What John 3:16 does not say

"For God loved  the world in this way: He gave His One and Only  Son,  so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 HCSB)

"For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 New English Translation)

It does not say:
1. that everyone will be saved.
2. that all have the same opportunity to be saved.
3. that all could potentially be saved.
4. how anyone comes to believe.

All it says is that those who do believe will have eternal life.

A.W. Pink on the new birth

“The new birth is very, very much more than simply shedding a few tears due to a temporary remorse over sin. It is far more than changing our course of life, the leaving off of bad habits and the substituting of good ones. It is something different from the mere cherishing and practising of noble ideals. It goes infinitely deeper than coming forward to take some popular evangelist by the hand, signing a pledge-card, or "joining the church." The new birth is no mere turning over a new leaf but is the inception and reception of a new life. It is no mere reformation but a complete transformation. In short, the new birth is a miracle, the result of the supernatural operation of God. It is radical, revolutionary, lasting.

Here then is the first thing, in time, which God does in His own elect. He lays hold of those who are spiritually dead and quickens them into newness of life. He takes up one who was shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin, and conforms him to the image of His Son. He seizes a captive of the Devil and makes him a member of the household of faith. He picks up a beggar and makes him joint-heir with Christ. He comes to one who is full of enmity against Him and gives him a new heart that is full of love for Him. He stoops to one who by nature is a rebel and works in him both to will and to do of His own good pleasure. By His irresistible power He transforms a sinner into a saint, an enemy into a friend, a slave of the Devil into a child of God.” (A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 21st printing, 2004, p114)

Why evangelicals should stop evangelizing?

Carl Medearis with Sheikh Nabil Qawouk Hezbollah’s number two leader. Image courtesy CNNBelief

Perhaps we should stop evangelizing because people don’t like us? Maybe it brings division among communities! Maybe because Jesus is the uniter of humanity, and not the divider?

Carl Medearis, former missionary, writing for CNN Belief in an article entitled “My Take: Why evangelicals should stop evangelizing,” feels that we should not evangelize, especially among Muslims, it seems, and rather just getting people to become more like Christ, regardless of their religion.

I have written a few short comments on what I think of Medearis’ “Take” on evangelism. I quote what he says, and then make my short comments.

"It may come as a surprise to many Christians that Muslims are generally open to studying the life of Jesus as a model for leadership because they revere him as a prophet."

The question is, what resources do they use to study the life of Jesus? It certainly is not the New testament, since they have already made up their minds that the New Testament manuscripts have been corrupted countless times. So, it has to be from what the Koran says about Jesus, and... the Koran is dead wrong about Him!

Did Spurgeon suggest that experience comes before knowledge after all?

Adrian Warnock, a Reformed Charismatic from England whom I greatly admire, makes the assertion in a blog post that Spurgeon "seems to suggest that experience may well need to come first before faith." I am myself a Reformed Charismatic that also holds to New Covenant Theology, yet, I do not see how Adrian gets to this point.

He quotes several paragraphs from Spurgeon to make his point, however, I just do not get it! From the paragraphs quoted there, I do not see that Spurgeon says that experience comes before knowledge at all! What I do see is that Spurgeon said that both are necessary: knowledge and experience.

What do you think?