A Theological Scrub Questions the Calvinist

[Furor]

Inspired by something I thought of in the other thread I made recently, I am led to ask this question of the Calvinists here:

What should a Christian do, if anything?

[Zipperhead]

Inspired by something I thought of in the other thread I made recently, I am led to ask this question of the Calvinists here:

What should a Christian do, if anything?Ask this instead: What will a Christian do? A Christian will do what he's been predestined to do, that is, be caused of God to believe, know, love, defend, and rejoice over the gospel. A Christian will by the Holy Spirit indwelling in him be moved toward good works, and not works which he will believe play any part in the saving of his soul or reccommend him to God- but rather he works that which is just out of a loving obedience to God who he heartily loves: and this love for God is wrought by the Holy Ghost in, by, and through him, and not of the flesh, for even after regeneration the will is bound: having gone from a slave of sin to a slave of Christ, the regenerate man's steps are controlled by the Spirit of God. He will sin, for his flesh wars against the Spirit, and though the Spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, but through sanctification he will die more and more to sin and live more and more to righteousness. And this sanctification is of God, through his chastisement! God corrects, God conforms, God finishes the work he starts within. The faith is God's gift, whereby the regenerate elect is born of God, and receives a knowledge of the truth and is moved by the Holy Ghost, caused to trust that truth he knows to be true truth. This faith being a gift from God is the means by which God justifies, for it is God that justifies. A genuine faith will bring about the next phase - sanctification, and sanctification will end in the natural death of the faithful servant, and the death of that servant will be vindicated by his being raised from the dead into a glorified body: fit for eternal habitation, just as Christ was raised. A false faith will not produce works which, in the mind of the worker, are known to be by and for God and his glory alone. A false faith may produce an outward morality, but it will be pride, and it will not be humble work that grows as fruit from a regenerate heart. A Christian should more than have these glorious things happen to him, a Christian is one to whom they will indeed happen.

[Furor]

Very well. My follow-up question, then, is this:

Apart from the predestination (which is in dispute, clearly), how does this differ from what the Arminian Christian will do?

[Nang]

Inspired by something I thought of in the other thread I made recently, I am led to ask this question of the Calvinists here:

What should a Christian do, if anything?

Give all glory to God, in all things.

Soli Deo Gloria!

[Nang]

Very well. My follow-up question, then, is this:

Apart from the predestination (which is in dispute, clearly), how does this differ from what the Arminian Christian will do?

Arminians give credit to themselves for their faith.

They do not give all glory to God, but think salvation is synergistic and dependent somehow upon them as well as God.

That is the opposite of "Soli Deo Gloria."

Nang

[GoBahnsen]

Arminians give credit to themselves for their faith.I think they feel like God gives them their faith, but they also think God gives everyone else that faith too. Then God works on these autonomous creatures called Arminians, by His grace... and some respond by some mechanism they invent. God is pleased with this and exchanges forgiveness of sins for their production of this mechanism or thing or whatever it is that makes them differ. This something plus Christ's blood atones for sin.

Ooooh and all the Arminians said a collective "no". Ok, well you guys explain it to us one more time then. You who make yourselves to differ from unbelievers.




They do not give all glory to God, but think salvation is synergistic and dependent somehow upon them as well as God.
More precisely...it's regeneration that they believe to be synergistic. After all you Calvinists believe sanctification is synergistic. But then, you're not the average Calvinist in some respects.


That is the opposite of "Soli Deo Gloria."

Nang
opposite is a tad strong I think, but they do conflict with the Calvinistic idea of soli Deo gloria.

[Kevin Wayne]

I think they feel like God gives them their faith, but they also think God gives everyone else that faith too. Then God works on these autonomous creatures called Arminians, by His grace... and some respond by some mechanism they invent. God is pleased with this and exchanges forgiveness of sins for their production of this mechanism or thing or whatever it is that makes them differ. This something plus Christ's blood atones for sin.

Ooooh and all the Arminians said a collective "no". Ok, well you guys explain it to us one more time then. You who make yourselves to differ from unbelievers.


More precisely...it's regeneration that they believe to be synergistic. After all you Calvinists believe sanctification is synergistic. But then, you're not the average Calvinist in some respects.


opposite is a tad strong I think, but they do conflict with the Calvinistic idea of soli Deo gloria.




That's more charitable than most, GB (despite your sarcastic quip in the middle, there). However I think ultimately you need to read Wesleyan-Arminian Theology for yourself before you go around making any assessments. Seems like that would be fair.


At the same time, it does seem like you have striven to hear us out more fairly than most. Keep it up and you might see unfairness in places you never thought! ;-)

[Furor]

If I felt moved by the Holy Spirit to spread the Gospel message throughout the world, would that then mean that I was not, myself, elect? For surely, one who were truly elect would see the pointlessness of trying to save people whose fate was already determined. The Holy Spirit could hardly allow otherwise.

Unless, of course, there is some salvatory efficacy to the spreading of said message.

Well?

Second question:

If the spiritual status of each soul has been predetermined from creation, what was the point of Jesus?

[Nang]

More precisely...it's regeneration that they believe to be synergistic. After all you Calvinists believe sanctification is synergistic. But then, you're not the average Calvinist in some respects.

I am a Reformed Christian. Others call me "Calvinist."

And I am not average, for I do not believe sanctification is a synergistic process, while, alas, many of my Reformed brethren are headed back to Rome with that very thinking.

I believe good works must be evidenced in the life of the professing Christian as proof of the existence of saving faith (James 2:17-26), but I also believe those good works were "prepared beforehand by God that we should walk in them," and that the works we perform are the fruit of the Holy Spirit of Christ that abides within. (Galatians 5:22-25)


Nang