#supralapsarian

[brightbasilica]

I don't wanna leave, but I have to go

Psalm 37:25 popped into my head as I began writing this post. “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.” How often I come back to the question of righteousness... This week was emotionally troubling; I had some things arise out of multiple friend groups and quite a bit of calamity and fear ringing loudly about my life, but I feel resilient before most other things, and generally, I do lead a happy life. I chatted with a friend last night about discernment, and I’m unsure if it’s just my brain getting closer to fully developing its frontal lobe or God is calling me to wisdom, but when I say there has been a snap of clarity in my life lately, I mean that I’m seeing things for what they are that I’ve been blind to for years. Even a decade in one case. 

Two of my friends from my Bachelor’s degree came up to hang out with me during this gloomy Hurricane/Nor'easter weekend, and we went to the State Fair here before we explored my city a bit. Most recently, I hosted a small group at my home which erupted into a political argument that resulted in aforementioned friend (first paragraph) reflecting: “If this is the hope for the future church, Christianity in America is doomed.” How funny it is that I’ve been a staple of relative orthodoxy lately when I started out being the most heretical in my cohort? I go to school with extremists, it would seem to me.

I think perhaps I gave too much to social interaction this week, but I think that may cool in the coming weeks. Halloween is coming up, and I’m planning to dress up as an angel. That, I’m excited for. I discovered a new bar on the river here, and they’re hosting a giant costume party that me and some of my co-workers agreed to go to together; I’ve also been training for a 10k at the end of the month (which is a fast progression being that I haven’t run that length since April). In other news, I met a guy, and I know now that most of my budding relationships are filled with fear and trepidation because I’m toeing the line of ‘Bible thumper’, but I REFUSE to date seminary boys, so.... like? 

I don’t know how to soft launch perpetual virginity to the average 22-year-old man. On the other hand, the relationship may come to naught, and my stress may be unfounded. Who knows? It’s not for me to wonder methinks.

Today, I have to write a research paper on supralapsarianism vs infralapsarianism, but first, I’m going to go get some coffee and cake. My treat. Happy Saturday.

[dutch-and-flemish-painters]

Izaak van Oosten - The Fall of Man - 

oil on copper, Height: 69.5 cm (27.3 in); Width: 105.5 cm (41.5 in)

The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. The doctrine of the Fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis, chapters 1-3. At first, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but the serpent tempted them into eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. After doing so, they became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden to prevent them from eating from the tree of life and becoming immortal.

For many Christian denominations, the doctrine of the Fall is closely related to that of original sin or ancestral sin. They believe that the Fall brought sin into the world, corrupting the entire natural world, including human nature, causing all humans to be born into original sin, a state from which they cannot attain eternal life without the grace of God. The Eastern Orthodox Church accepts the concept of the Fall but rejects the idea that the guilt of original sin is passed down through generations, based in part on the passage Ezekiel 18:20 that says a son is not guilty of the sins of his father. Calvinist Protestants believe that Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for the elect, so they may be redeemed from their sin. Lapsarianism, understanding the logical order of God's decrees in relation to the Fall, is divided by some Calvinists into supralapsarian (prelapsarian, pre-lapsarian or antelapsarian, before the Fall) and infralapsarian (sublapsarian or postlapsarian, after the Fall).

The narrative of the Garden of Eden and the fall of man constitute a mythological tradition shared by all the Abrahamic religions, with a presentation more or less symbolic of Judeo-Christian morals and religious beliefs, which had an overwhelming impact on gender roles and sex differences both in the Western and Islamic worlds. Unlike Christianity, Judaism and Islam don't have a concept of "original sin", and instead have developed varying other interpretations of the Eden narrative.

Izaak van Oosten, Isaak van Oosten or Isaac van Oosten (sometimes, due to a repeated typographical error: Izaak van Costen)[1] (10 December 1613 – December 1661) was a Flemish Baroque landscape and cabinet painter active in Antwerp.

[coffeeman777]

"...to reject Molinism for the belief that it is ‘synergistic’ is to commit the straw man fallacy. Whilst there may be some Molinists who adhere to a Synergistic view of soteriology; Molinism does not necessitate the incorporation of a synergistic view in the salvation process. This would be like rejecting Calvinism in its entirety due to a ‘brand’ of Calvinism that adheres to infralapsarianism whilst completely ignoring other forms of Calvinism that adhere to supralapsarianism and sublapsarianism."

[nemuibuta]

touch of heaven

have you ever listened to a song, and the second you heard it, it resonated with you? have you ever heard a song that touched you in more ways than you might have initially known? have you ever heard the lyrics of a song and somehow, they turned into your own words?

i gotta admit, i’m not very smart. i’ve made it through... i can’t even count how many years of school now and i would personally say, besides some details here and there, i don’t feel very different. or perhaps it’s just that things didn’t really sink in the way they were supposed to. or maybe i’m not good at studying and that’s why the complex, higher level thoughts that were supposed to be taught to me in grad school went right over my head, or perhaps in one ear and out the other. 

for example, in one of my theology classes, we learned about something called “supralapsarianism” and “infralapsarianism”, which more or less are answers to the question of whether God’s degree to create or God’s decree to save creation came first. and i’ll just get it out of the way for transparencies sake to say, yes, i had to google that to know which was which. then there’s “premillienialism”, “postmillenialism”, and “amillenialism”, all differing views on how the end times will play out.

calvinist vs arminian. completentarian vs egalitarian. and i could go on and on regarding the different denominations and the entire spectrum of how conservative or liberal a christian you are. i could talk about the differing views regarding women pastors, talk about all the different controversial topics of our day, talk about baptism and who can do it, or marriage or communion. really, the rules and details go on and on and on such that 4 years of seminary is hardly enough to study the lot of them. or perhaps that’s why further in depth study into just one specific topic is offered.

and at the end of the day, i can’t help but think one thing.

“i am desperate for a touch of heaven“

maybe it’s cause i don’t consider myself a complicated person. maybe it’s because i want to look past the differences. maybe it’s because my strengthfinder says one of my top strengths is harmony. maybe it’s because i’m just plain simpleminded.

but at the end of the day, i don’t care. i just want to follow Jesus. i just want to do what aligns with him. i just want to glorify him. i just want to know and love and fall deeper and deeper in love with my Savior.

because anything less would be foolishness. because anything less would be a waste of time, a waste of life, a waste of effort, and completely futile. because you could put any sort of label you want to different views and argue endlessly on who’s right. 

because God exists and nothing can compare.

because Jesus is worth it all.

i don’t want to get caught up in the arguments that keep me focused more on being right rather than being in awe of God. i don’t want to trade in the wonder of a deep, intimate relationship with the one true God in order to argue semantics.

i want to walk closer, know deeper, love intimately, and live filled with awe of God.

and i pray that is your desire too. because nothing is worth more. 

absolutely nothing.

all i want is to live within Your love be undone by who You are my desire is to know You deeper Lord I will open up again throw my fears into the wind i am desperate for a touch of heaven

[vincentcheungteam]

We can use the word "theology" loosely and impose it upon any study of the Scriptures. In that sense, we should always study theology. However, we usually use the word in a more narrow sense, and when we do this, we are referring to studies that more or less carry human elements in them -- human jargons, human theories, human questions and interests, and human ways of expressing ideas, even true ideas. For example, knowing terms like supralapsarianism, the order of eternal decrees, and being able to talk them about very precisely -- these things in themselves do not make a person spiritual at all (although it can give some people, and the person himself, the illusion of being spiritual). Studying the Scriptures by himself, a person can simply think: God made a plan before creation, and then he carries out his plan in creation -- that is supralapsarianism -- but he never has to learn all that men have said about it. And if this person has faith in this teaching and lives by this teaching, then he is spiritual. No one really has to study "theology" in the narrow sense to know what he needs to know from God. "Theology" comes with many conveniences for efficient discussion, but because of men, it also comes with unnecessary burdens. In the loose sense, everybody should study theology non-stop. 

Using "theology" in that narrow sense, over the years I have advised some people to not study theology, or more often, to only delay the study of theology. Usually the reason was because their intellect and their character were not ready for it. I advised them to keep things simple and gain a more general understanding of the Bible and to take several years to build a foundation of knowledge -- and just as importantly, a foundation of humility and character -- before taking this next step. You see, they would run into some theological materials, sometimes even mine, and all of a sudden they wished to play the expert and start teaching people and writing books, and it would all be very bad. The people that I am thinking about right now did not listen to my advice, and they never gained a proper foundation. And as far as I am aware, they never became competent. They never advanced beyond the point when I first advised them to stop. If they had listened, they would have become more fruitful believers, and then perhaps they would have become ready to study more and teach others. 

I am trying to point out that, as strongly as I favor biblical intellectualism, I still advise some people to stop or to delay the study of "theology" in this narrow sense. This does not contradict intellectualism. The truth is that I told them to delay getting involved with human religious intellectualism, which overlaps with biblical intellectualism, but I believe that one can develop in biblical intellectualism without ever getting involved in human religious intellectualism. But human intellectualism has its own rules and words, and knowing them facilitates communication with certain types of people. If this is confused with spirituality, it becomes destructive and it is best to delay it until a person is ready. I do not know if this is why the prophecy told you not to study theology at that time. I am telling you why I have given what seems a similar advice, though I did not express it as a word from God, but my own perception. 

As for prophecy, I will tell you this about my experience. Almost all the prophecies I have received were false (more than 95%), spoken by people who wished to flatter me, or control and manipulate me, or take credit for what God achieves by me, and motivated by bias or jealousy. And the small number of prophecies that were true, were things that I already knew from the Lord, so that they were merely confirmation. I have found that my own biblically-informed judgments and instincts are better than a whole group of prophetic people. Certainly it is not that I am wiser than the Holy Spirit, but these people did not hear from God. Like the people I mentioned who were too eager to be known as theologians, those who are too eager to be known as prophets should slow down, and build themselves on a good foundation of knowledge and character. Then they can go very far. They are too eager to function in prophecy or to look spiritual, so they make things up. They speak from their own minds, and the fact that the spirit of prophecy does speak a word or two through them, mixing true words with false words, makes it more likely to compel the unlearned to obey and fall into trouble. Do not be intimidated by supernatural knowledge in a false prophecy. What would you do if someone who never met you called out your phone number and address, and then tell you to leave your wife? Cast the devil out of him. 

Because I have a little reputation among some people who prophesy, I might receive more prophecies that try to flatter or control, or take credit. So I am not saying that this is typical of everybody's experience. But I am saying three things. [1] Prophecy is legitimate. But charismatics have sin and immaturity in them just like cessationists have great wickedness and unbelief in their hearts. They have motives like self-glory, envy, theological bias, etc. [2] For this reason, it is not enough to just be "charismatics." They need teaching on the proper motives and methods in operating in spiritual things. [3] As an individual, you need to be able to know God's direction for yourself, so that prophecies from others either only confirm what you already know or you can verify them quickly. For sure, you do not need to obey prophecies that are false. A few times I have forced myself to entertain prophecies in order to be "humble" -- I did not even obey them, but just forced myself to think about them too much in the spirit of listening to others -- and I always came under spiritual attack as a result. But I had built myself on a strong foundation on the word of God and it was easy to fight them off, though I didn't need to come under attack in the first place since I knew better than to listen to nonsense. Some people become oppressed for years because of these things. 

Online debates are often counter-productive. That is true. One is tempted to answer and fight when the Lord is slandered, or when the person himself is misrepresented, especially when it is so easy to refute! Always consider the ROI. The profit for the Lord (and for your own ministry under the Lord) must be greater than the cost (time that you can spend elsewhere, and other costs) for something to deserve your attention. Pride is one thing that will make you answer even when it is not the right thing to do, because you always need everyone to think that you are correct. So watch out for that. Satan will use pride to manipulate you, to make you follow his program rather than the one you should follow. 

Personal e-mail.

[gmendel72]

My Kind of Language

My Kind of Language

I’m thankful that Jesus was God spelling Himself out in a language I could understand. I’m grateful that He didn’t wait until I could understand things like premillennialism and supralapsarianism and transubstantiation before He made Himself known to me (which I probably still couldn’t tell you what any of those mean). He didn’t ask me to get my life together perfectly before I could approach…

[saintkevorkian]

—It is called a tundish in Lower Drumcondra, said Stephen, laughing, where they speak the best English.

—A tundish, said the dean reflectively. That is a most interesting word. I must look that word up. Upon my word I must.

His courtesy of manner rang a little false and Stephen looked at the English convert with the same eyes as the elder brother in the parable may have turned on the prodigal. A humble follower in the wake of clamorous conversions, a poor Englishman in Ireland, he seemed to have entered on the stage of jesuit history when that strange play of intrigue and suffering and envy and struggle and indignity had been all but given through—a latecomer, a tardy spirit. From what had he set out? Perhaps he had been born and bred among serious dissenters, seeing salvation in Jesus only and abhorring the vain pomps of the establishment. Had he felt the need of an implicit faith amid the welter of sectarianism and the jargon of its turbulent schisms, six principle men, peculiar people, seed and snake baptists, supralapsarian dogmatists? Had he found the true church all of a sudden in winding up to the end like a reel of cotton some finespun line of reasoning upon insufflation on the imposition of hands or the procession of the Holy Ghost? Or had Lord Christ touched him and bidden him follow, like that disciple who had sat at the receipt of custom, as he sat by the door of some zincroofed chapel, yawning and telling over his church pence?

The dean repeated the word yet again.

—Tundish! Well now, that is interesting!

—The question you asked me a moment ago seems to me more interesting. What is that beauty which the artist struggles to express from lumps of earth, said Stephen coldly.

The little word seemed to have turned a rapier point of his sensitiveness against this courteous and vigilant foe. He felt with a smart of dejection that the man to whom he was speaking was a countryman of Ben Jonson. He thought:

—The language in which we are speaking is his before it is mine. How different are the words home, Christ, ale, master, on his lips and on mine! I cannot speak or write these words without unrest of spirit. His language, so familiar and so foreign, will always be for me an acquired speech. I have not made or accepted its words. My voice holds them at bay. My soul frets in the shadow of his language.

James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man [1916]

[inkuisitivskins]

Rip & Tear

Title: Rip & Tear

Chapter 1: Personal Supralapsarianism

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009)

Characters: Original Characters, Greed, Zampano, Jerso

Rating: Teen & Up [Violence, Suggestive Themes]

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Category: F/F

Relationships: Original Characters

Tags: POV Original Character, Original Character-centric, Chimeras, Pre-Canon, Backstory, Canon-Typical Violence, Body Horror

Chapters: 1/?

Word Count: 4,219

Silq is a captain in the Amestrian Army, stationed on the Aerugan front where the two countries war over their shared border. After she sustains a grave injury, she is taken to a government facility in which human chimeras are created for military use. Little do the scientists know, she had been itching for a chance to get back at the military that wronged her, and her newfound abilities are just what she needed to rebel. A spinoff from The Northern Theatre.

[mlorz]

archeology

The fall of man, or the fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. Although not named in the Bible, the doctrine of the fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis chapter 3. At first, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but the serpent tempted them into eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. After doing so, they became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden to prevent them from eating from the tree of life and becoming immortal.

For many Christian denominations, the doctrine of the fall is closely related to that of original sin. They believe that the fall brought sin into the world, corrupting the entire natural world, including human nature, causing all humans to be born into original sin, a state from which they cannot attain eternal life without the grace of God. The Eastern Orthodox Church accepts the concept of the fall but rejects the idea that the guilt of original sin is passed down through generations, based in part on the passage Ezekiel 18:20 that says a son is not guilty of the sins of his father. Calvinist Protestants believe that Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for the elect, so they may be redeemed from their sin. Judaism does not have a concept of "the fall" or "original sin" and has varying other interpretations of the Eden narrative. Lapsarianism, understanding the logical order of God's decrees in relation to the Fall, is divided by some Calvinists into supralapsarian (prelapsarian, pre-lapsarian or antelapsarian, before the Fall) and infralapsarian (sublapsarian or postlapsarian, after the Fall).

The story of the Garden of Eden and the fall of man represents a tradition among the Abrahamic peoples, with a presentation more or less symbolic of certain moral and religious truths.[1]

[that-bookworm-guy]

prelapsarian

characteristic of or pertaining to any innocentor carefree period: a prelapsarian youth.

Theology. occurring before the Fall: theprelapsarian innocence of Eden.

supralapsarian.

[luantavares]

Tal como acontece com muitas dessas controvérsias, a verdadeira questão neste desacordo entre supralapsarianismo e infralapsarianismo é se estamos dispostos a “deixar” que Deus seja Deus em seus próprios termos. Um supralapsarianismo consistente é a única posição que honra a Deus, a Escritura e a lógica. E é a única posição centrada em Deus. Uma das coisas que aprendemos com a doutrina é que Deus ativamente decretou e causou a queda da humanidade como um dos passos pelos quais ele cumpriria seu plano eterno. O pecado não foi um acidente, e a redenção não foi uma mera reação da parte de Deus. Como diz a Escritura, “O SENHOR faz tudo com um propósito; até os ímpios para o dia do castigo” (Provérbios 16:4). Assim, o supralapsarianismo resulta em louvor e reverência para com Deus. __________ Vincent Cheung. Supralapsarianism.

[indecentpause]

Definitions for prelapsarian:

characteristic of or pertaining to any innocent or carefree period: a prelapsarian youth.

Theology. occurring before the Fall: the prelapsarian innocence of Eden.

supralapsarian.

Manjeet squealed brightly when Annaisha picked her up and whirled her around, just once. Any more than that was always too much. Her little cousin was not so little anymore, now a full ten years old! But Annaisha was strong from lifting and moving books. And she wouldn’t be able to pick up her sweet little Manjeet much longer. She’d be too big, soon!

Annaisha started to put her back on the floor, but Manjeet gripped tightly to Annaisha’s neck, burying her nose in the soft skin there.

“You’ll still visit when I’m big, right?” she asked tremulously. “I mean, I know I’m big now, but... really big. Like a teenager. You’ll still visit?”

Annaisha held Manjeet close and gently ran her fingers through her hair.

“Oh, my little azuki bean,” Annaisha whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of Manjeet’s head. “Of course I will! And do you know know what getting older means?”

Manjeet raised her head, eyes a little watery. Annaisha bent down so they were nose to nose and whispered conspiratorially, “It means you can visit me in Selan, too!”

Manjeet lit up like the clouds passing by to let the sun shine through, her worry and dourness completely forgotten.

“Really?”

Annaisha kissed her forehead.

“Of course, my darling. Of course.”

[journeyintowriting]

Word of the Day: Prelapsarian

Prelapsarian (pree-lap-sair-ee-uh n)

Adjective

1. characteristic of or pertaining to any innocent or carefree period

2. Theology. occuring before the Fall

3. supralapsarian

Noun

1. supralapsarian

[skypilot666]

Courtship & Calvinism

[backpackpolymath]

My take on Infralapsarianism, Sublapsarianism, or Supralapsarianism

Among the theological topics I am interested in, soteriological issues pique my interest. As a theologian who holds to Calvinistic soteriology,  I get to be asked a lot of questions on Calvinism. In this post we will tackle a somewhat technical question related to Calvinism, Infralapsarianism, Sublapsarianism, or Supralapsarianism. My response is stated below after the question.

Question: First…