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Calvinism & The Salvation of Infants

1. From the beginning a few held with Zwingli that death in infancy is a sign of election, and hence that all who die in infancy are the children of God and enter at once into glory. After Zwingli, Bishop Hooper was probably the first to embrace this view. It has more lately become the ruling view. 2.    At the opposite extreme a very few held that the only sure sign of election is faith with its fruits, and, therefore, we can have no real ground of knowledge concerning the fate of any infant; as, however, God certainly has his elect among them too, each man can cherish the hope that his children are of the elect. Peter Martyr approaches this sadly agnostic position. 3.Many held that faith and the promise are sure signs of election, and accordingly all believes and their children are certainly saved; but the lack of faith and the promise is an equally sure sign of reprobation, so that all the children of unbelievers, dying such, are equally certainly lost. The younger Spanheim...
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Infinite Diversity Infinite Combinations

For the past 2 or 3 weeks, the Christian Internet/Social Media has been abuzz with chatter about the Gubbmit revealing that space aliens exist & are demons. First of all, this all comes across as yet another conspiracy theory working its way through some quarters of American Evangelicalism.     Second, why would space aliens be demons.      Maybe some are & some aren’t.    So what if some of them are.     Demons are still beings who left their positions of power & authority (Jude).   Most importantly why is a challenge for our faith as Christians?     According to the Bible, the purpose of the created order is to testify to God’s existence, attributes, & authority (Romans 1:18 - 32).    God is not tribal, territorial spirit.     God is universal.     He created everyone & everything every-when-&-where.      That means that if extr...
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Tackling Tradition 77: Who Wrote Matthew?

In skeptical circles these days, it is not at all unusual to hear that the Gospels are anonymous works.  The implication is that the ascriptions are fabrications. If / When you run across this assertion, pay careful attention to the way it is often argued.   You’ll get a range of opinions, some of which argue against this Levi person being the author because nobody writes themselves into the story that way,  Others argue that the people who added the ascription “Kata Matthaion” were motivated by the need to render the text authoritative in light of competing claims of authenticity of any number of works, as if doing so means the traditional authorship is inaccurate,  Bart Ehrman has been known to assert that nobody writes in “Title according to author name” form. 1. Authors throughout history have written in 3rd person / 3rd person omniscient form .  The issue therefore isn’t whether or not an author would do such a thing.  The issue is whether or not Matth...
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The Spiritual Abuse of Sam Allberry

Sam Allberry’s fall from grace has been the subject of a great deal of debate on the internet this week.       He confessed to an “inappropriate emotional attachment” that happened back in 2023/2024 & his church has seen fit to place him under church discipline.       In addition… Shawn Mathis The Gospel Coalition and others are telling themselves "we saw no signs" that a purportedly celibate gay celebrity they were promoting was up to no good. Pastor Sam Allberry was a problem from the get go.  Never forget those who endorsed him. I'll have a list soon. John William Noble I am truly saddened to read that Sam Allberry has fallen into sexual sin. Regrettably, theological compromise within evangelicalism is a significant contributor to how contemporary 'hot topics' are being tackled. This was an article written over a year ago on this subject. Rick Pidock It would be nice to be able to have an honest conversation with Sam Allberry the human, apart fr...
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