Being sorry is not repentance. Repentance (metanoia in Greek) means changing your mind for the better -- so that you never repeat the same error. It is a difficult and life-defining moment to repent of something. Unfortunately, people take it very lightly -- it's a lot more than saying "I'm sorry."
Judas could have repented and asked God for forgiveness if he truly believed that life without Christ is meaningless. Instead, he gave in to hate, he followed Satan's advice raher than God's.
Our side simply says that the ability to repent comes from God, because it is not in us when we are born and we cannot acquire it through our own means
My point is this: if everything is set in stone, and everything has been predetermined by His foreknowledge (Protestant error), then we are on a set of tracks that allow no deviation and nothing will change what destination we arrive at. God is in the driver's seat; He gave us a ticket, but it's up to us to get on the right train.
Protestants believe that God actually puts us either on the train destined to hell or to paradise! You don't see anything wrong with that teaching? I wish you would.
I agree that repentance is not accomplished via suicide. LOL! Whether Judas was compelled by God goes back to my point that God must have caught a nice break to accomplish His plan. I think you're saying that God foreknew it and worked His divine plan around it. I would say that God both foreknew it and caused it in accordance with His divine plan.
It is a difficult and life-defining moment to repent of something. Unfortunately, people take it very lightly -- it's a lot more than saying "I'm sorry."
On this we certainly agree!
My point is this: if everything is set in stone, and everything has been predetermined by His foreknowledge (Protestant error), then we are on a set of tracks that allow no deviation and nothing will change what destination we arrive at.
Except for the error part :), I would say that you correctly lay out our position from God's point of view. Of course from our human point of view it is much different. We feel like we have free will because we make our choices and we don't know what even we will do next. This "freedom" makes us feel powerful and in control of our lives. We Protestants believe that God is in control of our lives, as we are His slaves to righteousness.
Protestants believe that God actually puts us either on the train destined to hell or to paradise! You don't see anything wrong with that teaching? I wish you would.
We certainly wouldn't put it like that. We would say that all of us deserve to spend eternity outside the presence of God. Pure justice determines this. It is not a matter of what we think is fair, it is a matter of God's demonstrated justice. But all is not lost of course. Via His love and mercy, He decided that some would be saved, though none deserve it. For this we should give glory and honor to God that the elect are saved.