The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum One Arminian on Predestination

ygk,

1. It would be far more helpful if you would respond to those things which I have written in reply to your contentions rather than simply going on with more questions.

2. Yes, I agree with Scripture that all those and only those whom God has set His eternal electing love upon and predestinated in Christ will be saved. How else could anyone be saved, since all men by nature hate God, none seek Him, and none can come to Christ due to their being "darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;". (cf. Mk 13:20; Jh 10:26-29; Acts 13:48; Eph 1:4; 2:1-10; 4:17-19; Rom 3:10-12; 8:29,30; 2Tim 2:10)

The answer is both; Eve ate the fruit by her own choice AND God had ordained the Fall. It is not an either/or situation. God is not culpable for Adam & Eve's sin but when they did it wasn't any surprise to God for He had foreordained it. As you yourself have stated "He controls each and every event in this universe." (Is 43:13; 46:9,10; Dan 4:35; Psa 33:11; 135:6; Prov 19:21; 21:30; Acts 2:23; 3:18; 4:27,28; Eph 1:9-11)

Secondly, you are ignoring the vast difference between the nature of man in his prelapsarian state (before the Fall) and the nature of man in his postlapsarian state (after the Fall), in other words, you are discounting the noetic affects of the Fall. When Adam sin ALL died because all sinned (Rom 5:12; 1Cor 15:21; Eph 2:1-5). This death being physical, spiritual and eternal was God's just punishment upon the human race. Man's spiritual death, aka: Original Sin consisted of an a) imputed guilt and b) inherited corruption of nature. Thus, man was rendered incapable of loving God and obeying Him. His mind was darkened, his heart filled with hatred of God and all that is righteous and his will subject to his sinful understanding and desires. This is clearly illustrated in Christ's words, "No man CAN come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day." (Jh 6:44)

1. No, God elects some out of the fallen race of Adam due only to His love and good pleasure to show them mercy in Jesus Christ. (Matt 11:25-27; Jh 17:9,11,24; Rom 9:9ff; Eph 1:4-13; 2:4-10; 2Pet 1:3,4; 1Jh 4:10) IF God's election was based upon what He "knew" man might do, then salvation is not of grace but of works; e.g., the will of man.

2. God did indeed elect some and not elect others according to the good pleasure of His eternal perfect will for His own glory. AND, man naturally and most willingly rejects God and His Christ due to his hatred of God. Thus man's unbelief is his own doing. Remember, man is under the wrath and judgment of God from his conception because he is at enmity with God due to his native depravity and the guilt of Adam imputed to Him. God causes no one's unbelief. Man is born an unbeliever. (Jh 3:18,19; Eph 2:3; Rom 3:9; Gal 3:10)

3. This notion that God knows what man will do in the future is a logical fallacy, i.e., it is utterly impossible that God can "look into the future" if He hasn't first ordained all things and then created that which He has ordained. What possible "future" could exist outside of Himself? Secondly, IF God has to look into the future in order to "know" what will be, then this not only denies His inscrutable sovereignty but also His Omniscience. For, this whole idea asserts that God was lacking in the knowledge of all things UNTIL He observed what man would do. Much more could be said to refute this notion which is nowhere to be found in Scripture.

In His grace,