Limited Atonement, High Calvinism.

The more I study the atonement in scripture, and the substitutionary nature of it, the more I must deny the following,

"the atonement is sufficient for all, efficient only for the elect."

This statement is complete nonsense in a substitutionary viewpoint of atonement.

I grew up attending church here or there, attended the youth groups, went on retreats, but was never grasped by what I heard. When I was 20 God began moving in my life to draw me close to him. A friend of mine devoted his time to me and I began to desire to know who God was and what the Bible taught. After listening to a sermon series on What is the Gospel, for the first time I listened to the gospel with an open heart and desired to understand what it was. For the first time I started to understand the nature of sin and it's consequences, God's attitude toward sin and his compassion. And on that day I knew that I would spend my life trusting this Gospel and learning who God is. I do not know if this was my conversion but I know this is when there was no longer any turning back.

I havn't been perfected and continue to struggle against my sin and struggle for fellowship with God. But I am having victories, the biggest one is my pursuit of reconciliation with those I have wronged.

In very practical ways. There was a time when I absolutely hated the sovereignty of God. I wanted my liberty, I wanted my "human dignity of free will". It wasn't until I had determined to learn who our God is and what He has done that I began to accept these truths. Today I would not be able to go another day without them. The truth that the Father through the work of the Holy Spirit is the one who brought me to the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ has instilled in me gratitude. The truth that Jesus' death is a perfect sacrifice of infinite worth and perfects all for whom it was made has freed me to rest in my salvation.(I have always believed in Limited atonement of somekind)

I am currently giving all of my study time to the Book of Hebrews. It has truly been a wonderful time and I have learned so many things that I never saw before because I had not allowed time to meditate on the Book.

My goal is to spend the rest of the year in Hebrews.

(update) I have been distracted by many things, but have finally reached Hebrews 7, I am treating hebrews 6:13-10:18 as a unit.

Jesus, I realize this is a copout.

Without giving too much thought to this I would say Paul the apostle because of the love he has for the elect. When I read the epistles written by him I am struck by how much emotion he has, everything from anger to remorse to affection. I desire to emulate his religious affections.

No. Hahaha

I struggle at being single, I'm not called to it. I'm called to marriage. I'm called to give my life to someone without restraint. That is the passion of my heart.

I don't have(as far as I know) any false conceptions of "marital bliss". All I have to do is look at my parents to know that marriage isn't always happy.

As a moving away gift last december some friends of mine got together to inform me and one another how they saw the grace of God moving in my life. I was deeply moved and greatly appreciate the things they said.

they said that I am,

1) available

2) faithful

3) teachable

4) tough as nails. (there's context to this one)

The Gospel. There is nothing more important to me than the accurate communication and defense of what God has done for our salvation and what our response to it is. This passion was lit while I was employed at a homeless mIssion in Minneapolis.

Family, both physical and spiritual.

Forgiveness of sins.

Reconciliation with those I have wronged.

last, my church... the congregation is loving and sincere, there's lots of problems but we face them together, the pastor is tough as nails and preaches sermons that are theological in content, and practical in application, currently going through ezra

"charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised."

Conviction, boldness, consistency.

I admire people who stand by their convictions, are bold enough to tell someone they're wrong, and consistent that their life reflects their convictions.

If you take the time to get past my outer-wall you will find I am light-hearted and love laughter. I am not open-minded the way the term is used today, what I am though is fair. I was raised to believe a man is obligated to his family first.

Marybeth. She was my supervisor while I worked at a homeless mission. I have never met a person more commited to faithfulness than her. She strived to bring every aspect of her life into subjection to the will of God and I saw her experience both joy and sorrow for it.

Second reason is she is tough as nails, I mean TOUGH. I've seen her stand up to 300 pound 6'5" men and turn them from violence. She's about 5' tall. I have never in my life met a more courageous person.

Lastly the way she lives with Her Lupus. With courage and fear. She's sincere.

some of my favorites are,,,

"I manifested the gift of self-control" me

"all roads lead to the sameplace, the judgment throne of Christ" Wes

"My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"

I am really excited about Hebrews right now and would love to share what I'm learning.

The last job I had was in ministry, while I lived in minneapolis I was blessed by working at the Marie Sandvik Center, it's a christian ministry on franklin that ministers to homeless and those in need through bible studies, church services, free meals, free clothing, and free produce.

Now that i'm living in north dakota again I am living at home, preparing to finish school, and working at the local Newspaper. Once I graduate I plan to become an apprentice Pastor, and then wait for the Lord to lead me to a church.

Get married, make babies, become a pastor and disciple the next generation.

I enjoy biking, but there's snow everywhere right now. I listen to sermons by Charles Leiter, James White, and Albert Martin. I read puritan paperbacks and other theology books. I try to give my time to others as much as I can. When offered I enjoy giving church services at local nursing homes.

Ask me and I'll tell you about them all.

I love my family. I want to live within a day's travel of them. I love the great plains and would be very satisfied to stay here. However where the Lord calls me to pastor is where I go.

Preaching, studying theology, studying how to be a husband and pastor.

Spending time with my family, especially neices and nephews. Fellowship with my brother is always a blessing. Early-morning group bible studies, they get you up and fed on the word.

I love to dance, ballroom and swing.

I practice Judo.

I enjoy good tea.

I include my position on smoking and alcohol here because there were not enough options above.

I do not drink, the primary reason is I can't stand how alcohol tastes, and I'm okay with others drinking as long as it's in moderation and they don't get drunk. Glass of wine with dinner, fine. Football kegger NO!!

My position on smoking is like alcohol, I am fine with occassional smoking for enjoyment. Cigar or pipe after dinner, fine.(outside) 10 cigarrettes since lunch, NO!!

I am currently courting NikkiD, if you didn't know by this point. We met on SGS, I contacted her because I wanted to have 'a deep conversation where you really get to know the other person'. And we did, lots and lots of them, and on valentine's day I told her I wanted to pursue her. On the following saturday her father gave me permission to court her.