Hello to all,
I have read and reread this thread several times. At the risk seeming slow, I must beg this question.
Why is it that the greatest discussion and debate in all christiandom seems to be over, what I shall call, "looking for shortcuts to salvation?"
If I may make an anaology; If you are married, and one day your spouse does or says somthing that you don't fully understand, would you take a copy of your wedding vows to an attorney and ask for an explanation for your spouse's behavior, and just exactly was/is your obligation to your spouse? I think not.
Your wedding vows are simply a public expression of your love and commitment to your spouse. By the same token, you're commitment to Jesus Christ by baptisim is a public expression of your commitment to Him, and your love for Him.
If you have question concerning your spouse's actions you would simply ask her/him for an explaination. You would use love and logic to understand the response. Yet the fact that God, in His wisdom has given us the answers to our questions, in advance of our asking for the answers, pertaining to His plan of salvation for us, we as sinful humaning beings choose to challenge many of those divine answers without applying love and logic.
Respectfully, your brother in Christ,
Doc
"Lord, please put your arms around me and Your hand over my mouth."