1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Explain why God is patient with men if indeed men have nothing to do with being saved

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by Skandelon, Jan 20, 2010.

  1. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2002
    Messages:
    3,385
    Likes Received:
    23
    Disagree with what??? Here is the question: Explain why God is patient with men if indeed men have nothing to do with being saved

    What is there to disagree with when anyone who knows anything about Calvinism knows Calvinist DON"T BELIEVE THIS! I explained this earlier but apparently you don't read. Rippon said it best:

    It would be expedient for you to know what we actually believe instead of just being a flame-thrower.
     
  2. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    13,103
    Likes Received:
    4
    "regeneration is the Holy Spirit's task, not the Son's or the Father's"


    Are you saying the Holy Spirit works independently of the Father and the Son?
     
  3. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    13,103
    Likes Received:
    4
    Calvinists "don't believe" what?

    Don't believe God is patient? Don't believe men have nothing to do with salvation?

    I don't understand your statement.
     
  4. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2002
    Messages:
    3,385
    Likes Received:
    23
    ^
    This




    Salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of the triune God. The Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the Holy Spirit makes Christ's death effective by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing them to willingly obey the Gospel.

    http://www.reformed.org/calvinism/index.html
     
  5. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    13,103
    Likes Received:
    4
    Grasshopper, as a Calvinist, are you saying that you believe that men do have something to do with their salvation?
     
  6. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    13,103
    Likes Received:
    4
    That is not what Pinoy said. He said this:

    I'll wait for his response.
     
  7. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2002
    Messages:
    3,385
    Likes Received:
    23
    Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

    Are you saying Calvinist don't believe this?
     
  8. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    13,103
    Likes Received:
    4
    I'd say we all believe that. But Calvinsts say that man has nothing to do with his salvation. I'm just trying to understand what you personally believe. It seems there are as many different Calvinist beliefs as there are Calvinists. :laugh:
     
  9. gb93433

    gb93433 Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2003
    Messages:
    15,549
    Likes Received:
    15
    God is not willing that any should perish. Those who try to submit God to their wishes soon find out that they have an idol and that is all any . . . . .ism does.
     
  10. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2002
    Messages:
    3,385
    Likes Received:
    23
    OK, my understanding:

    I could not repent nor believe the Gospel until God had made me able to do so. My natural man would never do such a thing.
     
  11. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    13,103
    Likes Received:
    4
    Thank you. I agree, but I believe God made me able to do so, when he created me in His image. :)
     
  12. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2002
    Messages:
    3,385
    Likes Received:
    23

    Of course the Calvinist would then quote:

    Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

    and say it is nothing within you that will choose God but but an external force(God) outside of you which does the drawing. Then said Calvinist would use Lydia as an example:

    Act 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

    Then he would ask, "why does Lydia's heart need to be opened when she has the natural ability to do so herself"?

    But we agree to disagree.:love2:
     
  13. Skandelon

    Skandelon <b>Moderator</b>

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2003
    Messages:
    9,638
    Likes Received:
    1
    Grasshopper,

    As I explained, I was quoting from another Calvinists on another thread and revised the question to:

    What is God waiting on if indeed man has nothing to do with his being regenerated (effectually called)?

    We all understand that even Calvinists believe that men must repent and believe, but if those are the effectual fruits of something God does then why is God expressing patience for you? What is he WAITING on?

    The only thing He could be waiting on is Himself in your system of thinking which makes this entire concept of "divine patience" silly. This is why you all dance around the question with semantic arguments and red herrings.
     
  14. pinoybaptist

    pinoybaptist Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2002
    Messages:
    8,136
    Likes Received:
    3
    Faith:
    Baptist
    No, I am saying that in the work of salvation each had His own, uh, area of responsibility (for lack of a better word).
    The Father chose, the Son redeemed, the Holy Spirit regenerated/s.
    As Three in One, they were totally in agreement, in one accord.
    The Father's choice was the eternal Son's choice and the Spirit's choice.
    The mind of God was the mind of each of these three persons.
    Therefore, the Son did not redeem him whom the Father did not choose, and the Holy Spirit regenerates only those whom the Father chose, and the Son redeemed, and since the election of those in Christ was done in eternity past, and redemption was finished at the cross by Christ, it is the Holy Spirit's "dispensation", if you will, in this our time, and He knows each and every one of those whom the Father chose, and sets His own time on when each and everyone is to be regenerated, independent of preacher, gospel, tracts, missions, or anything else man names as necessary to help God save those whom He already saved and redeemed.
     
  15. Skandelon

    Skandelon <b>Moderator</b>

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2003
    Messages:
    9,638
    Likes Received:
    1
    I would want to ask that "said Calvinist," if indeed Lydia was "Totally Depraved" and had yet to be "Irresistibly drawn" then why does the scripture describe her as a one who "worshiped God" prior to her heart being opened?
     
  16. pinoybaptist

    pinoybaptist Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2002
    Messages:
    8,136
    Likes Received:
    3
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Because at this point in time she was regenerate had already been irresistibly drawn to her God, and ready for the good news of her finished salvation.
     
  17. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2002
    Messages:
    3,385
    Likes Received:
    23
    Many "worship God" before conversion. Many "worship God" who are never converted. The Bible is full of both. So according to you it is something within each of those individual people that makes the difference and not anything from God. Does God "open the heart" of all people?
     
  18. David Michael Harris

    David Michael Harris Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2005
    Messages:
    1,362
    Likes Received:
    1
    It's because God waits for some sort of response.
     
  19. David Michael Harris

    David Michael Harris Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2005
    Messages:
    1,362
    Likes Received:
    1
    Gee whiz, the responsibility of a pastor or evangelist. No wonder Jonah ran. What a task.
     
  20. Winman

    Winman Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 8, 2009
    Messages:
    14,768
    Likes Received:
    2
    But that is not the sense of the passage whatsoever. It is God's word itself that says she worshipped God.

    Acts 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
    15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.


    Lydia was a true worshipper of God just as Cornelius was, and that is the sense given in this passage. But you must change this to suit your doctrine. Truth is, this passage contradicts Total Depravity.

    And when it says the Lord opened her heart, this is speaking of understanding the scriptures, just as when the Lord spoke to his disciples after the resurrection.

    Luke 24: 32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
     
    #40 Winman, Jan 26, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 26, 2010
Loading...