Free Republic

For those of you who have not been following the dialogue Chris Redford and I have been having, this is the 2nd part of a series of answers Chris, an atheist, gave to questions about his beliefs. He chose to answer as he would have answered when he was a youth attending an Assembly of God church and as an atheist. The difficulty with this Sisyphean approach is the assumption that he can answer and "defend" a position he no longer holds. It is one thing to tell somebody what you believed, it is a whole other thing to...

Thank, you, Brother and Sister Hudson for coming to Akron. As St. Paul stated, that no matter how the Gospel is delivered, I am thankful, even if I do not agree with, maybe, some of your message. None of us Christians agree in entirety with another Christian's theology. I hope you are successful in delivering the milk of the wonderful Gospel message to the young teens in our area, many of whom will be in the pews because of your daughter Katy Perry's stardom. Of course, I hope that these same kids will be taught not to revere Katy even...

Is eternal security a "license" to sin? Question: "Is eternal security a "license" to sin?" Answer: The most frequent objection to the doctrine of eternal security is that it supposedly promotes the idea that Christians can live any way that they want to - and still be saved. While this is "technically" true, that is not the "essence" of eternal security. A person who has truly accepted Jesus Christ as his or her Savior "can" live a sinful life - but he or she "will" not do so. We must draw a distinction between how a Christian should live -...

No Condemnation: A New Theology of Assurance. Michael Eaton. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995. 261 pp. Paper, $16.99. In a postscript to his commentary, Ecclesiastes (IVP), Eaton concluded by citing the words of Luke in Acts 17:32-34: Some . . . sneered . . . others said, 'We want to hear you again,' . . . A few . . . believed. I believe the responses to his new book will draw the same diversity. Many will sneer, others will want to know more and still others will consider the evidence and believe, as a scholar from the Reformed...

ETERNAL SECURITY IS ONLY FOR THOSE WHO OBEY J. Grant Swank, Jr., POB l984, Windham ME 04062 Pastor, New Hope Church, Windham ME The popular Calvinistic teaching of eternal security is colloquially referred to as "once saved, always saved." That is, one cannot lose one's salvation once being saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. In other words, once one becomes saved, he cannot be "unsaved." He is locked into salvation / heaven forever, even if he should so decide at some point that he does not wish to go to heaven. Further, once one is saved, free will ceases...