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Refuting Calvinism
Posted : 20 Aug, 2011 08:53 PM
In the Westminster Confession, the doctrine of Total Depravity is stated as follows:
"Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto." (Westminster Confession Chapter IX, Section III.)
This is the Calvinist Version of Original Sin�in the words of Boettner:
"�to become sinful, men do not wait until the age of accountable actions arrive. Rather, they are apostates from the womb."
Of "The Five Points of Calvinism."
(1) Total Depravity (2) Unconditional Election (3) Limited Atonement
(4) Irresistible Grace (5) The Perseverance Of The Saints �
�Total Depravity� is the Foundation of Calvinism. Without it the other �Points� Collapse.
It is Essential to Note that Calvinism does not have as its
starting point the fact that
�all mankind sinned in Adam."
Calvinism starts with
the Eternal Decree, which the Westminster Confession explains thus:
"God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass." (Quoted in Boettner, op. cit., page 13)
7 In other words, the essence of Calvinism is its doctrine of
PREDESTINATION.
Calvin writes in Institutes: "Predestination we call the Eternal Decree of God, by which He has determined in Himself, what He would have to become
of every individual of mankind.
For they are not all created with a similar destiny; but eternal life is
foreordained for some and
eternal death for others.
Every man, therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say is predestined either to life or to death." (Institutes, Book III, Chapter XXI, Section 5)
Loraine Boettner writing about Man�s Total Depravity writes:
"Fallen man...lacks the power of spiritual discernment. His reason or understanding is blinded, and the taste and feelings are perverted." (Boettner, op. cit., page 64)
Denying that man has Free Will, and affirming that he cannot, without having been predestined by God, choose to do good or evil, Loraine Boettner went on to say:
"Hence we deny the existence in man of a power which may act either way, on the logical ground that both virtue and vice cannot come out of a moral condition of the agent... He is incapable of understanding, and much less of doing, the things of God." (Boettner, op. cit., page 65,67)
The argument is that UnRegenerate man is "dead in sin," and like anyone who is physically dead is unable to perform anything physical, the spiritually dead man is completely unable to perform anything spiritually.
Yes, the Bible teaches that before we are regenerated, born again, raised, or made alive, we are "dead in trespasses and sins."
Ephesians 2:1
New International Version (NIV)
Ephesians 2
Made Alive in Christ
1 �As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,��
But the Bible just as clearly teaches that the unregenerate man can indeed
"obey from the heart" the form of doctrine that he has been taught, that is, the gospel.
Romans 6:17
New International Version (NIV)
17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.
St. Paul in Colossians 2:12-13, said it another way:
"Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being DEAD in your trespasses and the UNCIRCUMCISION of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses."
Faith, of course, comes by hearing the gospel.
Romans 10:17
New International Version (NIV)
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
Then having heard the gospel, one must believe it,
Mark 16:16
New International Version (NIV)
16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
repent of his sins,
Acts 17:30
New International Version (NIV)
30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
and confess with his mouth that he believes Jesus is Christ.
Romans 10:10
New International Version (NIV)
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
But in doing all this, one has done that which the Calvinists teach an unregenerate man CANNOT DO!.
I Must REPEAT That:
In doing all this, one has done that which the Calvinists teach an unregenerate man CANNOT DO!.
Thus the Calvinist must (has got to) Believe that Baptism is Symbolic and Does Not REGENERATE (removes Sin) and thusly SAVES.
That baptism is clearly under discussion in Colossians 2:12-13 cannot be denied. That this passage teaches that one is not "raised" (verse 12) or "made alive" (verse 13) until he has submitted to baptism also cannot be denied. That the expressions "raised" and "made alive" refer to being regenerated should be just as clear.
In fact, there seems little doubt that the "washing of regeneration" mentioned in Titus 3:5 is referring to baptism. The fact that one could be doing something "through faith," as Colossians 2:12 clearly teaches, before being regenerated flies in the face of Calvinist claims. This, no doubt, is why
Calvinists deny that water baptism has anything to do with being regenerated or born again.
I�ve gone way too Long already here�but this should give you a Beginning as to Why Calvinism is Wrong and DANGEROUS.
When everyone is through �Hollering� and �Screamimg��I�ll post Refutations on the other �Pillars of Calvinisms� (although when this one Falls�)
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