Question for my Calvinist friends regarding Gen 4

Who said he was not elect? God spoke to Cain directly, why would he need to hear spiritually? Do you think that God was not in control when Cain made a choice? Are any choices we make free in the libertarian free will sense? Do you make amoral choices?

 

Questions.

Why is it so important to you to have free-choice?

Do you deny that all people are in slavery?

 

For real Martin! The only way i'm truly free is to know that God is sovereign and in absolute control of His creation and creatures. I know that personally I would do nothing but mess things up. I'm glad to know and have confidence in knowing, that God causes all things to happen for the good of those who love HIm. I'm so glad that He causes all things providentially for our good.

 

Amazing when a question that is asked by a non calvinist cannot be answered truthfully, the question is always thrown back at them "why is it important for you"?

 

==I am sad to see that, once again, the self-proclaimed non-Calvinists start the mud slinging. :tear:

The two questions I asked go to the heart of the question that was asked. In other words I am hitting at the very heart of the issue. Most people like to play around with "what ifs" and various theoretical issues. I like to go straight to the heart of the matter. That is what my questions are designed to do. The issue of moral/spiritual slavery, and what a person thinks about that, is vitally important in this discussion. No ground can be gained, on either side, if this is not addressed first.

 

Don't worry about it Martin. That is about all webdog has, other than just logic without scripture.

 

Allan's questions are very simple and straight forward. I don't see that the "very heart of the issue" is that difficult.

 

...and I see the self proclaimed "doctrines of grace" crowd begins the true mud slinging...

Reformed, what is worse...correct logic instilled by God...or Scripture taken out of context to support flawed logic? I would guess you will state the first, because you do the second quite often.

 

==Once again, you have totally missed the point. To get to an agreed upon answer about the question (Genesis 4) one must first deal with the issue of moral/spiritual slavery. It goes to the very heart of the question.

 

==I believe it was "you" that first accused us of not being "truthful" in our answers.

 

Back to the topic rather than the personal stuff, what exactly is the question? The OP said it had an "honest question," but then apparently did not ask it, at least that I can see. It appeared to be just a collection of statements.

So what exactly is the question?

 

1. Many have heard and yet not heard. See Mark 4:12.
2. How do you know he was not elect? Anyway, God commands all men everywhere to repent, and He means it. Whether they can or not, and why they cannot, is a topic for another thread.
3. It is not that we don't have a free choice to do contrary to our nature. It is that we will never exercise a free choice that is contrary to our nature. See 2 Peter 2:22.

 

Hi Allan,

Sorry to be brief, but I am not into writing books. Yes, that Mark passage was specifically about the Jews but it does illustrate the two different meanings of "hear". You said "Yet Cain heard, spoke to, and was give choice by God to repent and Cain understood exactly what God ment." One could say the exact same thing of the Jews. I really don't know why you think this is a problem.

Second, my point was that whether Cain was elect or not is irrelevant. God commands all men everywhere, elect or not, to repent. And He really means it.

Third, you say "why did or would God reason with him, gave him understanding with regard to it (rebelions) consequence, and encourage Cain to do what is right that he may be accepted?? All three issues discribed in my third point DO NOT OCCURE in the Calvinistic paradigm with regard to the unsaved or non-elect." That simply is not true. Those things do occur in the "Calvinistic paradigm". God does reason with the lost. He has revealed the consequences of their rebellion to them. He has not only encouraged them to do what is right, he has commanded it.

But the point is that all of this is not enough. If this were all that God did then none would be saved. More is required, because in spite of all of God's reasoning with sinful man, and in spite of all that God shows sinful man, and in spite of all that He commands and encourages sinful man to do, sinful man still rejects all of that to his own destruction. Again, see 2 Peter 2:22.

 

Allan,

Being DEAD in sins does not only mean that they do not understand. It also means they do not see a need. The Devil believes in God, but the devil sees no need to worship God. The Devil know Christ was the choosen one, this is why the Devil tried to have Christ jump from the temple. Just believeing in the facts means nothing. Ask anyone if they want to go to hell. All will say no. Christ does not save us from hell. Yes, in the end we do not go there. But salvation is from sins. Now ask this to the same people..."Do you need Christ to save you from your sins?" Most people say no. Cain said no. Cain did not understand the need of the atonement. The Bible does not say this...but it is my guess that Cain said...why blood? Why not just a apple??? Cain knew of God, but did not see the need of a blood washing away of sins.

 

No personal opinion at all. I answered you correctly. When your questions are flawed to begin with it is hard to answer you Allen. That is the reason I was asking you questions.