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Otherwise, salvation is only partially due to God's mercy and partially due to our clever choice.

it fascinates me that this argument is a backhanded way of saying that free will ---> works righteousness. How often does it need to be repeated that the Bible itself does not consider believing to be a work.

But there are squawks when someone says: total decree = "God willed Hitler to be the murderer of 6 million Jews."

***How often does it need to be repeated that the Bible itself does not consider believing to be a work.***

None, thank you. The problem is that Arminian belief, which is according to free will is not Biblical belief at all. True belief is not a work. Arminian free will belief is a work.

There is not a single passage in the Bible which teaches that a man moves from NOT believing in God TO believing in God because of a "free will" choice to switch. True belief is not a light switch, which you can turn off and on.

You either believe it or you don't. You don't simply change your mind unless you have some kind of a mental defect.

That is not how true belief works.

So, yes, Arminian "free will" belief is a work.

True belief, as described by Paul in 2 Co. 4:4, is by a specific act of creation as in the day the LORD said "Let there be light." When that act of creation occurs in the soul of a dead sinner, then, and only, then is a belief not a work of man. It is a work of God.

A blind man doesn't decide that he can see. He is dependent upon the creative act of God for his vision. When, and only when the Lord removes the blindness of hostility in the soul of a dead sinner will he "believe" in his Creator who has just become his ReCreator.

Neither does a man who can now see decide to be blind again. This would be akin to you waking up tomorrow and deciding that the sky was no longer blue. We would think you need a nice vacation somewhere.

This is what you Arminians don't get. The logical order "belief unto regeneration" was condemned a very long time ago as the Pelagian heresy. It denies the deadness of man. This is also why modern day Arminianism is nothing more than a soft sell Pelagianism.

***But there are squawks when someone says: total decree = "God willed Hitler to be the murderer of 6 million Jews."***

That's not the bone of contention and you know it.

It is the wilfull misrepresentation that, according to Calvinism, God approved of Hitler's sins. I know it and you know it. So, please quit misrepresenting it. That would be like you weeing on my shoe and trying to tell me it is raining.

Woody.