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Answer me this. If man doesn’t have free will then what are we say about these passages:

Luke 10:16 He that hears you hears me; and he that rejects you rejects me; and he that rejects me rejects him that sent me.

Jeremiah 21:8-9 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.

Tell me, if man were evil, why would man always seek the good or intrinsicly know to seek the good?

IS MAN BASICALLY EVIL?

WHERE THE BIBLE SAYS NO:

Gen 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

Gen 1:31
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

Gen 6:9
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.

Gen 18:25
Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked!

Job 1:8
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

Jer 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 139:13-15
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Proverbs 11:4-5
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.

Proverbs 12:2
A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but a man of evil devices he condemns.

Proverbs 12:5
The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are treacherous.

Matt 12:35
The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. (Also see Luke 6:45)

Luke 1:6 (ref. to Zacahariah & Elizabeth)
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

Luke 23:50
Now there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man,

Mark 6:20
for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man,

Acts 7:20
At this time Moses was born, and was beautiful before God.

Acts 11:24 (ref. to Barnabas)
for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

1 Tim 4:4
For everything created by God is good,

WHERE DOES THE BIBLE SAY THAT MAN IS BASICALLY EVIL?

The proposition that man is basically evil is normally defended by quoting the following verses:

Romans 3:9-12
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all; for I have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one.”

Romans 3:22-23
For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 11:32
For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.

The book of Romans as quoted above is the chief source for defending the idea that man is basically evil. Such an interpretation of these verses is clearly problematic for the following reasons:

1. In Romans 3:9-12, Paul says that all are under the power of sin. This is a reference to the “Fall” and the burden of original sin. Paul is speaking of Jews and gentiles as equal in their damaged state of inheritance, and that the Jews need grace and redemption just as much as the gentiles. All of mankind needs redemption, and man is prone to sin, but this fact does not mean that man is basically evil.

2. In Romans 3:9-12, Paul is quoting from Psalm 14:1-5. Paul makes reference to the Psalm by saying, “as it is written,” and he would not have made that remark or quoted so much of the passage word for word, if he did not intend for us to look to the psalm in order to place his own statements within the Old Testament context. The context of Psalm 14 is made clear in the first verse which states, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good.” Then in verse four and five the psalm reads, “Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.” Psalm 14 clearly distinguishes between the evil doers (i.e. the fool that says there is no God) and “my people”….”the generation of the righteous.” This is in harmony with all of the above scriptures that state that man is basically good.

3. Romans 3:22-23 and Romans 11:32 merely reiterate what Paul speaks of in reference to Psalm 14. While these verses clearly show that men are under the burden of original sin and that men commit personal sin, they do not state either explicitly or implicitly that man is basically evil.

4. Scripture does not contradict itself. If the Book of Romans or any other book of scripture actually indicated that man was basically evil, then those passages would “clearly” and “directly” contradict Genesis 1:26, Genesis 1:31, Psalm 139:13-15, Proverbs 12:2, Matt 12:35, Luke 1:6, Luke 23:50, Mark 6:20, Acts 7:20, and 1 Tim 4:4.

The pope himself has posted a rebuttal? Interesting.

If you wish to dialogue about these passages I can take only a few a time. But, here goes...

"Answer me this. If man doesn’t have free will then what are we say about these passages:

Luke 10:16

If you would read this passage directly, that is without predjudice, you would notice that it is simply a statement of fact (much like John 3:16). It is not an offer, nor is it claiming man is free from God's management. Jesus is simply saying that if certain folks cannot/will not hear the seventy, they are rejecting Jesus.

It is entirely unwarranted for you to conclude, "Therefore man is completely free to choose or reject Jesus based on this passage." It simply does not say this.

The very same thing occurs in Jeremiah, Joshua, Isaiah, and all the other prophets. Just because God says, "Now choose to follow me!", does not mean they can. Look at Acts 15:6ff where Peter makes it crystal clear that no Jew had ever followed the Law, nor had they been able to. We need, he says, grace to bring us into fellowship with God.

"IS MAN BASICALLY EVIL?"

"WHERE THE BIBLE SAYS NO:

"Gen 1:26,31"

My FRiend, if all was "good" in the sense that you mean, then Satan was a regular, righteous being since he was in creation along with man. At the moment of creation of the physical universe, there was at least one-third of all angelic beings in revolt against God with Lucifer (Satan) leading the charge. Man was likely created with a lustful, evil nature just waiting to display his tendencies for rebellion in league with Satan. Notice James 1 says that it is lust which gives birth to sin, and sin, death.

The creation was "good" because it was the perfect setting to display God's mercy being poured out on an undeserving mankind with the ultimate example being His Son's willing sacrifice. Everything was set to display grace.

Job? There are absolutely no remarks about Job having been born righteous or having a righteousness attributed to him, alone. That he followed God as an adult gives no information about God's work on him up to that point. And, please read just how sinful Job was during his accusations of God. God roared from the skies about Job's arrogance and ignorance. Job slaps his hand over his mouth when he realizes his error (40:4). Job may have been the best guy in the world, but he was evil by nature and worthy of death like all others. Otherwise, are you saying some people deserve heaven without any input from God? Now that is heresy (check Pelagius).

And, your treatment of Rom. 3 is self-contradictory. Either all men need redemption, or not all men are evil. You cannot have it both ways. If all men need redemption, then there are no men who are simply "prone" to evil...all must be evil and needing redemption. If you hold that some, while prone, are not actually evil, then that too is heresy. The need for redemption comes from being evil.

This is the condemnation laid at all men's feet in Rom. 3. Read it again. Paul is saying all men are evil.

"There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one." and so on.

But, the original point your "pope" made was that all men seek God, even the athiest. This, along with most of your claims, is untrue according to the Scriptures. More to come.