your doctrinal brothers the Arminians.. ~~ Not my brothers. I follow no man made doctrines. 254 posted on 01/01/2003 6:29 PM PST by JaelRespectfully, ma'am....
You follow the Man-made Arminian dogma that a Fallen and unregenerated Man will make the God-pleasing choice to Repent and follow Jesus.
Refusing to admit that your doctrine is man-made, doesn't change the fact that it is. Your belief that a Fallen and unregenerated Man will make the God-pleasing choice to Repent and follow Jesus directly contradicts the express teaching of Scripture.
Let's start at the very point which your beliefs begin to diverge from the teachings of the Bible... the Fall of Man, in Genesis.
Genesis 2: 16-17, 3:4 --And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.... And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Now, what does the Bible teach us about the Fall of Man?
***Genesis 2:16-17 -- And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
***Genesis 8:21b -- Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.
***Psalms 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
***Ecclesiastes 9:3 -- This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
***Isaiah 64: 6 -- For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
***Romans 3: 10-12, 23 -- As it is written, There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
***Romans 7: 18 -- For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
***Romans 8: 5 - 8 -- For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
***John 14:17 -- Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
***1 Corinthians 2: 14 -- But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
Alright, then... let us, with Saint Augustine, re-capitulate the Biblical Doctrine of Original Sin.
The Fallen and unregenerate Natural Man is spiritually dead to God (Gen 2) and every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood (Gen 8) and he is estranged from God from the womb (Ps 58) and he is spiritually insane (Ecc 9) and his "righteous" deeds are offensive to God (Is 64) and he does not seek God (Rom 3) and he never Wills that which is Good (Rom 7) and he hates God (Rom 8) and he never Wills the God-pleasing choice (Rom 8) and he cannot accept the Spirit (John 14) and he cannot even understand the things of the Spirit (I Cor 2).
The Question is NOT "whether or not God gives man a Choice".
The Question is, "What Choice will an unregenerate Man make?"
It is your position that a Fallen and unregenerate Man will, of the motivations of his own unregenerated heart, choose the God-pleasing choice to Repent and follow Jesus.
Since the Bible strictly dis-allows any man-made theology which proposes that a Fallen and unregenerate Man will choose the God-pleasing choice (which is impossible, according to Romans 8), your theology directly contradicts Scripture (Romans 8:5-8, and all the other passages listed above).
It is your position that a Fallen and unregenerate Man will, of the motivations of his own unregenerated heart, choose the God-pleasing choice to Repent and follow Jesus. Rev 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Rev 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Reprobate man HATES God..that is the choice he makes