Calvinism -TULIP

[Heavenly Pilgrim]

TP: Refomed theology, which is an extension of Calvinism, acknowledges both/and, not either/or.

HP: I respectfully disagree. As I understand reformed theology, what it terms as free will is no free will at all. ‘Freedom to do as one wills’ as is often stated, is no freedom at all. One can only do as one wills. Freedom must of necessity lie antecedent to the doing if it exists at all, in the choice and formation of intents. The will of man sustains to the doing the relationship of necessity. No freedom exists between the two in the least.

 

[Heavenly Pilgrim]

BR: Paul said "it is no longer I who live but Christ the lives in me" Gal 2:20

In Rom 7 he states clearly "the GOOD that I would do - I DO NOT" -- I don't doubt the fact that the unsaved do morally correct deeds - but I believe that it is God that is restraining them from evil in those cases - enabling those morally correct deeds even though they are not born-again.

Hitler may have been kind to someone or handed candy to a child or fed his dog... but that does not mean he was born-again.

HP: It is obvious we need to address the issue I have raised on the thread entitled “The heart of Morality.” This is not to sound condescending, but I believe it will clear up the issues you raise in due time.

If God in actuality and honestly ‘restrains’ them from evil, in that God keeps them from the formation of evil intents, God destroys all accountability, both good or evil and no morality can be predicated of their actions period. If God is the cause, or the one responsible for the intents, God is the only moral agent involved.

Morality always involves praise or blame. If the one doing is not the one orchestrating the end, such a one is not morally accountable. Join us in the other thread to discuss this further.

The born again issue is a side issue not directly involved in the predicating of moral intents. Illustration: Adam was not ‘born again’ before the fall, yet was able to both act morally upright and evil in the fall.

I believe, (although I might be convinced otherwise at some point in time) that a lost man can in fact do something from a proper motivation, yet just the same, no amount of good a sinner can do will atone for the evil he has done. I know that some feel that a sinner can do nothing from proper motivation, yet I believe,at this time, that he can and often does, although again to no eternal gain. If one transgresses the law in one point, he is guilty of it all. No amount of good will ever make up or atone for one single sin that he has committed.

 

[DHK]

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