Featured Common Grace.....yes, or no...

All 6 points are exactly true. Your denial of them does not diminish from your unruly conduct.
Your total inability to understand both 1 Cor 3, as well as rom8 stand as a monument to what happens when biblical truth and light is turned away from. Jesus said when you turn from light you go to the darkness, Paul spoke of turning from truth to fables, making shipwreck of the faith.
I suppose someone has to.play that role as a warning and example to others......and you have stepped up and offered yourself quite readily...lol.
I will no longer offer the truth to you as it is clear you get a perverted or warped sense of what takes place on a message board. You post for the reaction and your constant appeal to the "folks" who never answer you is now becoming tedious.
Your offering of error on 2 Thess with your recording and wresting the text reminds me of those police movies where the killer cuts out words from a magazine and glues them together to send a letter into police headquarters...lol.......it is a pieced together collection of false ideas that even CSI CALIFORNIA could not decipher.

 

"Van,

Good question.....here is one of the rules;
5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.

5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.

5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.

The topic is Not spiritual milk or any of your other nonsense....it was about common grace..... so your post is off topic trolling, which is against the rules, this is the elephant in the room.
5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.

 

"Van,

Good question.....here is one of the rules;
5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.


5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.

5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.


The topic is Not spiritual milk or any of your other nonsense....it was about common grace..... so your post is off topic trolling, which is against the rules, this is the elephant in the room.
5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.

 

"Van,

you have been asked to stop going off topic...

you try and make it all about you all the time...it is not about you.

The topic of common grace is well defined....You do not get to just make it up as you go.

this is not a part of the discussion at all, in fact it goes against it if properly understood. Start your own thread with all your falsehoods, then maybe the imaginary "folks" will respond.

Another random off topic thought.

 

Van,

Good question.....here is one of the rules;
5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.


5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.

5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.


The topic is Not spiritual milk or any of your other nonsense....it was about common grace..... so your post is off topic trolling, which is against the rules, this is the elephant in the room.
5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, deliberately offensive insults, etc.
[/QUOTE]

 

This is what the op is about......from wikipedia

Aspects of common grace
In the words of Reformed scholar Louis Berkhof, “[Common grace] curbs the destructive power of sin, maintains in a measure the moral order of the universe, thus making an orderly life possible, distributes in varying degrees gifts and talents among men, promotes the development of science and art, and showers untold blessings upon the children of men,” (Berkhof, p. 434, summarizing Calvin’s position on common grace). The various aspects of God's common grace to all mankind may be generally gathered under four heads:

Providential care in creation - God’s sustaining care for his creation, called divine providence, is grace common to all. The Bible says, for instance, that God through the Son "upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Heb. 1:2-3; John 1:1-4). God's gracious provision for his creatures is seen in the giving of the seasons, of seedtime and harvest. It is of this providential common grace that Jesus reminds his hearers when he said God "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45). We also see evidence of God’s common grace in the establishment of various structures within human society. At a foundational level, God has ordained the family unit. Even pagan parents typically know that they should nurture their children (Matt. 7:9-10) and raise them to become responsible adults.

Providential restraint of sin - In the Bible, Paul teaches that civil authorities have been "instituted by God" (Rom. 13:1) to maintain order and punish wrongdoing. Although fallible instruments of his common grace, civil governments are called "ministers of God" (Rom. 13:6) that should not be feared by those who do good. God also sovereignly works through circumstances to limit a persons sinful behavior (Gen. 20:6, 1 Sam. 25:26).

In man's conscience - The apostle Paul says that when unbelieving Gentiles "who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, ...They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them" (Rom. 2:14-15, ESV). By God's common grace fallen mankind retains a conscience indicating the differences between right and wrong. This may be based on the fact that human beings, though fallen in sin, retain a semblance of the "image of God" with which they were originally created (Gen. 9:6: 1 Cor. 11:7).

Providential blessings to mankind - Human advancements that come through the unredeemed are seen as outcomes of God's common grace. For example, medical and other technological advancements that improve the lives of both the redeemed and unredeemed are seen as initiated by common grace.

In summary, common grace is seen in God's continuing care for his creation, his restraining human society from becoming altogether intolerable and ungovernable, his making it possible for mankind to live together in a generally orderly and cooperative manner, and maintaining man's conscious sense of basic right and wrong behavior.

Contrasted with special grace
Special grace, in Reformed theology, is the grace by which God redeems, sanctifies, and glorifies his people. Unlike common grace, which is universally given, special grace is bestowed only on those whom God elects to eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. This special grace is frequently linked with the five points of Calvinism as irresistible grace or efficacious grace. Common Grace is God working in the heart of the sinner to emulate the Christian life but not effectually saving that sinner. This is a most important distinctive of Historical Calvinism as it is a distinctive made by John Calvin in his book the Institutes of the Christian Religion and by a number of Confessions of faith for Calvinistic denominations originally in Europe. It is also the distinctive made by later theologians such as Abraham Kuyper of the Netherlands and Louis Berkhof and R. C. Sproul. Following Kuyper, Berkhof sees three categories of common grace:

1. Universal Common Grace, a grace that extends to all creatures;
2. General Common Grace, a grace that applies to mankind in general and to every member of the human race;
3. Covenant Common Grace, a grace that is common to all those who live in the sphere of the covenant, whether they belong to the elect or not.[1]

 

"Van,

I did not see this falsehood in the definition of common grace.
It is not included because everyone other than you understands it is false....instead they believe scripture;
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

you deny this once again....we do not, we believe it.

Spare us your bogus rewriting of the verse...it stands as written.

 

"Van, you speak of cyber bullies...lets look at you in this thread;

Cyberbullying can include such acts as making threats, sending provocative insults....
and flooding an e-mail inbox with messages;

These are from the resident cyber-bully...Van
post7
Yes, our ability to understand and respond to spiritual milk is a common blessing, but God can take it away, or we can through the practice of sin.
post19
Yes, our ability to understand and respond to spiritual milk is a common blessing, but God can take it away, or we can through the practice of sin.

post31
They deny the ability of men of flesh to understand spiritual milk, a common grace.

post33
Men of flesh can understand some spiritual things, spiritual milk.

post37
They deny the ability of men of flesh to understand spiritual milk, a common grace.
post39
Common grace includes the ability of men of flesh to understand spiritual milk,1 Cor. 3:1-3.
post41
we get yet another effort to change the subject from 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 - teaching men of flesh can understand spiritual milk. Note that Romans 8:6-7 does not say nor suggest men of flesh are unable to set their minds on spiritual milk
post 43;
Back to topic, 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 teaches men of flesh can understand some spiritual things, spiritual milk.
post45;
Yet another personal attack, another effort to change the subject to me, rather than common grace, such as men of flesh being able to understand the milk of the gospel.

post47;
Another effort to change the subject to me, rather than common grace, such as men of flesh being able to understand the milk of the gospel.
post49;
Yet another personal attack. You, you you....
Common grace is well defined, and includes that men of flesh understand the milk of the gospel.
post52;
Common grace includes that men of flesh can understand the milk of the gospel.

5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities,

 

Van

Cyberbullying can include such acts as making threats, sending provocative insults....
and flooding an e-mail inbox with messages;



5. No trolling. Trolling consists of provoking large volumes of responses by posting absurdities, [/QUOTE]

 

Proverbs 24:30
I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;

 

Common grace has played a large role in Calvinist thinking about culture. For some, it is this general grace of God - His restraint of sin, His gifts of cultural skill to believers and unbelievers - that makes common culture possible. Special grace and special revelation are for the church; outside, common grace and general revelation rules.

The great Dutch statesman and theologian Abraham Kuyper is largely responsible for the prominence of this notion in Reformed worldview thinking, but as described by James Bratt in his recent Abraham Kuyper biography Kuyper’s own thinking on this topic is more nuanced than that of “some of his acolytes” (202).

http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/leithart/2014/05/kuypers-common-grace

 

these men attempt to refute Kuyper's teaching on common grace;
http://rfpa.org/pages/protestant-reformed-faith-common-grace

Protestant Reformed Faith - Common Grace
ERROR OF COMMON GRACE
Click here for published materials on Common Grace
The doctrine of common grace is a doctrine that was developed in the lat 1800's and early 1900's by Abraham Kuyper and eventually adopted by the Christian Reformed Church. This erroneous doctrine can be explained in three points.

1. God as a favorable attitude toward all sinners, showing favor and grace to all his creatures in general.
2. God, by the Holy Spirit, without renewing the heart of man, restrains the impeding breaking out of sin so that human life in society remains possible.
3. Those sinners who are unbelievers are capable of doing civil good by the influence and grace of God, without God renewing the heart of those unbelieving sinners.

The RFPA refutes this erroneous doctrine, instead proclaiming the undisputable doctrine of sovereign particular grace. Grace is the attribute of God whereby first he loves himself and desires his own glory, which is then shown in his speech and actions toward his people. Grace is never general or common. Rather, God grants his sovereign, particular grace only to his elect according to his own sovereign will. God's grace is revealed as undeserved favor in the salvation of his people, so that they may become like him and find favor with him. Grace is never conditioned by faith, but is always sovereign, powerful, irresistible, and effective to the salvation of God's people in Christ. (Romans 8:28-29, Ephesians 1:3-14). Read more about sovereign particular grace here.

Read more about the distinctive Reformed view of the error of sovereign grace in this excerpt from the fourth chapter of For Thy Truth's Sake by Herman Hanko.

When Herman Hoeksema attempted to find one doctrine which, more than other, defined the beginning of the PRC (Protestant Reformed Churches), he found it in the truth of the particular grace of God. That issue stood out clearly in 1925 when the PRC began. It remains a distinguishing mark of the churches today. Those who teach that grace is not particular, but common, believe that God's grace is shown to all men. The PRC believe that Scripture and the Reformed Confessions teach that God's grace is for His people only and that the wicked never receive so much as an ounce of grace...

This very name "common grace" indicates that those who hold to this view believe that the grace of God is "common" or general, that is, that grace is for all men. God shows His grace to all men without exception. This is what the CRC approved as official doctrine when it adopted the three points of common grace.

Because of the grace of God in God's favor and blessing, God is favorable disposed to all men. He looks with kindness and good will upon all men without distinction. He is favorable disposed to every one. His face smiles with pleasure towards all men. But, because God's attributes are all one, the attribute of grace includes man other attributes, which the defenders of common grace used at random and as being synonymous with grace. They spoke of God's benevolence and kindness, of God's love and mercy, of God's goodness and loving kindness - all in the same breath, as it were. All these attributes of God are shown to all men without distinction (according to the doctrine of common grace)...

The blessings of God upon all men are of various kinds, according to those who held these views. They include the good things in the creation, rain, sunshine, plentiful harvests, prosperity, health, a good family, and all such things as are pleasant and to be desired in this world...

More explicitly, common grace was connected with God's work of salvation in the well-meant offer of the gospel, of which the first point made mention. In fact, the first point appealed to the well-meant offer of the gospel as an evidence of God's favor and grace toward all men.

The point is important enough to take special note of. The well-meant offer of the gospel means that God desires and intends to save all who hear the gospel. That desire of God is God's common grace, or general attitude of favor to all. But common grace itself cannot save. Nevertheless, though it cannot save, it is indicative of God's intent to save all who hear...

The position which the PRC took with respect to the gifts of God was sometimes misinterpreted by the defenders of common grace. No one among those who denied common grace ever so much as hinted that the gifts of God to men were bad gifts, as some defenders of common grace claimed. Everyone agreed that God gives men only good gifts. Not only does Scripture teach this, but various passages even emphasize this. Psalm 73, it was pointed out, clearly states, in the complaint of Asaph, that the wicked have more of these earthly things, which common grace called blessings, than God's people. God never gives bad gifts. When God gives the wicked the things of His creation, He gives good gifts because he is the overflowing fountain of all good and because "ever good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17)