Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Hardshells Make The Spirit A Liar

In chapters 54-56 of my book "The Hardshell Baptist Cult," I deal with the Hardshell view on the Spirit's work of conviction of sin. The Hardshells believe that conviction of sin is what results from regeneration or the new birth, but I show how this is an error. One of my arguments is one that the Hardshells never choose to deal with, but ignore it because they cannot overcome it. If a sinner under conviction is being witnessed to by the Holy Spirit and that witness is to convict the sinner of his condemned state, then the Spirit is lying to that sinner if that sinner is really already saved and justified. The fact that the Spirit bears witness to a sinner that he is lost and ruined, and on his way to Hell, is proof that conviction of sin is no proof of a gracious state. When the Spirit thus testifies, he is bearing witness to the true condition of the sinner. Our Old Baptist forefathers understood this and is why they taught that mere conviction of sin was no evidence of regeneration, but was rather, in many cases, a preparation for regeneration.

3 comments:

Jeremy Sarber said...

Will you be offering a further explanation here on your blog? I'd be interested to read your reasoning according to scripture.

Stephen Garrett said...

Dear Jeremy:

I do not see what needs further explanation. What part did you not understand? Besides, as I said in the posting, I do go into more depth on this issue in chapters 54-56. Here are the links to those chapters.

http://hardshellism.blogspot.com/2008/10/chapter-54-on-conviction-i.html

http://hardshellism.blogspot.com/2008/10/chapter-55-on-conviction-ii.html

http://hardshellism.blogspot.com/2008/10/chapter-56-on-conviction-iii.html

My question to you, if you agree with the Hardshells, is - does the Spirit bring a soul to believe he is lost when he is under conviction?

Blessings,

Stephen

Stephen Garrett said...

Dear Jeremy:

See also chapter 18 where Elder Sarrels tries to deal with the difficulty I have mentioned.

http://hardshellism.blogspot.com/2008/10/chpt-18-hardshells-on-conversion.html

Sarrels said - "...the quickened person in conviction sees himself NOT as he actually is, but as he would be without the grace of God."

Blessings,

Stephen