And yet, this inborn "grace" cannot overcome the Roman road:
As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth; there is none that seeketh after God.From what I've read, Wesley did not understand verses like these and his invention of prevenient grace at birth entirely misses the point. Man already possesses the will to repent and receive the knowledge of Truth through faith in Christ. This grace to give man the ability is irrevalent. Man already possessed this ability. The problem is in the want of man to repent. Man does not want to repent. Wesley never understood this, from what I've seen of his writings. He completely missed the point of such verses like this one I've quoted.They have all gone from the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
"Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit." "The poison of asps is under their lips," "whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."
"Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
I have a book on Spiritual formation that talks about "intersections " with God. Moments in our history where we were aware of His presence in our lives. Those would be considered a sign of God's work in sinful man..
You mean like Balaam? Did he want to repent and follow God.
You mean like Balaam? Did he want to repent and follow God.
That would have been his point...these intersections with God were times we didn't repent..God was there..but by Wesleyan theology,eithor you did not recognize it at the time or you chose to ignore it .Eithor way you did not choose to repent..Calvin's would be they did not "want" to repent in spite of Gods presence
Woody did you ever stand in a large room of unsaved people and wonder how it is they can so clearly ignore God and His will?
It is beyond my understanding..you are right....no "want" there...