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Ronnie Rogers, “The Lamb’s Book of Life” Part I

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From SBC Today: http://sbctoday.com/2012/07/18/8942/

The Lamb’s Book of Life:
Who’s In and Who’s Out?
By Ronnie Rogers – Part 1 of 4
Posted on July 18, 2012 by the editors of SBC Today

**The title below dons chapter 16 in Pastor Ronnie Rogers’ book, “Reflections of a Disenchanted Calvinist.” Obviously, the subject matter is election. The author has permitted SBCToday to post the entirety of the chapter. At apx. 4,000 words, the chapter will appear in four installments. Here is the first.**

The Lamb’s Book of Life: Who’s In and Who’s Out?

I affirm that the “Lamb’s book of life” contains all the names of those who have or ever will be saved. I also affirm that the names have been written in the book since eternity past (Revelation 13:8). I further affirm those in the book are there because of exercising grace-enabled faith unto salvation and could have done otherwise, and those not in the book could have been there by exercising grace-enabled faith.

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James Emery White, “The Joker”

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Dr. James Emery White considers God’s relationship to evil in light of the deadly shooting that took place at a showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado: http://www.christianity.com/blogs/JWhite/11674264/?utm_source=Christian%20Living%20Connection%20-%20Christianity.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=07/24/2012/

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Interview with Ronnie Rogers, a Former Calvinist

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Interview with Ronnie Rogers, a Former Calvinist

Taken from SBC Today, http://sbctoday.com/2012/07/16/interview-with-a-former-calvinist-ronnie-rogers/ and http://sbctoday.com/2012/07/17/ronnie-rogers-interview-part-2/. Comments on the 2 parts can be found at the respective posts linked above.

Interview with Ronnie Rogers, a former Calvinist [Part 1]
Posted on July 16, 2012 by the editors of SBC Today

The editors of SBCToday present a two-part interview with Ronnie W. Rogers – pastor, Southern Baptist statesman, and former Calvinist — whose 2012 book, “Reflections of a Disenchanted Calvinist,” recently caught our attention. SBCToday will also post selected excerpts from his books in the ensuing days.

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Ben Witherington, “‘Behavior Doesn’t Interrupt Your Relationship with Christ’: A Recipe for Disaster — A Wesleyan Arminian Perspective on God’s Grace and the Gravity of Sin”

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Ben Witherington, “‘Behavior Doesn’t Interrupt Your Relationship with Christ’: A Recipe for Disaster — A Wesleyan Arminian Perspective on God’s Grace and the Gravity of Sin”

See here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/julyweb-only/behavior-relationship-with-christ.html?paging=off

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Predestination Second

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This article is written by Howard A. Snyder. Although not a member of SEA, this entry typifies the Arminian view on predestination. PREDESTINATION SECOND—LOVE FIRST! Have this clearly in mind: Salvation is not based on…

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Justin Taylor, “A Conversation with My Favorite Wesleyan Theologian”

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Calvinist Justin Taylor’s post on, “A Conversation with My Favorite Wesleyan Theologian”: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/06/26/a-conversation-with-my-favorite-wesleyan-theologian/ Taylor talks about Calvinist John Stark’s interview with Wesleyan theologian Fred sanders. And in so doing, Taylor makes some of his own…

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Allowing is not commanding

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This reprint of a blog post by Randal Rauser, PhD is placed here due to his accurate reflection of the Arminian position on the allowing vs commanding controversy. Note that Dr. Rauser is not a member of SEA and does not necessarily claim an Arminian stance.

ALLOWING IS NOT COMMANDING

Over the last week I have heard on at least three different occasions claims made to the moral equivalency of God allowing x and God commanding x. The argument has been made by Christians to demonstrate that if I accept that God providentially allows evils like genocide and infant sacrifice, I should have no problem if God also commands genocide and infant sacrifice. The argument has also been made by non-Christians to argue that if I have a problem with God commanding genocide and infant sacrifice, I should also have a problem with God allowing genocide and infant sacrifice.

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Did Jesus Reveal the “Who” in “World” in John 3:14-16?

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Did Jesus Reveal the “Who” in “World” in John 3:14-16?

There is a lot of debate between Arminians and Calvinists about the meaning of the word, “world” in the NT, as it relates to who Christ died for. Calvinists believe that it refers only to the elect among the various people groups in the world. Arminians, on the other hand, believe that it means what it says, that it literally refers to every individual in the world, from Adam to the very last person to be born.

This disagreement has continued for hundreds of years, but I believe we have before us a unifying passage of Scripture that settles the debate. I believe Jesus Himself reveals who He is referring to when He speaks of the world in John 3:16. Before He states the beloved promise in that verse, He takes us back to the Old Testament where He makes a comparison between an incident that took place there, to the cross He would die on:

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Why Does One Person Accept Christ, While Another Rejects Him?

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Why does one person accept Christ, while another rejects Him?

Notwithstanding God’s prevenient, enabling and intervening grace, free will is reasonably the cause of the aforementioned divergence, and which certainly requires greater explanation, and I believe that there is one. However, the first thing that Arminians point out is Adam and Eve, because the equation of total depravity no longer applies in their situation, and which begs the question: Why did they choose the way that they did? Arminians argue that God presented them with the opportunity to choose well, and by choosing well, to form good moral character. The same matter of free choice also applies to the angels as well, pre-Fall. No issues of depravity applies to their equation either. It is to this point that Calvinists, even such as R.C. Sproul, state the following:

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Free Will in Heaven?

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Due to the contradictory and confusing nature of Calvinism, Calvinists often struggle to articulate their own arguments. So Arminians with whom they are in dialogue, are often found having to first unscramble their own logic…

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