Pilgrim and AC,

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me understand and thank you for being so respectful. I often am reluctant to initiate conversations such as this because the outcome often surely grieves the Holy Spirit.

I'm not fully satisfied with the answers, however. I feel as though you danced around the question, but didn't address it full on.

Pilgrim... to sum up and simplify your statement, you're saying (1)The Bible is the only way to heaven. (2) We don't know who is predestined elect or not. (3) Since we are all sinners, we all must repent and believe to be saved.

With the exception of point number 2, which would simply not apply to Arminian theology, the other points are part of basic Christian salvation principles. In fact, when I read your explanation (and perhaps this is just because of my strong Arminian roots) it sounds as if you are saying that it is the responsibility of the sinner to repent.


AC, I really appreciate your well written comments and wanted to shout "Amen, brother" at times, but they don't seem to clear up the problem. And I really loved your challenge for me concerning John 6:44. You'll probably hate this, but I'm not going to address it here because its a tangent and I would like to stay focused on the original problem. Start another post and I'll address it. I promise that I don't have to avoid this verse to maintain my theology. Regarding the problem, you said "...if you 'waste your breath' there is a possibility that you were the means or the instrument used by God to save that soul." At this point you are trying to maintain that the dying man has no control over his salvation, but that I do? I don't think this idea of transferred free-will is supported by Calvinism.


So I humbly propose this this problematic argument and ask you to respond. My logical argument is A leads to B which leads to C. (A)Calvinism believes that a person is predestined to be saved, regardless of that person's actions or the actions of any other persons. (B)The action that the minister takes of going to witness to the dying man or not will have no bearing on the man's eternal soul. (C) Therefore, there is no point in witnessing to the dying man.