So what's Monergism anyway? According to my alma mater (wikipedia): "Monergism describes the position in Christian theology of those who believe that God, through the Holy Spirit, works to bring about effectually the salvation of individuals through spiritual regeneration without cooperation from the individual." This post will contend that the gracious doctor taught … [Read more...]
Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans and the Unfair Gospel of Christian Bible
"We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort" - The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (Article XI) (Anglican/Church of England) "we are justified "freely" or "by grace" through … [Read more...]
Mormons, Mennonites, Roman Catholics and the IKEA Gospel of Fairness
"With repentance we can steadily improve in our capacity to live the celestial law, for we recognize that “he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory” (D&C 88:22)." (Mormon) "Salvation is variously expressed, sometimes as 'justification by faith', in which case it means that the just person has accepted the offer of a … [Read more...]
Luther's Ecclesiology in the Genesis Commentary
From the little I've read so far, I've seen that Luther's ecclesiology was what one might call functional. The Church was neither an invisibile platonic form as the Reformed taught that each peculiar church agrees or disagrees with to some extent, neither was it the eschatologically present and glorified victorious church of Rome and the Papacy, or the holy flock of the … [Read more...]
Russian Arrest of Hooligans and Counter-Revolution
Historically Russia has had a long tradition of government repression of liberalism. The Tsars crushed the first democratic rebels at the turn of the century, and one of the priests leading them allegedly lost his faith when he saw the Tsar's forces attack the poor, shouting 'there is no Tsar, there is no God'. The two were firmly linked in the Russian consciousness. Orlando … [Read more...]