Featured Calvinism Question : How does God work through the Soul?

No...they refused showing total inability to come.
Spiritual dead people need a heart transplant.
All men are responsible to repent and believe the gospel.
They do not desire God, they desire sin.
They will not seek God on His terms,unless and until God draws them effectually, psalm 110,in 6

 

so why exactly would Jesus say to them that they REFUSED to come, if they were not able to in the first place? this makes Jesus not know what He is on about!

 

No. He is letting them know exactly where they stand.
Same as in jn8:24

 

S.B.G., you skipped addressing this. How did these three examples take place?
How did they obey the voice command of Jesus?

 

meaning exactly what?

 

He actually was teaching what the Bible stated!

 

who was?

 

Dr RC

 

Meaning these three examples these men were commanded to do something that in and of themself they could not do so how did that get done? Where could the crippled man rise up and walk? The man with the withered arm?Lazarus?

 

When scripture says we are born anew, we are spiritually born anew, that means our human spirit/soul is born anew, thus a new creation created for good works. And then, after we are in Christ and regenerated (born anew spiritually) we are sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit. Thus our Helper is in union with our spirit/soul and can communicate with subtle feelings. When we are faced with a dilemma where we are unsure which path to take, we can sometimes pray and ponder and come to a "good" feeling (or a better feeling) about one of the choices. Why not accept the claims of some that God speaks to them with words? Scripture makes reference to "groaning"to deep for words.

As far as our Helper "pulling"or compelling and thus "bypassing" that would be inconsistent with our ability to "quench" the Spirit.
As in the maze, we can still take wrong turns, and build upon the foundation of Christ with a ministry that does not earn rewards, thus we still enter heaven, but as one escaping from a fire.

Grace refers in this context to God's unilateral actions for our benefit, thus by grace is our filthy rag faith credited as righteousness, by grace are we chosen and placed into Christ spiritually, by grace do we undergo the washing of regeneration, by grace are we born anew, by grace are we sealed in Christ, and by grace, we grow more mature in Christ by the influence of our indwelt Holy Spirit.

 

in and of ourselves, ALL sinners can do NOTHING! It is ONLY be the Grace of the Lord, working through the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, in the sinners heart, can than convict and then when the sinner "repents and believes", they are regenerated (born-again). Salvation, from start to finish, is the work of God the Holy Spirit! So God gets ALL of the Glory in the salvation of each sinner! There is NO sinner that can get up one morning, and then in and of themselves, say, "I am going to accept Jesus today"! This is humanly IMPOSSIBLE!

 

Hi LaGrange,
I do not think "Calvinist Theology" (the TULI of the Tulip) is the correct understanding of scripture. Yes I am, or like to think I am, a mainstream Baptist. Calvinists use a lot of terms, such as irresistible grace, but when defined, are inconsistent with scripture, again as I understand scripture.

First, let me address the term "total depravity" which means, according to Calvinism, the fallen are unable to seek God, or trust in Christ such that they will be saved by grace through faith. To support this they define being "spiritually dead" as being unable to make holy (godly) volitions. But as I may have said, Matthew 23:13 teaches some of the fallen were seeking God, yet were not being compelled by irresistible grace.

I have addressed how the Holy Spirit works with our human spirit/soul, or at least my understanding of that question based on scripture rather than Calvinist dogma.

Last point, our will is not totally free, it is constrained by the limits God has imposed. We might will to flap our arms and fly, but that God has constrained. Scripture says salvation does not depend upon the man that wills, (Romans 9:16) which teaches two things, (1) man can will to be saved, thus the Calvinist understanding of total depravity is unscriptural, and (2) salvation does not depend upon our willing or working to be saved, it depends on God alone.

 

There is a New Nature, in addition to the old depraved Nature.

 

I agree and understand your point.

That being said, I will stick my nose into the discussion in an attempt to put a little different light on it. Here goes:

To repeat what I have posted numerous times prior, Lucifer was the first created being to invoke his (free?)will. Therefore, as Martin Luther and Charles Spurgeon concluded, freewill is a lie of Satan.

Once saved, we have the ability to serve God by accomplishing tasks that are acceptable to Him and that He can bless. When we were separated from Him by our trespasses and sins, that was not possible.

Sinning is our natural bent. Herein lies the struggle for the Christian.
[Rom 7:15 KJV] 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
[Heb 12:1 KJV] 1 ..." let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"

Hopefully, you will have a different take of Iconoclast's theology.