tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5600758195894789352.post7472195911380024135..comments2023-09-25T03:25:59.169-05:00Comments on Tom Farr: My Review of KILLING CALVINISM by Greg DutcherTom Farrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00506444949351811102noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5600758195894789352.post-64687437435653040092021-01-30T11:27:57.787-06:002021-01-30T11:27:57.787-06:00Actually, as Calvinists, we don't need to expl...Actually, as Calvinists, we don't need to explain it because Scripture doesn't. What we do know is that God elects, and that Scripture never holds God's decision to choose on anything other than the sinner's choice to not choose God. Acts 28:26ff:<br /> Go to this people and say:<br /> “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand;<br /> And seeing you will see, and not perceive;<br /> For the hearts of this people have grown dull.<br /> Their ears are hard of hearing,<br /> And their eyes they have closed,<br /> Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,<br /> Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,<br /> So that I should heal them.” ’<br />Nowhere is God held accountable in Scripture. The choice not to come is always due to the sinners unwillingness. They have closed their own eyes.<br /><br />https://blogtheology.blogspot.com/2021/01/i-recently-read-bloggers-review-of-new.html<br /><br />Rick Brownellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01172135020824406085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5600758195894789352.post-87764519496511097402013-02-11T05:04:24.644-06:002013-02-11T05:04:24.644-06:00Again a Calvin-worshipper steps around the facts r...Again a Calvin-worshipper steps around the facts rather than face them honestly. “Calvinists affirm this” (that man is solely responsible for his condemnation by rejecting Christ). You say that we stand condemned because of our sin (both original and actual). You also state that we ourselves are to blame for not being saved. So then according to you; <br />Though we are born in original sin not at our request and not as a result of our desire or choice, somehow we are at fault because God who sees the future and is in total control chose to create us knowing that Adam would sin; and from that choice would be created billions of sinners, over 98% of whom God intended to cast into Hell both for their sin-nature and for the sin that nature produced. You also intimate that though we have sinful natures and therefore cannot help making sinful choices - in fact we cannot choose salvation, we are rejected because we reject salvation – the salvation we can’t possibly choose or accept.<br />Please tell us:<br />Who made the basic, essential choices – the choices that would see this situation brought about – outside of time and creation?<br />If “election is always with a view towards sinners”, why is God’s love, grace and compassion limited, and why does He command men to do what they cannot do because of their sinful nature, born into them according to His choice? Aren’t all of us sinners? Is His love truly as limited as you claim or are you blaspheming in order to adhere to your father Calvin’s teaching?<br />Colin N<br />colnunnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11532530948783369246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5600758195894789352.post-5411386260532437512012-07-13T21:19:26.969-05:002012-07-13T21:19:26.969-05:00John,
Thanks for the comment. Actually, I do rea...John, <br /><br />Thanks for the comment. Actually, I do realize that many Calvinists (though not all) would be comfortable making the same statement I made. However, I find one inconsistency. If God’s sovereignty in salvation is defined by the Calvinist system, then, yes, God is solely responsible for the salvation for any individual (which I would agree with). It’s also true that man is solely responsible for his own condemnation, but that’s not the whole story. If a man is saved only because God chose him in a Calvinist framework, then the ultimate reason why someone isn’t saved is not because of anything in him, but because God didn’t elect him. Biblically, I believe I have to leave room for election to be all of God, yet condemnation all of man, and I think consistent Calvinism can’t explain how those two fit together. I don’t claim to have it figured out. I’m on a journey like everyone else.<br /><br />Thanks again,<br />TomTom Farrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00506444949351811102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5600758195894789352.post-65125625177011618662012-07-11T13:28:30.130-05:002012-07-11T13:28:30.130-05:00Tom,
I appreciate your concerns. However, if I ...Tom, <br /><br />I appreciate your concerns. However, if I may with all respect say, I don't think that you have adequately understood the Calvinistic position when you say, "but I also believe that man is solely responsible for his own condemnation by rejecting Christ." Calvinists affirm this. We are born in sin, and are sinners both by nature and choice, and stand condemned because of our sin (both original and actual), not because God didn't elect us. Election is always with a view toward sinners--toward those who stand rightly and justly condemned because of their sin. Thus, the only person that a condemned sinner can blame for not being saved is himself. The only one that a person can praise for his being saved is God and His grace and mercy alone.<br /><br />Blessings in Christ,<br /><br />JohnAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08556885440804903749noreply@blogger.com