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@Lon I reread my post and have to qualify, based on conversations I've had with Calvinists. It's not "without regard to what they themselves will decide later", but "God has already decided what they will decide later." This may sound like a caricature, but it something most Calvinists will...

Understanding Calvin's context is important, no doubt. That's why I pointed to John Piper. He explains things well and patiently, but when it comes down to it, If your theology has God deciding both what you will do with the gospel and what your punishment will be for doing it, it doesn't paint...

yeah, I hate giving the right hand of fellowship to those "Snake-handers".

Can we turn the question around? What things do you think make one a Calvinist? To me, the answer is in TULIP. If you agree with all 5 points, you're a Calvinist, but if you caveat them all away from what Calvin taught, you're not. But the most important single thing is that certain people are...

I grew up in Southern Baptist Churches, and my dad was a pastor. He was definitely not a Calvinist. I recently visited a Southern Baptist church where the preacher said, "If you're coming to this church to try to persuade us of Calvinism, you need to leave." But there are definitely some around.

Which letters still need some work? Maybe we need a thread to discuss TULIP again. So far, you've agreed that the L and the I are caveated, at least. Most Calvinists have leaned away from Total Depravity toward Total Inability, so that one's caveated for us. Perseverance of the Saints can only...

I don't get this. When there are numerous people that resist, we should ask them. But why ask a person who didn't resist something he sees as good why he didn't resist?

two things 1: 'nuff said. 2: Are you saying you agree with Hilston's explanations of the two wills in the rest of the thread there? You would agree that the prescriptive will is for the group of people, but the decretive will is for the individuals (to include the group sometimes)? Isn't that...

By that criterion, today is as He willed it, too, but then why would Jesus tell the disciples to pray "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Apparently not, since God ascribes willfulness to the clay. [Jer 18:4 KJV] And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the...

Thanks. Of course that's the intent of the passage, along with the idea that there is a TIME for everything. But why is it a misconception that God cannot go back in time? (scripture, if you can find one) Legos that have their own brains/minds/wills, and can act opposite of the perfect...

This is the shortest post, so I'm responding to it first. No, you don't call yourself one, anyone. But you revert to open theism whenever you don't like/agree with your own view's logical extension. All people do. (And no, I can't prove it, it's an assertion.)...

I don't know how well I can keep the different parts of this conversation in perspective without including the post parts you were replying to, and maybe what I was replying to from you, too. So I'll try to intersperse some of the older posts. Evidence after the fact is all we have. The bible...

I was kind of hoping for some elaboration from him. I don't see why God providing for our sins is "murder" or Jesus offering Himself for our salvation is "suicide", but from a human point of view Abraham would be guilty of murder of Isaac in our society, under our laws, so Gary has a point about...

I thought the magnet on the magnetic medium was the joke, not that there aren't any systems that can be restored from a floppy these days.

If it is still stuck to the fridge, it probably doesn't matter anymore anyway.

That's an interesting thought. Why do you think it is worse with open theism than other views?

Knowledge might not DO anything, but for a causative event to be known, the causative agent must be in existence, or the causative agent is not really causing anything. So, you like vanilla, and God knew you would like vanilla from the foundation of the earth. Did you "decide" to like vanilla...

I read the Soteriology 101 article, and I have a problem or two with it. First, Flowers (whom I enjoy listening to, by the way) says, correctly, that just because God knows something will happen doesn't mean that He causes it to happen. I agree. But what it does mean is that SOMEONE causes it to...

To focus in better, I'm just going to answer this: The plain reading of the text is: "Adam, where are you?" As a question, it gives no doctrinal clarity as to whether God knew or did not know Adam's whereabouts, so you are correct that it doesn't conflict with any aspect of your doctrine. But...

I suppose you mean "thief", where He comes, takes, and leaves. But if He wasn't there, then was, then wasn't. The absence alone is not enough to cause the melting/atomic explosion, since He wasn't there before He was, even if He won't be there after He was. These may be two different states, but...