The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Calvinism

It would seem that your rejection of the biblical doctrine of Total Depravity is based upon an emotional element and not upon the testimony of holy writ.

In reply to:

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[color:"blue"]it [Total Depravity] suggests that an unregenerated can not receive God by the grace of God-given free will, and that to me would be in error because not only was that available in the garden, but so to is it available to those who receive the cross, so there is no total depravity at all, otherwise then free-will would be something lesser than God ordained it to be in the image of God.

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The problem here is that there is an overwhelming abundance of biblical testimony concerning the noetic effects of the Fall which denies that the nature which Adam possessed was corrupted after the Fall. On the day that Adam ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he died and thus was not the same as he was moments before. (Rom 5:12-18) and consequently all his progeny suffered the same consequences of physical, spiritual and eternal death. (Eph 2:1-5)

As to your offense that to not affirm that man has the ability (free-will) to choose Christ before regeneration, which is illogical on its face, because it opens the way to boasting, saying that "Ha ha.. God chose me and not you!" is baseless (1Cor 1:25-29; Eph 2:8, 9). How could one boast of being chosen from before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4), when God's election is not based upon anything of a man, nor anything that man wills, nor anything that man might potentially do, but rather in God's own sovereign good pleasure? (Rom 9:6-16; Jh 1:12, 13) But for the sake of argument, let's assume that your proposition is true; i.e., that man's salvation is not based upon an eternal decree of God apart from any consideration of anyone in particular and that salvation is not only equally available to all men without discrimination but also within the ability of every man without discrimination according to their own "decision". Does this not present a far more viable reason for one to boast? Could not one say, "Ha ha.. I'm far smarter than you because I saw my need of salvation and you didn't! I made a choice to go to the cross and you didn't! I am way more humble than you because I recognized my sin and you denied yours! I have a desire for God but you only want things of this world! Thus God saved me and you lose!"

C.H. Spurgeon certainly grasped the idiocy of this type of thinking and wrote:

“You have heard a great many Arminian sermons, I dare say; but you never heard an Arminian prayer — for the saints in prayer appear as one in word, and deed and mind. An Arminian on his knees would pray desperately like a Calvinist. He cannot pray about free will: there is no room for it. Fancy him praying, ‘Lord, I thank thee I am not like those poor presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born with a glorious free-will; I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself; I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved. Lord, I know thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a chance, and were as much blessed as I am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ; I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not — that is the difference between me and them.’ . . . Do I hear one Christian man saying, ‘I sought Jesus before he sought me; I went to the Spirit, and the Spirit did not come to me?’ No, beloved; we are obliged, each one of us, to put our hands to our hearts, and say:

‘Grace taught my soul to pray,
And made my eyes o’erflow;
‘Twas grace that kept me to this day,
And will not let me go.”

by Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon, on December 2, 1855

May I also humbly suggest this article for your contemplation: Do you REALLY Believe in Salvation by Grace, ALONE?