Subject: Is there middle ground? |
Bible Note: Dear Tim, and forum saints, Greetings in Jesus' name! Can there be a middle ground? It depends, my friend, on whose viewpoint you take. If you are looking at things from God's lofty vantage, then obviously there is only one position. God's. Then, all other viewpoints would be left/right or N/S or E/W. The problem is the arrogance of man to believe that he has 'ascertained' the mind of God, then label it according to his fancy. Man has a tendency to 'overshoot the mark' when he is bent on proving his point! I usually don't have that much problem accepting the 'proof Scriptures' of A or C (or XYZ :-)), but it is the 'reproof Scriptures' that often get both sides in trouble. These are the Scriptures that are 'explained away' in order to prove their 'counterpart' wrong, often to the denial of the literal application of the Word of God. Man's zeal to prove his brother's mistake often leads HIM astray. Now, is there middle ground from man's lowly point of view? Apparently not! Or this debate (which has gone on for ages before WE started discussing it :-)) would have been settled long ago. So, Tim, it is my opinion that there IS truth, and I doubt seriously if is bound by the same logic that you have stated in Options 1-4. You have sided with Linonstrong that it MUST be 2 or 3, but I disagree. There are so many human interpretations of both 2 and 3 that would shoot this logic down. Which brings us back exactly where we started! Deja vu all over again! :-) "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants," Deuteronomy 30:19 NASB. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 NASB. So really, all you have concluded is that either God is absolutely sovereign, man does not participate in his salvation at all, OR, man solely decides his own fate, and they are mutually exclusive. Frankly, I feel that both positions deny a great deal of the Bible. Just one opinion. In Christ Jesus, charis |