J Bunyan

1,137 reputation

113

bio	website
	location
	age
visits	member for	11 months
	seen	Sep 1 '12 at 11:44
stats	profile views	50

John Bunyan lived in England in the seventeenth century. He was the author of "The Pilgrim's Progress," an allegorical work that is sometimes described as the second most widely-read Christian book in all of history, after the Bible. Email: (My C.SE UserName + "1684") at GMail.

Excerpts from chapter two of Second Timothy, English Standard Version:

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene...

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Links to some preferred resources:

Desiring God
Reformed.org -- The Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics
CCEL -- The Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Ligonier
Bible Gateway
John Piper on YouTube: Channel 1; Channel 2; Channel 3.
e-Sword

	1,137 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	11 months
113 badges		location			seen	Sep 1 '12 at 11:44

summary answers questions tags badges favorites bounties reputation activity

76 Comments

suggestions reviews revisions comments badges posts accepts all

Aug 17	comment	What topic in Theology does Tozer's “The Saint Must Walk Alone” fit under? That's one. Haven't read it myself, but I've heard it's worth considering.
Aug 16	comment	What topic in Theology does Tozer's “The Saint Must Walk Alone” fit under? I've not read The Saint Must Walk Alone, but if you're looking for material on discipleship, I've heard that Bonhoeffer had some interesting, if sometimes controversial & not-entirely-orthodox things to say.
Aug 13	comment	According to Reformed Theology, are Catholics Christians? Calvin wrote at length about his views on what he called "the Papal Church" (i.e. the Roman Catholic Church) in book four of his Institutes. And Luther was not bashful about calling the Pope the "antichrist" and the "man of lawlessness" that was described in the NT epistles.
Aug 13	comment	Difference between Gospel and Bible Can you provide a reference for your statement that Luke "knew [Jesus] personally?" Calvin, Henry, Clarke -- and many more -- all taught otherwise. See Luke 1:1-4. But maybe you mean "knew" in a "spiritual" sense.
Aug 11	comment	How does mainstream Christianity view “Heaven is for Real”? Hah! That's great -- and notice that I called it a "reasonably intelligible," not "great" question! FWIW, I think you're doing a good job. The speed with which you seem to be learning about Christianity is impressive and encouraging. Cheers.
Aug 11	comment	Why did God need to plant the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden in the first place? Being both worthy of and desirous of glory does not make God "selfish," if one believes that obedience to God is what is truly best for man. Further reading from this perspective, courtesy of John Piper's ministry: 1, 2, 3.
Aug 11	comment	How does mainstream Christianity view “Heaven is for Real”? @Caleb: I disagree; I think the original question was not "all over the place." It's probably not the most concise wording, and the formatting could use some work, but I found it reasonably intelligible. Over the space of just a week or two, the OP seems to be investing noticeably greater effort in crafting questions, and should be commended, not rebuked.
Aug 9	comment	Will (or “do”) people in heaven get to interact with Jesus, independent of massive crowds? I'm not sure; that's why I'm looking in the Bible and asking among a group of people that describe themselves as "experts," in order to avoid the emotion-laden, self-important vitriol that is often provided by people that call themselves "Christians."
Aug 9	comment	Will (or “do”) people in heaven get to interact with Jesus, independent of massive crowds? Interesting. Is there any record of him appearing in more than one location at the same time?
Aug 9	comment	Will (or “do”) people in heaven get to interact with Jesus, independent of massive crowds? @Matt: I wrote the title as an attention grabber and intended it to elicit response -- and apparently, from the number of comments, I succeeded. As for what you're calling "fluff," from an analytical perspective, it's important for a question that defies a simple, rote answer to provide context, in order to encourage responses that are focused.
Aug 9	comment	Will (or “do”) people in heaven get to interact with Jesus, independent of massive crowds? +1. Great answer, thank you. Do you know if the Bible says whether Christ will exist in a resurrected body, the way I think it says believers will? If so, would that prevent him from being in more than one place at a time? Maybe I should add that to the question.
Aug 9	comment	Will (or “do”) people in heaven get to interact with Jesus, independent of massive crowds? @DavidS: The sharp contrast of the disposition evinced by your comments, on the one hand, and what can be expected from Christ, on the other, provides a remarkable example of the behavior referenced in the first sentence of the question, making things even more clear. Thanks for that. 2 Timothy 2.
Aug 9	comment	Will (or “do”) people in heaven get to interact with Jesus, independent of massive crowds? @DavidS: The only edit that was not prior to your comment was made by someone who changed the title to something that was already part of the question.
Aug 9	comment	Will (or “do”) people in heaven get to interact with Jesus, independent of massive crowds? @DavidS: The Bible contains a wealth of material that describes heaven. If you think that there is "no Scriptural reference on this," then the reasonable, adult response would be to create a response to that effect. I think it's a legitimate question that's appropriate for the site.
Aug 8	comment	Do Calvinists believe that Heavenly Rewards are predestined? The intricacies of man's will and God's omniscience are among the most complex subjects in theology, and I'm not sure that any post could begin to summarize things appreciably -- though it would be great to see someone try. One smart and very challenging place to begin would be to study the 16th century exchange on the subject between Erasmus and Luther, and to read their books on the subject. Reading there would likely lead one towards a very comprehensive understanding of not only providence, but also many other issues of the entire Reformation. CCEL.org.
Aug 8	comment	According to mainstream Christianity, what happens after one dies? +1 for using references. Welcome to C.SE!
Aug 8	comment	Do Calvinists believe that Heavenly Rewards are predestined? It sounds like this question also addresses the scope of God's providence -- that is, does God predetermine everything, and if so, how are humans not robots? That's a very complicated topic; here's a John Piper video that summarizes, very succinctly, one widely shared view. Cheers.
Aug 8	comment	Predestination, Sins of the Parents Actually, at the same time that you saved that comment, I'm trying to piece together an edit that could relate the notion that God exists outside of time and predestines everything ("providence"), with his response to individual sinners in apparent "real time," but I think that would really be an answer to a different question.
Aug 7	comment	Did early church fathers understand the doctrine of trinity? Great quotes. What source(s) did you use?
Aug 7	comment	Why did Paul want God to repay Alexander the metalworker? @Caleb: Software makes it easy to check a dozen or so commentaries in just minutes, doesn't it? I've found the same in the commentaries I've checked -- several specifically indicate an absence of wrath in Paul's tone. The Greek ἀποδίδωμι, rendered "reward" or "repay," etc., is Strong's G591; it might be interesting to see what they have to say over at Hermeneutics.SE.