The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Historical Gap Theory?

1. One would have to arrogate that they have read ALL writings by the ECF to make such a claim that the doctrine was never mentioned or dealt with.

2. I'm sure there are many other doctrines which this person and Paton believe are true which the ECF didn't write about either... so now what?

3. Who designated the ECF as the ultimate repository of truth? Don't these people recognize the progressive nature of the Church and its doctrine? And, the ECF were not infallible. Some of them wrote heretical things from time to time. Again, ALL that is necessary for man to know about God and how to live before Him is to be known from the inspired, infallible, inerrant written Word of God; the Bible. Further, the Church is the secondary authority and source of that truth since the Lord Christ Himself designed and commissioned it as such, cf. 1Tim 3:15. (btw, this is solidly Protestant doctrine... NOT Roman Catholic doctrine.)

4. The doctrine of the perseverance/preservation of the saints was OFFICIALLY dealt with in 1618-19 at the Synod of Dordtrect. As I mentioned before, most all doctrines of the Church were OFFICIALLY put in writing when what was already believed was attacked by either their being diminished, distorted or denied. In the situation at Dort, the followers of Arminius delivered a "Gravamen" to the Church which took issue with the doctrines of the faith as already formulated in the Belgic Confession.

5. Here are a few articles & sources which document and defend the doctrine of "The Perseverance of the Saints":
* Perseverance of the Saints, by Lorraine Boettner
* Perseverance of the Saints, by Gordon Girod
* An Antidote to Arminianism, by Christopher Ness - Chapter 4 "Of Final Perseverance"
* Of the Perseverance of the Saints, WCF - Chapter VI
* Of the Perseverance of the Saints, Fifth Head of Doctrine of The Canons of Dordt