Paul's Passing Thoughts

Source: Can Christians Really Be “Self-Righteous”?

Source: Chan, Carson, Piper, Tchividjian Versus the Holy Spirit On “Rules”

Protestantism is a unique religion in that nothing of it is true. It even lacks a body of facts used in the commission of lies. It has redefined every biblical definition regarding the meaning of words; more than likely, there is no other religion that possesses such plenary falsehood. Nothing exemplifies arrogant confusion more than a Protestant. 

Moreover, its orthodoxy is the essence of sin because it seeks to control people through condemnation. That’s how sin is presented in the Bible. It is posed as a master that enslaves people through condemnation. In this process, Protestant scholars will spare no heartless lie that tramples the love of God underfoot in its lust to control others.

One such lie is limited atonement. Because Protestantism also distinguishes itself as God’s counselor, this doctrine reminds God that He wouldn’t be stupid enough to die for people that He hasn’t chosen. This vandalizes the beautiful picture of Christ’s lordship. He is the Lord that has purchased the servants of the Sin master with His own blood. They are now free to flee to a new Master whose yoke is light. Christ himself said that He didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save it.

So, in all of their scholarly splendor, Protestants claim that John 3:16 refers to “all kinds of men” rather than the whole world. Therefore, John 3:17 must refer to God sending His Son “into” (for crying out loud, it’s a preposition) all kinds of men rather than the material world through the virgin birth. Really? Brilliant. If you are sent into a place to save a place that must include everyone in the place. Obviously. But you know, you must believe these demonic shills because they wear round wire rim glasses and bowties with tweed jackets.

Oh, and by the way, they also remind God that He is sovereign in all things because, well, they say so. Hence, God is reminded that His gospel is a “gospel of sovereignty.” Don’t you know, the announcement that you might be chosen is good news…for you, if you are chosen. And if you think you are, that’s nice, but the “good news” gets even better; you have no way of knowing whether God has chosen you to persevere till the end. Happy yet?     

Reality and the nature of man must be redefined lest salvation be found at the gates of any other religion or heaven itself. When one decides to write a post about Protestant lies, you pick a book off the orthodoxy shelf and turn to any page first, and then examine any sentence comprised of redefined words. Limited atonement (by the way, atonement isn’t salvation to begin with) lacks interest for me this morning, and apparently, we have stumbled upon perseverance as well, but let’s talk about total depravity instead.

Total depravity, also known as total inability, posits the idea that nothing within man enables him to choose God. According to authentic Protestant orthodoxy, it also posits the idea that no person, lost or saved, can do a good work that merits any favor with God. The fact that Protestant orthodoxy states this unequivocally is irrefutable.

Though a cursory observation of the Bible contradicts this view on many points, it may be noted that every person born into the world has the “works of the law” (God’s law) written on their hearts. Furthermore, every person born into the world has an inner judge that either “excuses” or “accuses” the individual based on that law. In history, we see tyrants brought to justice according to a standard that is common and self-evident to mankind in general apart from any universal written law. The Nuremberg tribunal is a good example of this. This fact is difficult to reconcile with total depravity.

Secondly, John 16:8 states that the Holy Spirit, “when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.” Again, defining “world” as a place Christ was sent to for a purpose, and a place that the Spirit comes to, as opposed to a group of people, we find that the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to “convict the world.” What we are talking about here is the use of a collective noun. In some cases you can claim a sweeping generalization in regard to a collective noun like, “All Americans are idiots,” but when a collective noun is used in regard to a purpose, it is not a generalization. If God’s stated purpose was to destroy the world that would certainly include everyone in the world. Likewise, if the Spirit’s stated purpose is to convict the world that includes everyone in the world, and it means all people are cable of being convicted which means they aren’t totally depraved.

It also means that humanity is convicted inwardly by God’s law and the inward judge, and the Holy Spirit, and hopefully Christians evangelizing with the word of God which is sharper than a two-edged sword. So, we are asked to believe that this threefold front is a purposeless endeavor unless individuals are preselected. It also requests that we believe the following: the purpose of the Holy Spirit to convict everyone will only be effective for those preselected by God. Now, it’s one thing to say that we don’t know who is elected, but to include the Holy Spirit in that is, well, a little unreasonable. Again, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is not a sweeping generation, but an endeavor that includes everyone described by the collective noun. The Spirit, it would seem, would not try to convict those who can’t be convicted.

Like trying to avoid Protestant error in the same way you try to avoid horse patties in a confined horse stable, we accidently step in the error of “irresistible grace.” Supposedly, regardless of the conviction experienced from God’s threefold purpose, man is unable to choose God unless smitten with “irresistible grace.” This excludes conviction as an act of grace. You have the Holy Spirit flying around convicting everyone while not being privy to who the elect are, but God forbid that Christ would die for those convicted of sin who do not seek God for relief from condemnation and fear of judgement to come.

But to be fair, the Reformed do have an answer for this. God is glorified equally by those who deny Him. The eternal damnation of those who reject God is a “sweet savor” to Him rising up from hell for all eternity. This is the double joy of those God elects for salvation and damnation. In fact, Jonathan Edwards wrote that we will rejoice with God for eternity while watching family members suffer in hell.

Do you feel the love yet?

Lastly, regarding total depravity and the idea that man can earn no merit with God whether lost or saved, the Bible is pretty clear that there are degrees of punishment in hell. Clearly, this means God deems some people deserving of more punishment than others. This necessarily requires merit though in a negative context. But it also means God deems some people better than others according to their deeds.

Funny, the go-to argument by the Reformed against man’s ability to choose follows: “If you chose God and the other guy didn’t, that makes you better than him.” But according to lesser or more punishment, isn’t that a reality recognized by God?

But hold on, are we now talking about election or total depravity? I seem to be lost in the Protestant maze of error.

paul          

The Reformation made the Bible accountable to world philosophy. For the most part, Plato was clearly their authority and prism for Bible interpretation. There are four models for how Protestant dualism is applied to life. Andy Young explains one of them here, and aptly explains the right alternative, so I will not have to duplicate that here. Simply stated, this dualism either takes place inside of man or outside of man, and with ability or non-ability. The model explained by Andy takes place inside of man via two natures coupled with an ability to partake in a struggle between the two natures.  

First, let’s define dualism. Dualism is the basis for all world religions and was introduced in the garden by the serpent. This shouldn’t surprise us too much if you think about it. Boiled down to the least common denominator, it teaches that God’s creation is evil. It calls that which is good, “evil.” God supposedly created evil to make a cosmic point about His glory. To make His goodness known, He created a contrast to compare it with. Everything material is evil, and everything invisible is good.

Let’s look at the second type of dualism. The “new creature” is given the inner ability to “yield,” and the dualism is two realms that pressure him/her from the outside. At any given point, the “believer” YIELDS to one realm or the other.

The third type is closer to the authentic Reformation philosophy which by the way has rare understanding in Protestant circles. Per the usual, the “believer” remains unchanged, but the Holy Spirit works inside of the believer. So, two of the models have ability to act by the “believer,” and two exclude any ability of the believer to act, but only “see” or perceive. In this third model, everything done that is pleasing to God is performed by the indwelling Spirit. Other than the actions performed by the indwelling Spirit, the “believer” is merely performing his/her usual evil activity. Even in cases where the “believer” seems to do something good there are selfish or evil motives involved.

In the fourth type that is authentic Protestant ideology in its purist form, everything is outside of the “believer” and like the third model the person has NO ability to act, but only to perceive. “Faith” is defined as an ability to perceive the model while denying that any good work can be done by any person lost or saved. In this model, humans are passive in the material realm until acted upon by the invisible realm. This is where all the “we are dead” verbiage comes from. Everything that exists and moves in the material realm is evil, and the only good that takes place is an action by the invisible realm. Regarding good works we are passive until acted upon from the invisible realm. Martin Luther described it as man being like water; it just sits there dormant until acted upon by temperature or gravity. Man is dead in trespasses and sin until God acts.

Of course, Protestant views that attempt to make the believer’s life by faith alone are the epitome of a steroidal salmagundi monstrosity. Once salvation is an unfinished event that must be completed under the auspices of some earthly authority, the downward spiral of confusion begins because it’s like trying to fit a round peg in a square whole. Because salvation is not finished and is a work by God alone, and we are living in the unfinished process, we have to figure out a formula for living a good life without doing anything lest it be works salvation.

paul  

Additional information: the three basic models of Gnostic epistemology; not to be confused with application. This is the difference between how the information is supposedly known and how it is applied.