Thursday, November 10, 2005

Free will, free agency, and responsibility

For all you guys who've been involved with my "inconsistent theology" post, here is a good blog by my friend, Rand of A Form of Sound Words.

Here is a quick preveiw:

"Man cannot do otherwise than continue in sin so long as he is in his natural state (Jer. 17:9; Prov. 4:23; Job 14:4; Jer. 13:23; John 6:65; Rom. 8:7, 8; 1 Cor. 2:14). But his continuance in sin is not due to outside compulsion or restraint, but to his own character which causes him to choose darkness rather than light (John 3:19). He continues in sin for the same reason that a hog wallows in the mire. He continues in sin for the same reason that God continues in holiness. Thus he is fully a free agent." (T.P. Simmons)

4 comments:

Rand said...

Thanks for the mention Julianne.

Take care and God bless you,

Rand

Julianne said...

Chris,

Thank for the heads-up on this. Looks good.

Frank Martens said...

So check out the parable of the sower...
Matthew 13:1-9 and explain how that fits into it all :)

I can explain some of my thoughts on this, but It's definitely interesting to think about it from a predesination perspective.

Rand said...

No problem frank.

Actually Matthew 13:1-9 is usually the passage I use to explain to people why, as a Calvinist, I am involved in street preaching.

The wayside, the thorny ground and the rocky ground are all examples of the unregenerate heart. The good ground is the regenerated heart; which, consequently is the only kind of ground that can receive the seed of the Gospel.

When I am out preaching on Friday nights, I am the sower, sending out the seed (the Gospel). I know for a fact that most of the seed will find wayside, thorny and rocky ground, but I pray and hope for God to make some of those hearts to be like the good ground in the parable.

Later,

Rand