The Kingdom Come

The following is for friends and family who have recently made professions of Faith or those who are "giving religion a try".

What does it mean to "get saved"?  Saved from what?  Does it mean you won't go to hell when you die?  What happens when you are "saved"?  Do you suddenly start being a "good person"?  Do you start acting all churchy and religious?  When you "get saved", is there a list of "dos" and "don'ts" you suddenly must live by?

Well, first typically "getting saved" ISN'T something you just wake up one day and decide to do. 

What follows is an interaction with Dr. Kenneth Talbot, president of Whitfield Theological Seminary concerning methods of refuting the heresy of hyperpreterismⁱ.  This interaction originally began on a website called Theology Explained.  Actually, it was never supposed to be an interaction, but merely "position paper" stating my position.  Dr. Talbot responded to it in "debate" fashion which is apparently against the rules since the site administrator closed down the thread and stated the site is not a debate site.  The problem is, whether the administrator closed the thread after my response or Dr. Talbot's response -- it would be unfair to either.  So, instead of playing that game, I have moved the entire interaction to MY OWN site where I can allow the interaction to continue as long as it will.  I won't close down comments AFTER they have begun.

As my site does NOT require a person to sign up to post comments, Dr. Talbot is welcome to continue his interaction.  Either way, I will be forcefully responding to the many false charges Dr. Talbot has put forth.

Most of the time you will hear a Christian witness or evangelize an unbeliever by saying something like "Jesus died for you", or "Jesus has a wonderful plan for your life", or "If you died today are you certain where you will spend eternity?"

Is this how we are supposed to witness?  Is this how we see the apostles doing it in the Bible?

Perhaps of all places in the Bible, Acts 17:16-34 is the most relevant example to our modern, agnostic world.  In the account, we see Paul witnessing to Greek unbelievers.  Notice how he uses what they already believe or acknowledge.

Nothing is more discouraging than betrayal and perhaps nothing more discouraging to Christians than betrayal by other Christians. Christians are supposed to CONTEND FOR THE FAITH...but not just any faith, since heretics like to redefine "faith", we must declare loudly, the rest of the verse:

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 1:3)

It is the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. One thing all heresies have in common is that they are advocating some "new" faith, never practiced by the saints.

In the great debate of how we know what we know, or in theology it is called epistemology comes the question about starting points or "presuppositions".

Whether we like or not, we ALL have a presupposition or starting point when it comes to belief...belief in anything, be it religious or scientific.  These presuppositions or assumptions often determine our unfolding conclusions or "logic" to next steps.