“Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ according to a command of God our Savior, even the Lord Jesus Christ, our Hope, to Timothy, a true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Even as I called on you to remain in Ephesus, (I going to Macedonia), that you might charge some not to teach other doctrines, nor to give heed to fables and to endless genealogies, which occasion doubts, rather than a stewardship of God in faith, but the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience, and faith not pretended, from which having missed the mark, some turned aside to empty talking, wishing to be teachers of law, neither understanding what they say, nor about that which they confidently affirm” (1 Timothy 1:1-7).
Right Reverend Wrong Way: So, teaching the law and talking is bad, then? Teaching the law and talking is bad.
Christian: Huh? Uhhhh … nope:
“Give diligence to present yourself approved to God, a workman unashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
“The priests did not say, Where is Jehovah? And they who handle the Law did not know Me. And the shepherds rebelled against Me; and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things not profitable” (Jeremiah 2:8).
Right Reverend Wrong Way: Am I a priest or a prophet? Do I prophesy by Baal? Where does Jeremiah mention “tolerant Calvinists” like me in this passage?
Christian: Evidently you think there are absolutely no Jeremiah 2:8 present-day parallels or counterparts. If you ever were to preach or comment on this passage, your application would be that there is no application for today. To the dustbin of irrelevancy it goes. But a prophet of your very own had not quite the constricted view that you appear to have:
” … Nor does the Prophet insist on a name; for it may have been that these false teachers pretended to profess the name of the eternal God, though falsely. But God is no sophist: there is then no reason for the Papists to think that they are at this day unlike these ancient impostors, because they profess the name of the only true God. It has always been so. Satan has not begun for the first time at this day to transform himself into an angel of light; but all his teachers in all ages have presented their poison, even all their errors and fallacies, in a golden cup. Though, then, these prophets boasted that they were sent from above, and confidently affirmed that they were the servants of the God of Abraham, it was yet all an empty profession; for they mingled with the truth those corruptions which they had derived from the ungodly errors of heathen nations” (John Calvin).
Christian: Will you say to Calvin, “Where are the Papists mentioned in Jeremiah 2:8?”? Or, “When did Papists start prophesying by Baal?”? Recall the words of Amos and Stephen:
“Have you brought near sacrifices and food offerings to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? Yea, you have lifted up the booth of your king, and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves!” (Amos 5:25-26).
“But God turned and gave them over to serve the host of the heaven, as it has been written in the book of the Prophets: Did you bring slain beasts and sacrifices to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, the figures which you made in order to worship them. And I will remove you beyond Babylon” (Acts 7:42-43).
Christian: Perhaps Amos and Stephen ought to start up a ministry website entitled “www.NoHistoricalUnderpinningsDotWhacky” or something. I suppose you would say that Amos and Stephen just “reprobated the whole church age” and consigned all the great “fathers of the faith” to the flames, correct?
Could not the house of Israel say that they worshiped the true God all along since their “imperfect knowledge” of Jehovah came not from malice, but only from simple ignorance? Could they not say that they “grew in grace and knowledge” or grew in their understanding? Could Amos and Stephen not with genuine humility, lovingly correct their “weaker brethren” who “inconsistently” profess to follow Jehovah though their doctrine looks more like they’re following Kiyyun, Remphan, or Moloch?
You tolerant Calvinists are stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and in the ears! You always fell against the Holy Spirit. As your “fathers of the faith” did, you do also. If you were consistent with yourself you would have to say that a true believer can begin with belief in Moloch as an immediate and inevitable fruit of regeneration and then “grow into” a belief in Jehovah, while in hindsight saying that Jehovah (and not Moloch) was being worshiped the entire time!
Right Reverend Wrong Way: Say I not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
Christian: I thought you might say something like that.
Agrammatos 