The point was raised at a facebook group that I belong to, that if Christ is the Lord over His Church, then why waste our efforts “tearing one another down” and set aside our “differences” in order that we might simply invest ourselves into the labors of our Lord. I took the time to make a lengthy reply, which then (as it often does) impressed upon me that it could become a post on it’s own right. Here’s my response, in full.

Galatians 6:1-3 — 1 Corinthians 5

There does come a point where we need to hold firm to the truth and stand our ground in defending it. (1 Timothy 4:16, Jude :3) Two differing opinions cannot be equally and likewise “TRUE“. The moon is not (A) made of rocks and (B) made of green cheese. In the latter case, one needs to dispel the lies and teach the truth.

Since Arminianism teaches things counter to the truths of Scripture, can it be said that those folks HONESTLY worship God? Or…. do they worship an IDOL that they conveniently NAMED “God“, and then applied all their theories to this idol and call others to bow down likewise. It seems to me that scripture only has ONE interpretation precisely because it reflects the heart of GOD, not man. It behooves us to get it right and not hold to personal opinion, no matter how popular that opinion might be.

As to Arminians, they hold to highly an exalted view of man. They would have us believe that man is not DEAD in his sin, that every man could and should have the power of FREE CHOICE, and that man conversely could loose his salvation by simply choosing to walk away. Seems to me, their whole “religion” is based on exalting the position of being “man”, made in the image of God.

I am being very simple here in my statements, believe it or not, but the entire gist of this is that Calvinism places God where He properly belongs: Sovereign over HIS….. H-I-S…. Universe. Arminianism simply says “it’s all about US“.

The earth is round, the earth is flat —- Tell me which one will sail off into the sunset without fear that they’re gonna fall off?

Improper theology likewise produces improper responses to God. If I believe that —– “ I ” —— hold the power of —- “ MY ” —– Salvation, and that I can lose it at any time…. then how is my response to God going to reflect that? I will live in terror that my next sin will be my fatal blow. It all becomes a effort of works to keep myself “saved”.

PRAISE THE LIVING LORD JESUS that I am set free (indeed!!!) by the power of the (honest) Truth — Nothing shall ever separate us from the Love of God. (Romans 8, John 10, Philippians 1:6) And I do rejoice likewise (and am supremely humbled by the knowledge) that God choose unworthy me to be saved (Romans 9, John 1:12-13) and granted me the GIFTS of: Repentance, Faith & Grace. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 13)

Because trust me — If He hadn’t moved to quicken my Spirit by His own precious Spirit — I would still be lost and dead in my sins just like everyone else.

I have three friends who are actively still posting on Xanga. Knight in Croatian Armor, Sonnet Joy & SaintVI all seem to somewhat update their blog, but for the most part, Xanga has become a sad & lonely place. Everything that once made this place so wonderful seems to have evaporated in the change-over.

That said I have to admit that I started on my first serious topic post today….. over at WordPress. Seems that lately I’m seeing more & more traffic there than I am here, and it’s all on old posts i’d written. Whereas I typically get about 2-3 SPAM comments per day here, I get about 1 regular comment a week over there. It’s actually made me decide that as much as I don’t care for this “blogging format” that Xanga has forced upon us (the whole WordPress bit and all) I do at least care if my thoughts get read. Thus when I went to post up something serious in nature….. I didn’t turn to my PAID FOR blog…. I actually turned to WordPress. Just because people randomly seem to be dropping by and reading what’s being said.

I do have to say that here….. now…. it’s really hard to tell any more if I have visitors or anything beyond the pesky scammers dropping random fake comments. My last post was either censored by the Xanga team for fostering to much negativity or was wholly avoided by one and all as not worth commenting. The other option might be that there really are crickets chirpping outside my Xanga-window.

So this new post title — I want to submit it to the Xangateam as a potential moniker. I mean, really, it kinda seems to fit. Xanga: a sad & lonely place.

It really does have a nice ring to it, don’t you think?