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Are We Essentially Good?

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by KenH, Sep 16, 2024.

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  1. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

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    Are We Essentially Good?

    I once read a statement by a group that said, “We operate from the belief that everyone is essentially good.” I thought this a bit contradictory since it was given in a statement of policy concerning dealing with problems between individuals! If all people are “essentially good,” then why all the problems among them in the world – the wars, the crime, the conflicts between individuals, the mistrust and on and on? But what is worse, this same principle is at the core of most all religious beliefs. Yet the word of truth is clear. God who knows man far better than we know ourselves says, “There is none good, no not one…” The “good heart” that most claim to have is the seat of all bad, all evil according to God. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) The hearts of men are “desperately wicked” and most deceitful, deceiving us into imagining we are essentially good. Christ said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” (Matthew 15:19) If we were essentially good instead of evil, self-deceived sinners, there would have been no need for a Savior such as Christ! Our self-righteousness is not righteousness at all in God’s sight but sin. Therefore, if we are saved, we must be “made righteous” through the imputed righteousness of Christ. Christ alone is “essentially good.” He is the only sinless, perfect and good man essentially that ever lived in this world.

    The righteous we read of in Scripture are only righteous in Him! It is no wonder that false religion offers its faulty remedies and ways of salvation; it denies the true condition of man. I have often heard people deny God’s election, predestination, effectual calling, and salvation through an imputed righteousness, saying they do not believe them. The truth is, they do not believe what God says about them! If we are spiritually dead sinners with no righteousness of our own, deceived, blind, helpless and unable to save ourselves, then these precious truths are essential! A man that would have been called a “good man” by most came to Jesus and asked, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” (Mark 10:17-18) Christ is the GodMan and essentially good and none are looked at as good but those in Him. In Christ, believers are good, perfectly righteous, in His sight – “As He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17)

    —Pastor Gary Shepard, Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, Jacksonville, North Carolina
     
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  2. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    We are essentially sinners
     
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  3. kyredneck

    kyredneck Well-Known Member
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    it’s the T in TULIP :)
     
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  4. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    :)TOTALLY:Wink
     
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  5. CJP69

    CJP69 Active Member

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    We are not "essentially good", only God is good in His essence, but we are also not TOTALLY depraved and utterly incapable of performing any righteous action, as the Calvinists would have us believe.

    There is, however, a sense in which believers are essentially good for we have been crucified in Christ and it is no longer we who live but Christ, who is good, lives His life through us by faith. We are hidden in Christ and have been clothed with His righteousness. As such, we are truly blameless, righteous, holy, just and pure.
     
  6. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    This all happens when we are regenerated by the Holy Ghost I.E. Born Again. A new heart, a conscience, a new way of thinking. Evil is no longer paramount in your character….pleasing God becomes the goal. Before I had my first encounter with the HS I never ever thought what Christ did for me, it never crossed my mind, much less than consider that it was done out of love for me. Needless to say, I was ashamed. It’s interesting to note that I was a captive audience because I was in my car, on a major highway, in a snow storm so I was listening to a CD of a reading of George Whitfield’s sermon “ Method of Grace” and everything was heightened least I cracked the car up! So I was intently listening to that CD.
     
  7. CJP69

    CJP69 Active Member

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    George Whitfield was a staunch Calvinist. The Calvinist doctrine of regeneration is so totally unbiblical that it would sort of be funny if it weren't so seriously false. You had a positive reaction to his doctrine but literally millions, perhaps billions of people will go to Hell because they reject Christ based on Calvinism and other forms of Augustinian doctrines such regeneration as well as many others (Calvinism is just "reformed" Augustinian doctrine) such as original sin, total depravity and predestination, et al. Regeneration, in particular, is more or less a companion doctrine (perhaps a rescue device?) of the doctrine of total depravity, which, in turn, is companion to predestination, which is predicated on the idea that God is immutable. The entire system is constructed around and in order to protect the notion that the God who became a human man and then died a torturous death and then rose from the dead with a new glorified body that He retains to this day and forever more, cannot change in any way whatsoever.
     
  8. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    #8 Earth Wind and Fire, Sep 18, 2024
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 19, 2024
  9. CJP69

    CJP69 Active Member

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    Liar.

    I don't even know what Palagianism is. Every doctrine I believe I can argue from the plain reading of scripture.

    How substantive of you! Heaven forbid you dare to make an argument. If what I say is so obviously false it should be easy enough for you to prove me wrong. You won't even try to show how I might be wrong. You simply take your ball and go home.

    Boring, lying coward.
     
  10. Reynolds

    Reynolds Well-Known Member
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    We are totally depraved.
     
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  11. David Lamb

    David Lamb Well-Known Member

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    I would have thought that calling another poster a "boring, lying coward" would not fit with the forum guidelines, apart from being unlikely to convince people who disagree with you that you are right.
     
  12. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    I’ve reported him… let’s see if it has any response except base insults from low life’s.
     
  13. CJP69

    CJP69 Active Member

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    Oh yes, saying something true is far worse and intolerable than when someone calls me a heretic.

    Why am I the only one that people are allowed to insult around here?
     
  14. CJP69

    CJP69 Active Member

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    Right back at ya, hypocrite!

    You are the one who started the insults, not me!
     
  15. Scarlett O.

    Scarlett O. Moderator
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    Thread closed. People are dying and going to hell and all the Baptist Board can do is to argue about Calvinism.

    I've been here 22 years and these threads always end up the same. It's just beyond my scope of comprehension.

    Ya'll all need to take some time off the computer and find another hobby. Name calling is sometimes the norm around here from the same people. It gets very old.
     
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