Proper Exegesis: What is the Object of God’s “Choosing”
“Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. ”
The translators of this verse made the assumption that the object is man or the individual. God chose man. But if you look closely at the verse, there are many words in italics. This means the words do not appear in the manuscript. Try reading that verse without the italicized words. What if the object is not man but God Himself? What if God chose to dwell with man?
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” ~ Revelation 21:3
~ Andy
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
“The Reformed Sage.” Oh. My. What a childish, little, arrogant page, run by prick*. First, the name, “sage.” Yup, they know more because they have been told more (than there is) by their rude and blasphemous gods like the super rude and offputting James White (what a scary dude; won’t leave my dog with him alone) and the blasphemer RC Sproul. Oh, yes, and the quotes by the devil Calvin himself and the pics of the woman hater and potty mouth Luther. Sigh. And every second meme that ends with or starts with “be like.” Great adult English; wow.
I would not worry about this site. They are just a bunch of kids from a cult trying to “win” the Internet by using heretical quotes from dead heretics. And, yes, as is the case with this cult: NO new birth talk, no born-again talk. No Jesus. No hope. Oh, there are hundreds of similar Facebook pages and Reformed/Calvinist blogs and sites out there…and no life in any of them. Not one. They write for one another; working each other up into a funny frenzy; ah, they’ve been around since Internet started. Yawn.
I really would not worry about them. The father of lies can look after his children…or will he?
My advice: File it under rubbish and move on. There are souls to be saved.
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The original name of that page was Reformed Cage. I’m not sure if that was intentional or simply a typo. Only recently did they change the name to Sage. But I agree with you, it is quite pretentious, but then that is characteristic of just about every calvinist I’ve ever known.
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Yes, I remember “Reformed Cage”, from fairly recently, and even that name was; well, you know…pretentious, exclusive (why I would not know), elitist, pompous, as though only those in that particular cage (cave? Tee hee) know what’s cutting in the real world.
Calvinist/Reformed sites cannot present a straightforward Biblical gospel despite the way they rape and maul the Bible. It’s simply impossible. Go and take a look, Andy. Why can’t they? Because they are (well, my money is on the fact that that 99,9% of them) are not born-again SHOULD they believe their own diabolical doctrine, and well, because they are nothing but a cult. Look at the “Reformed Sage” (gee, that does sound pretentious; like “Alpha and Omega,” “Grace to You”…not to mention the names that female Calvinist bloggers dream, smoke, or “gnostic” up. Horrible stuff, just like the rest of the names. Shall we make a list of Calvinist/Reformed/Protestant blogs and websites sometime? It could fill up a very long page. You know, as comedy interlude of some sorts?).
Back to my point about this “Sage” business being a cult. They quote, in their childish memes, in their content, arguments, everything, people like White, Sproul, Calvin and every dead heretic, whether he/she (oh my. Never) is still alive or not. And the recipe with them is the same. Verse after verse after verse handpicked like a hairy TULIP. And the Arminian jokes abound (that is always there; they simply cannot understand that we’re not Arminian. That there are other options…like simply being Biblical. And cults like this lot love to appeal to whoever they believe are “knowledgeable”: MacArthur, White, etc. And they cover up as every cult does. And they deny. Like every cult does. And they defer. Like every cult does. And deflect. And use made-up words that are nowhere in the Bible. And then, eventually, they simply say “God is sovereign and in control.” But their preoccupation with men and men’s vulgar and anti-biblical ideas give therm away. Any Christian site has Jesus as its center; sees Jesus as fully God; understands that the born-again believer receives the Holy Spirit at conversion. And Christian sites push for the biblical gospel to be spread…in love…to anyone who has ears.
And Jesus remains nowhere. And the Holy Spirit is a “mystery” to them. And their “god” is someone I would not invite to a Halloween party. Not even if he came as the devil…
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Errrrr, embarrassingly enough, it was probably a typo. Ugh.
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Paul and Andy, God bless you for entering into the fray with these men. Reformed “Cage” was a perfect name for a New Reformed Calvinism web page. A Freudian Slip perhaps. “Sage”, not so much. New Reformed Calvinism, same as the Old Calvinism, just dressed up in a new style of clothing and messaging for 500 years later. The next statement is not written in judgment of you so please don’t take it that way. …. for myself, I have chosen to simply walk away. I figure nothing I say or do is going to change the praetorian guard of proof text scripture devoid of grammar, history, context, culture, intent of the author, intended audience, etc. Somewhere I seem to read the admonition about casting pearls before swine. Now where did I read that ….
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Funny you should mention it, Susan. I’ve read those words too. Ya, I’m with you when it comes to these type(s) of Calvinism (old, new, camouflaged, hip, square, fake, What, Ever). I have people in that cult that I care for deeply, and I pray for a miracle (that they would see the error of their ways and realize the complications and eternal consequences of their own choices).
One can catch a Calvinist red-handedly saying something like “Jesus died for you,” and they would deny saying it…just to defend their organization, because that thing sure ain’t no church, just for the sake of pride, etc. The indoctrination/brainwashing is so strong that many of them still believe the devil Calvin himself was such an upstanding man who just acted out the laws of the times. Now, look, if the conversation with a Calvinist can’t even get past that point, it’s a waste of time…while, all the while, there are souls out there…waiting and praying for the good news of Jesus Christ.
I leave the intelligent debating for Paul, Andy, John Immel. I just yap and snap like a bowl of Rice Crispies, pushing my agenda: that Calvinism is a cult and that there are souls in that thing that desperately need to get out of it. And then there’s the biblical gospel that we need to preach. So, you see, I’m easy…I just need some milk.
Blessings, Susan. Your comments always make me think.
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The apostle Paul said something about admonishing a heretic
“A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” ~Titus 3:10
I’ve come to the point where I recognize it it useless to argue for an alternative view. Instead I simply look for the inconsistency in their own teaching and focus on that. That’s what really torques them off the most.
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Andy, that blows them up, doesn’t it? They are all little ATMs. They can only answer and react to certain questions/functions. You go outside that and the thing overheats/malfunctions and doesn’t give you your money. Someone spit me out ten dollars.
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Andy, genera observation: Your writing has evolved into excellence. Really, tremendous work lately. Thanks!
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The blog title “the Reformed Cage” may not have been a typographical error. If you go to the RC Sproul website blog section, there is an article called “Cage-Stage Calvinism — Reformed Theology by RC Sproul”. Check it out for yourselves at ligonier.org But cut to the chase, the post is an exhortation to new Calvinists not to be jerks about their “discovery” (and dare I say, “air of superiority”) of God’s sovereignty and the Doctrines of Grace. Maybe there is a niggling of recognition of how those of the Calvinist persuasion come across to others; but the admonition isn’t just for the “newly converted.” It occurs to me that people tend to become/ mirror the theology they embrace. Calvin was a cruel and evil man. So is love-less-ness or love grown cold any surprise? As far as I am concerned, James White is the best reason to never be a Calvinist. That is my opinion after watching him debate and watching him make commentary on various doctrinal topics.
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According to the doctrine of double imputation Christ is the only one who can love or ever loved and that is imputed to our life-account if we live by faith alone in “what Jesus has done, not anything we do.” Said another way among the Protestant scholars, “Christ 100% for us.” Sooooo, according to their very own doctrine, there should be NO expectation of love in the church. That’s simply the logical conclusion of their stated orthodoxy.
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Yup, they blocked me!
Glad I took all those screen captures!!! LOL
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Shocked! I am shocked! I tell you. Actually not. The problem is all the other folks who come along to read the blog. What you write may make more rational and reasonable and persuasive sense than what they write. We wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we? Screen captures — a good thing. Otherwise it never happened.
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Right. Ideas a very dangerous things. They can’t even risk the notion that one person may begin to have doubts. That is how vacant their own arguments are. If they truly believed they were as right as think they are, they would let their ideas stand up to scrutiny for everyone to evaluate for themselves. But then again, they do not believe in free will. And the result is their politics; man must be coerced by force to accept reality as they understand it.
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