Comments on: Seven Things You Have To Know To Understand End Times Prophecy … Part 3

By: John

John — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:38:48 +0000

First off none of the scriptures you have cited say that man is unable to recognize on his own, his depravity and need for a savior. And this is where Calvanists get it wrong.

I fully agree as does scripture that man is completely unable to do anything in and of himself to remedy his own depravity.

The remedy is done by God alone.

Secondly with all do respect I am not going to start a debate on this thread on total depravity, it is not the main theme of the article.

God Bless

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:36:00 +0000

The doctrine of man’s “Total Inability” with regard to his own salvation is crystal clear in Scripture. With respect to spiritual things, mankind is dead in his tresspasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-3). Their is a huge world of difference between a God who “helps out” and a God who “resurrects”. Now when it comes to God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility (in salvation) I hold both as true. (Personally, I see no difference between the Arminian & Calvinism position on the depravity of man). The passages I list below teach an actual inability of sinners to rescue themselves. The god of the age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot believe the light of the gospel (2Cor.4:3-4). In John chapter 6 Jesus teaches an actual inability when He described the condition of the unbelieving crowd. Paul teaches in Roman 3 that NO ONE understands. NO ONE seeks for God. You have no basis for stating that there is no Scriptural proof for the doctrine of Radical Depravity!

Romans 3:9-12 : “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not even one.

John 6: 65 : And He said, Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.

1Cor. 2:14 : But the nature man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for the are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually dicerened.

Matt. 7: 18 : A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

Romans 8:7-8 : For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile towards God, for it does not submit to Gods laws; indeed it cannot not. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

John 6:65 : No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

(also; Eph. 2:1-3, Jerem. 17:9, 2Cor. 4:3-4

Doug

By: John

John — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:34:26 +0000

“It’s not just puny mans decision it’s also God’s choice isn’t it?”

Are you referring to a Calvanist viewpoint that it violates God’s Sovereignty to say that man has a free will to choose to accept Christ or not?

It does not violate God’s Sovereignty for man to be able to accept or reject the drawing of the Holy Spirit to salvation.

Total Depravity or total inability is not Biblical. Nowhere in scripture is there support for it. Total Depravity is a man made belief first put forward by Augustine and then expanded upon by John Calvin.

On the contrary, by God enabling man to make the choice to accept him or reject the drawing of the Holy Spirit, is in fact the most clear proof of the absolute sovereignty of God.

I absolutely agree that there are many millions who have been led to falsely believe that all they have to do is utter one insincere prayer and they are good to go. That is a horrible false belief and has damned many millions to Hell!

And yes it is one reason why people believe today that the message of Salvation can be modified to be culturally sensitive! they have modified it to be a utiliatarian message.

But in fact what they are doing is quenching the Spirit and murdering the word.

I know that if a person trhough the drawing of the Holy Spirit repents and accepts Christ with a sincere heart that The Holy Spirit comes into that person’s life at that point and helps that person to overcome sin and increase in Faith through sanctification and this is evident via their “fruits”

I once heard a saying: There are two kinds of preaching: regular preaching and preaching with Holy Spirit Power, and only one leads to true conversions.

The unvarnished and unaltered preaching of the word of God carries with it Holy Spirit convicting power and is the only preaching that leads to true conversions. For the most part what you see today is not the clear and unaltered preaching of the Word of God, therefore the Holy Spirit is not present to convict people of their sin and therefore there are not true conversions.

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:01:36 +0000

While God is patient, not desiring that any should be lost, it’s not His decision to make. He’s given it to you, knowing that without an alternative, your choice to voluntarily accept Him is meaningless. He loves you enough to risk that you’ll make the wrong decision, and enough to abide by your wishes if you do.

It’s not just puny mans decision it’s also God’s choice isn’t it?

How many people have been offered to make a decision and say a prayer and have been told they are saved yet the majority of these people have never experienced genuine conversion? This is just one reason our contemporary evangelism about cultural sensitivity and finding new ways to preach the “old gospel” is so dangerous.
Doug