I've noticed that other prominent party leaders have similarly purged their collective spaces. In the Free Grace Soviet, Comrade Bob Wilkin collectivized and permanently banned all the comments from his bureau years ago. The very moment Bible-believing Christians started challenging Wilkin's "crossless gospel" right in the public comments section, the Politburo suddenly made all dissenting opinions vanish. Huh, I wonder why? As the Central Committee likes to say: "Gone, but not forgotten."
Oftentimes, disallowing public commentary seems motivated by a fear of objective historical truth. That's why it's a shame to see, among the other reasons I mentioned. It's not surprising though, since neither bourgeois Calvinism (as espoused by Mounce) nor non-traditional Free Grace (as espoused by Wilkin) can stand up to the unyielding truth of "Thus saith the LORD"! Consequently, I'm not surprised to see them ban the comments which point out their counter-revolutionary beliefs.
For the record, I will archive and publish below the two specific items of dissent that I previously submitted to Comrade Mounce's collective as a testimony to the truth he wished to censor—and successfully expunged. Of course, the Ministry of Information will explain it away as "updated infrastructure," a "Five-Year Plan for server optimization," or whatever other bureaucratic excuse sounds legitimate. But hiding the truth is always counter-revolutionary, so we can't take state excuses seriously. Whatever reason the Comrade gives for removing the comments, the working class knows the truth. It reminds me of exactly how a centralized authority operates—when the Party takes over, unauthorized Free Speech is strictly forbidden!
Here are the two counter-comments of mine that Comrade Mounce successfully deleted, which are only a tiny sampling of the many good comments that are now purged forever from the Mounce Oblast:
Hello Dr. Mounce [Re: "Lordship Salvation"]
Submitted by Jonathan Perreault on Friday, 2020-04-03 07:04
Hello Dr. Mounce, very interesting blog post! It seems to me that it touches on a number of different theological issues including the long-standing debate between Free Grace theology and what is called by some "Lordship Salvation". I'm surprised the post has not sparked more discussion in the comments. There is so much that I would like to discuss, but let me just pick out one statement to respond to if I may. You said, "I wonder if Paul would agree that a person could come to a point of faith, and later deny his faith, and still be saved. I can find no such teaching in Paul." Those who adhere to Free Grace theology like myself would not see it quite that way, since we do find such teaching in Paul's writings. For example, when he says, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." (2 Timothy 2:13, NASB.) My understanding of the previous verse (v. 12) is that Paul is talking about rewards and the loss of rewards, i.e. if we deny Christ (like the apostle Peter did, for example), Christ will "deny us" some rewards that we otherwise could have had.1
Agapaō and Phileō Are Not Synonymous in John 21:15-17
Submitted by Jonathan Perreault on Sunday, 2025-06-15 07:54
In regard to the question, "Why else would John write that Peter was grieved because Christ asked a third time if Peter loves (φιλεω) him unless John were using the two words [αγαπαω and φιλεω] to convey the same meaning?" — the answer is simple. In fact, you've already quoted the verse that contains the answer! It's surprising this wasn't noticed (or perhaps you interpret it differently). The answer is found in the text you quoted from John 21:17, when John says, "Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, 'Do you love (φιλεω) Me?'" Notice that the text says, "the third time" (τὸ τρίτον) as opposed to "a third time". The use of the Greek definite article ("the" in English) is key; the text says "the third time" not "a third time". John is simply drawing attention to the third question, not indicating that the same question was repeated three times. John uses the definite article ("the third time," τὸ τρίτον) to highlight the specific third question as a turning point; not suggesting that the same question was asked three times. Most English Bible translations reflect this nuance by rendering it as "the third time" (see John 21:17 in the KJV, NKJV, RSV, ASV, ESV, NASB, NIV, CSB, HCSB, Young's Literal Translation, the Geneva Bible, etc.). Commenting on John 21:17, the New Testament Greek scholar A. T. Robertson affirms, "These two words [αγαπαω and φιλεω] are often interchanged in the N.T., but here the distinction is preserved." (Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. V, p. 321.) Furthermore, the text of John 21:17 says: "He said to him the third time," not "He said to him again the third time" (as in the Lamsa Bible). It's important to understand that The Lamsa Bible is based on the Peshitta, a Syriac (Aramaic) version of the Bible — not the Koine Greek. The word "again" does not appear in the Koine Greek text of John 21:17. Interestingly, the word "again" doesn't appear in the Aramaic text either. (This can be confirmed by comparing other Aramaic New Testament translations that omit "again" in John 21:17.) George Lamsa inserted the word "again" as an interpretive flourish based on his understanding of the Aramaic idiom. It reflects his stylistic approach, not the actual wording of the Aramaic text. In light of this, it's clear that the three questions in John 21:15-17 are not simply identical repetitions of the same question. While they share thematic overlap, they are not inherently synonymous. I would be remiss if I did not close by drawing attention to a beautiful statement by Wm. Kelly concerning Peter's restoration in John 21:17: "Peter abandons every thought of self and can find refuge only in grace."2
References:
1 Comment on the blog post "Confess and Believe (Rom 10:9)," Monday with Mounce (Monday, January 8, 2012),
https://web.archive.org/web/20250915125135/https://www.billmounce.com/monday-with-mounce/confess-and-believe-rom-10-9 (click the "x" to stop the page from redirecting to a different page).
2 Comment on the blog post "Everybody Needs a Little Love," Monday with Mounce (Monday, June 22, 2009),
https://web.archive.org/web/20260122035515/https://www.billmounce.com/monday-with-mounce/everybody-needs-little-love (click the "x" to stop the page from redirecting to a different page).
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