It's our nature, FK. If we give in to our nature, we reject God. It all comes down to that. As long as, and whenever we serve our ego, we reject God.
Yes, it is our Adamic nature to reject God, but it is NOT our nature to thwart God's will. We have never had that power, and if one believes that we control who is to be saved (re: us) then one grants power to man that he does not have.
According to your belief a murderer commits murder because God wants him to. If that is so, then the Reformed God is both Good and Evil, because murder is evil by God's own laws.
The crucifixion itself was an illegal murder by God's own laws, yet God wanted it anyway. Jesus PROVES that by saying that He could have stopped the process at any time (Matt. 26:53), yet He chose not to, and in fact went out of His way to arrange it. So by your statement, Jesus freely admits that He Himself is both Good and Evil. Of course, the Reformed don't arrive at the same conclusions that you do here on our behalf. :)
It is easy to succumb to the deceptive sense of security in the Reformed view, since a secure shelter is what we all seek.
So, then may I assume that the Apostolic God does not provide what His children seek? :) Is it unGodly to want to be secure in Him?
It is also comforting to know that no matter what you do in life, God will forgive you, because you have been saved before you even existed.
Yes, it is very comforting to know that God forgives me for my sins. He says so in scripture. What is objectionable about that?
It is also prideful to belong to an exclusive club, the "select club" of those the King of Kings personally favors. Very flattering.
No, there is no flattery since whatever reason God had for picking me had zero to do with any worthiness on my part. I didn't even exist yet, so how could I pat myself on the back? I just feel blessed and fortunate that I am on the list.
All this points to a human hand in this religion, tailored to man's own (fallen) natural desires: it provides secure shelter; it absolves one of all wrongdoing; it flatters one into believing they are favorites of an otherwise impartial God!
Isn't it your side that has the human hand being in control of everything, especially man's eternal destiny?
FK: "I, for one, want God to be in control of my will ALL THE TIME. :)"
I thought God is in control all the time. Are you saying He isn't in control of your will?
I meant as opposed to the alternative of man being in ultimate control of his own will. I wouldn't want it to be true that I was in control because I would blow it, I'm just not smart enough, independent of God in my free will, to make the right choices.
God IS in control of everything at all times. However, He does not "inject" sin into people in order to cause it. Therefore, when I choose to follow the remnant of my old sin nature it is my choice, a measure (or perception) of control. God retains ultimate control, though, because He retains the power to prevent me from committing that sin if it so suits Him. He allows it sometimes and He prevents it sometimes.
In the reformed way of thinking there can be no surrender because you have no free will. You have been pre-programmed to "surrender" and the tape is just playing itself out.
Who says that there must be your idea of free will for the surrender to be real? When the Japanese surrendered in 1945, would you call that a "free will" decision? :) Did they not really surrender?
lol. Thank God for even small favors.
Ah, very true. We become new creatures in Christ, old things have passed away, all things become new. Christians have the physical Adamic nature but we have the spiritual nature of Christ since the Holy Spirit is sealed within us. Our old Adamic nature hopelessly wars against this new nature as God perfects us.
So what you are saying is that you are a robot slave some of the time and that the only time you get off your leash is to the extant that God wishes, and He directs you to do what He will anyway, so it’s not really free will, except when we sin, which is the only free will that we have, but He doesn’t let us have free will most of the time, so that we don’t sin most of the time...
I’m not sure that I follow.