It seems like the Arminian way makes one certain they are saved, but leaves one vulnerable to possibility that they could lose that salvation without constant vigilance.
The reformed tradition is the mirror opposite. It assures one that that they cannot lose their faith, but leaves one wondering if they ever obtained it in the first place.
After all, if it God's work and we do no participate in it, then how do we know that He has done the work? Feeling? Evidence of a changed life? The fact of faith itself?
I am definitely closer to the Reformed view, having grown up in it and currently attending a conservative Lutheran Church.
It just seems that the Devil will attack wherever he can--regardless of your stance on the Arminian/Reformed debate.
Yes. I grew up Methodist and very much felt that it was on me to stay close to God, that if I fell away He’d let me. So I was the one who had to maintain things. But that led to anxiety, and pride, and a sense of my salvation being ultimately dependent on me. I’ve become convinced that salvation is wholly God, and while I do participate in it, I don’t think it’s helpful to worry about if I’m doing enough. I trust God, and that trust leads me to want to participate in His work in the world and in me.
I was raised and then later mostly returned to Catholicism, with a good dose of mainline Protestantism in-between, and a continual dose of Anglicanism. My conclusion is mostly the same. Trusting in and seeking union with God inevitably leads to service of God, and wanting to further submit and serve God.
God’s grace, just like His love, is independent of us meaning it was His gift & His nature to give to us. (A solid & definite PERIOD should be added here) If it can be earned or maintained then it’s not grace. We aim at the Cross because He first love & first gave grace. The sole fact of His grace is what animates us.
I heard a pastor describe God’s love, which includes His grace, like the love a grand parent has for their grand child at birth. There is nothing that child has done or could ever do to earn it, deserve it or has to do to keep it, it just is. It’s from that origination point that we are then to go out into the world & act as people who have the undeserved favor (grace) of God.
It seems like the Arminian way makes one certain they are saved, but leaves one vulnerable to possibility that they could lose that salvation without constant vigilance.
The reformed tradition is the mirror opposite. It assures one that that they cannot lose their faith, but leaves one wondering if they ever obtained it in the first place.
After all, if it God's work and we do no participate in it, then how do we know that He has done the work? Feeling? Evidence of a changed life? The fact of faith itself?
I am definitely closer to the Reformed view, having grown up in it and currently attending a conservative Lutheran Church.
It just seems that the Devil will attack wherever he can--regardless of your stance on the Arminian/Reformed debate.
Yes. I grew up Methodist and very much felt that it was on me to stay close to God, that if I fell away He’d let me. So I was the one who had to maintain things. But that led to anxiety, and pride, and a sense of my salvation being ultimately dependent on me. I’ve become convinced that salvation is wholly God, and while I do participate in it, I don’t think it’s helpful to worry about if I’m doing enough. I trust God, and that trust leads me to want to participate in His work in the world and in me.
Amen. I wholeheartedly agree.
I was raised and then later mostly returned to Catholicism, with a good dose of mainline Protestantism in-between, and a continual dose of Anglicanism. My conclusion is mostly the same. Trusting in and seeking union with God inevitably leads to service of God, and wanting to further submit and serve God.
God’s grace, just like His love, is independent of us meaning it was His gift & His nature to give to us. (A solid & definite PERIOD should be added here) If it can be earned or maintained then it’s not grace. We aim at the Cross because He first love & first gave grace. The sole fact of His grace is what animates us.
I heard a pastor describe God’s love, which includes His grace, like the love a grand parent has for their grand child at birth. There is nothing that child has done or could ever do to earn it, deserve it or has to do to keep it, it just is. It’s from that origination point that we are then to go out into the world & act as people who have the undeserved favor (grace) of God.
should i sin that grace might abound? may it never be.