It just doesn't pass a common sense interpretation. I gave just one scripture example, but there are many where God commands or pleads with sinners to repent. TULIP and I agree that no one can repent without God. However, we disagree how that draw is administered to the lost.
Your analogy was wrong. The person in the pit is not the child of the man throwing down the rope. It is his avowed enemy calling upon him to repent (change his mind about him) and put their trust in him. The response will always be "is there someone else up there."
I believe God must first convict a person's heart of the truth via the working of the Holy Spirit, but the new heart is not done until the person says "I do".
The natural man always resists the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51) and any conviction process apart from transformation always results in a different kind of repentance - "worldly repentance" (2 Cor. 7:10).
In regard to the elect the gospel comes to them "not in word only but IN power and in the Holy Spirit and" finally "in much assurance" - 1 Thes. 1:4-5. This kind of conviction by the Holy Spirit always ends in "repentance unto salvation" - 2 Cor. 7:10.
2 Cor. 7:10 For
godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but
the sorrow of the world worketh death.
The sorrow of the world is where natural conviction under the Word of God begins prior to regeneration and Judas is a good example of this in his false profession and later in his repentance concerning betraying Christ. Conviction was present in both cases. However, the conviction in both cases was not that which resulted in a transformation of nature or "to salvation not to be repented of" but was ultimately was the type that "worketh death" and he went out an hanged himself due to a deep sense of conviction of his sin but not "godly sorrow" for his sin. In the elect worldly sorrow is at work upon until God makes the gospel His creative word by which transformation occurs and the manistation of that power is repentance and faith in Christ. That is when the gospel comes NOT in "word only" but "IN" power and "IN" the Holy Spirit and "IN" much assurance to ONLY the elect - 1 Thes. 1:4-5.
"Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God," (eternal life) "and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink;" (Son of God) "thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water". (Holy Spirit rebirth, John 7:39)
Ask and receive.
Jesus is addressing one of his elect and the consequences proved she was one of God's elect. However, note what he said, "if thou knewest" the gift and the person talking to her she would. In John 17:2-3 it is the knowledge that is not given to all people but only "to as many as thou hast given me"
Jn. 17:2 As thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And
this is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Take note of the word "all" in verse 2 but then the denial that eternal life will be given to "all" but only "to as many as" the Father hath "given me" - meaning, God did not give "all flesh" to the Son for Him to give eternal life unto.
Note what he says eternal life is in verse 3 - the same thing he told the woman.
This is another point of disagreement between TULIP and myself. I believe God's justice provides a just answer to the curse. The curse is unavoidable by all mankind, it is from conception in the womb. Therefore, true jutice would demand the cure must be available to all of mankind for all of mankind had no choice in the curse.
Your reasoning here is that man is a victim rather than the perpetrator of the curse. Romans 5:12-19 demonstrates that the whole human race acted in the fall through Adam (v. 12). Hence, they are not victims of Adam's sin but they are perpetrators with Adam in that sin and therefore death is their just consequence. Hence, justice does not demand salvation of any but only condemnation and that is precisely how Christ understood it in John 3:18
Jn. 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not
is condemned already,
Jesus did not view sinners as victims of the fall but as justly condemned "already" so that the wrath of God justly hovers over them (Jn. 3:36 - John the Baptists words).
Cursing all of mankind for Adam's sin may sound unfair and harsh,
As long as you take this position and view Adam's children as victims then of course your logic is correct. However, the scriptures do not view them as victims but rather that the whole race acted in Adam when Adam sinned and thus it is perfectly just that the consequences of that sin be applied to the whole race because "by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin FOR ALL SINNED" when Adam sinned.
and it would, except there be a fair solution or cure for the unavoidable curse ordered by the curse giver, God.
Again, the victim mentality is your ground for the argument of fairness. However, the Bible does not see sinners as victims in the fall but as willful participants as one human nature acting in one person. Hence, what is fair is condemnation of the whole race and justice calls only for wrath and nothing more.
No one can lay any charge against God because God provided a cure for the curse and thus mankind is without excuse and without a charge to lay against God.
Not only do you view sinners as victims but you place God in a position guilt unless he justifies himself by a certain action. As long as you take these very reverse views of the scriptures then your conclusion is logical.
If all justly deserve damnation, and this is true because of a curse ordered by God through no fault of their own,
Note the contradiction between your first and second phrases. You talk about "justly deserve" in the first phrase but then contradict that in the second phrase by "no fault of their own" placing the actual guilt on God for their sins and they are mere victims of an evil God who must justify himself to be cleared from guilt.
1. God is not the author of sin. God merely produced the mechanisms necessary to choose between good and evil without making man choose either.
2. It is not God that sinned but mankind as a race in Adam and so mankind justly deserves condemnation and wrath as they participated in that sin in Adam, just as Levi participated in Abraham when he paid a tithe to Melchezadek.
Your whole logical foundation makes God the real sinner and man the helpless victim and therefore God cannot clear himself of guilt unless he at leasts provides a cure for the victims and then it is up to them if they want the cure or not.
then all justly deserve a cure be made availalbe, that is true justice.
Again, you make God the sinner and mankind the victims rather than participants in and with Adam in his sin and thus the only way God can clear Himself from being unjust is to provide a cure for all without exception.
Then will no man be without excuse, Jesus Christ will be glorified, and God will be viewed as just and fair by all creation.
According to this kind of logic no human should be held accountable for any sin they do because they are mere victims of the fallen nature which was no fault of their own but Adam's fault which ultimately was God's fault.
However, the Bible does not take any aspect of that view. It views all men as guilty and worthy of condemnation and under condemnation and wrath even before they hear the gospel. Moreover, those who never hear the gospel but simply reject the light given them in creation, in conscience is suffient to condemn them to hell (Rm. 1:18-2:15).
If ignorance of the gospel means they could not be condemned justly for their sins then the best thing for you and me to do is keep the gospel a secret so that all mankind will go to heaven. However, the fact that the gospel is necessary for salvation necessarily implies they are under just condemnation "already" and are not victims but are participants even before they were individually born into this world as infants die.
It is not justice to condemn a man for another's sin.
Again, you take the clear position that mankind are victims rather than co-participants of sin in Adam -- Paul repudiates that view in Romans 1:18-3:23 and Romans 5:12-19. However, as long as that is your foundational logical starting point your conclusion will be exactly as it is in this post.
