Jesus loves some little childern, some little children of the world.
Red or yellow, black or white, some are precious in his sight. Jesus loves some little children of the world.

Some but not all.

It has nothing to do with whether a person thinks election is fair or not. The Calvinist doctrine of election is a misinterpretation of the scripture.

Trinity is also a word made up by men, but one we use to define a docrine that is biblical.

Whether you agree with the term baptimal regeneration, you are saying a person who puts their faith in Christ but hasn’t been baptized is not saved.

I would suggest you find some good commentary on this subject to test your position. And before you tell me, “the Bible is enough for me,” I agree

It’s determine what the Bible means. It also told Israel at times to go into another city and destroy all the inhabitants – that command is not for us today.

Finding the appropriate meaning, within the context, is what is important to us.

I know you would agree with this.

Let me comment on one of your statements, “…abuse certain biblical words…”

I agree and I think you have hit the nail on the head. It’s important to interpret words and texts carefully and correctly. A word used in one place may not have the meaning in another place. For example, consider the name of “John” (not the disciple or Johnny Mc). Just John in general.

If I made the statement:

“John went into the John to read his Dear John letter.”

The word John has three different meanings in one 11 word sentence. It includes a proper name, a genre of letter, and a bathroom.

A biblical example is the word salvation. It can mean temporal salvation or eternal salvation from hell. David often uses it to mean temporal salvation: he was saved from his enemies. It means two completely different things depending upon the context.

Without going into tremendous detail, I think this is part of the problem with the Reformed and Lordship views of salvation. I think the word election, among others, has probably been assigned a meaning that is deficient of what the text indicates.

Be definition baptismal regeneration means that a person believes you MUST be baptized to be saved.

If a person ties baptism to faith as a condition, they are holding to this definition.

Thus, even though you are using Mark 16:16 as an example in our discussion, it sounds like you are saying you believe baptism is a condition for salvation.

By definition you would then be holding to baptismal regeneration.

Wow! God is doing some great works in your life. Again, thanks so much for sharing what He’s doing. It’s exciting to hear from someone who is growing so richly and deeply in the Word and things of God.

I would love to comment thoroughly on everything you wrote to honor your efforts. Time is my enemy though today.

Just one clarification: I believe surrender is important. Especially if one is going to be obedient to the commands of Christ.

However, I don’t see surrender and submission as being conditions for justification. Not that they’re not important, let me say that again. Just that it’s not connected to receiving eternal life.

Why is this?

Surrender and Submission require works. Obedience is a work. We know in Ephesians 2:8,9 that works is not a part of being regenerated. It is not a condition. Faith is the condition.

It’s a simple matter of definition and order; getting the cart before the horse. And it’s important because it affects how we present the Gospel.

My wife came to faith in Christ during a VBS program when she was 7. She heard a simple message of Christ, what He did for us, and that by believing in Him she could be forgiven and receive eternal life. She believed in Him that day. However, she did not make a commitment to be a missionay, serve Him all of her life, quit every sin, etc. She was seven. But as you said, she received Christ in childlike faith. What follows after that is a process of discipleship and sanctification.

This then turns into legalism because everyone is constantly looking at a person’s works to verify his or her salvation. Instead of seeing if the person is looking at the Savior, they look at their life. Our lives are going to waver. We’ll be strong one day and weak the next. We will have irregular obedience.

Chuck Swindoll discusses this in his book, “Grace Awakening”. Although he doesn’t mention names or groups. The type of theology which started this article is what he’s talking about.

Thanks again for the ongoing discussion.