newtestamentchristianity

                                                                                                                                      Introduction:  In a world of casual dating, Christians must ask themselves what they believe about a man and a woman's preparation for marriage. Should the man be equipped to take a wife? How much does a father play in the role of his daughter's potential courtship? While entire books have dealt with this general subject, I want to present a brief Biblical and historical case for courtship in this post.  I will be making a Biblical case that courtship is superior to dating. Indeed, I wish to show that the Biblical ex...

                                                                                                                                      Introduction:  In general, the purpose of this blog is to briefly discuss and defend theological doctrines that I believe were held by early Christianity. Usually, I draw primarily from the New Testament and the writings of church fathers in the late first and early second centuries to back up my beliefs in these regards. Today, I would like to discuss a new theological topic that I have not yet covered in the posts: I wish to demonstrate that congregationalism did not exist at the time of the New Testament. While much mo...

   Let me start off by quoting the last two paragraphs of my previous post on this subject:                  In Revelation 3:5, we are assured that those who ''overcome'' will not be blotted out of the book of Life. The passage, in my view, implies that some will be blotted out. For many Calvinists, the blotting was for no one who was ever saved. However, is this was scripture teaches?  As we refer back to Exodus 32:33, I believe that we will see a strong argument against the Calvinist case of eternal security. First of all, the passage is speaking in the context of God's chosen people, the Israelites, not a heathen land, which is important to keep in mind. Second, many of the Hebrews in this passage have turned their worship to another god than to the true One. Third, God actually has their names blotted out for so doing, which I strongly believe implies their loss of salvation. If these people were simply non-elect and they c...

                                                                                                                                               Introduction:  Before I return to the topic of whether or not a person can lose their salvation, I would like to write a brief post on scripture supporting the view that Baptism is more than a symbol. As I believe that baptism confers grace, this argument will also assist my view that infants should be baptized.  Previously, I defended the Biblicity of infant baptism based on scriptural arguments concerning circumcision, household baptisms, the Old Testament examples of baptism, and ...

                                                                                                                                          Introduction: In the previous post, I explained that justification and predestination were historically seen as two distinct theological terms. I hope to elaborate more on this concept here. Likewise, I hope to continue showing verses used for eternal security by its advocates and my responses to them.  In general, any theological topic can be debated in multiple essays, if not volumes of books, or perhaps, even forever. I hope all that I write about here is simply an illumination of what I believe constitu...

                                                                                                                                    Introduction: In twenty-first-century America, especially in the south, it is common to see many American Evangelicals feel absolutely assured of their place in heaven because of a past event from which they claim that they have accepted Christ as their Savior. The danger though, is that this assurance is not rooted in scripture. It is a false gospel that many have chosen to believe in. Tragically, many of them will hold to this false assurance...and it will lead them down to the gates of hell for eternity.  Of course, many Chr...