To:--- Traditional Anglican. Regarding your last post: You misread my post if you thought I "insulted" your church. Just the opposite! I do think that maybe you should not have posted what you did on a website that seems to be made up of mostly Scofieldian/Arminians/Chick tracters. { Kinda like showing a photo of President Bush to a room full of democrats...
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I have mentioned to you when you first came aboard that I have attended St. Lukes REC in Santa Ana, Cal.. When I was an assistant manager of a large christian bookstore next to the 405 Fwy, I invited the R.E.C. Pastor to set up a pamphlet table in our store... (as an antidote to the Beach/casual/surfer dude kinda "fellowships"). I have their website on my "Favorites List". If there was an R.E.C. in my town, I would attend it.... The nearest one is down in British Columbia, Can.. { I am Baptistic, but really like the Liturgy/Litany/Reverance and stained glass windows-( a baptist no-no
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http:
www.stlukesrec.org/ Rich and deep God-honoring worship.
Look at the margin of their site under "Reading List". Many books mentioned, and 90% of them are from the pens of men who hold to the historic Christian idea ---going back to the Bible--- that men are not capable of saving themselves! Only our Lord and Saviour does the saving and choosing. This may not be popular in a day and age when you can go to the Grocery Store and pick from hundreds of different items/products, but the Scripture tells us that The Lord God Almighty is the Chooser! See Ephesians 1:4.
Here is the website of the R.E.C. . Check out the various articles and historical points. They were founded in 1873 to preserve the Reformation thinking found in the 1549 Prayer Book of Cranmer, against the Romanists who were of the "Oxford Movement" in the 1800's who wanted to get rid of the 39 Articles, because they are Protestant and Reformed.
http://rechurch.org/recus/index.html
{ They also show/list the 39 Articles of Relgion which are in the back of the Book of Common Prayer (hence, my screen name) so anyone reading these posts on this Thread can see for themself.}
I will agree with your statement that not all Reformed folks think alike---(and most Arminians don't either)--- But if you were in a Presbyterian Church , then you know they adhere to The Bible as the Written Word of God, and use/subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith,,, which took those good gentlemen meeting from 1644-47 to refine/smooth/polish until what they gave the Christian world was something backed-up by Scripture...Including The whole Epistle to the Romans, John Chapter 6 and John Chapter 10, NOT just by John 3:16, but rather the WHOLE counsel of the Word of God... which, btw. is why I mentioned Esau and Jacob! There are books and pamphlets available online via Calvin College's ethereal Libary where you can see the paragraphs of the Westminster (and the 1689) with the scripture proofs.
If you had a bad experience at a certain Presbyterian Church, that does not mean to toss out all the O.P.C.'s , P.C.A.'s Ref.Presb., and the Free Presbyterians- ( a good group from Northern Ireland). I also suggested to a young Christian named "Rolando" over in the Chit-Chat section---> Thread titled "Christmas" , that rather than stay home this year (He is a former R.C.) he should attend the original R.E.C. in N.Y.C. (or the one in Jersey City) this Christmas Eve/Day and invite his still R.C. family. I would not suggest a Church to somone if I thought they were a bad church.
Traditional Anglican--- You might not hold to what the Reformed teaching is on each topic,,, Hey, maybe your Pastor never mentioned it in Catechism class, or doesn't believe it himself,,, But I can tell yaa as a former Flaming with zeal Arminian... If the Reformers (1500's) and the next generation of Puritans/Presbyterians/Particular Baptists (1600's) and then the Gents of the "Great Awakening" Jonathan Edwards/George Whitefield (1700's) believed and taught these things--- There must be good reason for it. These men were not doofus ding-alings. They countered Romanism and Arminianism with the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul. They went back to Genesis and Exodus and Isaiah and Jeremiah. God is Holy and Gracious and Just. He is in Command! Rev. 4:11 --- Amen.