Thank you, Pilgrim, for reviving memories from almost 20 years ago.

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It is NOT the question of God's "power" but "desire/will" to save everyone. God could have just as easily determined to save all. But the fact is, He did not desire to set His love upon all but only a remnant of Adam's fallen race to receive His mercy and grace in Christ.


BigThumbUp This fine point easily reveals whether a professing Reformed believer is ~functionally~ Arminian or Semi-Pelagian. John Owen himself, in The Death of Death, shows how absurd this notion is. I have argued this with a friend who calls this divine mystery... but it's just a plain contradiction.

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If one wanted to know what Presbyterianism teaches, it would be a gross mistake to consult the writings of modern so-called Presbyterians, e.g., the PCUSA, UPC, many in the EPC, et al. For they reject what historic CLASSIC Presbyterians believed.

One of the symptoms of this rejection is that labels and terms mean differently from what they used to. Just like the Romish church uses the same theological words but means differently for different purposes, today's Arminians, semi-Pelagians, and New Calvinists operate on the same level. All this smoke and mirrors makes dialogue very difficult.

Perhaps the most abused term, apart from 'love', is 'grace'. From what I understand of the Westminster Confession, what is usually called 'common grace' is actually positively perceived Providence (I am not aware of a standard term for negatively perceived Providence); 'grace' as used in the Confession refers only to the saving work of Christ, which is divinely directed only to the elect.




In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.