Thread: romans 9 pt 1
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Old 03-24-2008, 08:33 PM
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Diligent Diligent is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beloved57 View Post
The verses dont say man has a freewill, you are desperate arent you.
That is the obvious, plain implication from the wording of the verse: "which are minded of their own freewill" -- your doctrine insists that men have no freedom of will in their minds, and we're not just talking about salvation.

Calvinists have to play some real mental gymnastics to get around the clear meaning of quite a few verses.

Men can obviously resist "some" will of God. God has at least two forms of will -- sovereign will and permissive will. Clearly we have latitude to break from God's will on many occasion -- and even utterly resist the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51). Calvinism has an imperfect understanding of sovereignty (there is no wisdom in the Calvinist definition of the term).

I find arguing with people who hold to those doctrines generally fruitless, and I understand the power of that imperfect comprehension of sovereignty because I once held to it myself. I can only hope that others reading here will user their, ahem, free will to recognize that Calvinism is not an accurate theology and inquire further by reading a great book (The Other Side of Calvinism). Maybe even the Holy Spirit will deliver some others from the snare of Calvinism, which puts God in a box that just doesn't do him his due glory.

I have nothing against Calvinists, and learn a lot from them on other issues, but I can't help but chuckle at the idea of someone trying to convince someone else of anything for which they believe no free will exists to make a choice.