Covenant Objectivity and Apostasy

Here's a good essay on the benefits of membership in the "visible" Church and what, if anything, is lost by those within the covenant who are unfaithful or by those who finally and permanently "fall away" from the Church. The Reformed author does not privilege TULIP over explicit scriptural statements regarding Church membership and the possibility of losing one's salvation. His exegesis persuasively shows that the biblical data do not easily conform to evangelical considerations of the implications of Church membership or to popular Calvinist formulations of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.

beaten with brains: All in the Family