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发帖数: 3781 | 1 Faced With A Choice
Calvinists object to the assertion that the natural man is "not so totally d
epraved that he can't hear God's voice and come to Christ." They respond, "T
otally depraved is totally depraved. It makes no sense to say man isn't so t
otally depraved." Not only is Total Depravity not a biblical concept, but as
the quote above shows, Calvin himself said that man is not so totally depra
ved that he cannot receive much truth from God; he just doesn't get enough t
ruth because God withholds it. Why? Calvin says God withholds truth in order
"to render man inexcusable . . . ." That is like crippling a man to render
him inexcusable for failing to run fast enough and to jump high enough!
Calvin says that truth comes only from the Spirit of truth, so whatever trut
h man has is received from God. Then if God gives man some truth, why doesn'
t He give him enough to know and seek God? Is God limited, that He can only
give a limited amount of truth? Surely God can give man as much truth as He
desires to give. Calvin cannot show us that man naturally has a capacity for
this much truth but not for that much. How was depravity redefined as an in
capacity which isn't total but is just enough to damn the soul? There is not
hing anywhere in Scripture to support such speculation.
When Peter confessed to Jesus, "Thou art the Christ," Jesus told him, "Flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven
(Matthew 16:15-17). Peter must have been a totally depraved natural man when
the Father revealed Christ to him. Surely he hadn't yet been born of the Sp
irit. Though he acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, he still lacked any unders
tanding about Christ dying for his sins. Could not the Father, therefore, re
veal Christ to everyone as He did to Peter? Why not? Clearly Peter had a rev
elation from the Father concerning Christ before he was regenerated.
For all the importance Calvinism places upon the doctrine of Total Depravity
, inasmuch as that is the condition of all mankind and the elect are deliver
ed out of it, being totally depraved is not what keeps men in darkness after
all, but God's withholding the needed light. The lost are kept out of heave
n not by their sin, but by God withholding the grace they need for salvation
, because He has already predestined them to eternal torment.
Given what the Bible tells us of God's dealings with man and Calvinism's doc
trine of man's inability to believe, there are only two choices: either to c
harge the Infinite God with acting insincerely and in limited love and limit
ed grace, or to admit that Calvinism is in error. In fact, this leads to ano
ther conclusion just as devastating to Calvinism, to be considered in the ne
xt chapter. |
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