Post by Dr James Ach on Oct 13, 2014 14:11:08 GMT 3
My Twishort response to someone claiming free will is idolotry,
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Is Free Will Idolatry? We'll Show You Scripture While Calvinists Give You Tradition #oldpaths #Calvinism #Pulpiteers
Calvinists love to spark emotionalism from their followers by crouching their insults of Biblical doctrines with war cry rhetoric, even if it means using ISLAMIC catch-phrases to do so. JD Hall made a short missive about Free Will and Election using the Islamic phrase "shirk" when it comes to refusing to give in to the truth of what the Bible says about free will. Calvinists like Hall, White, Piper, et al, have turned the Biblical concept of free will into a fatalistic atheist concept of determinism that leaves God as the perpetrator of evil and sin. To prevent followers from studying the Scriptures and thinking for themselves, Calvinists as in the case here, slap labels on Biblical doctrines to cause fear.
In all of Hall's rant twishort.com/woBgc, not one verse of Scripture was cited to support his claim, or to refute his adversaries. We won't make that mistake.
First of all, even if free will was limited to sacrifices in the OT, it would still prove that free will is not idolotry since it actually IS a Biblical term as opposed to most Calvinist terms which are NOT. See Lev 22:18, 21, 23, Lev 23:38, Numbers 15:3, 29:39, Deut 12:6, 16:10, 23:23, 2 Chron 31:14, Ezra 1:4, 3:5, 7:16, 8:28, Psalm 119:108. If free will did not exist, then it could not apply to even sacrifices; sacrifices and offerings would be compelled and determined, not given of any free will.
In Ezra 7:13, Jews were able to go to Jerusalem of their own FREE WILL. Now Calvinists will claim that this was the decree of a king, but yet Calvinists also claim that the "heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord" as a proof text for determinism. So even if the king decreed the free will action, it is still under the "sovereign control" of God, and therefore, determined, not free, according to Calvinism. If free will is idolatry, then Ezra is not only being rhetorically dishonest, but God is compelling His creation to break His commandments.
It is also ironic that Calvinists claim that there are doctrines of grace, but only doctrine (singular) of election. If the doctrine of election is the eternal decree that holds the secret list of who the elect are that need redemption, then Jesus Christ himself would have to have needed to die to save Himself since he is named as God's elect in Isaiah 42:1. So that means there must be doctineS (plural) of election, and not all of the elections mentioned in the Bible are from the same single eternal decree that Calvinists argue (but can not show or prove) are in Scripture. Romans 11:25-32 puts to silence all arguments that there is only one kind of election when Paul makes the distinction between the CHURCH and THE ELECT OF ISRAEL (v 28 Notice the difference between "for the gospel" which is the church, and the election, which is Israel. Church vs Israel, Gospel vs Election in this passage, are not the same thing).
And finally, Paul demonstrates his free will to preach the gospel in 1 Corinthians 9:16-17. Notice he has a choice to do so by constraint (being forced which is the equivalent of Calvinist determinism) or WILLINGLY. Now Calvinists have invented a humanistic explanation for dilemmas like this which is really the same as Islamic and even atheist determinism called compatibilism. But common sense (and the Bible) tell us that a man can not be both compelled to do something and yet be free at the same time. Jesus expressed this clearly in answer to Peter in Matthew 17:26. Yet only in Reformed theology can God be said to both determine all of the actions of men (which if true which naturally include all secondary causes) and yet not be charged with the actions He caused wherein they sin at the same time. Only in Calvinism, can God be said to have pushed a man off of a cliff and yet not caused his fall (even though He determined ahead of time that the man would fall, how he would fall, and created the speed of the fall by gravity that would be necessary to cause death upon the impact of the surface in which He created to stop the fall).
God chose to give man free will to worship and obey Him. Obedience by its very definition is a voluntary act (although Calvinists will on this point confuse obedience with persuasion). And it is OBEDIENCE in which God says is a necessary element in salvation. "Ye OBEYED from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you" Romans 6:17, "..taking vengeance on them that know not God and that ***OBEY NOT*** the gospel of Jesus Christ" 2 Thess 1:8-9.
Any "gospel" that claims man can not and must not choose Christ is a false gospel. Not only DOES man choose all throughout the Bible, and does so freely, but he MUST choose to repent and believe or he will remain dead in sin. John 8:24, Acts 26:20. Calvinists will often charge that those who believe this are usurping God's sovereignty (what a lack of faith on their part, as if we could) and that we are saving ourselves. That is one of the DUMBEST strawmen against free will ever. No person goes to the hospital for heart surgery and then claims that he saved himself. All credit goes to the Physician. Being obedient to God is not self -glory, and Paul shows in Acts 26 that repentance is not the same as faith so neither repentance nor faith are works, so then it is impossible for any man that has chosen to repent and put their faith in the finished work of the cross to claim that they have saved themselves.
It so highly entertaining to watch a Calvinist complain about free will demanding that we all choose to believe differently from what they call heresy as if we have a free choice in the matter Acts 24:14.
See our articles on Free Will Proves the Sovereignty of God dorightchristians.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/free-will-proves-the-sovereignty-of-god/
And Does God Determine Greater Rewards For Only Some? dorightchristians.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/does-god-determine-greater-rewards-and-punishment-for-some-part-1/
______
Is Free Will Idolatry? We'll Show You Scripture While Calvinists Give You Tradition #oldpaths #Calvinism #Pulpiteers
Calvinists love to spark emotionalism from their followers by crouching their insults of Biblical doctrines with war cry rhetoric, even if it means using ISLAMIC catch-phrases to do so. JD Hall made a short missive about Free Will and Election using the Islamic phrase "shirk" when it comes to refusing to give in to the truth of what the Bible says about free will. Calvinists like Hall, White, Piper, et al, have turned the Biblical concept of free will into a fatalistic atheist concept of determinism that leaves God as the perpetrator of evil and sin. To prevent followers from studying the Scriptures and thinking for themselves, Calvinists as in the case here, slap labels on Biblical doctrines to cause fear.
In all of Hall's rant twishort.com/woBgc, not one verse of Scripture was cited to support his claim, or to refute his adversaries. We won't make that mistake.
First of all, even if free will was limited to sacrifices in the OT, it would still prove that free will is not idolotry since it actually IS a Biblical term as opposed to most Calvinist terms which are NOT. See Lev 22:18, 21, 23, Lev 23:38, Numbers 15:3, 29:39, Deut 12:6, 16:10, 23:23, 2 Chron 31:14, Ezra 1:4, 3:5, 7:16, 8:28, Psalm 119:108. If free will did not exist, then it could not apply to even sacrifices; sacrifices and offerings would be compelled and determined, not given of any free will.
In Ezra 7:13, Jews were able to go to Jerusalem of their own FREE WILL. Now Calvinists will claim that this was the decree of a king, but yet Calvinists also claim that the "heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord" as a proof text for determinism. So even if the king decreed the free will action, it is still under the "sovereign control" of God, and therefore, determined, not free, according to Calvinism. If free will is idolatry, then Ezra is not only being rhetorically dishonest, but God is compelling His creation to break His commandments.
It is also ironic that Calvinists claim that there are doctrines of grace, but only doctrine (singular) of election. If the doctrine of election is the eternal decree that holds the secret list of who the elect are that need redemption, then Jesus Christ himself would have to have needed to die to save Himself since he is named as God's elect in Isaiah 42:1. So that means there must be doctineS (plural) of election, and not all of the elections mentioned in the Bible are from the same single eternal decree that Calvinists argue (but can not show or prove) are in Scripture. Romans 11:25-32 puts to silence all arguments that there is only one kind of election when Paul makes the distinction between the CHURCH and THE ELECT OF ISRAEL (v 28 Notice the difference between "for the gospel" which is the church, and the election, which is Israel. Church vs Israel, Gospel vs Election in this passage, are not the same thing).
And finally, Paul demonstrates his free will to preach the gospel in 1 Corinthians 9:16-17. Notice he has a choice to do so by constraint (being forced which is the equivalent of Calvinist determinism) or WILLINGLY. Now Calvinists have invented a humanistic explanation for dilemmas like this which is really the same as Islamic and even atheist determinism called compatibilism. But common sense (and the Bible) tell us that a man can not be both compelled to do something and yet be free at the same time. Jesus expressed this clearly in answer to Peter in Matthew 17:26. Yet only in Reformed theology can God be said to both determine all of the actions of men (which if true which naturally include all secondary causes) and yet not be charged with the actions He caused wherein they sin at the same time. Only in Calvinism, can God be said to have pushed a man off of a cliff and yet not caused his fall (even though He determined ahead of time that the man would fall, how he would fall, and created the speed of the fall by gravity that would be necessary to cause death upon the impact of the surface in which He created to stop the fall).
God chose to give man free will to worship and obey Him. Obedience by its very definition is a voluntary act (although Calvinists will on this point confuse obedience with persuasion). And it is OBEDIENCE in which God says is a necessary element in salvation. "Ye OBEYED from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you" Romans 6:17, "..taking vengeance on them that know not God and that ***OBEY NOT*** the gospel of Jesus Christ" 2 Thess 1:8-9.
Any "gospel" that claims man can not and must not choose Christ is a false gospel. Not only DOES man choose all throughout the Bible, and does so freely, but he MUST choose to repent and believe or he will remain dead in sin. John 8:24, Acts 26:20. Calvinists will often charge that those who believe this are usurping God's sovereignty (what a lack of faith on their part, as if we could) and that we are saving ourselves. That is one of the DUMBEST strawmen against free will ever. No person goes to the hospital for heart surgery and then claims that he saved himself. All credit goes to the Physician. Being obedient to God is not self -glory, and Paul shows in Acts 26 that repentance is not the same as faith so neither repentance nor faith are works, so then it is impossible for any man that has chosen to repent and put their faith in the finished work of the cross to claim that they have saved themselves.
It so highly entertaining to watch a Calvinist complain about free will demanding that we all choose to believe differently from what they call heresy as if we have a free choice in the matter Acts 24:14.
See our articles on Free Will Proves the Sovereignty of God dorightchristians.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/free-will-proves-the-sovereignty-of-god/
And Does God Determine Greater Rewards For Only Some? dorightchristians.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/does-god-determine-greater-rewards-and-punishment-for-some-part-1/