Why I am not a Arminian (Anymore)

I understand this. I think this is defintely possible. Sometimes I have shared false gospels out of fear of losing friends or family. It's not what I believe though...
It reminds me of what Ray Comfort said. He used to preach but hardly ever get Converts. It dawned on him that he needed to include the Bad News with the Good News; then he had something. If the bad news of the Law is the Preamble to the Gospel, is it part of the Gospel? Ray used an airplane flight as an example. The Stewardess says to wear a parachute because it will improve your flight; Conflating that to a Health and Wealth Good News. Long story short, the parachute makes the passenger miserable and he takes it off. But if the Pilot says the plane is in trouble, and they will have to bail-out; the Passenger will cherish the parachute. All of the sudden, the Gospel is really Good News...

Interesting stuff...
 
We've always believed mostly the same; and maybe you're part of the reason I believe the way I do...

Do you remember the Poster JStone? He said that Arminian Prevenient Grace turns a Totally Depraved person into a Semi-Pelagian; from there they can decide to choose or deny God. That was a lightbulb moment for me. Arminianism is Semi-Pelagianism, because Total Depravity is a Moot factor. Just as Polio is now a Moot factor...
Bruisemiller, right? I like that. What has always perplexed me with Classical Arminianism is Total Depravity, it starts off right, but then it's a shell game. It's like taking chocolate out of cookies, but still calling them chocolate chip cookies. It never made any sense to me. Like the term Prevenient Grace, Calvinism also holds to Prevenient Grace: Prevenient grace is a phrase used to describe the grace given by God that precedes the act of a sinner exercising saving faith in Jesus Christ. The term prevenient comes from a Latin word that meant ”to come before, to anticipate.”. By definition, every theological system that affirms the necessity of God’s grace prior to a sinner’s conversion teaches a type of prevenient grace.

But with Classical Arminianism you have to read the fine print to know what they mean by it. Sinners are either dead in sin or alive, there's no room for a third category of partial regeneration.

Sorry, that's just my spill. I hope you are feeling better, keep fighting the good fight! I favorite topics are Law & Gospel.

P.S. God leaving us alone to fin for ourselves, or taking us halfway to leave us stranded, is not a Loving Father. Which is why Christ's last words were, "IT IS FINISHED!" (John 19:30). And I find Peace, love, assurance, joy, safety, and God here! Because God did it for us!

In Christ Alone through Faith Alone, my Brother!
 
I would like to remind All that there is only one Gospel. There is no Arminian Gospel; just as there is no Calvinist Gospel. It's Christ's Gospel, or it's no Gospel at all. Arminianism and Calvinism are Soteriologies; not Gospels...

Sola Christus!
Exactly, but Calvinism teaches it correctly. Let me explain, in Calvinism Faith is the fruit of our Salvation, not the root. And in Arminianism faith is the root of their Salvation. So Faith becomes subjective not objective; meaning they're bent inward, instead of upward to heaven.

Calvinism is the opposite, they're objective, not subjective; meaning, bent upward to heaven, and not inward. Faith holds to the objective truth which is Christ Alone through Faith Alone!

Sorry brother, but I had to clarify it.
 
Exactly, but Calvinism teaches it correctly. Let me explain, in Calvinism Faith is the fruit of our Salvation, not the root. And in Arminianism faith is the root of their Salvation. So Faith becomes subjective not objective; meaning they're bent inward, instead of upward to heaven.

Calvinism is the opposite, they're objective, not subjective; meaning, bent upward to heaven, and not inward. Faith holds to the objective truth which is Christ Alone through Faith Alone!

Sorry brother, but I had to clarify it.
How can Faith be the Fruit of our Salvation, when Salvation never occurs before Justification through Faith Alone?
 
Once upon a time I was a Classical Arminian, until after several months of reading, studying, and learning about Classical Calvinism (Doctrines of Grace), that I became a convinced Calvinist. Here are the reasons why I am not a Arminian.

1) Arminians have too lofty a view of the human condition and an inadequate understanding of God's Sovereign Love in Christ.

Would you care to elaborate how our view of the human condition is too lofty? In what way is our human condition less that yours?
2) Arminianism & Semi-Pelagianism are like Brother & Sister
Falsehood! Care to explain?


3) They believe & Teach Total Depravity,
Yes, we do!

but then wipe away this teaching by the sinner's cooperation to decide his/her own fate.
We wipe away nothing! God does, but we do not.

God is only a bystander in hopes that they make the right decision to be saved.
God has already done, accomplished, and finished all that was needed to effect salvation, but he also places the contingency of belief at the end of his procession of his activity. John 3:16, along with all the other commands to believe, never say "to those who are given belief" will receive life everlasting! It is God that places this human requirement in the protocol! (Belief is joined by confession and repentance as a tri-unity of human response that must all be accomplished!)

So the sinner is never fully regenerated by the Holy Spirit, they're partially regenerated and placed in limbo between Life & Death where they decide to accept and go to heaven or reject it and go to hell. Which makes no sense, because who would ever want to got to hell?
Saying that we are partially regenerated is a straw man argument. We are regenerated, brought back to full life, abundant life, when we believe! That is the scriptural protocol!

4) Water down Grace; cheap Grace! Their Grace doesn't accomplish anything. It's up to the sinner to make the Cross effectual by THEIR activity, not by Christ's. Christ did cross the finish line, so it's up to the sinner to help Jesus finish what he could not.
Please quote any legitimate Arminian source that teaches this. Grace that will save all is a stronger grace that that extended only to the few. Christ loses nothing in being rejected, for he does not need to be accepted by anyone. He, as God, needs nothing outside of himself to maintain his integrity and being. Christ said "It is finished" from the cross, and his work was done completely. The only question is 'do I believe in what he has done?'


So in essence their Gospel is no gospel at all. There's no hope, no assurance, no peace, no love, no satisfaction, no Salvation, because it's left up to the sinner!
Pure rhetorical balderdash! We believe Christ alone can save, and there is salvation in no other name! No action of man, in and of itself, can effect or obligate God to save him! If we truly believe, we will act like it; and we will act like it only because of the Spirit's power within us enabling us as we act upon that belief. Without him, we can do nothing!


Doug
 
It reminds me of what Ray Comfort said. He used to preach but hardly ever get Converts. It dawned on him that he needed to include the Bad News with the Good News;
Francis Schaeffer said that if he had one hour to share the gospel with someone for the first time, he would spend forty-five minutes convincing him of his sin, and fifteen minutes giving him the good news! I've always remembered that account! Without bad news, there is no need of good news!

Doug
 
How can Faith be the Fruit of our Salvation, when Salvation never occurs before Justification through Faith Alone?
Great question because this is crucial to understanding Salvation. See my brother, it has always boil down to this, is Salvation Monergistic or Synergistic? Here lies the big divide between Calvinism & Arminianism.

Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for Salvation

Evangelical Christianity, which teaches that justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The evangelical view is admirably expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith (11:1-2):

Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies: not by infusing righteousness into them [as in Roman Catholicism], but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them, but for Christ's sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness, but by imputing the obedience satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness through Faith; which Faith have not of themselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2).

God does all the saving, to which he also gives us Faith as a gift by Grace alone. So Faith is wrought in our hearts by the Holy Spirit in Regeneration and as God's word is proclaimed we hear his voice and we believe. But all of this is NOT our doing, its by the Grace of God Alone (Monergistic).

Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

So we are either Fully Regenerated and made alive and given Faith as a gift or fruit (Calvinism), or Partially Regenerated and placed somewhere in between Life & Death to make a decision to be made alive or reject it and go back to being dead in sin (Arminianism). It cannot be both!

I have so much more to write, but I trying to be as concise and lucid as possible.
 
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Great question because this is crucial to understanding Salvation. See my brother, it has always boil down to this, is Salvation Monergistic & Synergistic? Here lies the big divide between Calvinism & Arminianism.

Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for Salvation

Evangelical Christianity, which teaches that justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The evangelical view is admirably expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith (11:1-2):

Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies: not by infusing righteousness into them [as in Roman Catholicism], but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them, but for Christ's sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing or any other evangelical obedience to hem, as their righteousness, but by imputing the obedience satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness through Faith; which Faith have not of themselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2).

God does the all the saving, to which he also gives us Faith as a gift by Grace alone. So Faith is wrought in our hearts by the Holy Spirit in Regeneration and as God's word is proclaimed we hear his voice and we believe. But all of this is NOT our doing, its by the Grace of God Alone (Monergistic).

Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

So we are either Fully Regenerated and made alive and given Faith as a gift or fruit, or Partially Regenerated and placed somewhere in between Life & Death to make a decision to be made alive or reject it and go back to being dead in sin. It cannot be both!

I have so much more to write, but I trying to be as concise and lucid as possible.
I have to call it a night...
 
Would you care to elaborate how our view of the human condition is too lofty? In what way is our human condition less that yours?

Falsehood! Care to explain?



Yes, we do!


We wipe away nothing! God does, but we do not.


God has already done, accomplished, and finished all that was needed to effect salvation, but he also places the contingency of belief at the end of his procession of his activity. John 3:16, along with all the other commands to believe, never say "to those who are given belief" will receive life everlasting! It is God that places this human requirement in the protocol! (Belief is joined by confession and repentance as a tri-unity of human response that must all be accomplished!)


Saying that we are partially regenerated is a straw man argument. We are regenerated, brought back to full life, abundant life, when we believe! That is the scriptural protocol!


Please quote any legitimate Arminian source that teaches this. Grace that will save all is a stronger grace that that extended only to the few. Christ loses nothing in being rejected, for he does not need to be accepted by anyone. He, as God, needs nothing outside of himself to maintain his integrity and being. Christ said "It is finished" from the cross, and his work was done completely. The only question is 'do I believe in what he has done?'



Pure rhetorical balderdash! We believe Christ alone can save, and there is salvation in no other name! No action of man, in and of itself, can effect or obligate God to save him! If we truly believe, we will act like it; and we will act like it only because of the Spirit's power within us enabling us as we act upon that belief. Without him, we can do nothing!


Doug
Sure Doug I will explain it, but tomorrow feeling under weather right now. Need to recharge my batteries. But you have my word, I will.
 
Would you care to elaborate how our view of the human condition is too lofty? In what way is our human condition less that yours?

Falsehood! Care to explain?



Yes, we do!


We wipe away nothing! God does, but we do not.


God has already done, accomplished, and finished all that was needed to effect salvation, but he also places the contingency of belief at the end of his procession of his activity. John 3:16, along with all the other commands to believe, never say "to those who are given belief" will receive life everlasting! It is God that places this human requirement in the protocol! (Belief is joined by confession and repentance as a tri-unity of human response that must all be accomplished!)


Saying that we are partially regenerated is a straw man argument. We are regenerated, brought back to full life, abundant life, when we believe! That is the scriptural protocol!


Please quote any legitimate Arminian source that teaches this. Grace that will save all is a stronger grace that that extended only to the few. Christ loses nothing in being rejected, for he does not need to be accepted by anyone. He, as God, needs nothing outside of himself to maintain his integrity and being. Christ said "It is finished" from the cross, and his work was done completely. The only question is 'do I believe in what he has done?'



Pure rhetorical balderdash! We believe Christ alone can save, and there is salvation in no other name! No action of man, in and of itself, can effect or obligate God to save him! If we truly believe, we will act like it; and we will act like it only because of the Spirit's power within us enabling us as we act upon that belief. Without him, we can do nothing!


Doug
God does, but we do not? We do not do what?
 
Would you care to elaborate how our view of the human condition is too lofty? In what way is our human condition less that yours?

Falsehood! Care to explain?



Yes, we do!


We wipe away nothing! God does, but we do not.


God has already done, accomplished, and finished all that was needed to effect salvation, but he also places the contingency of belief at the end of his procession of his activity. John 3:16, along with all the other commands to believe, never say "to those who are given belief" will receive life everlasting! It is God that places this human requirement in the protocol! (Belief is joined by confession and repentance as a tri-unity of human response that must all be accomplished!)


Saying that we are partially regenerated is a straw man argument. We are regenerated, brought back to full life, abundant life, when we believe! That is the scriptural protocol!


Please quote any legitimate Arminian source that teaches this. Grace that will save all is a stronger grace that that extended only to the few. Christ loses nothing in being rejected, for he does not need to be accepted by anyone. He, as God, needs nothing outside of himself to maintain his integrity and being. Christ said "It is finished" from the cross, and his work was done completely. The only question is 'do I believe in what he has done?'



Pure rhetorical balderdash! We believe Christ alone can save, and there is salvation in no other name! No action of man, in and of itself, can effect or obligate God to save him! If we truly believe, we will act like it; and we will act like it only because of the Spirit's power within us enabling us as we act upon that belief. Without him, we can do nothing!


Doug
Doug, I think I have asked you this question many times and never got a answer from you. If Classical Arminianism hold to indeterminist incompatibilism, how does Prevenient Grace not contradict your beliefs of Libertarian Free-Will (The power of the will of contrary choice).

Now you guys believe in Total Depravity, before I address this point in your theology, can you get me the gist of it?

While you are doing that I am preparing my reply to your post, fair enough?
 
1) Arminians have too lofty a view of the human condition and an inadequate understanding of God's Sovereign Love in Christ.

Would you care to elaborate how our view of the human condition is too lofty? In what way is our human condition less that yours?
Well you are a indeterminist incompatibilist, which means divine Sovereignty has always posed a problem for you and Arminianism. In your theology a sinner's free-will is violated. So in your view a sinner's free-will is above God's Sovereignty.
2) Arminianism & Semi-Pelagianism are like Brother & Sister

Falsehood! Care to explain?
A course, both are Synergistic.
3) They believe & Teach Total Depravity,
Yes, we do!
Care to provide the Arminian teaching regarding it?
We wipe away nothing! God does, but we do not.
I think you misunderstood, because I don't understand your answer.

God is only a bystander in hopes that they make the right decision to be saved.
God has already done, accomplished, and finished all that was needed to effect salvation, but he also places the contingency of belief at the end of his procession of his activity. John 3:16, along with all the other commands to believe, never say "to those who are given belief" will receive life everlasting! It is God that places this human requirement in the protocol! (Belief is joined by confession and repentance as a tri-unity of human response that must all be accomplished!)
So you are suggesting that a sinner who is not fully Regenerated by the Holy Spirit, is placed in position to make a decision, and that this happens to EVERYONE, correct? So please if you would explain the Arminian version of Prevenient Grace for us?


So the sinner is never fully regenerated by the Holy Spirit, they're partially regenerated and placed in limbo between Life & Death where they decide to accept and go to heaven or reject it and go to hell. Which makes no sense, because who would ever want to got to hell?

Saying that we are partially regenerated is a straw man argument. We are regenerated, brought back to full life, abundant life, when we believe! That is the scriptural protocol!
Okay? This presents more problems for you. Here's what James Arminius wrote, "But in lapse and sinful state, man is not capable, of and by himself, either to think, to will, or to do that which is really good; but it is necessary for him to be regenerated and renewed in his intellect, affections or will, and in all his powers, by God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, that he may be qualified rightly to understand, esteem, consider, will..

Now, if this sinner is regenerated with all his faculties are renewed in his intellect, affections or will, and in ALL his powers to understand God, and the plight they're in. Why on earth would anyone, want to reject God? If Total Depravity of man is condemnation & death, and man is in bondage to sin and death. But made alive by God to decide their fate, either Heaven or Hell, why would anyone chose hell?

See what I fail to see in Arminian Theology is the Covenant of Redemption & Covenant of Grace, that God made a Promise to his people, that he will do what we could not do.

Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

God has accomplished everything he promised; an Oath he swore. Our Redemption, all of it, is his doing. Even James Arminius stated, but yet not without continued aides of divine Grace. So without it we can do nothing.

So either Grace is Effectual as God intended, or effectual by our activity; meaning the sinner's libertarian free-will choice to accept or reject God's Grace. So partial meaning not fully regenerated by Holy Spirit, because it's the decision of this sinner to make God's Grace effectual, a Life or Death decision. This is not a strawman, Doug, because a sinner does possess the power to reject this, correct?
Please quote any legitimate Arminian source that teaches this. Grace that will save all is a stronger grace that that extended only to the few. Christ loses nothing in being rejected, for he does not need to be accepted by anyone. He, as God, needs nothing outside of himself to maintain his integrity and being. Christ said "It is finished" from the cross, and his work was done completely. The only question is 'do I believe in what he has done?'
Christ did not come to die in vain. He died with a purpose of saving those whom the Father gave to him to save (John 10). Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

But your outlook is that, when people get regenerated they can reject God's Grace, their libertarian free-will supersedes God's Grace. But I ask you again, if they are fully regenerated and renewed in their intellect, affections, and wills, why would they reject God, if they know the truth?
Pure rhetorical balderdash! We believe Christ alone can save, and there is salvation in no other name! No action of man, in and of itself, can effect or obligate God to save him! If we truly believe, we will act like it; and we will act like it only because of the Spirit's power within us enabling us as we act upon that belief. Without him, we can do nothing!


Doug
So is faith the root or fruit of your Salvation?
 
Doug, I think I have asked you this question many times and never got a answer from you. If Classical Arminianism hold to indeterminist incompatibilism, how does Prevenient Grace not contradict your beliefs of Libertarian Free-Will (The power of the will of contrary choice).

Now you guys believe in Total Depravity, before I address this point in your theology, can you get me the gist of it?

While you are doing that I am preparing my reply to your post, fair enough?
LA,

I take that your two post response means you are feeling better. :)

Now to your question: I'm not sure how to answer, because I don't understand how you perceive that PG is counter to free will. I see no conflict between the two, for I see the ability to choose as being a gift of grace. God did not have to give Adam and Eve free will, and God did not have to allow post-Fall humanity the choice of believing in Christ. For me, Prevenient Grace is why I can both understand the truth of the gospel and thereby choose to receive its truth and belief in Christ!

To repeat an argument that I've always asserted, the matter of free will is not really an issue at all! Even if we assume a full pelagic argument, which I emphatically deny as true, God can never be obligated to act by anything man does. Man's ability to choose is irrelevant to the act of salvation. But that God requires us to do so, make the choice necessary. But this does not mean man's choosing is the deciding factor, but rather that God obligated himself to respond positively to our choosing by making a promise to do so. Since God didn't have to make such a promise, that he does, makes the result solely an act of grace.


Doug
 
LA,

I take that your two post response means you are feeling better. :)

Now to your question: I'm not sure how to answer, because I don't understand how you perceive that PG is counter to free will. I see no conflict between the two, for I see the ability to choose as being a gift of grace. God did not have to give Adam and Eve free will, and God did not have to allow post-Fall humanity the choice of believing in Christ. For me, Prevenient Grace is why I can both understand the truth of the gospel and thereby choose to receive its truth and belief in Christ!

To repeat an argument that I've always asserted, the matter of free will is not really an issue at all! Even if we assume a full pelagic argument, which I emphatically deny as true, God can never be obligated to act by anything man does. Man's ability to choose is irrelevant to the act of salvation. But that God requires us to do so, make the choice necessary. But this does not mean man's choosing is the deciding factor, but rather that God obligated himself to respond positively to our choosing by making a promise to do so. Since God didn't have to make such a promise, that he does, makes the result solely an act of grace.


Doug
So your not a indeterminist incompatibilist?
 
So your not a indeterminist incompatibilist?
I do not believe in absolute determinism, thus, I cannot be a compatibilist! Frankly, compatibilism is really a misnomer because the free will of compatibilism is not the same thing as Arminianism's definition of free will. Is the above comment of yours the only response you have to my answer to your question?


Doug
 
LA,

I take that your two post response means you are feeling better. :)
I am, thanks for your concern :)
Now to your question: I'm not sure how to answer, because I don't understand how you perceive that PG is counter to free will. I see no conflict between the two, for I see the ability to choose as being a gift of grace. God did not have to give Adam and Eve free will, and God did not have to allow post-Fall humanity the choice of believing in Christ. For me, Prevenient Grace is why I can both understand the truth of the gospel and thereby choose to receive its truth and belief in Christ!
I'm not talking about Adam & Eve, I'm talking about fallen humanity. Why does their libertarian free-will choice come after PG? Isn't this a violation of their free-will?
To repeat an argument that I've always asserted, the matter of free will is not really an issue at all! Even if we assume a full pelagic argument, which I emphatically deny as true, God can never be obligated to act by anything man does. Man's ability to choose is irrelevant to the act of salvation. But that God requires us to do so, make the choice necessary. But this does not mean man's choosing is the deciding factor, but rather that God obligated himself to respond positively to our choosing by making a promise to do so. Since God didn't have to make such a promise, that he does, makes the result solely an act of grace.


Doug
Doug I understand your position, but man's libertarian free-will is violation otherwise, correct? Will you indulge me by explaining the Arminian view of TD? Now if you do hold to TD, where we lost our intellect, affection and will toward God. And God restores & renews our hearts and minds to understand by the Regenerating power of the Spirit to believe. And this Doug is a Divine Act from God to his people. God doesn't bring us halfway to leave us stranded, or leave to fin for ourselves. It is gift; meaning it it given to us. It's God doing by the Promise he made to his people! This is where part ways, because the Arminian view desperately wants to claim part of the glory. When in fact its, ALL OF GRACE!
 
I am, thanks for your concern :)
You're welcome!

I'm not talking about Adam & Eve, I'm talking about fallen humanity. Why does their libertarian free-will choice come after PG? Isn't this a violation of their free-will?
I think you're misunderstanding what I was trying to say. My only point is that man's volition is in itself a gift, an act of grace. Thus, if we are able to choose at all, regardless of the point of reference, it is because of grace! PG does not violate free will it restores it. The error that you are making is to assume that I do not believe that grace is ever irresistible; PG is irresistible because its main focus is on the effects of sin on mankind.

Doug I understand your position, but man's libertarian free-will is violation otherwise, correct? Will you indulge me by explaining the Arminian view of TD? Now if you do hold to TD, where we lost our intellect, affection and will toward God. And God restores & renews our hearts and minds to understand by the Regenerating power of the Spirit to believe. And this Doug is a Divine Act from God to his people. God doesn't bring us halfway to leave us stranded, or leave to fin for ourselves. It is gift; meaning it it given to us. It's God doing by the Promise he made to his people! This is where part ways, because the Arminian view desperately wants to claim part of the glory. When in fact its, ALL OF GRACE!

Under the power of the sinful nature, outside of divine interaction, man would have been 'as bad as he could be' and destroyed himself. PG intervenes and mitigates the power of sin, lessening its overall power on every aspect of mankind. Therefore, we are not as bad as we could be, sin does not effects us as strongly as it would have otherwise. Even Calvinists hold to this.

However, sin still affects every single aspect of our being, and we are nonetheless still under its total control in that we are unable to keep from sinning consistently, and that without the drawing of God through the Spirit and the gospel, we would not desire nor be able to respond any way but negatively.

There is a natural part of us that is meant to respond to the presence of God and his truth. This is why those "who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law" (Rom 2:14), and why we know when we have done something wrong instinctively. The conscience is God's means of communicating these truths, and your definition of being "dead in sin" would not allow for such spiritual truth.

Finally, as I have stated in my previous post, the Arminian view makes salvation completely by grace through faith because under no circumstance can God be obligated to respond positively to us simply by what we do. God is the offended party, so any positive movement toward man, for any reason, is an act of grace alone!


Doug
 
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