CALVINISM: The height of Spiritual depravity

[Scott Downey]

See there is a being called the devil, Satan, and he works against God and men. And Satan and those captured by Satan twist the scriptures.
Only God can grant repentance to know the truth as they will never escape from that snare any other way.

2 Timothy 2
24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

 

[Scott Downey]

The person who started this hate thread against the scriptures, lost. They just may not know it yet.
It is good to get the scriptures exposed, which cannot be broken, which is why I participate on this forum.

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? 35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

Scripture is all very important, especially the letters to the churches, and the words of Christ.

 

[Starise]

About our being elected to salvation according to foreknowledge of God, 1 Peter 1 says it very clearly

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

1 To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Yes they were part of the early church appointed for the growth of the church. This in no way disqualifies the rest of us from salvation.

 

[Scott Downey]

Yes they were part of the early church appointed for the growth of the church. This in no way disqualifies the rest of us from salvation.

Except all unsaved peoples, they are idol worshippers.
If you do not worship Christ and the Lord God, you worship something else.

Psalm 96:5
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.

Revelation 21:8
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

 

[Scott Downey]

God does not change His mind about how the New Covenant works and this is the same New Covenant we have today, that the early church had back then.

 

[Scott Downey]

Hebrews 8 describes our NC relationship with God. There is no choosing except the one God does.
God puts His laws in our minds and writes them on our hearts, He will be our God, and we will be His people.
Done by an action of God for us.

A New Covenant​

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins [b]and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

 

[Starise]

Except all unsaved peoples, they are idol worshippers.
If you do not worship Christ and the Lord God, you worship something else.

I agree with that.

Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

HOWEVER, you are collectively summing all of these peoples into one group. If they were encouraged to follow the Lord, then there was potential to do so. And why would they be encouraged is if wasn't possible?

 

[Scott Downey]

Ephesians 2
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the [a]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

 

[Scott Downey]

I agree with that.

Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

HOWEVER, you are collectively summing all of these peoples into one group. If they were encouraged to follow the Lord, then there was potential to do so. And why would they be encouraged is if wasn't possible?

God is fair, I agree. He commands people all over the earth to repent, believe and be saved.
They however always refuse His invitation to repent and be saved.
Like Ephesians 2 says about the unsaved

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the [a]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

 

[Starise]

Ephesians 2
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the [a]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

The bible makes many of these kinds of comparisons. The just and the unjust, the obedient and the wicked, Contrasted often in books like the Psalms.
The caveat is that the evil made a choice a DECISION not to follow Christ. Decisions are only made with wills and wills go against them being predestined to destruction prior to thier choices.

 

[Scott Downey]

They stope

The bible makes many of these kinds of comparisons. The just and the unjust, the obedient and the wicked, Contrasted often in books like the Psalms.
The caveat is that the evil made a choice a DECISION not to follow Christ. Decisions are only made with wills and wills go against them being predestined to destruction prior to thier choices.

They are by nature children of wrath, born into a fallen world they always choose the easy path of sin as they are naturally bent that way from their youth! See Genesis 8 v21
.

God’s Covenant with Creation​

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination[a] of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

22 “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

 

[Scott Downey]

They will always refuse and resist the Holy Spirit, until born again by the Spirit.
Romans 8
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be [b]carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7 Because the [c]carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

 

[Starise]

They are by nature children of wrath, born into a fallen world they always choose the easy path of sin as they are naturally bent that way from their youth! See Genesis 8 v21

Yes but weren't we all? There will be people who looked good to the rest of the world in hell. No outward signs of depravity.

Bending away from God is a sin. The sin that gets them to hell.

 

[Ritajanice]

They are by nature children of wrath, born into a fallen world they always choose the easy path of sin as they are naturally bent that way from their youth! See Genesis 8 v21

And remember this...you too were once a child of wrath...

Pray for those who are in darkness and sin...

 

[Scott Downey]

Yes but weren't we all? There will be people who looked good to the rest of the world in hell. No outward signs of depravity.

Bending away from God is a sin. The sin that gets them to hell.

Of course we all were like that at one time. But God chose some then to believe and be conformed to Christ.
The result is they are saved and eventually obtain the glory of Christ as members of the family of God.
Actually, to grow the kingdom of God and the family of God. As He promised one day it will fill the whole earth

Romans 8
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

 

[Scott Downey]

Those who refuse to repent, get to suffer His wrath
And even though they know God is judging them, they still refuse to repent to Him of their evil wicked deeds.
People will not repent in their natural born, reprobate condition. They continue to resist God, fight against and curse Him.

Revelation 9:20
But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

Revelation 9:21
And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Revelation 16:9
And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.

Revelation 16:11
They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.

 

[Scott Downey]

We see it today all over the earth, people refuse repentance.
Nothing is any different from long ago till into the future time of judgement of the world.
They mock Christ, they refuse to believe.
The roman soldiers mocked and scourged Christ, the pharisees said He had a demon and did His works by the power of Satan.
They continually sought to kill Him, to put him to death, they were offended at Christ.
They refused to come to Him so that they would have life.
Only God can change the heart by his choosing to show mercy and compassion to a person according to His purpose and will.

Titus 3
Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. 3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

 

[Ronald Nolette]

None of us were without sin at one time..and as God says..a Born Again does not continue to sin, because they have been Born Again of imperishable seed... I go by Gods word addressed to his children..other scripture regarding sin do not apply to a Born Again.

In Christ you cannot sin, but when you slip into the flesh, you can do nothing but sin. And as long as you are a human being, there will be times you fall short!

But fear not! Jesus paid for all your sins and God the Father is free to love you, even if you are disobedient from time to time. Just like a parent when their chiold disobeys, the disobedient one is still their beloved child!

 

[Red Baker]

Which Bible is authoritative? ASV? DRB? ISV? KJV? NASB? NIrV? NIV? RV? YLT? ? ? ? ? ? ?

For the English people speaking of this world~KJV

 

[Red Baker]

The very fact that you have asked those questions demonstrates that you do not understand what regeneration means and is. And you are not alone in that. Calvinism/Reformed Theology has it wrong as well.

Jim, I'm neither a Calvinist in the true sense of Calvinism, and certainly not of the Reformed community. Truth has never been Reformed, or needed to be so. I'm an old line Baptist from John the Baptist in that we teach water baptism in the same sense that John, Paul and other apostles taught. They also were Calvinist in the sense in which you fight Calvinism,~that is.... the doctrine of unconditional salvation through the faith and obedience of Jesus Christ ~ the surety of God's elect.