Short Treatise on Infant Terminus Part 1
Continuity Regarding our resurrection, we assume that what we are now, is what we will be then. Think about how much of our psyche is influenced by temporal factors like arthritis or the common cold, not to mention direct maladies of the brain or hormonal problems. For these and other reasons, we must decouple the concept of 'thought' and 'ego' from our currently influenced abilities and move it toward the more eternally stable (though still unreliable) 'heart', i.e. spirit nature. Appeal to Monergism Assuming the previous statement, the door is now opened to understand the concept of salvation for all peoples, that election holds no academic bar that must be reached. Here also, we find more proof that grace is bestowed upon us by the Sovereign Lord and only at His pleasure, thankfully not as recompense for deeds we've done. How then would regeneration come to the imbecile? To the otherwise thought-limited from birth? As we are created whole in immortal life, would God then require our cognitive ability to communicate with us? To say so would be to place US in at least partial control of the heavenly encounter and wrest that command from the One in command. No, we simply must understand that an all powerful God requires no such abilities from us, that He can commune at His desire with every aspect of His creation regardless of its intellect. Application Conceding this concept, now look toward the unborn. Shall we place such limitations on them alone of the image-bearers? Do we believe that when all of the dead stand before the Lord that those who have died from the womb will be then as they were at death, the frailest of creatures lacking the ability to give an account though they're commanded to do so? Sometimes the culmination of a great act can be better understood by returning to its beginning. By doing so we see that the greatest thinkers of history were once no more than infirm dependants, that they exhibited nothing more than the same lack of understanding shown by their infant peers, some of whom may grow into adults of the basest intellect. But the Lord knows them 'then' as He knows them after their last days on earth, at the moment of their creation and before, He knows them by their immortal spirit, a spirit that, while having a beginning, will have no end whether residing in God's glory or His wrath. His understanding of who they are is unaffected by physical change, be it knowledge gained, or injury of the brain. Reduction Therefore, we are faced with a choice containing two options. Firstly, we may suppose that God, in His infinite knowledge and perfect planning, chose not for His elect any of the millions of people who have died in the womb or born ill or in any other way that might have denied them the cognition necessary to understand the Gospel. Secondly, we may gaze back to the millions that died before the event of the cross, among them those justified according to the scriptures, and say that though the barrier of infirmity or time itself may seem in the way, never the less Christ is able to save those given Him by the Father. continued...
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To seriously look at the meaning of atonement, a groundwork must be made to avoid misrepresentation of the many sides involved. And though our beliefs may change many times throughout our lives, we must put as much effort into staying strong in our faith as we put in testing it. If the scales are unbalanced we deny ourselves some of the blessings of God.
Sin To understand what it means to "defeat sin", we first need to understand the nature of sin itself, and how it, as a thing, exists and interacts with reality. The Bible speaks of 'sin' as both verb and noun. All of us have sinned(verb). We are all slaves to sin(noun). At face value, we would naturally say that by sinning(verb) we have created sin(noun). However, the Bible makes it clear that sin "entered the world through one man" (Romans 5:12), and that we are all affectively under its power. Even the youngest, who haven't had the opportunity to sin(verb), are slaves to sin(noun). It is now a facet of reality, and it affects all parts of creation. Because sin separates us from God, to experience real face-to-face fellowship with Him we must either: 1. Incur no sin debt. As has already been stated, this is not a possibility because sin is a real entity that permeates creation. Our nature is sin-based. 2. Cancel our sin debt. Despite what many cults and congregations believe, we are powerless to pay the wages of our sin. No works or deeds can nullify even the smallest of our trespasses, neither can the grandest of our accomplishments do anything to change the sin-state of creation. There is only one payment accepted, and that is the death of the only perfect sacrificial lamb, Jesus Christ. How blessed we are that the payment costs us nothing. Learning this, its important to understand that having your debt paid in no way means that we will suddenly stop sinning. On the contrary, it is our lot to wage a battle with our carnality, with the "thorn in our flesh" until perfection comes and sin is no longer even a possibility. The Bible tells us that as we fail in our imperfections that we are to repent, and that Jesus is faithful to constantly intercede on our behalf. The Cross What then is the scope of Christ's sacrifice? 1. Atonement: Reconciliation, or reparation for an offense or injury. This effect of the Cross is directly responsible for our ability to fellowship with, even simply be in the presence of, God (Mat 27:51). He looks upon us and all He sees are the washed of the Bride, our sins no more remembered. We are reconciled to our Heavenly Father. 2. Conquer: To take control or gain mastery of, by overcoming obstacles. We read that Christ has conquered the grave and defeated sin (Rev 1:17-18). Death no longer has its sting, for Christ has lifted the curtain and brought dark mystery into the light. Where David wrote, "What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it declare your faithfulness?" We now know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Sin is eternally defeated. It's important to note a shift from our own, temporal understanding of events to the viewpoint of the Almighty. We saw the end of the dominion of sin at the point in time that Christ was sacrificed, but we are still being forged by its fires until the course is ran to its conclusion (Job 2:10), long-running that many might be saved (2 Pet 3:9), swiftly coming as we are in the end times (Rev 22:12). Though sin is defeated, we are mired in it temporarily. Though we are saved, our wages aren't due until we die. This is a glimpse of the divide between our perspective and that of God. Components of Salvation 1. Forgiveness offered. By the Grace of God, through Faith in the death of His Son on the Cross, we are chosen for an inheritance as children of the Most High (Eph 1:5). God offers forgiveness to all He desires (1Tim 2:3-4), absent of any condition, achievement or genealogy, yet the Bible makes it clear that many will not accept the gift of salvation, being unable to chose God on their own (John 6:65). 2. Forgiveness accepted. It's very clear that who ever believes in Jesus (John 3:16), anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord (Joel 2:32), those who ask, seek, or knock (Matthew 7:7) will be forgiven. Even though we are held accountable, resulting in blessings being added or removed, nevertheless we are completely unable to accept the free gift of salvation under our own power (Romans 3:11). This is the prime example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. It is the beautiful path, the Holy conduit through which He draws his beloved back to Him. These components can each be broken down further. Forgiveness Offered Limited Atonement. The Bible being quite clear that the elect, and by extension the lost, are predestined to glory and damnation respectively (Rom 9:20-22), an understanding arises regarding the nature of atonement; If salvation is only for the elect, achieved through atonement, then Christ died only for those who would go on in their lives to accept His free gift. To say otherwise, that Christ died for every individual, is to make ineffectual the payment He made for those that still suffer the wages of their sin in damnation. Of course this is accurate through the gaze of our timeless God, but by partially submerging the idea in the waters of omniscience, it can and often does cause confusion in the body of believers. This becomes a sort of selective hindsight that, while trying to elevate our understanding beyond what we can see within the constraints of time (we don't know who will chose salvation), we impune God's soverignity by not fully sinking our theology in those waters. It can become quite circular: God atoned only for His elect, only His elect accepted Christ's sacrifice. Further: He only saved those He saved. Of course this is true, but ridiculously stated. It's important to point out that, from our temporal perspective, atonement is unlimited in power and scope (it can cover anyone and could cover everyone). However, viewed through omniscience it is only limited in scope (it saves the elect unfailingly and saves the elect only; John 10:27-29). Forgiveness Accepted 1. Free Will. Simply put, we are offered the free gift of salvation, the stage is set for our entry into eternal fellowship with God, we simply have to decide to accept it. This could be broken down further, as those of Open Theology would say God may not even know what our choice will be until we make it, and traditional Free-Will believers who believe simply that God knows what choice we will make even though it is literally our choice. Open Theology incurs such harsh contradictory penalties that it's only mentioned for informational purposes and should in no way be considered a valid idea. 2. Election. A belief that God, through His Holy Spirit, has called us to eternity. "...these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified."(Romans 8:30) Though there are varying shades of beliefs with regards to election, it remains at its core a very obvious hermeneutic both in word and logic. Many core beliefs collapse without its inclusion, particularly the omnipotence of God, and thus holds a place close to the center of essential doctrine. Within the camp of election, the arguments of irresistible grace are mainly those of semantics. A logical fallacy can be found in the definition, " the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save (the elect) and, in God's timing, overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to faith in Christ." The idea that anyone can resist at all (Rom 9:19-21), needing to be overcome by God, is more romantic than logical, and the belief structure becomes needlessly hostile towards outsiders who may or may not be one of the elect. At its simplest, election can be described as God choosing, before the beginning of time, who will be justified . Those chosen can no more resist being raised from spiritual death than Lazarus could resist being raised from physical death. Further Studies The cross is inarguably the pivot upon which the universe was turned internally. Through Jesus, sin is conquered and the eternal groundwork was laid for the glorifying of all creation (Rom 8:20-21). What, then, does it mean for sin to be finished? In the resurrection we will sin(verb) no more, and because sin(noun), particularly sin-nature, no longer exists we can experience perfect fellowship with our creator. However, we are told that, "...don't you know you shall judge angels when they sinned?", but what does that mean? Is it the same verb 'sin' that we currently try to avoid? If so then sin existed before the creation of man (the fall of satan), and only entered the world(of man) "...through one man...". If sin is truly, literally abolished then it can't exist anywhere, even in the confines of death and hell (though its absence would do nothing to abolish the penalties of those interred). Though we must be cautious in our suppositions, speculation is edifying even when no conclusion is, or even can be drawn, as anything that causes study of the Word is beneficial to us all. |
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