Posted on 03/11/2010 4:05:25 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Here is another thing you need to understand.
Hitler was not an anomaly.
Hitler was not a phenomenon.
Hitler was what everyone on this earth has the potential of being...
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
I’ve been here 60 years and I have never veered in the direction of becoming Hitler. Only someone void of values or moral bearing could imagine that we are all potential Hitlers. We’re not.
Let me ask you another question. Do you have to teach a child to lie? Do you have to teach a child to be self centered, or to be selfish? Do you have to teach a child to steal? Do you have to teach a child violence? They learn that on their own. Set them free, discipline them not, and see what you have in ten years.
If we compare ourselves to God’s standard, not our own, then yes, we are all potential “Hitlers”.
Total Depravity is an artificial construct. Man was created in God’s image. We have the ability to know the difference between good and evil and to choose which path to follow.
See post #3
Does a 7 year old who kills a fellow playmate know that difference?
A. Man was created in God’s image, but did not retain His righteousness.
B. Total depravity does not mean totally depraved, for there is always rooms for ‘re-provement.’ It means that man is born without the desire or wherewithal to come to God on his own - that he is ‘dead in trespasses and sins,’ according to the Bible (Romans).
That is a specious argument. The mental development of children is incomplete and cannot be judged as adults are. Do all 7 year olds kill? Are all 7 year olds equipped with the full mental ability to properly assess the consequences of their actions? Can a loving and nurturing non-Christian raise a good and gentle child and produce decent adults?
By virtue of Original Sin we are all empowered to know the difference between good and evil and have the ability to act accordingly. This was decided long ago and is not something that is externally decided.
The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.
Then by your statement, the child should have known the difference between good and evil and thus chose the evil act. If not, then at what age should that child have known the difference?
If you wish to say that the child was indeed evil then I will accept that.........
But if that were true, there would be no need for the Cross.
Why did Christ have to be sacrificed if your assumptions were true?
Your assumptions are not, and that proves that because man is SO wicked, there was no other way BUT to sacrifice His Son in order to reconcile man back to Himself.
I always enjoy reading your points and I know you already have your established views, but I would appreciate you watching the video and respond to the specific points made. It is about 8 minutes long.
I think one of the most interesting points Washer brings up is that most people desire and believe a "God" of their own making. Not the stern, just, and judging God of the Bible. The same God who was willing to flood the entire earth and destroy the whole human race on account of our wickedness.
God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Psalm 53:2-3
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We are powerless to love God for who He is. We may seek and desire a God to suit our own liking and convenience, but not to submit fully to the Sovereign Almighty God as revealed in Scripture.
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This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
~ 1 John 4:9-11 *~*
WE don't love God, but HE loved us in spite of it.
That is not Biblical.
Because God is infinitely perfect and we are not.
The Bible, and the entire revealed Word cannot be understood in the context of a series of unrelated quips and versus. The entire fabric of the revealed word must be applied to grasp a complete understanding and appreciation for the message.
Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man and to give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith. The proofs of God's existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to reason. The Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason." Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God's revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created "in the image of God".
You can not understand until you find what you seek, you can not seek until there is some revelation. All men desire a way to God but there are many paths.
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