tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7993518718588952892.post1468642946141257980..comments2023-11-30T15:30:10.482+13:00Comments on True Paradigm: Questions on Arminianismbethyadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08990677679970591625noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7993518718588952892.post-37795187843572069452017-10-31T19:54:21.848+13:002017-10-31T19:54:21.848+13:00Santiago, agree.Santiago, agree.bethyadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08990677679970591625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7993518718588952892.post-26766752991827304122017-07-30T22:08:20.530+12:002017-07-30T22:08:20.530+12:00"ii. Everyone drawn by the Father comes to Je..."ii. Everyone drawn by the Father comes to Jesus"<br /><br />This is not true; nowhere does the passage state that:<br /><br />John 6:44-45: "No one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears from the Father and learns comes to me."<br /><br />Jesus does not say that all who are drawn come but that all who come have been drawn.<br /><br />Calvin's double predestination is contrary to Scripture. God is not willing that any should perish ... God so loved the world ... Many are called, but few are chosen ....<br /><br />Do not fall into heresy. Obey the Word of Christ.Santiago Matamoroshttps://amillennialist.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7993518718588952892.post-56970213828732223332017-07-30T22:07:07.622+12:002017-07-30T22:07:07.622+12:00"ii. Everyone drawn by the Father comes to Je..."ii. Everyone drawn by the Father comes to Jesus"<br /><br />This is not true; nowhere does the passage state that:<br /><br />John 6:44-45: "No one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears from the Father and learns comes to me."<br /><br />Jesus does not say that all who are drawn come but that all who come have been drawn.<br /><br />Calvin's double predestination is contrary to Scripture. God is not willing that any should perish ... God so loved the world ... Many are called, but few are chosen ....<br /><br />Do not fall into heresy. Obey the Word of Christ.Santiago Matamoroshttps://amillennialist.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7993518718588952892.post-72298090565422976302016-12-04T22:06:49.728+13:002016-12-04T22:06:49.728+13:00Samuel, your response is very Calvinist (unsurpris...Samuel, your response is very Calvinist (unsurprisingly) but it doesn't view the problem from an Arminian perspective. There are positions that Calvinists hold that Arminians deny.<br /><br />While I say that one could disagree with all of Bnonn's 3 claims, my point about #1 being the crux is because that is where the primary disagreement lies. I don't think that God can increase grace to a level where one believes. I think that this is a qualitative not a quantitative issue. I think that men have the ability to refuse God, and that they have this ability because God has given it to them.<br /><br />You write: <i>You have also said that His grace, however various it might be, does not cause salvation</i>. But I said that grace does not cause saving faith, that is it does not cause something in man. I think faith of of us. But salvation itself is of God and definitely of grace.<br /><br />You wrote <i>If his salvation is based on doing more good works (his belief) which are caused by himself, and none other, then he can boast</i>. Firstly, I dispute that belief is a work. This is a frequent claim by Calvinists but I see no reason to call beliefs "works". The whole point of belief is that it contrasts work. Secondly, choosing faith is clearly better than choosing unbelief. But as our faith receives what God offers and does not cause it, how can be boast. I think that it is good that I have faith in God; better than rejecting God. I don't think I have anything to boast about.<br /><br />Lastly, I don't think external forces <i>cause</i> belief. I said that they can contribute to it.bethyadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08990677679970591625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7993518718588952892.post-24120582196521954672016-11-30T23:01:12.766+13:002016-11-30T23:01:12.766+13:00I find your answer to the problem of why some Chri...I find your answer to the problem of why some Christians don't believe and others do very insufficient. You state that the crux of the problem is in the first part of the trilemma, and I would agree -this is the part that causes the most trouble for the Arminian, because it would be so much more illogical to deny the other two. But you don't really give an answer. You say that His loving grace is such that it does not change the outcome of the response. You have also said that His grace, however various it might be, does not cause salvation. So your answer must lie in responding to the other two parts of the argument. You say "they may be better than others". You need to understand that it is a stronger matter than that. By necessity they must be better than others, because as you say "faith choices are right choices". Being right makes them into moral actions. If one man does something more moral than another then he does have reason to say that he is more moral and a better person. So he then can say that he has by his better nature attained salvation. He is saved in contrast to the other man because he is better than the other man. There is no escaping this fact. This is not a biblical stance. If his salvation is based on doing more good works (his belief) which are caused by himself, and none other, then he can boast in contrast to Ephesians 2:9. But lastly, if you say that other external forces lead to him believing, then how can you say that those forces are not controlled by God, since God is sovereign? <br />And as for God desiring all men to be saved, you must understand that Calvinists and the four-pointers like myself interpret these passages as following the preceptive will of God, not His sovereign will. This is just the same interpretive method that you, I and others would apply to passages where God says that He does not desire that men keep on sinning. And indeed, if we attributed it to His sovereign will then we would have problems, because then God would be a liar. He surely can't really desire that everyone stop sinning and disbelieving, because otherwise He would make it happen! Even you, as an Arminian, understand this. You would say that He allows them to sin and disbelieve in order to not impinge on their freedom. So you accept, as do we, that God must of course have a higher reason for allowing sin to exist but the problem comes in our solutions as to what that reason is. (Or maybe you might be surprised to find, that in actual fact, we're not so far apart as you'd think) Samuel Jonathan V.https://vinkdication.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com