Baptist but not a Calvinist?

HP: Dead to sin does not mean unable to sin, but unwilling to sin. Dead in sin is not unable to do right, but unwilling to do right.

 

HP: …………and if He doesn’t, only God is to blame. ( not)

 

HP: GE, you have it wrong. The first is your paper duck, the last a truth in a sense, but only part of the equation. Salvation involves the will of man, without which no salvation can or will be accomplished. Salvation is not on the account of our will, but neither is it accomplished apart from our will.

 

Originally Posted by Heavenly Pilgrim

HP: …………and if He doesn’t, only God is to blame. ( not)

HP: Verse please.

HP: I will agree, but the doctrines you promote destroy any real accountability. You might be able to place some rightful accountability on Adam, but you cannot by Scripture or reason place blame on any of his descendants due to his actions. Scripture clearly states that no man is accountable for another man’s sins, but rather every man is accountable for his own sins. The notion that all sinned in Adam is pure fallacious conjecture, not founded upon Scripture.

HP: If man is born incapable of making a right choice, lacking ability to do right and as such a sinner from birth, God as our Creator is responsible for the state man is born into. Adam did not create me, God did.

HP: No doubt repentance does involve the acknowledgement of ones sin, but that in and of itself is not that which true repentance entails. True repentance involves a change of heart and attitude towards ones sin, coupled with the determination to yield the power of ones will in the formation of intents in a proper direction.

A drunkard can recognize his problem all day long and never repent. An adulterer can acknowledge their sin and guilt and yet never be found repentant. Repentance again involves acknowledgment of ones sins, but must be coupled with the wills intents to formulate intents contrary to those seen as sinful.

 

HP: Now here is a voice of reason. I have a question in light of what you have said. Is it not true that if all men can indeed respond to the gospel before being regenerated that they must of necessity have the ‘abilities’ to do so, and that it is not ‘abilities to respond’ that grace delivers, for the abilities needed are universally held, but rather the ‘opportunity to respond’ that is ‘undeserved’, and as such truly grace, in light of their willful and selfish formed intents?

 

HP: I have but a short time today to post unless the rain continues. I see the opportunity presented as synonymous with the drawing. I see abilities to respond as universally given, for without such abilities it could not be just for God to require man to obey upon pain of punishment. Therefore I see abilities granted as universal and a matter of justice, whereas I see the opportunity for salvation an act of undeserved grace.

As we continue from time to time to converse I believe we will both come to a closer understanding of each other and to the truth. I sure appreciate your posts. Thanks for taking the time to respond on this holiday.

I have some outside fence that I must attend to, again if the ran stops. (and possibly a little fishing later on as well )

 

HP: If the unsaved individual does not have the gospel presented to them, and the Holy Spirit does not convict them of sin and reveal to them their need, no salvation is possible. Once we have violated the law of God, we are condemned by the law, and nothing other than acceptance of the atonement of Christ on our behalf, by fulfilling the conditions of repentance and faith, can one be saved. That is what I see that verse implying.

What I do not see that verse implying is that God has to grant a dead log floating down the stream the ability needed to respond to the offer of grace. There is nothing in the word ‘draw or drawing’ that necessitated the notion of granted abilities. I believe all men have the necessary abilities to respond to God granted to them as necessitated means requisite of moral agency. It is not abilities grace needs to bring, but opportunity and influence.

In the matter of choosing us before He created the world, that does not necessitate the outcome. God foreknows matter of perfect choice, and due to His omniscience and foreknowledge understands perfectly the choices we will make, without necessitating the outcome. The only alternative to that is to accept fatalism with all its ugly necessitated logical ends, which can land you no where but God as the author of all evil and the predestination of the damned. I cannot accept either of those as Scriptural or within the bounds of reason.

I pray that you will have a wonderful week in the classroom, and that by your life’s example others might desire to come to know the God of your salvation.