Your #217 on the "Where Was God on September 11" thread: My #1323 trumps your #808.
In your dreams, maybe.
Your #1323: If God created everything, He created evil (therefore he is the author of evil). Did God create Satan? ... if you say that "God is not the author of evil", you are saying that something else is the author of evil. And what created this something else?
Calvinist ideas seem to be a prison for your mind. Most people find these things quite easy to understand.
The Scriptures do not tell us, but surely, God created Lucifer, who became Satan after he used the free will God gave him to rebel against God and draw one-third of the stars (angels) of heaven after him. God did not create evil. He gives man free will and they make good and evil choices. God does not predetermine their choices.
>> You ... grind up the ideas of Calvinism into disfigured shreds.
Thank you. 8o) No, I actually portray them in their true light to help the new posters know what is going on. They are then less likely to be "carnally suckered" (one of doc's favorite phrases) by the unChristian behavior aggressive Calvinists display toward those they deem unregenerate.
>> I was listening to a "free will" evangelist on the radio yesterday. He was trying to explain how God created everyting including man's free will. He said: "Well, you know, it's a paradox". Nobody can rationally explain "free will". You, and all the other "free will" advocates pretend you have explained it, but you never do. You only "assert it" and call it proof.
I don't consider free will a paradox, and I have explained it quite rationally several times. It is found throughout the Bible, for example, every time the Lord gives a commandment or instruction. We find some men choosing to obey the Lord's commandments of their own God-given free will and others refusing of their own free will.
You guys understand the concept of free will quite well when you think of the totally or wholly depraved freely choosing evil, and therefore deserving to go to hell. All you need to do is recognize that, contrary to Calvinism as presented here, God has given to them to be agents unto themselves, and they can also choose good.
>> You quote Isaiah 45:7 - I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and CREATE EVIL.
We discussed that on this very thread.
ftD's #1054: Actually Isa.45:7 is relating to the 'evil' of divine judgement, not 'evil' in that which is contrary to God goodness.
My #1056: Isaiah wrote about the covenant between Jehovah (as suzerain, or Lord) and Israel (as vassal) in terms of those ancient practices in which there were often elaborate covenant blessings (denoted by the Hebrew word for peace) for keeping the terms of the covenant and covenant curses (denoted by the Hebrew word for evil) for breaking the covenant.
ftD's #1094, quoting John Calvin: Fanatics torture this word evil, as if God were the author of evil, that is, of sin; but it is very obvious how ridiculously they abuse this passage of the Prophet [Isaiah].
So don't be a fanatic, Precisian.
They are arguing that God created evil but if you ask them if God is the author of evil you will get back-nope!!!
The idea of the will being the uncaused cause is beyond their ability to grasp!
WM as a Mormon, you and I will disagree on many things, but you have the Calvinists pegged just right!