Posted on 03/20/2014 4:18:26 PM PDT by NYer
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Robert Barron needs to bury himself in the Scriptures before speaking publicly again. There is more hogwash here than I have time to address, so I will only deal with one of his silly claims.
“Everyone is wired to want a relationship with God. Everybody has a hungry heart, to quote Bruce Springsteen. We are all looking for God.”
A Christian can’t possibly believe that for it is a flat contradiction of God’s Word.
Psalm 14:2-3
2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Romans 3:10-18
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Robert Barron has a god altogether different than the God of the Scriptures. And he imagines men in a most unbiblical manner.
The Gospel Defined and Discerned
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=81901181950
No One Is Righteous, No One Seeks God
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=24131858243
I am not trying to be nasty or contentious but the postings you put do not directly conflict with what was said - in fact, for me, they confirm it! If we did not have an inbuilt need for God then how could people have been blamed for turning away or for not seeking God. We do not choose God we choose to run from him or turn our backs on him.
Bless you
Mel
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--St Augustine
The Confessions
Do you recognize Augustine was not speaking of the hearts of reprobates? The lost will never rest in Him. He was speaking only of God’s elect.
Of course He made us, believers and the lost alike, for Himself and for His own glory.
“For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom 11:36). He is the First Cause of all things, and He is the Final End of all things. All things were created by Him and for Him (Col 1:16).
But that doesn’t mean He loves us all the same way and desires for each and every person to be saved.
“The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.” (Proverbs 16:4)
“Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, (Romans 9:21-23)
Most men hate it, but John tells us there are those who CANNOT believe. Saving belief is impossible for them. Consider this passage, paying attention to cause and effect:
38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
-—John 12:38-40
So who was it that COULD believe the report of Jesus? Only those whose eyes were not blinded and hearts were not hardened — for He promised if that if they could see with their eyes and understand with their hearts, they would be converted and healed.
So we might ask who have had their eyes blinded and their hearts hardened? Here is what Christ told the Pharisees: “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.” (John 10:26)
Those who are not of the sheep fold of Jesus CANNOT believe. In the next verses of that chapter He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
His sheep have been given the gift of belief. The ability to hear and believe the truth is a gracious gift of the sovereign God. Without that gift we can’t see, we can’t believe, and, to circle back to Robert Barron’s unbiblical claim, we certainly aren’t all seeking a relationship with God. It is critical to understand that God is sovereign and who and will not ultimately believe is up to His sovereign will. “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (John 6:29) Read carefully and notice that their belief was the work of God.
A gentle correcting is in order.
Father Robert Barron is by these teachings bringing to life the Scriptures in these “7 Keys to the New Evangelization”.
In reference to the Bruce Springsteen quote, remember the two disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emamus? Their hearts were burning. Same thing, a hungry heart is a burning heart for the Lord.
Thank-you Father Barron, God Bless!
I know what he said and it is wrong. He said “everyone” and that is flat wrong. What he said is not in accordance with the plain teaching of the Bible and only false teachers make such claims. What he said is spiritual poison that will ensnare those who don’t know the Bible and the unwise. Men in their natural state want nothing to do with God, the sovereign God of the Bible. Romans 3 could not be more clear, among many other passages.
Men may play around with a relationship with the god imagined by men, but they don’t care for the God of the Bible. False religionists love their god, but their god isn’t like the sovereign God of the Bible who chose some for salvation from before the foundation of the earth. They don’t like the Sovereign God who blinds the eyes of some so that they cannot see the truth and believe. They don’t like the God who works ALL THINGS according to the counsel of his own will. Lost men want a god who allows them to decide for themselves whether they will or will not be in a relationship with him and ultimately be saved, but that is not the God of the Bible. False teaches speak of a Jesus who died for all and desires for all men to be saved. But the Jesus of the Bible said the purpose of His parables was to disguise the truth so that His enemies would not hear the truth and believe. The God of the Bible told Moses that He would be gracious to whom He would be gracious and show mercy on whom He chose to show mercy (Exodus 33:19). Paul reiterated this same point about God’s discriminating love and mercy in Romans 9. False teachers and rebels hate the fact that the Bible teaches that before they were even born and had committed any sin, God loved Jacob and hated his twin brother Esau (Romans 9:13). They imagine themselves more moral and just than the thrice Holy God and shout “that’s not fair” to Esau.
The God of the Bible set His love on a specific group of people in eternity past. He chose them based not on any merit He could foresee in them for they have no goodness or merit to offer. Romans 8:28 tells us this group of people were “called according to His purpose.” These people are “conceived in iniquity” and born “dead in trespasses and sin,” so by nature they are rebels like all sons of Adam. But because He set his love on them, they are eventually regenerated (born again) by the Holy Spirit during their lives. Because of this miracle they have eyes to see, ears to hear, and they believe. Christ bore the sin of these chosen ones on the cross ( He gave His life for His sheep, the elect John 10:15) In John 17 Christ said he doesn’t even pray for the world, but only for those given to Him by the Father.
Do want anything to do with that God? I hope you do because that is the one and only sovereign God of the Bible.
Just your IMHO only.
I really like what Father Barron had to say and he is correct.
Besides, this teaching DOES touch upon scripture.
Thank you for posting this. It’s applicable to ALL Christians ... it’s applicable to ANYONE spreading the truth.
Outside the spiritual realm, conservatives seeking public office should take a look at this. Points 2&3 in particular seem often to be the difference between winning and losing a campaign for public office.
I gave many Scripture references. Did you search the Scriptures to see if what I said be so? That’s what the Bible suggests we do in Acts 17. The Bereans even checked to see if the Apostle Paul was teaching them the truth.
I simply believe the Bible, not the figment of a wicked imagination of a pastor or priest. Barron’s god does not exist. Unfortunately for him, it isn’t the god of his imagination with whom he will have to deal in judgment. He will stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in judgment, the Christ revealed in Scripture.
Please take the time to learn THE GOSPEL, the only gospel that is the “power of God unto salvation.” To you or any other reader I ask what would it hurt to spend an hour or two listening? Wouldn’t it be much better to find out the truth in this life? One second after you die it will be too late to believe the truth. I have read scores of books and even taken classes to understand Catholicism. I know exactly what I am rejecting. Can you say the same? Do you really know what it is that you have decided is so wrong? I only spend time saying the things I do here because I know that I know the Truth and I feel a burden to sound a warning. I warn Catholics and Protestants alike. The Bible says “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Most people, evangelical and Catholic alike, believe a gospel that makes the way broad. And according to the Bible, most people are bound for eternal Hell. Don’t be one on that broad path, enter through the strait gate and walk on the narrow way that leads to everlasting life. That is the only way to ever be, as Barron put it, “fully alive.”
The Gospel Defined and Discerned
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=81901181950
Unmasking the False Gospel
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1010665821
I take things on faith. That is enough for me.
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