Introduction
Faith Comes By Hearing
Purely intellectual assent is not a valid doctrine, it will not save the soul. One must have faith, but faith does not have to be unlettered, neither does it have to be blind. It can be contemplated and much edify, and it does this with the transmission of understanding - as of the text. Faith is separate to this communication which is purely intellectual. However, if a tenet is transmitted purely on faith (I.e. that Christ is come in the flesh) then it should be consistent or else all else is to be discarded. Such tenets are purely transmitted on faith and this indeed pleases God. Christ's teachings do not shift, they are "built on the rock" and the kingdom of God is yet up to God's own choosing!
No Literal Hell - The Literal Non-Existence Of
The two biggest claims in the book are re-presented here: I would not expect you to believe these two yourself without reading the book - remember there is no defence against the judgement of God to Hell, but Hell itself is not a literal "lake of fire". "Hell", is a captivity that God can not free anyone from without convicting them; to one reprobate, this is an impossibility as after the judgement.
A Prophetic Warning
A circular argument here, there is no justification for intellectual assent itself, it is too broad a term. Instead, the metaphysics of God's person as a key is yet by definition intellectual assent but not the whole set of "all" such assent. Some intellectual assent must be justifiable - if one clearly has scripture on their side, then truth may become communicated. Trust however is built on the truth of scripture, not of all intellectual assent. That said, dialoguing the truth of scripture away as "intellectual assent" is an error to be warned against!
No Confidence
Intellectual assent is again taken another look at. I would not hold the book up equal to scripture, so I avoid labelling it a work of intellectual assent, or that heresy. I would hope that a place is found for it without a finger pointed at it from out of the scripture where there is truthfully found no grounds to point. Was the book inspired? By whom? I hope only to strengthen confidence in Christ rather than engender faith. There is a real difference there.
Christ On Intellectual Assent
Christ was not completely silent on intellectual assent: the parable of the sower and of the tares follow a passage that lays out why Christ did not teach in facts but in parablers instead.
Yea, I Told You So
If we strip God of all perfection, leaving him only with His person, can we hold him up and judge Him as if by our own standards? This is my own personal objection to intellectual assent, for it considers God as an individual (contingent as are we) rather than in glory.
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