tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post1676523477982957599..comments2024-03-29T09:20:16.581-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: God does not need you but He wants you. . . Pastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-80341257101230107562020-10-17T14:58:23.574-05:002020-10-17T14:58:23.574-05:00I know that St. Vincent of Lerins was not a Luther...I know that St. Vincent of Lerins was not a Lutheran, but I was unaware (if Mt. Marquardt is correct about Lutheran soteriology) that Luthersns have reversed his <i> quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum est </i> to <i> Quod nusque, quod nusquam, quod ab nullis creditum est. </i>William Tighehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09043433059401608468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-17201361629659077592020-10-15T17:41:06.245-05:002020-10-15T17:41:06.245-05:00You focus on consent but the sermon focused on rej...You focus on consent but the sermon focused on rejection. You seemed to charge the preacher with Pelagianism when the sermon nowhere indicated that anything the individual does contributes to being saved while warning against the rejection which does result in being condemned.Lutheran Lurkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-1540533056597212192020-10-15T14:23:40.638-05:002020-10-15T14:23:40.638-05:00Lutheran Lurker: It is not that simple. The Holy...Lutheran Lurker: It is not that simple. The Holy Spirit is not given to the enemies of God. That is what we are by nature. First, as Luther put it, the old self has to be drowned in the waters of Baptism. Then God causes a new creature to be born, in which the Holy Spirit dwells. This is what our Lord told Nicodemus in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, and Scripture further testifies to in Colossians 2:12, “…when you were buried with Him in Baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the power of God…” That is why, every time you witness a Baptism, you see one of God’s greatest miracles, bringing a dead person to life.<br />You are right that the sermon nowhere says that the saved contribute to their salvation. Neither did I write that this is what the sermon says. It is, as I wrote, a deduction. If you assume that we are saved with our consent, rather than against our will, then without our consent, our salvation is not possible. It is the same deduction that the early Church made when it condemned Pelagianism, and stated that man is unable to contribute to his salvation.<br />Peace and Joy!<br />George A. Marquart<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-32915182750187868872020-10-14T14:24:40.540-05:002020-10-14T14:24:40.540-05:00But is giving us the Holy Spirit to make faith pos...But is giving us the Holy Spirit to make faith possible the same as coercing us against our will? Further, where in this sermon does it say that the saved contribute anything to their salvation? It looks like you are trying to make an issue where there is none. Lutheran Lurkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-87052906912685910832020-10-13T16:29:52.790-05:002020-10-13T16:29:52.790-05:00“…but Jesus will not coerce us into the Kingdom no... “…but Jesus will not coerce us into the Kingdom nor will He compel us to be saved.” This seems like a truth with which all people should agree. The problem is that, thank God, the Gospel is not human reasoning, as God tells us in Isaiah 55:8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.<br />If it were not true that all of us are saved against our will, then it would be true that we contribute to our salvation, at least by “cooperating” with God. This is the Roman Catholic position on salvation. This is the position which, under the guidance of St. Augustine, the Church condemned at the Council of Carthage in 418 AD.<br />Ironically, in Luke’s telling of this story, we read, Luke 14:23, "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.”<br />This is the heart of the Gospel. This is where we find assurance of our salvation, because we contribute nothing to it; God does it all.<br />Peace and Joy!<br />George A. Marquart<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com