A Question On the Freewill/Election Debate
….which I usually stay away from, but the following quote did raise a question in my mind:
James White sums up the correct position well when he says: “Reformed Christians believe that men believe and choose. It is the order of events that is in dispute. Every Christian has chosen Christ, believed in Christ, embraced Christ, and even more, continues to do so. The question is not ‘must a person believe,’ but can a person believe while a slave to sin? Further, whose decision comes first: the decision of God to free the enslaved, dead sinner and give him the ability to believe, or the free-choice decision of the sinner that then makes him or her one of the elect?”
Just asking, and then I will quickly leave the debate again:
We are free to choose the flavor of ice cream we want, color of socks that we are going to wear today, and what we want for breakfast, but not God?
paul
This is probably one of the best Biblical explanations of election I think I have ever read:
http://thepedestrianchristian.blogspot.com/2012/07/gods-election-of-what-decoder-ring-to.html
And for what it’s worth, I’m pleased that you are starting to at least consider the question of election. I understand why you think it is a distraction, but I also believe that God wants us to understand it, and a proper study of scripture with Holy Spirit illumination will reveal the answer to what is true. Calvinists seem to argue most vehimently on this one point alone. I believe if you can refute a Calvinist’s view of election/determination, then all the rest pertaining to progressive justification begins to fall apart.