Arminianism Ultimately Leads to Open Theology

[npetreley]

Originally posted by Frogman:
because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

except that for this reason they have are past feeling and have given themselves over, where you suggest this is by self-hardening, scripture is clear it is because of the ignorance that is in them,and because of the blindness of their heart.


God Bless.
Bro. Dallas

.

Correctomundo. Thanks.

And when Isaiah says He (Jesus) will be a light to the Gentiles to open blind eyes, the meaning is pretty clear. They are blind, as in "blindness of the heart".

 

[William C]

Originally posted by Frogman:
because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

except that for this reason they have are past feeling and have given themselves over, where you suggest this is by self-hardening, scripture is clear it is because of the ignorance that is in them,and because of the blindness of their heart.

I agree with this Dallas. Ignorance and blindness go hand and hand. Ignorance is the lack of knowledge, but that is were the gospel comes in, it gives us knowledge of God's provision of salvation which comes through faith.

Still, the original question that I asked has not been addressed. The Bible clearly calls "whosoever" to believe or "any one who will" to follow and this implies that whosoever can unless the scripture clearly says that whosoever can't. Where does it say in scripture that "whosoever" or "any one who" can't believe?

Please tell me where the bible teaches that man cannot respond in faith to the call of the HS through the gospel message.

Once again, if the words, believe, respond or the gospel could be at least aluded to in the texts that you select that would be nice.

 

[Frogman]

These who are ignorant and are blind are not able to be the whosoever until the ignorance and the blindness is removed from them by the power of God.

Romans 4.18-21

Beginning with vs. 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggard not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that,what he had promised, he was able also to perform: And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness."

Bro. Dallas

 

[William C]

Originally posted by Frogman:
These who are ignorant and are blind are not able to be the whosoever until the ignorance and the blindness is removed from them by the power of God.

Dallas, I must presist with my question. Where in scripture does it teach that the universal call of the Gospel and the HS is not able to remove ignorance (by giving knowledge) and remove blindness (by sheading light)?

This doesn't tell me where in scripture it teaches that mankind is unable to respond in faith to the gospel. So again I'll restate that if the bible implies that "whosoever" or "any one who" can believe by calling them to that believe the Bible must clearly teach that its not possible for someone to believe otherwise. It does not.

 

[Pastor Larry]

Originally posted by Eric B:
Just curious, did you read scripture before that? Or were you just some lukewarm or ignorant Christian who believed whatever your church told you (like the "ignorant Arminians" Bill speaks of), but then as you read for yourself Calvinism made more sense?

I had read some but never really interacted while I was reading. It was more a read to read, rather than a read to understand. But I bought the line that God would be unfair to just choose some; I bought the line that man's free will enabled him to do anything at all without regard for who he really was. As I read, I didn't really even know anything about Calvinism. But in my reading of Scripture, I saw too many references to the sovereign control of God over all things. And I realized that if God sovereignly controls all things, salvation must be a part of it. I realized there were no other options that could do justice to the biblical text.