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 Actscelerate is a place for dialogue and fellowship, not evangelism |
Dave Dorsey |
If an unbeliever makes their way to Actscelerate, then by all means, please share the gospel with them!
But when it comes to your brothers and sisters on Acts, please understand that while most people here enjoy a good debate and that the forum is always open for discussions of all sorts, it quickly becomes tiring when posters continually evangelize a single opinion in all of their posts, especially when it is an opinion that is not commonly held by other posters.
This forum is open to all believers, but generally serves members of the Church of God, Assemblies of God, and other Pentecostal believers. The members of this forum generally affirm the sorts of things affirmed by these denominations, and while there is a beautiful diversity here that makes discussion lively and fun -- and helps iron sharpen iron -- it is a little rude to attempt to evangelize a forum away from what the consensus of its posters believe.
I was saved in a Church of God church, but over the years I became persuaded by the doctrines of grace and now consider myself an essentially Reformed continuationist. I hold to the continuation of the gifts of the Spirit and I am a credobaptist, so I find much unity with the posters here despite my belief in Calvinism. (In fact, I have read books advocating positions against my views because of my participation here, including Elect in the Son, which Quiet Wyatt suggested to me, and Discovering Biblical Equality, which Tom Sterbens graciously purchased for me.)
Do you know how many threads or posts I have made advocating Calvinism on this forum? Zero. Do you know how many I intend to make in the future? Also zero. Because there is no fruit to be gained from me attempting to evangelize a forum that disagrees with me to my side. Instead, I would much rather find points of unity and agreement, rather than points of disagreement and strife.
Within the realm of continuationism or Pentecostal thought, I will certainly share my opinion and disagree. When it comes to hypercharismaticism, I have shared my views and will continue to do so. But I will always try to do so charitably, and will endeavor to repent and make amends if and when I fail at that. And that disagreement is part of what makes engaging here so fun.
But when disagreement becomes evangelism in every thread and every post, other posters stop listening. You lose your voice because you're looking for a pulpit rather than a discussion. We all have an obligation to each other to listen and to understand, to seek points of compromise and mutual upbuilding. And if we can't find points of compromise, then we should probably just let an issue go, rather than driving people away by continually harping on our particular view.
As Doyle would say: That's my opinion. What about yours? |
[Insert Acts Pun Here]
Posts: 13654
3/12/18 5:33 pm
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| Re: Actscelerate is a place for dialogue and fellowship, not evangelism |
Old Time Country Preacher |
| Dave Dorsey wrote: | | I became persuaded by the doctrines of grace and now consider myself an essentially Reformed continuationist. |
I heard John MacArthur bein interviewed on this very topic only a few months ago. He said no such thing exists. We gotta find a moniker fer ya, Dave, one at specifically fits the bill.  |
Acts-pert Poster
Posts: 15564
3/12/18 7:38 pm
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| Re: Actscelerate is a place for dialogue and fellowship, not evangelism |
Dave Dorsey |
| Old Time Country Preacher wrote: | | I heard John MacArthur bein interviewed on this very topic only a few months ago. He said no such thing exists. We gotta find a moniker fer ya, Dave, one at specifically fits the bill. |
It's true in a sense. There's a gulf between big-R Reformed and little-R reformed. Big R will find fellowship in the gospel with continuationists like me (most of the time, J-Mac might be an exception) and with credobaptists, but don't properly consider them Reformed, and probably rightly so. So guys like me are little-R reformed. All the soteriology and emphasis on the written Word and historical Christianity, none of the cessationism or paedobaptism. The best label for me would be a reformed continuationist baptist. Alternatively, the church I attend (which shares my views) calls themselves "essentially reformed". I like that one too.
So far as J-Mac goes, my main problem with him isn't his cessationism -- it's that he's a dispensationalist! But that's another thing I don't bring up on this forum.  |
[Insert Acts Pun Here]
Posts: 13654
3/12/18 7:43 pm
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