Chapter 14 - Hard-Shell Busters

(First Cracking)

1. Are all men commanded to repent of their sins and turn to God in the Bible?
2. Does this imply ability in them to do so?
3. Does God create Repentance?
4. Does God create Repentance through the preaching of the gospel and word of God?
5. Are Repentance and Faith gifts of God?
6. If Repentance and Faith come through the preaching of the gospel, then do they cease to be God’s creation or “of God”?
7. Does it cease to be a “gift” if God communicates it through the preaching of the gospel?
8. Is the gospel worthy of all acceptation?
9. Can one have Repentance and Faith without knowledge and understanding?
10. Can one Believe and Repent on the sub-conscious level?
11. Is there such a creature, in the Bible, as an “Impenitent Believer”?
12. Is there such a creature, in the Bible, as an “Penitent Unbeliever”?
13. Is there such a creature, in the Bible, as a “Regenerated Unbeliever”?
14. Is there such a creature, in the Bible, as a “Regenerated Impenitent”?
15. Will all the elect “come to repentance”? (II Peter 3:9)
16. Will this “coming to repentance” occur at the same time when one “comes to life”?
17. Do all God’s commands, in the Bible, imply ability to obey them?
18. If they do not imply ability, then why is it argued that the commands to “believe,” “repent,” “turn to God,” “be converted,” etc., imply such an ability?
19. Are there any “internal sensations” produced by the new birth?
20. How can a man be a “new creation” if his mind is not changed? Or his will, affections, & understanding?
21. Since “all things become new” in the new birth, would this not include new thinking, new affections, new desires and dispositions, new activities?
22. If Repentance and Faith are “effects” and “fruits” of regeneration, are they automatic and necessary effects and fruits?
23. Does Regeneration change a man’s course and conduct? Necessarily?
24. Is a “hard heart” penitent or impenitent?
25. Is a “soft heart” penitent or impenitent?
26. What is meant by the Lord “writing his word upon the heart” in regeneration?
27. If God use human means as an instrument in this writing, does it cease to be God’s writing?
28. Is the Bible God’s writing? God’s revelation?
29. Did God use human means to “create” the Bible?
30. Does it cease to be his “gift” and “creation” since he use human agents?
31. Does the use of human means in giving the Bible mean the Bible is the creation of man?
32. Is a penitent and contrite heart, and the turning of the heart to God, characteristic of that “new heart” given in regeneration?
33. What kind of Repentance does the “regenerated infant” experience?
34. What kind of Repentance does the “regenerated heathen” experience?
35. The Faith that God creates in regeneration, what does it Believe?
36. Does God write his words upon the heart through the gospel?
37. Is “gospel faith” begotten by God or the preacher?
38. Were the Corinthians, in being “begotten” by Paul (I Cor. 4:15), not begotten by God?
39. Since “begetting” is a “creation,” did Paul then not “create” the gospel faith of the Corinthians?
40. Is it possible for the “begetting” of I Cor. 4:15 to be both “of God” and “of (by) Paul”? If not, why not?
41. Is Paul excluding God in the above “begetting”? If so, how?
42. Is Paul saying that he is the “efficient” or “lone cause” in the above “begetting”?
43. Is it possible that Paul could call himself their “begetter” because he was God’s instrument? If not, why not?
44. Is it true, as Elder Potter said, that “enlightening the understanding” is part and parcel of regeneration?
45. The sinners that Paul said that he “saved” by the gospel, did this mean God did not save them?
46. When Jesus told the Apostles to “make disciples” does this mean they were not made by God?
47. Is it a true proposition that God “creates” nothing by human means?
48. Is a “resurrection” a “creation” of life?
49. Is “birth” a “creation” of life?
50. Was Ezekiel not a means used by God to “create life,” to “raise the dead,” to “beget” a nation? (Chpt. 37)
51. Did Ezekiel or God raise the dead?
52. Must it be an “either or” answer?
53. Is it possible for it to be said that God raised the dead as the “efficient cause” and Ezekiel as the “instrumental cause”?
54. Was Mary, the mother of Jesus, a human means in bringing Christ into the world?
55. Were human means (agents) used to bring Christ to the sacrifice of the cross?
56. Can a man go from being an unbeliever to a believer without being “converted”?
57. Can a man be regenerated without being converted?
58. Does the possession of eternal life not consist in knowing the true God and Jesus Christ according to Jesus’ words in John 17:3?
59. Since heathen peoples have no knowledge of the true God and of Jesus Christ, how can it be said they “have eternal life”?
60. Will those who “obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” suffer eternal torment?
61. Name one person in the Bible who had Faith, and was a Believer, and yet who clearly never heard of the word of God?
62. Name one clear example of a “regenerated infant,” in the Bible, who did not hear the word of God?
63. What Hardshell church has ever sent out missionaries to the heathen?
64. What Hardshell church has ever supported or helped to translate the Bible into non-English languages for the benefit of the elect among the heathen?
65. Where is there any proof of any church who existed prior to the 1800's that believed Hardshell views on regeneration, faith, repentance, and salvation?
66. Does the London Confession of Faith support Hardshell views on the gospel, regeneration, faith, repentance, and salvation?
67. Can a man be an “Original” or “Old School” Baptist who denies the London Confession on those points?
68. Did the Fulton Convention endorse or not the London Confession?
69. Did they “interpret” the document honestly?
70. Did Peter raise the dead?
71. If Peter raised the dead, then why is it said that God does not use means in raising the dead?
72. Was money used to perfect the manhood of Christ?
73. If the “direct voice speaking” of Christ is what regenerates, why was every soul who personally heard Christ speak, heard his voice, not regenerated?
74. Does one “come to Christ” for life or does one have life in order to “come to Christ”?
75. Does the dead first hear and then live, or do they live first and then hear?
76. Is it possible to have a birth without a mother?
77. Who is the mother in the new birth?
78. Are infants regenerated only but not converted?
79. Is “circumcision of the heart” regeneration?
80. Does God ever command people to be regenerated?
81. Why did God say to some, “make you a new heart” and “circumcise your heart”?
82. Does God’s commanding the above imply ability to obey those commands?
83. Are all men commanded to believe in Jesus and the gospel?
84. If all men are not commanded to repent and believe, then how would it be sin not to repent and believe?
85. Do the Hardshells regularly call upon all to whom they preach to repent, come to Christ, be saved, believe, obey, etc.?
86. Is “love shed abroad in our hearts” that which takes place in regeneration?
87. If so, what does the new born soul love?
88. Can a man love an object of which he is unaware?
89. Is it part of the work of regeneration to bring one to “know God”?
90. Can one “know God” on the sub-conscious level?
91. Does “knowing God” not indicate that something is known about God?
92. If regeneration is a work of God “teaching” his people (John 6:45), what does he teach?
93. Can one be taught on the sub-conscious level?
94. How can it be reasonably argued that faith, when said to be God’s “gift,” means “God created,” (Eph.2:9) but when “gift” is used for post regeneration experiences, like for gospel faith and repentance, it no longer means that?
95. Are the elect few and the reprobate many?
96. Will the majority of the human race be saved?
97. Is God the author of your gospel faith?
98. Is God the author of your repentance?
99. Must Christ be revealed to a sinner to be regenerated?
100. Can a sinner have Christ revealed to him and he not know it?
101. Can a man have the inner witness of the Spirit and not know it?
102. Is your “time salvation” the work of God or man?
103. Is the gospel the power of God?
104. Since it is argued from John 3:8 that every child of God is born again in the exact same way, in every respect, then should not every child of God be saved miraculously as was Paul?
105. Since John the Baptist heard the “salutation” (of the good news of Christ’s birth) of Elizabeth and “leaped for joy,” how can it be said that the gospel was not involved in his supposed “regeneration”?
106. Can a man “hope” unconsciously or without the understanding?
107. What was it that David “hoped” for while “upon his mother’s breast”?
108. Is it truthful to say that God created a person through their parents?
109. Is there any spiritual grace that is not given from above?
110. Is it truthful to say that God has “worked all our works in us”?
111. Is it possible for God’s work to be our work, and vice versa?
112. Did it take glory away from God for him to use Ezekiel to raise the dead instead of doing it without Ezekiel?
113. Can something be conditional and unconditional at the same time, yet in different senses?
114. Would it be Scriptural to say that regeneration is conditioned upon the sinner responding to the voice of Christ?
115. Would it likewise be Scriptural to say that it is, at the same time, conditioned upon the Lord, one condition being dependent upon a prior condition?
116. Does stating conditions imply ability to meet them?
117. Are there not passages that put eternal salvation in a conditional form without implying human free will and ability?
118. When a man meets the conditions in the Bible for pardon of sin, can he say he met those conditions by his own power and will, or by God’s?
119. Is it possible that the Bible teaches that God unconditionally chose us to a salvation based upon conditions he has predestined we meet by his power and grace?
120. When David says, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power,” was he referring to regeneration?
121. If to regeneration, then the will wills something in regeneration?
122. What does the soul will (choose to believe or do) in regeneration?
123. Why has the “hollow log” doctrine been a problem for Hardshells in their history?
124. Why has the doctrine of “absolute predestination” been a problem in such history?
125. Why has the doctrines of “No-Hellism” and “Universalism” been a problem in such history?
126. Is the Church of Christ not ordained to be a missionary institution?
127. Are ministers sent out by churches?
128. Do churches have any control over where their preachers go and preach, especially relative to foreign countries?
129. If a preacher feels a call to go to a foreign country to preach the gospel, should he seek support from his home church?
130. In such a case, would that church be obligated to support him?
131. If it would be right for that church to support him in his call, would it be right for that church to receive donations from other churches to help that work?
132. Can a church, apart from a preacher in its membership, have a burden to see the gospel preached in foreign lands?
133. Or, is a church limited in what it can do in mission work relative to the desires of its preacher members?
134. If a church does feel burdened to send the gospel to a foreign land, but has no preachers as members of their church, can it nevertheless pray God to send them a preacher to send on their behalf? If not, why not?
135. If a preacher is burdened to go to a foreign country and preach the gospel, is it wrong for the church to promise to send him stipulated amounts?
136. What Hardshell church has ever sent out a missionary to preach the gospel?
137. What Hardshell Elder has acted upon a burden to go to a foreign country and asked for support from his home church?
138. Is it a sin for an ordained Elder to go to religious schools? If so, why?
139. Are the only ones who are to teach in the New Testament only ordained men?
140. Are Associations in the Bible?
141. Have Associations existed throughout the history of the Baptists and Church of Christ?
142. Where were musical instruments condemned in the New Testament?
143. Where in the New Testament are the Old Testament’s use of musical instruments voided?
144. Did John Gill believe the “anti-means” position?
145. Did Elder John Watson believe the “anti-means” position?
146. Is everything “new” in the church a sin?
147. Which faction in the Primitive Baptist Church the “true church”?
144. Do any Hardshells today endorse Wilson Thompson’s views on the Trinity and the human nature of Christ?
145. Will each Hardshell faction tell us who is the oldest Baptist forefather they would recognize as “sound in the faith”?
146. Did John Leland believe the London and Philadelphia Confessions of Faith?
147. Did John Gano endorse the same?
148. Who, prior to Gilbert Beebe, or Wilson Thompson, endorsed the “Direct Voice” theory of regeneration?
149. Does a regenerated man “love” God?
150. Can an idolater “love” God?

More to come, the Lord willing.