Comparative Christianity

[ttruscott]

I've charted up common doctrinal themes using the tulip acronym from Calvinism. Since I'm no expert on either Calvinism nor Arminiansism, please help me correct glaring errors.

PCE refers to Pre-Conception Existence Theology...



Peace, Ted

[ttruscott]

Update:

Tulip



Peace, Ted

[Dracula Girl]

What groups tend to follow PCE?

[ttruscott]

A scattering is all. I'm not in touch with that.

Peace, Ted

[Dracula Girl]

In the I section, under PCE, what does it mean by His promise before our true free will? Do we then not have true free will to choose or deny Him and thus have no free will in this matter, thus making His grace irresistible?

[ttruscott]

Hi DG,

to expand a bit: we believe that we were created as ingenuous innocents in the spirit long before the creation of the physical world.

We came to understand that the Trinity (who had hidden HIS divinity and power, much as HE has for us here on earth) claimed to be our GOD and our creator and asked us to accept HIS plan for our creation.

Too create a true choice (ie not just a complicated guess) HE told us completely the consequences of accepting or rejecting HIS plan, the important parts being the those who accepted HIS plan would be chosen to be HIS elect and therefore under the gospel promise if they should ever sin,

and those who rejected HIS plan would be estranged forever by their true free will decision, from HIS will, HIS love and HIS Church, slated to be judged and damned.

The nature of a true free will choice means absolutely NO corecion could be applied by GOD or by exprience. It also means that proof of the choice must be hidden as proof would coerce the person to choose what was proven to be in their best interest, not what their heart truly desired in reality.

[Prove one path ends in death and the other to eternal life and who chooses death? But tell them that the left path leads to death and the right path leads to eternal life with full details of the kind of life they will have on that path BUT WITH NO PROOF that the warnings of death were real, allows those who like the sound of life on the left hand path to choose it and ignore all the warnings it wil end badly.}

Such a choice based on the hope you are doing the right thing, based on the hope you can have the kind of life you are choosing but without proof, is the very definition of an act of faith, a belief based on hope of unproven things, Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

So anyway, before we chose on this issue, the promise of election and the gospel were offered, and after we chose, the promises were applied to those who by true free will choice accepted GOD's purpose for our creation. Those who rejected HIS offer, missed it altogether.

I hope it is a bit more clear now,

Peace, Ted

[Dracula Girl]

Yes, thank you.