Frank wrote:
Well some might say that since the below is an OT verse, then it doesn’t apply to the NT. But, scripture says that God doesn’t change and neither does the below admonition.
Deuteronomy 22:5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.
Regardless of what medical procedures this young lady undergoes, she will never be able to father a child and she will never be able to participate in sports with men. IOW, she will never be a man.
What an incredibly evil world we live in.

Unprofitable Servant wrote:
Given His statement about him
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
I would say that is far fetched, not impossible, but far fetched.

Unprofitable Servant wrote:
I never said that. I am not saying it with the next sentence. The unrepentant rich young ruler shows that God's love extends beyond His elect. If God didn't love sinners none would be saved. God bless.

"Christ loved the rich young ruler, even though he was self-righteous and loved money (Mark 10:20, 22). Jesus loved him from before the foundation of the world, when He died for his sins on the cross (John 10:15; 15:13), when He renewed his heart and into eternity. In His amazing grace, the Son of God loved the rich young ruler (and all His people) “with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness” He drew him (Jer. 31:3). Out of love for the rich young ruler, Christ spoke to him of his sinful love of money, calling him to repentance. The young man went away, as Jesus commanded him, to count the cost (Mark 10:21-22). His grief and sadness was not a worldly sorrow but a “godly sorrow [that] worketh repentance to salvation” (II Cor. 7:10)."

ladybug wrote:
Thanks Andrew, I would add the doctrines of grace should never be accredited to Calvin - he didn't write them. I do not hold to 'Calvinism', rather, I hold to the word of God alone as the only source of truth.

"He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly."

2Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

Carl in Greensboro wrote:
Australia had a great spiritual awakening in the 1980s and 90s....;

MS wrote:
C.H. Spurgeon once said he wished Xmas would come around 6 times a year if it made people a little more kind and giving.

Homeschool Dad wrote:
Oh there's even better news...He's coming back!!!

The Gospel, of course, is **the** Good news.

1 Cor 15: 1-4
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures"

This is the Good News that we are to celebrate, according to the Scriptures, not his incarnation, and certainly not a Roman Catholic Holy day (or Pagan sun-worship) - The-Christ-Mass.

The WCF quotes you provided are loosely related to what I was saying. God ***ordinarily*** saves those who are part the visible church, since this is where the true Gospel is heard. His people are only as sanctified as the preaching is true. But I was speaking of an individual's Elect person's response to the Gospel, whether or not the truth was spoken with the accompanying fruit of the Holy Spirit (life of Christ) or not (Phil 1:18).

A regenerated individual will always be drawn to the message, whether delivered with wrong motives or not, and an unregenerate individual with never respond to the message, whether delivered with wrong motives or not.

The only elements of the message the unregenerate individual will respond to are the non-propositional elements (demeanor etc).

It is the preached Word ***only*** that draws (effectively) the elect (Rom 10:14).

I suppose there are other sections in the WCF that are related (like chapter 10 on effectual calling), but I think it was the bible passages that I quoted that sad it best.

Shane wrote:
Andrew...
Thank you for your post. It is not demeanor only, but the mind and mouth of Christ which is fruit of the new birth. The life. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That we would be like him in this present evil world. Which is the power of God. Pre destined to be conformed to the image of his son. Reality!
Romans 15:5-6 (kjv)
Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, I was responding to your comment that the non-verbal elements of the new birth are responsible for drawing men to God. As I have already demonstrated, that comment was unbiblical.

While God's means of grace to gather His people is not through "clever words" spoken
according to Human "wisdom", it is through truthful words spoken (1 Cor 1:17). God draws the elect through the preaching of the Gospel ONLY.

Shane wrote:
The life in you (which is Christ) is your witness. Which draws men.
Not your cleaver words.

Belief in the Gospel message (Faith) is the means-of-Grace that God has appointed to gather His church into His kingdom.

Paul rejoiced that the Gospel was preached even by those with wrong motives since it is the Truth that sets us free, not witnessing Christian piety apart from the Gospel message (Phil 1:18).