Recent content by ShaulHaTarsi

  1. ShaulHaTarsi

    What is it?

    #1 is a gragger (for Purim) #3 is a seder plate (for Passover), #4 is what we would call a "kvort" for netilat yadayim. Not sure yet what #2 is...
  2. ShaulHaTarsi

    What is it?

    Please post more. I recognized the Havadalah Candle right away, but unfortunately I was busy last week :(
  3. ShaulHaTarsi

    Backgammon

    Backgammon is a favorite pastime of old Israeli men, and is caled shesh-besh in Israel. FYI.
  4. ShaulHaTarsi

    Head coverings

    I can speak for Orthodox Law: Women are only required to cover their heads. It has nothing to do with age, and is related to the fact that an uncovered head of a married woman is seen as nakedness and immodest; as understood from the [trial of bitter...
  5. ShaulHaTarsi

    Shalom Ani! - Intro Thread

    I was raised Orthodox and studied in various Yeshivas. I still have a Hebrew תנ"ך which I read from regularly, and have been recently brushing up on my Talmudic Aramaic to better understand how much of the Torah was understood during late antiquity and through the early Church.
  6. ShaulHaTarsi

    Movement?

    Grew up Orthodox. btw, Masorati is the equivalent of Conservative in Israel (and perhaps the UK as well)
  7. ShaulHaTarsi

    New Jewish Community Center Forum

    Yes. Once a word has too many letters, it's easy to get confused :)
  8. ShaulHaTarsi

    Isn't the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism really just perception, pov, and processing?

    GOD IS SOVEREIGN. BEEP. LIMITED ATONEMENT. BEEP. HERESY DETECTED. WARNING WARNING WARNING
  9. ShaulHaTarsi

    Isn't the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism really just perception, pov, and processing?

    Perhaps there's a difference between an "Orthodox Calvinist" and someone who likes to stick to the "Reformed" side of things. I remember before I became Christian, and even some time afterwards, I just assumed "Calvinist" was one of those dirty words, like "Existentialist".
  10. ShaulHaTarsi

    Isn't the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism really just perception, pov, and processing?

    What's even more interesting is that the author of the article himself appears to be a Calvinist (or at least someone with a sufficiently Calvinistic view) as he's featured on John Piper's site: http://www.desiringgod.org/authors/adrian-warnock It seems like Spurgeon is the one to read for this...
  11. ShaulHaTarsi

    Isn't the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism really just perception, pov, and processing?

    For the record, I'm still trying to figure out if I'm a Calvinist or not. There's a spectrum here (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/adrianwarnock/2010/12/an-arminocalvinist-spectrum-or-why-its-not-so-simple-as-arminians-vs-calvinists/), which I find interesting.
  12. ShaulHaTarsi

    Isn't the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism really just perception, pov, and processing?

    It's a genuine call to everyone to repent, but we know that not everyone is within the same disposition to receive it. To put it another way, the response to the call to repent happens supernaturally and particularly, not naturally and generally. It is the active love of Christ which saves, and...
  13. ShaulHaTarsi

    Isn't the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism really just perception, pov, and processing?

    The fact that God actively saves people does not at all imply that God, either actively or passively damns them. It is a mystery, but it is a biblical one. Our Lord will say "Depart from me, I never knew you". He doesn't say "Don't even try to get close to me because I didn't have you in mind in...
  14. ShaulHaTarsi

    Isn't the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism really just perception, pov, and processing?

    I think I clearly had a typo there, I meant to say "damnation only exists to facilitate our salvation" In any event, all five points of calvinism follow, but for different reasons. They all indeed do derive from God's sovereignty and our non-sovereignty and inability. I don't actually buy the...
  15. ShaulHaTarsi

    Isn't the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism really just perception, pov, and processing?

    The problem with double predestination is the hyperextension of reverse-soteriology as a universal principle. Predestination simply teaches that those who are saved are saved by God's sovereign grace alone. Those who are not saved are left to their own devices. This concept is of course a...