Ronnie W. Rogers
A Comparison of Calvinism’s compatible view of moral freedom and Extensivism’s libertarian freedom In order to understand the actual contrast between Calvinism’s view of the nature of God, His sovereign rule over His creation, and His salvation plan, with that of Extensivism’s view of the same, one must understand the two position’s vastly different views…
Read MoreMaturing and equipping involves developing new thinking until we “bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5), and those thoughts are manifested in our speech, motivations, goals, ethics, etc. We continually work in order to transform spiritual infants into mature followers of Christ, thereby empowering them to have victory over the…
Read MoreI use the term Extensivism to encapsulate my soteriological (salvational) understanding. I gave considerable thought in choosing the term. Although only used by me (hence, the need to continuously define for others), it does seem to be free of negative connotations and appears to me to be a suitable parallel for discussing soteriology within this…
Read MoreApologetics, which is intellectually stimulating as well as hard work, is critical to engaging our culture. It is a fallacious juxtaposition to ask should we seek to engage people with only the simple gospel, apologetics, or a loving life because it is not either/or but all of the above working in concert. Truly loving people…
Read MoreIf many will not serve Christ in obscurity, we can never present Him to the world with clarity. There are many in the annals of Christian history who are studied, celebrated, and extolled as role models to be followed. These exemplaries of Christianity are rightly known for their labors, sacrifices, and surrender to God’s will…
Read MoreWe can see the cooperation between human wisdom and divine wisdom in the need to build and maintain the physical church building with primarily human wisdom, and the spiritual church building with exclusively divine wisdom (1 Corinthians 3:1-21). Blurring this distinction results in being in opposition to God. We build the temple according to God’s…
Read More“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). It is only when we realize that our human wisdom is foolishness in pleasing God, bringing men to Christ, maturing men and women in the faith,…
Read MoreThe carnal mind will accept the command to love and simultaneously reject God’s definition of what love really involves. For example, a husband may say a hearty “amen” when the preacher quotes “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). However, he does not…
Read MoreI was a Calvinist for over thirty-three years and was unabashedly so for the first twenty. I spent the last thirteen years questioning and evaluating the harmony between Calvinism and Scripture and only doffed the label Calvinist in the final months of that journey. A respondent to one of my blogs on SBC Today commented…
Read MoreThere are a number of ideas regarding what constitutes “wood, hay, straw,” and “gold silver precious stone” in 1Corinthians 3:12. I suggest that gold, silver, and precious stones refer to God’s wisdom (as revealed in His Word), and wood, hay, and straw refer to man’s wisdom. The key to understanding the Corinthian problem is Paul’s…
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