Medieval Lexicon of Symbology

 Dr Leighton Flowers addresses individual passages of the Bible that seem to support TULIP when taken from one perspective. Calvinist Texts Explained Genesis 6:5  Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. The way in which Calvinists are applying this text is to say that this is a universal condition of all people from birth at all times.  They can't help it because God decreed because of the fall of Adam for everybody to be like this.  Is that what is being said here?    No.  The author is saying that these people, at this time were in this condition because they have become that way, not that they were born that way.  And there are exceptions.  The passage says that Noah and his family were upright, so it can't be referring to a universal condition.  Perhaps Noah was upright because God elected him and irresistibly regenerated...

Why the Early Church Didn't Have Worship Services  Origen, ca 230 AD.  "We object to building altars, statues, and temples because we have learned from Jesus Christ the true way of serving God." Wadsworth's thesis is that modern Christianity has changed from the original practices of the Early Church.  We have adopted the communion sacrament as a "sacrifice", that takes place on an Altar, officiated by the pastor, who is now a Priest.  And all of this happens within a dedicated church building that is the modern equivalent of a Temple, with its sanctuary.  Rather than edifying our fellow believers in Early Church Assemblies, we now gather in these temples to participate in a "worship service." He says that Christianity, through its history, has in effect re-created the temple practices of historic Judaism. Irenaeus:  We make an offering to God of the bread and the cup of blessing.  And then when we have perfected the offering, we invoke the Holy Sp...

 Romans 1:  Sets out Paul's position on the Gospel.  That it was Promised beforehand through his prophets regarding his Son.  Paul is "Called" to apostleship, and Paul calls "all the Gentiles to obedience that comes from faith."  "You are among the Gentiles called to belong to Jesus Christ." "To all who are in Rome,  loved by God, and called to be his holy people." Paul preaches "the Gospel of his Son."  He is "Not ashamed of the gospel".  The gospel reveals the righteousness of God, a righteousness that is by faith.  The righteous will live by faith. Paul's next task is to identify evil.  Wicked people suppress the truth; a truth that is evident throughout creation.  One such truth is the existence and nature of God:  His eternal power and divine neature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. Having denied God, even though they knew God, they were given over to sinful desires, given over to ...

 The fundamental question here is, what specifically happened when Jesus was crucified that led to an atonement of the sins of the world?  The term atonement refers to a restoration of humanity with God.  The reparation of an injury.  In some way, Jesus work on the cross restored the relationship between God and humanity that suffered an injury when humanity was driven out of the Garden of Eden. PSA refers to penal substitutionary atonement.  The penal substitutionary view of the atonement states that: Jesus Christ died on the cross as a sin substitute, receiving the wrath of God for His people. Looking more closely, the theory asserts that humanity is suffering a penalty, a penalty as a result of the sin of disobedience in the Garden.  The penalty or punishment for that sin is death.  It is substitutionary in that Jesus suffered death as a substitute for humanity.  He took on the penalty for our sin as a substitute for us.  Therefore, God's...