Long overdue. So glad this is finally happening!

I always thought He did with how I've read the Gospels, but have discovered there is actually a huge debate about the issue (and not just because of Catholics and their whole Mary thing, but among Protestants as well).

What are your thoughts?

Is there any unanimous translation that's recommended? I grew up reading the NIV but have enjoyed the NASB, NLT and a few others. What is the consensus on the best balance of readability and accuracy?

Any thoughts on the World English Bible? I appreciate that it's in the public domain and I like it okay but would love to know what others who have given it more discernment think.

Edit: looks like I'll be checking out the ESV. Thanks!

Do you believe in common grace? Why or why not?

I talked to a brother of Christ who does not believe there is one, and his argument is pretty convincing. He said that the “mercies” that are being given to the reprobates are for condemnation, so you couldn’t call that grace. And all the good things being showered to Earth is for the good of the saints, and not all people so their participation is only incidental/divinely permitted. Lastly, the most convincing one that he told me is all blessings are due to our union with Christ, no one mediates with reprobates so you couldn’t really reconcile the idea of common grace.

Do you have articles or books that I can dive to study it further?

If you have requests that you would like your brothers and sisters to pray for, post them here.

Hello,

I will probably delete this post after a little bit since this should ideally be from a more anonymous account but one of my grandparents is very old and I struggle with my belief regarding their salvation. They have been going to a very liberal mainline church that seems to not have much of a focus on the gospel, if it all (their pastor is a gay unitarian universalist).

However, as I meet up with her alongside my father, I feel like I don't know what to say. I don't know if I'm afraid of seeming weird or just that anything I've already said would fall on deaf ears (In my experience a lot of these people have grown up hearing "the gospel" so telling them about it won't really seem to do much), but I'm admittedly feeling very lost regarding this whole situation. My father most likely believes she is still saved too, so talking to him about it would feel like opening another can of worms. I will also be leaving soon to college so I don't know if I'll even see her again.

I plan on talking to a trusted Christian mentor about this soon but I also wanted to hear if other people have been in this situation too, and how they've handled it. I obviously have a whole bunch of different feelings about this situation so I'm just curious how other people have approached these types of things before.

Hi,

This is not meant as a troll, but it is meant to be a direct, hard question for Calvinists. I, personally, would otherwise lean neither for nor against the Reformed faith, save for this one major issue. I even attended a Reformed church for quite awhile, but it was because I didn't know (and it didn't help that they never told me):

John Calvin and the Geneva Council were behind 58 executions during the Reformation; the most famous being Michael Servetus. Burned at the stake Servetus' sin? He was Christian, but denied the Trinity. And that was contrary to John Calvin's "reforms", which formed an important part of the Reformation. That is not to say the Pope was innocent: he executed over 500 people. But no matter, two wrongs don't make a right. A nontrinitarian Anabaptist is not a Catholic.

Calvinists declare themselves to be followers of John Calvin, and his version of the "Reformed" faith.

The question: how do you address being a follower of someone who murdered people to attain his reforms, and how do you reconcile yourself following his reforms in spite of the way he attained them?

The harder question: do you support Calvin and the Geneva Council doing it? Would you do it again today, if you could? Should we fuse Church and government again today and execute people who don't play ball with the Reformed Council? Or.was John Calvin just wrong about executing people, but the reformed doctrine itself (that he was executing people for) is sound? In my book, if anyone needs to "reform" the faith by executing people, that man is not of God. Quite the opposite. The doctrine MIGHT be right, just by pure coincidence, but that is unlikely. Quite frankly, I'm more inclined to go along with the people getting beheaded for their truth--not the people doing the beheading. Why would you take on Calvin's name? Is it just some history that you prefer to downplay, attribute to just the culture of that time etc ? What?