And yet inspite of all your words, and man's sin nature, he still has a free will no matter how bound and releasable through the redemptive design, thus such will to choose is never fatalism the core of calvanism which does not seem to be God of the Bible however you slice it or reform it or sugar coat it. This is the difference from calvanism and armenianism. It could be construed as some sort of fantasy if this free will is touched by God. This is what we care about and what God discloses in the Garden. That not trusting in ourselves but God was the choice of the free will. It can even be said that is a work of man to think that such free will is actually altered by God, a fantasy. Holy Spirit works within those saved and moves the believer this way and that way with an ear to hear.
In reply to:[color:"blue"] At one time, I read a great number of Watchman Nee's books, and held great admiration for him, but I must tell you in all honesty that I read little or nothing in his works of the true Gospel I have described to you here and that the scriptures attest to from first to last. Indeed, the fact that Nee could make the statement he did about his "Spiritual Man", attesting to it's "perfection", and to do so late in his ministry, when all true believers have been humbled to a considerable degree, is a red flag of huge proportions as it reveals his blindness to his blindness.
It is your lack of knowledge and assumption here about the intent of Nee's statement. Men take principles and don't use them, instead of using them as life. This is the warning. A very powerful one at that. Surely you can understand this? That indeed this book was so well and comprehensively written that when you do reach such spiritual truth it is open to naysayers that do exactly what he warned them not to do as you are doing...here is a quote in the preface
"I confess there is much which is incomplete in this work" - preface 2 page 20 "I recognize that the work which seeks to uncover the wiles of the enemyu shall certainly incur hostility of the power of darkness and opposition of many" "I am just a man weakest of all men.........reveals my weaknesses" "obviously only those who have a need will be able to appreciate this book" - p 17 "others will look upon this book these truths as ideals and criticize them as inappropriate" "unless there is a need he will not find any problem solved throug reading these pages...this is what the reader must guard against" "deeper the truth the easier it is to become theoretical"
So the warning here is just because there is no need that you are aware of in yourself does not mean these matters of the redemptive design of deliverance from sin, self and supernatural. By the way the self is the natural party of the good self and the petty self.
In reply to:[color:"blue"] I don't know what God did in Watchman Nee's heart in those 20 years he spent in prison, from my recollection of the accounts I read, we know little of it. Perhaps he taught him the things that I have described here, I hope so; but I know this, what I have described here is the true Gospel in which "every mouth is stopped" before God and the sinner is abased in the dust and there is no free will, none what so ever.
Except one thing. You have changed scripture on the most vital point. Man's perfect free will given in the image of God. All that you say is true except this one point. God leads and prods but we resist if we so choose to, in having such freedom. Grace follows our being graceable and all that entails adhereing to the Word of God either consciously or subconsciously it is a requirment of resistable grace always and forever. Get through this, understand it, to receive it.
Abhore sin, but don't abhore God's gift of a free will to be used fully as God gave it in its fullness. And that requires getting rid of the notion of calvins irresistableness, limitedness, imputation, perseverance, and inability
A more pure stance is to say a different kind of persaverance, God given choice (in His image), conditional election, general atomemt resistible free will.
It starts at choice. When you lose site of this you lose sight of true grace coming in and it will be something not as authentic as it could have been because of this initial mistaken assumption.
