Hi HARVEY,
HA>Mick, this is not a forum for your form of theology.  Calvinisn has
HA>already shown it has no power, but even with all that, and the excuse
HA>that God isn't saving as many today, shows how small the Calvinistic
HA>God is.
Actually, it's the other way around, Harvey.  The Calvinist and the 
Reformed view stresses the total SOVEREIGNTY of God.  He rules and reigns 
over every detail of everything has ever happened or will happen, and all 
without doing violence to free will or turning humans into robots.  He 
decrees things to happen centuries before they ever come to pass, yet He 
does so in such a way that secondary contingencies are in operation and 
free will gives humans actual self determination within their environmental 
circumstances.  The Arminian view of God makes Him vulnerable to becoming 
the bell hop of Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland and simply the alter ego 
of the devil in many charismatic circles.  That amounts to dualism.
Also, the Arminian view of God says that God foreknows who will be saved 
but He doesn't choose or elect them before the foundation of the world.  
How can God know something that is contingent is going to happen UNLESS He 
decreed and predestined and foreordained for it to happen by means of 
secondary contingencies, circumstances, and one's environment?  Does God 
fall off the throne in surprise when *anything* happens or is He "in 
control"?
Lastly, hyper-Calvinism has in the past been guilty of neglecting the Great 
Commission.  However, the Reformed churches have always been evangelistic 
and all of Protestantism is the recipient of the benefits of the Protestant 
Reformation begun by the likes of Calvin, Knox, Luther, Zwingli, Beza, 
Melanchthon, et. al.  To denigrate Calvinism and other Reformed theologies 
is to denigrate your spiritual great-grandparents:)
HA>Having said all that however, there are Calvinists and Arminiests that
HA>are going to heaven.  To label one theology as evil so that your little
HA>theology may reign is ludacrous.
I agree.  I was Arminian for over ten years.
HA>It is evil for you to judge your
HA>brothers in the faith who by the way right now are winning millions to
HA>the Lord.  You say they get lost again?  How do you know that?
I also disagree with Mick.  He seems to be exaggerating.  However, in 
either Arminianism or Calvinism there are those who appear to be saved and 
later fall away into apostasy.  Calvinism says they were never saved and 
Arminianism says they lost it--take your pick.  Either way those who are 
truly saved will live a godly life in Christ Jesus (see 2 Tim. 2:13).
HA>Do folks backslide, yup, do folks hold the truth in ungodliness, yup do
HA>some saly Lord Lord, and still will not enter the Kingdom of God?
HA>Yup.... However, the judgement is God's not yours or mine.  While one
HA>church or another may have qualifications for membership and for good
HA>reasons, as the Apostle Paul said: "Don't receive brothers with doubtfu
HA>disputations or living habits...
HA>So I guess this is please don't post this type of stuff in this forum.
I agree that such diatribes against other believers should not be posted.  
However, I would hope that civil discussions of the two views is 
acceptable?
Sincerely in Christ,
Charlie Ray, 
Chaplain
1 Timothy 4:16
Watch your life and doctrine closely.
Persevere in them, because if you do,
you will save both yourself and your hearers.  (NIV).
chaplain@isgroup.net
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 * WR  # 461 * Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide.
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