed to each of them.
(Others come up with the brilliant idea of "sufficient for all, efficient for them that believe, one leg in each boat!)
The divinely ordained purpose of the gospel:
- One says the gospel ministry is the means to offer salvation to those without salvation, i.e. still dead in their trespasses and sins.
- The other says the gospel ministry is the means to call those whom God has freely and sovereignly bestowed salvation to believe the truth of their salvation in Jesus Christ.
(Both the arminians and their cousins calvinists believe the former; a few RBs say BOTH, the former as well as the latter.)
Is this a conditional offer or a statement of fact:
- One says "whosoever believes has eternal life" is a conditional offer of eternal life (obviously to those without it, i.e. dead in trespasses and sins) that if they will believe, they shall receive eternal life.
- The other says "whosoever believes has eternal life" is a declarative statement about the believing ones, i.e. they have eternal life, freely bestowed by God when they were dead in trespasses and sins.
(Both the arminians and their cousins calvinists believe the former.)
The just shall live by faith:
- One says this is a statement on how the unjustified (i.e. in his native state of condemnation) is justified by God, he is justified by God by his faith in Jesus Christ. A man's faith is the instrument to get him justified before God.
- The other says this is statement on the conduct of the just, i.e. those who have been freely justified by God, that they shall live by faith, and not by trusting in their works. A man's faith is an evidence of the justified state.
(Both the arminians and their cousins calvinists believe the former.)
Many other examples can be cited but the few examples above is ample to prove the point. The two are a world apart, as far apart as are "God is no where" and "God is no here."
However, they have one thing in common in SOUND only; both claim to believe in salvation by grace alone, EVEN THOUGH they actually believe quite different gospels.
Conclusion:
The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him." - Leo Tolstoy –
The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him." - Leo Tolstoy –
