Confession of a Hyper-Calvinist

Sorry that I didn't understand your question.

 

Well, I use them interchangeably.

 

Who are you two teams?

 

Preservation is the better term.

 

"Another objection against the biblical doctrine of divine sovereignty is that it appears to contradict human responsibility. The assumption is that human responsibility presupposes human freedom. But if God exercises complete control over all human decisions and actions, then man is not free, and therefore divine sovereignty and human responsibility seem to contradict each other. And this is a problem because it is insisted that human responsibility must be maintained.

The first definition for "responsible" in Webster's New World College Dictionary says, "expected or obliged to account (for something, to someone); answerable; accountable." Now, without any regard as to whether man is free, he is certainly "expected or obliged to account" for his thoughts and actions to God. The Bible says, "For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14). God will reward the righteous and punish the wicked; therefore, human responsibility is established apart from any discussion on human freedom.

Man is responsible precisely because God is sovereign, because to be responsible means to be held accountable. It means that a person must explain and justify his thoughts and his actions, and that he will be rewarded or punished according to a certain standard of right and wrong. Moral responsibility has to do with whether God has decided to judge man and whether God has the power and authority to enforce his decision. It is entirely dependent on divine sovereignty and has nothing to do with human freedom. Man is responsible because God will reward obedience and punish rebellion, but this does not suggest that man is free to choose between obedience and rebellion.

Romans 8:7 says, "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so." Man is responsible for his sins not because he is free or able not to abstain – this verse says that he cannot abstain from sin. Rather, man is responsible because God has decided to judge him for his sins. Therefore, human responsibility does not presuppose human freedom, but it presupposes divine sovereignty. Thus divine sovereignty indeed contradicts human freedom, but it alone establishes human responsibility."

- Vincent Cheung, Systematic Theology