FK: No, that’s too narrow. You could say that man is free to sin to the extent it does not thwart God’s will. I would agree to that, whether committed by the saved or lost. For example, if God has a specific plan for me to accomplish His will tomorrow, then no one is “free” to murder me as I type this.***
Mark: It is not too narrow. If we are free to sin, then we are free to sin. I think that you’re mixing up sin in general with specific actions upon an individual.
Wow, so if God had a specific plan for my neighbor to do a great thing tomorrow, then I would be perfectly free to thwart that plan by killing him today. Amazing. I didn't realize that your side thought of man's autonomy as being absolute. I guess our God is lucky that man lets Him do anything at all. :)
I don't see what there is to mix up. God's will has to be factored into the parameters of general sin because that's how it works in reality. You can either trump God's will (your side) or you can't (my side).
*** If we are free to sin, then we are free to sin. I think that you’re mixing up sin in general with specific actions upon an individual.
Wow, so if God had a specific plan for my neighbor to do a great thing tomorrow, then I would be perfectly free to thwart that plan by killing him today. Amazing. I didn’t realize that your side thought of man’s autonomy as being absolute. ***
Now, now. There is a big difference between sin - the commission or omission of something that is against God, and God’s intervention. If God absolutely has determined something to occur, then yes, it occurs. But I don’t think that God is the puppet master that the Reformed think He is. God is secure in His Creation and doesn’t need to micromanage it. I don’t see Christ as a neurotic.