Happy Reformation Day!

Good quote!

"When nations respond to the word of Yahweh with faith and obedience, they are prosperous. When they resist and rebel against the word of God, they fall."
-Peter J. Leithart

-Destiny

"Till We Have Faces"

We have finished our session on the book called "Till We have Faces" by C.S. Lewis. If you haven't heard of it, that's quite normal. Most say it wasn't his best work, but from all our studying I must disagree. It's awesome!

It's a myth retold, the myth of Cupid and Psyche. I never read that myth myself, so this was very interesting. It was mainly the story of Psyche's ugly sister, Orual. She starts out as a rationalist, taught to her by a Greek servant, and denies the existence of the gods of Glome (the city in which she lives). Orual and Psyche are half sisters, both daughters of the king of Glome, but they are as different as can be. Psyche is called to the gods as a sacrifice, and willingly goes. She is not killed but rather becomes the wife of the god of the mountain. Orual, the whole time, doesn't know if she believes that or if Psyche has just gone mad.

In the end, she sees herself as a selfish heartless being, and in need of the gods redemption. The first half of the book is her "case" against the gods. She is complaining that they have taken all that was dear to her and that they just play with man.

It's really cool. We listened to a lecture by Peter Kreeft about the whole book, the hidden message behind it. He reveled how certain gods and people represent the gospel and man.
You should read it then listen to the lecture, I loved it.
All in all, it was very fascinating.

God Bless! -Kaila

T.U.L.I.'P'. P=Perseverance of the Saints

Perseverance of the saints

#1. Its definition
The basic gist of this doctrine is the simple fact of once saved always saved. It is one of the greatest promises in all of scripture, if not the grandest. this says that it is possible to be sure of your salvation and that once you are saved you cannot backslide, and when destined for the kingdom you will never go to hell. The term "perseverance of the saints" emphasize that believes ("saint, as Paul calls them in his letters) will persevere in their faith. The problem with this term though is that it emphasizes the Christians work in the matter, as if we could do something to earn our salvation.

If we use the term "perseverance of Christ" we now have Him more in focus but though God does persevere, this particular terminology does not emphasize the fact that God helps US persevere. In Edwin H. Palmers book the ,"The 5 points of Calvinism" He states that 'the correct term then would be preservation of the saints'. This term emphasizes the fact that the saints are preserved (obviously by God), and absolves any hint of human works in the matter". Also in R.C. Sproul states in his book chosen by God "this term (perseverance of the saints) is not wrong but can be misleading".

2. Its Scriptural basis
All five of the points (Of Calvinism) stand or fall together. The doctrine of Preservation of the saints naturally follows from the Biblical fact of Unconditional Election.
Election basically means that God chose some to be saved. He has ordained with certainty they will go to the Kingdom of Heaven. If, as the Arminians say, it is possible fore someone whom God has elected to slip away from the faith after he began to believe, then their is no ELECTION! In Romans 8:29, Paul says "that those whom He foreknew, that is 'foreloved', He also foreordained to Heaven, and those He foreordained He also called, Justified, and glorified. Here Paul clearly stats that those who Christ elected(foreordained) He also predestined to Heaven. Now if someone can backslide, then Gods election has no meaning, but more to the point I'm trying to make, if, as Paul says, God foreordains some to Heaven, and He has all power to do so, then logically, He preserves them.
Well that's all for today folks, SO God bless.


- Fore further reference : John 6:36, John 10:28-29, Ephesians 1:13-14, 1peter 1:45.



posted by, aLeX Goldman

Unconditional Election - "U" in TULIP

Unconditional Election. What is Unconditional Election?
Dr. R.C. Sproul answers the question well in his book "Chosen By God" when he says, "Unconditional election means that our election is decided by God according to his purpose, according to his sovereign will. It is not based upon some foreseen condition that some of us meet and others fail to meet. It is not based on our willing or our running, but upon the sovereign purpose of God."
In other words, he did not choose us because we were smart or beautiful or because of all the good and wonderful works we did but because of HIS GOOD PLEASURE.

Ephesians 1:3-6 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved."

We chose him because He first chose us. We were dead in our sins and could not of done anything at all to attribute to our own salvation and yet out of his sovereign will and his amazing grace he chose us to be with him for all eternity. Let us give praise to Him who loved us and predestined us before the foundation of the world. God is good.

-Posted by David

Uptade

Hey! Sorry we haven't posted very much. I (Destiny) just thought I would tell you a little of what we have been studying. This week we are going through 1st and 2nd Samuel. It has been so awesome. There (hopefully) should be upcoming posts about it (by the other teens). We also are still going through a book by C.S. Lewis called, "Till We Have Faces." It is a great book and I encourage you all to read it. Well, God bless bless y'all. Oh, please leave comments and tell the other teens that they need to post something too. Thanks:0)

-Destiny

A really good quote

"In every generation in all movements (whether of armies or philosophies), in all schools of literature, the men and woman involved are either obeying God or disobeying Him. They are either trusting Him or they are not trusting Him. All students are learning to love God or they are not learning to love God."
-Douglas Wilson

-Destiny

The Hammurabi Code

Well today was the last of Hammurabi's Codes. Hammurabi was a king who wrote a whole bunch of laws around 200 b.c. Some say that the Bible copied his stuff, because they are very similar (we're going to study that later). Well any way we had to read them all and then we did these case trials. David and me were on a team against Karissa, Destiny and Alex. What we did was we had a case we had to judge according to Hammurabi's laws and the Mosaic law. It was awesome, even though we lost by two points.

The weeks study has been all on law, like the need for law, what's a just law, can man make good laws and so on. It's been really interesting. Below is a question, from the book, and my answer to it. Before you read the answer try to answer it yourself and tell me what you thought...thanks!

Why do we need laws?

Laws are a necessary part of life. Hammurabi (the guy we are studying) saw the need for justice and rule in his empire so he created The Code (a book we are reading called “The Codes of Hammurabi and Moses).
But a more Christian answer to the question why do we need laws would be that life’s rules are not the end or purpose for which we live, but a means which permits us to live godly lives and have a godly society, which is the purpose of life.
The law of God. From which all other laws are derived, show what good and evil are so that we may know how to conduct our lives. Freedom doesn’t come when we have no laws, but rather not having laws would lead to chaos, destruction and ultimately death. Laws are needed to live in a righteous, safe and godly world.

How do we know what a just law is?

A just law would be, or derive from, the law of God which He gave to Moses, who wrote them down for God’s people. God has set up for us all that we need to know about good and evil in His Word. Any man made law that conflicts with God’s law is by definition a bad law.
We humans are by nature children of wrath, unregenerate, and plain sinful, any law following such a nature will not be completely just. The Triune God, however, is completely just and good and all His laws follow His nature.
I’m not saying that laws made by man are all together bad, as long as they are in line with scripture they are good, but stepping out of that realm will be bad trouble.
Therefore, a just law is found and based on God’s Word.


That's a taste of what we have been up to. I can't wait till next week when we start another book!

Irresistible Grace

This is the "I" in TULIP

Irresistible Grace

Irresistible grace is referring to the inward call of God. The inward call is powerful and effective. It is irresistible in a sense that it achieves it purpose. It brings God’s desired effect. Which is why it is sometimes called Effectual Calling. The preaching of the gospel is represented as the outward call. This call is heard by elect and nonelect. We have the ability to resist this outward call. Unlike the inward call, without it we can never come to Christ. When God plants a desire in us for Christ, we will act according to that desire. We rush to Christ because we want to. The whole point of irresistible grace is that rebirth quickens someone to spiritual life, in such a way that Jesus is now seen in His irresistible sweetness. Romans 8:28-30 says: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
This “call” in this passage is referring to the effectual call of God. Effectual grace is grace that effects what God desires.

I (Karissa) wrote this one.

Tulip

As a school project we all had to pick a letter out of the tulip and give a simple definition for church. Mine was the T.

T-Total Depravity
Total depravity is the first in the Calvinistic doctrine of the Tulip. It refers to the affect of sin and how reaches to all of our body. Sin affects every part of our being-body, soul, mind, will etc… We are all born in sin, not one part of us in sinless.

Many people confuse this with utter corruption, which means that every man is as wicked as he can be. Which we know is not true, even Hitler showed love towards his mother (vs. Nero).

A better term would be radical corruption, which means that sin penetrates the root (radix-radical) or core of our being.
Rom.3:10-12=
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”

We clearly see that man is inherently sinful, that sin penetrates every thing we are and do. We cannot do good unless we are regenerated and the Holy Spirit is working good in us. Only by that can we achieve good works.
R.C. Sproul said-“We are not sinners because we sin, but rater we sin because we are sinners.”

Thank you

-Kaila

Recognition

We would like to thank the people who have made all this possible.

First to our wonderful grandparents, Grandpa Ken and Grandma Dot, for buying all the books and materials. You guys have always been such a support. We are so grateful for you guys buying us all our own books, it is so nice. We hope to make you proud in all that we learn and do in our lives.
Thank you so much!

Secondly we would like to thank Kenny Anderson (the dad and uncle) for his huge sacrifice. You spend so much time teaching us through the week, then you have to get a sermon done on the weekend. You are always so patient with us, when we take for ever, and help us when we are stuck. Your guidance, wisdom and teaching skills have been such a blessing, we could have never gotten through this without you.
Thanks, you awesome teacher!

And, to our wonderful parents for letting us go. We love them so much. We sure don't deserve to have such awesome mom's and dad's.
We love you Fathers and Mothers!
Without these people, none of this would have been possible. God has enriched our lives greatly through these people.

And thank you everyone for your comments and for reading this.
- The Omnibus Teens :)

Limited Atonement

The L in TULIP

Let me give you a brief overview of Limited Atonement.
Limited Atonement means that Christ died only for the elect. Christ's atonement was limited in the sense that Christ suffered and died for his people which are the elect.
In John 6:44 it says, "No man is able to come to Christ except that the Father draws him."
No, person can accept Christ if he has not been predestined, he has to be called by the Father as one of the elect
John 10:14-15, "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me... and I lay down my life for the sheep ."
In this verse Christ is pointing out that he knows his sheep which are the elect and he came and died for them so that they might be saved.Christ came and died for his sheep; Christ's atonement was limited only in extent, not in power but according to the sovereign will of God .
So, you either believe that Christ's work on the cross was limited in its power which means it was not powerful enough to save everyone but only make it possible for people to be saved. It's power is limited in the sense that it won't save any one until they accept it.
Or you believe that it was limited in its extent which means it was not intended for everyone but only those whom he predestined.

This is what I had to talk about at church. Each one of us Omnibus kids did a letter of the Tulip. I had l as you can see:) Okay, bye:)

-Destiny