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Apostle to the Minneapolitans
Brother John, the son of Easterwood, continues to hold forth in the marketplace of the region called Agape. He is expounding on the letter of Brother Paul to the Church at Rome, contending for the gospel and maintaining the purity of our doctrine. Sometimes the brethren (and sisteren) are more contentious than usual, especially on the question of human free will and God's election, occasionally insisting on examining the Scriptures to see if these things be so. Not having read Luther or Calvin or Hobbes (and only a little of Calvin and Hobbes) the class is left with an unsystematic Theology which includes such passages as:
Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
Matthew 25:40 - 42 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
Joshua 24:15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord ."
Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
2 Timothy 4:9 - 10 Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.
Jeremiah 4:1 - 2 "If you will return, O Israel, return to me," declares the Lord. "If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray, and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, 'As surely as the Lord lives,' then the nations will be blessed by him and in him they will glory."
These passages seem to indicate that there is human choice involved in the initiation and continuation of the spiritual walk. There is also, of course, evidence in Scripture of the sovereignty and election of God and there are ways to harmonize the various passages. But one approach to paradoxes and mysteries is to say that after carefully studying the data of Scripture, it may not be possible for the human mind to fully comprehend the reality behind the seemingly incompatible polarities. Yet we must not discard any of that data.
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