(February 23, 2011 at 11:22 am)Strongbad Wrote:(February 23, 2011 at 10:12 am)Godschild Wrote: You have made a positive statement about hearsay, now if you will, please prove your statement.
Apophenia is correct in saying that salvation is by grace and grace alone, salvation is a gift as defined in scripture, it really doesn't matter how you define salvation the original definition set forth in scripture is the reference mark by which one must hold.
"Hearsay is information gathered by one person from another person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearsay
In the case of the contract of salvation, Christians rely on information that was provided to them by other people, specifically, the Bible, or "scripture". It is a fact that the majority of the authors of the new testament are unknown, so not only is the information second-hand, it comes from unknown sources (which were written well after the supposed death of Jesus, in any event).
Regardless of which definition of salvation you subscribe to, the information upon which you base your definition is hearsay - it is not information which you personally know to be correct, but which you have assumed to be correct because someone else said so.
To you it may seem as hearsay, however for me through my personal experience it is indeed fact.
What proof do you have that the authors of the NT are unknown. When did you expect them to write the NT, Jesus ministry was only three years and during this time His disciples were busy learning what He was teaching. It seems only natural that the events of Christ's life and His teachings would be written after His death and resurrection, His ministry wasn't complete until His ascension. Then Paul wrote a great deal of the NT and he did not come along until after Christ's ministry.
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
