• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
  • We hope the site problems here are now solved, however, if you still have any issues, please start a ticket in Contact Us

Recent content by dcyates

  1. dcyates

    1 Kings 18:27 and the Bible Babble Buffet Versions

    I'm not sure I understand your point, BP. The overarching intent of the verse is to record Elijah's mocking of the priests of Baal, with the obvious implication being that a god who is evidently so preoccupied as to be unable to answer his priests is quite obviously no god at all. That comes...
  2. dcyates

    Most Accurate Bible Translation

    My mistake; it was in fact derived from the RSV. Several Bible scholars of a more theologically conservative bent recognized both the high level and superior scholarship behind the old RSV translation, but were at the same time a bit concerned with the more liberal elements (both theological and...
  3. dcyates

    Most Accurate Bible Translation

    It all depends on what you want emphasized. If you're looking for as literal a translation as possible (where the translators have tried to find as close an equivalent English word for each and every Hebrew and Greek word), one can hardly get more literal (short of an interlinear) than the NASB...
  4. dcyates

    Calling All Calvinist/Reformed Christians!

    Sorry for the delay in my response. Why not? All sorts of difficulties are inherent in translating any document from one language into another -- and this is especially so when that document was written in an ancient language some 2,000 years ago from within a very different culture and...
  5. dcyates

    Calling All Calvinist/Reformed Christians!

    Yeah, that's where I was sent FROM. (AFTER first having been sent there by a mod, btw.) But as far as this is concerned, I'll say here what I said there. (And I'm perfectly calm as I type this, so please be kind enough to read this in the spirit in which it's intended.) When it comes to my...
  6. dcyates

    Calling All Calvinist/Reformed Christians!

    Lol! I remember reading an old book called "Mama Toto." It was about all the various and diverse folk traditions and superstitions that surround childbirth all over the world. Much of it had to do with predicting the sex of the forthcoming baby. "If the first meal you ate after finding out you...
  7. dcyates

    Calling All Calvinist/Reformed Christians!

    I suppose it depends. To what extent do any of us know what our reactions will be ahead of time? There are, of course, many factors involved. As far as 2 Kings 20 is concerned, I think YHWH was genuinely moved by Hezekiah's tearful prayer for his life. No problem. I hope I've sufficiently...
  8. dcyates

    Calling All Calvinist/Reformed Christians!

    Lol! Sorry. If this is indeed the case, then why use such inaccurate, not to say, even deceptive language? As for Romans 9.17 (and practically the entire chapter for that matter), let me begin by confessing that I'm always uneasy whenever I see somebody drawing a theological conclusion based...
  9. dcyates

    Calling All Calvinist/Reformed Christians!

    But strangertoo, what does the rest of this verse say? The verses preceding v. 6 speak of God bringing his judgement against the people of Israel. But then God clarifies the situation: "But because I, YHWH, do not change, you sons of Jacob will not be destroyed." So what's being communicated...
  10. dcyates

    Calling All Calvinist/Reformed Christians!

    Only because I was told to. God foreordained that he would change his mind here?!? Does that honestly sound logical to you (or anybody)? Furthermore, if God foreknew that he was going to change his mind concerning Hezekiah's death, doesn't that show considerable cruelty on his part? God: "Get...
  11. dcyates

    Does man's faith merit or earn his salvation?

    Assuming for now that the exact same people perish in either "system," do you not see a difference between people perishing because they freely and of their own will rejected the message of the gospel, and those same people perishing because God had essentially chosen them for damnation? I...
  12. dcyates

    Calling All Calvinist/Reformed Christians!

    Thanks. Apparently I'm in desperate need of rescuing.
  13. dcyates

    Calling All Calvinist/Reformed Christians!

    How do Calvinists interpret texts like 2 Kings 20.1-6, Jeremiah 3.6-7, and 18.7-10 (just for a few examples) in light of their "classical" position regarding God's perfect and complete foreknowledge?