Costello,

Some of the phrases you used in your most recent post caught my eye. Setting aside the actual content of the discussion for a second, notice the terminology with which you describe your position. Among other things, you said:
[color:red]
That is what I was taught. I can’t change.

I can’t accept someone else’s ...

I try to understand the verses the way they do but I can never answer all the objections that come to mind

I’m trying, but I can’t get my brain around ...

I haven’t quite figured out the way .... is used here.

I have always accepted ...

For some reason no matter how many different ways I try to look at different theological ideas there is only the one I was taught that seems right.

I would like to find something that I could comfortably change about the way I believe just to know that I could.

I am ... trying to consider them.


What you are freely acknowledging here is [color:blue]your own inability to believe anything other than you were taught! In effect, you are saying that your so-called free will is not quite so free as you would like to think. You then contradict yourself by stating your First Principle: [color:red]" I have always accepted man’s total free will as a fundamental part of our being." You write as if this were true in the area of sin and salvation, but your own words testify against you that you cannot freely change what you believe! How much less can a dead man freely choose to come alive?

You have said that you are considering what is said here. That is good. Please take the time to read an article on this site, which gets beyond the "buzz-words" of the limited atonement argument to the heart of the matter, which helped me immeasurably when I was struggling with this very issue, and let us know what you think: Introductory Essay to The Death of Death in the Death of Christ

In Christ,
Paul S