I believe in God just not in the world he created

This is one of the best quotes: "It's not God that I do not accept, you understand, it is this world of God's, created by God, that I do not accept and cannot agree to accept." - Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, pg. 235

On Suicide

"Sasha. What can you say? That you're an honest man? That's hardly a secret! You'd better tell me frankly whether you know what you're doing or not. You come in here with honest man written all over you, terribly insult him and nearly kill me. Before that you've dogged his footsteps and made his life a misery, quite convinced you were doing your duty as an honest man. You've meddled in his private life, made his name dirt and set yourself up to judge him. You took every chance to bombard me and all his friends with anonymous letters - thinking all the time what a very honest man you were. In the name of honesty you, a doctor, didn't spare even his sick wife, you pestered her with your suspicions. There's no outrageous, rotten, cruel trick you couldn't play while still thinking yourself an unusually honest and progressive man.

Ivanov [Laughing]. This isn't a wedding, it's a public debate. Loud cheers!

Sasha [to LVOV]. Now think for a moment. Do you know what you're doing or don't you? Stupid, callous people. [Takes IVANOV by the hand.] Come away, Nicholas. Come on, Father!

Ivanov. What do yo mean, come on? I'll put an end to all this here and now. I feel like a young man again, it's my old self that's speaking. [Takes out his revolver.]

Sasha [Shrieks]. I know what he wants to do. Nicholas, for God's sake!

Ivanov. I've rolled downhill long enough, it's time to call a halt. I've outstayed my welcome. Go away. Thank you, Sasha.

Sasha [Shouts]. Nicholas, for God's sake! Stop him!

Ivanov. Leave me alone! [Runs to one side and shoots himself.]

Curtain"

- Anton Chekhov, Ivanov, Pg. 62 - 63

Kissing the Sword that kills you

"Do you understand that one can kill oneself from a certain kind of ecstasy? But I didn't stab myself, I only kissed the sword and put it back in the scabbard -- which detail, by the way, I needn't have mentioned. And it even seems that while I was telling about all these agonies just now, I must have been filling them out a little, to praise myself. But let it be, let it be so, and to hell with all spies into the human heart! That's the whole of my past 'incident' with Katerina Ivanovna." - Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, pg.115

Would rather be free than a slave

"Lopakhin. I put nearly three thousand acres down to poppy in the spring and made a clewr forty thousand roubles. And when my poppues were in flower, that was a sight to see. What I'm trying to say is, I've made forty thousand and I'd like to lend it you because I can afford to. So why turn it down? I'm a peasant, I put it to you straight.

 Trofimov. Your father was a peasant and mine worked in a chemist's shop, all of which proves precisely nothing. [Lopakhin takes out his wallet.] Oh, put it away, for heaven's sake. If you offered me two hundred thousand I still wouldn't take it. I'm a free man. And all the things that mean such a lot to you all, whether you're rich or poor - why, they have no more power over me than a but of thistledown floating on the breeze. I can get on without you, I can pass you by. I'm strong and proud. Mankind is marching towards a higher truth, towards the greatest possible happiness on earth, and I'm in the vanguard." - Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard, in the Five Plays, pg. 286 I take this to mean that nothing is worth the price of freedom.

The Law and Gospel distinction found throughout not only Lutherism but also Calvinism

I was once in a debate with an individual who was and perhaps even still ensnared with the heretical teachings of the Lordship salvation camp. This individual said that the Law and Gospel was not a big definite doctrine in the history of the church besides the Lutheran's and in particular Luther. Here I list several authors and theologians that present this doctrine as most important to know.

"On this subject we call the 'Word of God' (for we know well that the eternal Son of God is also so named) the canonical books of the Old and New Testament; for they proceed from the mouth of God Himself.
We divide this Word into two principal parts or kinds: the one is called the 'Law', the other the ' Gospel'. For, all the rest can be gathered under the one or the other of these two headings." - Theodore Beza, The Christian Faith, pg. 36

"Now, of all doctrines the foremost and most important is the doctrine of justification. However, immediately following upon it, as second in importance, is this, how Law and Gospel are to be divided. The distinction between the Law and the Gospel shall now claim our attention and form the subject of our earnest study." -C. F. W. Walther, The Proper distinction between Law and Gospel, Pg. 5

"By 'the law' here is meant the moral law as a covenant of works, and by 'the gospel' is meant the gospel in its strict and proper sense. To know the difference so as to be able to distinguish aright between the law and the gospel is of every it most importance to the faith, holiness, and comfort of every true Christian. It will be impossible otherwise for a man so to believe as to 'be filled with joy and peace in believing.' If he does not know the difference between the law ...and the gospel he will be apt, especially in affair of justification, to confound the one with the other. The consequence will be that his painful experience, bondage will be mixed with liberty of spirit, fear with hope, sorrow with joy, and death with life. If he cannot so distinguish the gospel from the law as to expect all his salvation from the grace of the gospel, and nothing of it from the works of the law; he will easily be induced to connect his own works with the righteousness of Jesus Christ in the affair of his justification. This was the great error of the Judaizing teachers in the churches of Galatia. They mingled the law with the gospel in the business of justification, and thereby they so corrupted the gospel as to alter the very nature of it and make it another gospel. They taught that unless men were circumcised and kept the law of Moses, they could not be justified or saved (Acts 15:1-5). They informed the people that while the righteousness of Christ received by faith was necessary, their own works of obedience were also requisite in connection with it to entitle them to justification before God. This is a fundamental error, and such a one that if even an angel from heaven would publish it he should be accursed." -John Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Law and Gospel

In his Epistle to the Romans, contrasting the law and the gospel, he says, 'Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that a man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.' Do you perceive how he thus discriminates between the law and the gospel,  that the former attributes righteousness to works, but the latter bestows it freely, without the assistance of works? -John Calvin,  The Institutes, 3.11.17. Pg. 669

"All Scripture should be divided into these two chief doctrines, the law and the promises. In some places it presents the law. In others it presents the promise of Christ; this it does either when it promises that the Messiah will come and promises forgiveness of sins, justification, and eternal life for his sake, or when, in the New Testament, the Christ who came promises forgiveness of sins, justification, and eternal life. By 'law' in this discussion we mean the commandments of the Decalogue, wherever they appear in the Scriptures. For the present we are saying nothing about the ceremonial and civil laws of Moses." - The Book of Concords, Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article 4 on Justification, Pg. 108. The version I have is edited by Theodore G. Tappert.

Perkins spoke of the law and gospel distinction: "And first of all, the law, showing a man his sin and punishment thereof, which is eternal death: afterward the Gospel, showing salvation by Christ Jesus to such as believe." -William Perkins, A Golden Chain, pg. 171.

"Now in order that we do not open our mouths too wide and marvel at the skill of these false spirits, and thereby abandon the main articles, and thus deceitfully be led off the track (for thereby the devil succeeds through these prophets), I will here briefly recount these articles of the Christian faith to which everyone is above all things to pay attention and hold fast.
The first is the law of God, which is to be preached so that one thereby reveals and teaches how to recognize sin (Rom. 3[:20] and 7[:7]), as we have often shown in our writings. However these  prophets do not understand this correctly, for this means a truly spiritual preaching of the law, as Paul says in  Rom. 7[:14], and a right use of the law, as he says in 1 Tim. 1[:8].
Secondly, when now sin is recognized and the law is so preached that the conscience is alarmed and humbled before God's wrath, we are then to preach the comforting word of the gospel and the forgiveness of sins, so that the conscience again may be comforted and established in the grace of God, etc.
Christ himself teaches these two articles in such an order (Luke 24[:47]. One must preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in his name. 'And the Spirit (he says in John [16:8]) will convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.' You do not find either of these two articles in this one or any other of the false prophets. They also do not understand them, and yet these are the most important and necessary articles." - Martin Luther, Against the Heavenly Prophets, Pg. 160

The Heidelberg Catechism with the commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus teaches us from the start what is the doctrine of the Church.

It says, "The doctrine of the church is the entire and uncorrupted doctrine of the law and gospel concerning the true God, together with his will, works, and worship; divinely revealed, and comprehended in the writings of the prophets and apostles, and confirmed by man miracles and divine testimonies; through which the Holy Spirit works effectually in the hearts of the elect, and gathers from the whole human race an everlasting church, in which God is glorified, both in this, and in the life to come." - Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism by Dr. Zacharias Ursinus, Pg. 1

Then on Pg. 2 of the Commentary, it says, "The doctrine of the church consists of two parts: the Law, and the Gospel; in which we have comprehended the sum and substance of the sacred Scriptures. The law is called the Decalogue, and the gospel is the doctrine concerning Christ the mediator, and the free remission of sins, through faith. This division of the doctrine of the church is established by these plain and forcible arguments." 

Also Tyndale says,

"The keys whereof they greatly boast are no carnal things but spiritual, and nothing else save knowledge of the law and of the promises or gospel: if any man for lack of spiritual feeling desire authority of men, let him read the old doctors. If any man desire authority of scripture, Christ saith ( Luke 11): woe be to you lawyers for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye enter not in yourselves and they that come in ye forbid. That is, they had blindes the scripture whose knowledge (as it were a key) letteth into God, with glosses and tradition." -William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man, pg. 65 - 66

Here Tyndale shows us that the key of heaven is nothing but the law and gospel rightly divided.

Also Joseph Hussey says, "But I must not go and propose the mysteries of the Gospel to men in that way, making them tenders of Salvation, as if it were a mere creature's business that rested only between them and me! For proposals imply in a manner, equal terms on both sides; but in Effectual Grace God can and doth sovereignly impose Himself by the Gospel on his own, II Tim. 2:19; and yet in that imposing act they are made a willing people. He puts his own Gospel on them, as afterwards Christ's yoke, Matt. 11:30, but he puts not on them another Gospel, nor confounds the Law with the Gospel, but keeps them both distinct. He puts his Gospel on them, before they take any clear evangelical impression, {'that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of the letter,' Rom. 7:6,} or serve in any evangelical duty." - God's Operations of Grace, Pg. 191


Robert Traill says "Let us carefully keep the bounds clear betwixt the law and gospel; which 'whosoever doth, is a right perfect divine,' saith blessed Luther, in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians: a book that hath more plain sound gospel, than many volumes of some other divines. Let us keep the law as far from the business of justification, as we would keep condemnation, its contrary. For the law and condemnation are inseparable, but by the intervention of Jesus Christ our surety, Gal. 3. 10, - 14. But in the practice of holiness, the fulfilled law given by Jesus Christ to believers as a rule, is of great and good use to them; as hath been declared." - The Doctrine of Justification vindicated from the Charge of Antinomianism, Pg. 287

Faith is passive

The reception of that gift is faith: faith means not doing something but receiving something; it means not the earning of a reward but the acceptance of a gift. A man can never be said to obtain a thing for himself if he obtains it by faith; indeed to say that he obtains it by faith is only another way of saying that he does not obtain it for himself but permits another to obtain it for him. Faith, in other words, is not active but passive; and to say that we are saved by faith is to say that we do not save ourselves but are saved only by the one in whom our faith is reposed; the faith of mam presupposes the sovereign grace of God. - J. Gresham Machen, What is Faith, pg. 195

"And so at every mention of mercy we must remember that this requires faith, which accepts the promise of mercy. Similarly, at every mention of faith we are thinking of its object, the promised mercy. For faith does not justify or save because it is a good work in itself, but only because it accepts the promised mercy." - Apology of thr Augsburg Confession, The book of Concord, pg. 114

Wherefore it is necessary to come to this remedy; that believers should conclude that they cannot hope for an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven on any other foundation, but because,  being ingrafted into the body of Christ, they are gratuitously accounted righteous. For with respect to justification, faith is a thing merely passive, bringing nothing of our own to conciliate the favour of God, but reserving what we need from Christ. - John Calvin, The Institutes, 3. 13. 5. Pg. 688

"Now faith is called justifying, only as it hath justification for its object, and as it goes out to Christ for justification; so that all that shall be spoken must be confines to this alone, as the intendment of the next." -Thomas Goodwin, Christ the Object of Faith, pg. 13

Archibald Alexander also says our faith is not the righteousness which is the ground of justification and that those who say it is are pure Arminians. He says, "The theory of justification whixh considers the act of believing the ground of our acceptance with God is, perhaps, the most plausible of any of our erroneous schemes of justification, for the single reason that it has the appearance of scriptural support. This is pure Arminianism, as held and inculcated by Arminius himself; also Limborch, and by Whitby." - A Treatise on Justification by Faith, pg. 14

"It is Christ's blood that stamps all virtue upon our faith. No virtue or influence whatever can be added by our faith, to or upon that blood. Observe, how in Rom. 5:9, it is 'justified by his blood,' and faith not at all expressed." - Joseph Hussey, God's Operations of Grace, Pg. 162 - 163

"Faith is the tongue that begs pardon? Faith is the hand that receives it, it is the eye that seeth it; but it is no price to buy it. Faith useth the gospel-plea for pardon; but itself, neither in habit nor act, is the plea itself. That is only Christ's blood. Christ's blood goes for the remission of your sins, if ever they be forgiven; and is the only plea to be heard at the throne of grace." - Robert Traill, Sermons concerning the Throne of Grace, pg. 31, Vol 1

In the same volume work, Traill says, "That faith in Jesus Christ doth justify (although by the way it is to be noted, that it is never written in the word, that faith justifieth actively, but always passively: that a man is justified by faith, and that God justifieth men by, and through faith; yet admitting the phrase) only as a mere instrument receiving that imputed righteousness of Christ, for which we are justified." - Robert Trail, The Doctrine of Justification Vindicated, Pg. 277

On Equal Ultimacy

Both good and evil are caused by God. There is not in this world a single thing that befalls which is not in God's absolute control. God is sovereign over the elect and their way of life as he is also sovereign over the reprobate and their way of life.

Proverbs 15:3, Romans 9:15-18, God blinds the Jews - Romans 11:25, 2 Corinthians 3:14, Romans 1:24 which states that God gives people over to a wayward life, Joshua 23:14-15, and also Nabal's heart was hardened and died ten days later from hearing the news - 1 Samuel 23:37-38

It is not the law but the belief in immortality that drives us to love

"'Generally, again, I ask your permission to drop the subject,' Pyotr Alexandrovich repeated, 'and instead let me tell you another anecdote, gentlemen, about Ivan Fyodorovich himself, a most typical and interesting one. No more than five days ago, at a local gathering, predominantly of ladies, he solemnly announced in the discussion that there is decidedly nothing in the whole world that would make men love their fellow men; that there exists no law of nature that man should love mankind, and that if there is and has been any love on earth up to now, it has come not from natural law but solely from people's belief in their immortality....'" - Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, pg. 69

Repentance is given to the elect alone

Revelations 2:20-22 is not a proof text for common grace; nor is it for God's favour for all individuals whether elect or reprobate. But rather God gave Jezebel space to repent. She did not. Repentance is a gift from God. If God wanted Jezebel to repent he would have done so. Scripture says that Repentance is a gift from God. It is something God does - Acts 16:14, Haggai 1:14, Ezra 6:22. Unless God gives us repentance we will not do return - Jeremiah 31:18-19. Also read Psalm 40:6, 119:18, 143:11; 1 Samuel 10:9, Job 23:16.

Simul justus et peccator

simul justus et peccator. In what sense is this true one may ask? In accordance to the law, which are commands of that which we are to do perfectly, which we fail to do perfectly as God is holy so we are to live holy the elect Christian is a sinner. Never is he accepted by God on the basis of his law keeping. Neither can he find his assurance in his law keeping for he cannot keep the law perfectly. But rather on the basis of Christ's imputed righteousness to the elect is the elect sinner justified. So the Christian's righteousness is grounded on a righteousness not their own but on an alien righteousness won by Christ alone. And on the basis of the law he is yet still a sinner never attaining that good that he ought to do. So the Christian is simultaneously just and sinner at the same time. We see how the two forms of righteousness relate to the law and gospel distinction.

Cannot Preach the Gospel Unless You Also Preach Unconditional Election

The gospel includes in it the doctrine of unconditional election. Christ tells his people that He has chosen them in John 6:70 "Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"

John 15:16 "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."

You cannot preach the free gospel without the doctrine.

The Christian looks forward to a new heaven and earth

"What ails a believer to groan so oft and so deeply? It is to be in heaven with the Lord. And the more heavenly and holy a Christian be, the more frequent and earnest are these groanings. He hath the most healthy soul, who is sick of love: whose heart is sick with desires of being present with the Lord. The believer that is most assured of heaven, groans deepest." - Robert Trail, Sermons Concerning the Throne of Grace, pg. 176

Removing Those Things That Hold Us Ensnaired

"Trofimov. ... To rid ourselves of the pettiness and the illusions which stop us being free and happy, that's the whole meaning and purpose of our lives...." - Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard, Act Two, pg. 269

Kind of reminds me of Plato's Cave analogy from The Republic. But in America we certainly have a lot of illusions that are thrown our way to keep us blinded from the fact that we are not free like we think we are.

No man has authority over another

"No one is bound by anything; he can also drop the book after two pages of the first story and never pick it up again." - Fyodor Dostoevsky, Introduction from The Brothers Karamazov, pg. 4

I like this quote. No one is nor ought to be bound by any one person or thing. Yet we live in an age where people willingly give themselves over to despotism. But as Christ states let it not be so with you.