What is my lie?

vangelicmonk, you are wasting your breath and time talking to a guy like this. He is unable to hear encouragement in love. He can hardly hear anything at all except for the sound of his own voice. He doesn’t want to “correspond” with anyone (despite his claim in this post), much less discuss any issues so as to arrive at some final agreement. He, by his own concession, worships a different god from our own. For instance, we worship a God who sent His Son into this world who established the church. We believe that Jesus Christ specifically sent the Holy Spirit to guide and lead the church. He is unable to point to a single person in history who would share his beliefs and thus be “regenerate” by his standards. He must admit that after the death of the Apostles, the entire church suddenly went headlong into complete and utter apostasy. This means that St. Timothy, despite the instruction of St. Paul, did not keep that which had been entrusted to him. It also means that Christ was more than a little misleading when he said “Lo, I am with you always” to his Apostles. He worships a god who is a complete loser, an utter failure, doesn’t keep his promises, and is above all a poor communicator.

Secondly, Mr. Bain believes in salvation by works, which the church has always taught is in error. The Scriptures clearly teach that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. He, on the other hand, would have us believe that in order to obtain eternal life, we have to achieve an exhaustive cognative grasp all the propositions contained in Holy Writ. If you are in error about any doctrine of God, you believe something wrong about God, and therefore worship an idol, and are therefore an atheist. That’s the basic gist of his argument, and that makes him a typical, run-of-the-mill Pelagian. Pelagianism was condemned as heresy in the fifth century.

Mr. Bain would have quite a but of difficulty demonstrating, according to his personal belief system, that there were any true believers prior to the publishing of the Westminster Confession of Faith. He might even be quick to anathematise many of the writers and contributers of that document which constitutes his sacred tradition. He probably has several choice words and prooftexts specifically for Thomas Manton, who wrote the Epistle to the Reader in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Furthermore, though he claims Scripture is his only authority, he will not be swayed by any Scripture that seems to contradict his own personal interpretation of the Bible. He will just find some other verse and change the subject, or appeal to his sacred tradition, the Westminster Confession of Faith. All champions of sola Scriptura do this on a regular basis. It’s such a bore.

He claims to be “particularly interested in corresponding with” me. Well, he should get used to disappointment. Just watch his reaction to this post. He’ll call me a liar, quote a bunch of proof texts, call me an atheist and then maybe he’ll go on with his silly tirades anathematising the Catholics. Yes, he’ll have no problem condemning the same people who preserved his Bible for one and a half millennia and formulated the doctrine of Trinity at the first Council of Nicea. Actually, it wouldn’t at all surprise me if he doesn’t even accept the Nicene Creed. He wants to sound all unique and different, but there’s hardly a bit of difference betwixt him and any other heterodox group that goes door to door peddling literature.

That’s the thing with people who oppose the church, they never can thing of anything really new or cool in terms of heresy: it’s always the same old stuff rehashed over and over again. “We’re the one true church” or “Jesus isn’t really God.” They can never think of anything innovative or at least interesting. That’s what makes them so easy to spot, and so damned boring.

Oh, and Andrew, you should be careful how often you post here, they say you might get hairy palms.