How about Article 5:
We are children of the King to rest upon His work-not our.
Now if you believe I'm reading too much into this text I would suggest the following:
It is the same way with our belief. In every case that you've pointed out our Lord tells them their "faith has made them well" just like He told the disciples bring in "the fish YOU caught". God must grant to us what He commands.
As far as your scriptures go, I don't have a problem with any of them. What you have steadfastly refused to answer is who gives you your belief? Where does your faith come from? Answer that, and you'll understand why Arminius was wrong.
“But how can you be born into something different before you are born into something different? We are children of wrath until God changes our hearts.”
Yes, we are children of wrath until we believe. Then, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”. There are hundreds of verses about our need to believe and have faith. Hundreds.
You suggest this “can be explained by the fact that their belief came from God.” OK, show it. Arminius and I agree that God must reveal himself first - that we do not seek God out. But if God reveals himself to us, where does it say he then provides us with belief? There are passages where men are rebuked for having too little faith, or no belief, but where does it say that God does not give us the opportunity to believe, but gives us belief itself?
“Do you believe that you can resist God? If God calls you, do you really believe that you can simply say no to God? God turns the hearts of men where He wills.”
Well, what does scripture say?
Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Heb 3:7-8 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,
Heb 6:4-6 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance
Of course, you agree that man can resist God’s ‘public call’, and you agree that we can resist God’s will in our lives - unless, of course, you believe we sin IAW God’s will. Sorry, HD, but scripture explicitly states that we can resist the will of God.
When they say Christians “have thereby full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and to win the victory;”, what do they do other than repeat scripture? It doesn’t say we obey perfectly, but that by the power of God we can resist Satan and sin (as we are commanded to do). We can deny the flesh, as we are commanded to do, and walk in the Spirit. It says we have power to STRIVE: “1. to exert oneself vigorously; try hard: He strove to make himself understood. 2. to make strenuous efforts toward any goal: to strive for success. 3. to contend in opposition, battle, or any conflict; compete.”
Do you deny it?
HD “We are children of the King to rest upon His work-not our.”
Someone forgot to tell Jesus & Paul.
“Mat 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Luk 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Luk 14:27 “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Gal 5 “25If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
1 Cor 9 “ 24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
We are not saved passively, nor are we called to be passive.
HD “And yet, Romans tells us that NO one does what is right. Now if no one does what is right, then how can the Article 4 of the Remonstrant be correct? It can’t.”
Article 4 states “That this grace of God is the beginning, continuance, and accomplishment of all good, even to this extent, that the regenerate man himself, without prevenient or assisting, awakening, following and cooperative grace, can neither think, will, nor do good, nor withstand any temptations to evil; so that all good deeds or movements, that can be conceived, must be ascribed to the grace of God in Christ.”
How does that conflict with Romans 3?
You worry about “Joh 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
That agrees with Arminius. We can not reach to heaven to draw God down, he must reach to us. The word for draw is used one other time for God’s interaction with men: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” John 12:32
The word for draw implies force, supporting your side...but consider this (and this just occurred to me, so it isn’t a well thought out argument - not that you would expect that from an Arminian anyways):
In the parable of the wedding feast, the King sends out his servants to pull people in from the streets. He compels them to come, so that sounds a lot like drawing. (8Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.) - Matt 22
But what happens next?
11”But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Not all the guest brought in accept the wedding clothes from the King. At least one remained in his rags, and he is cast into the outer darkness. “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
So I would say John 6:44 means what it says: “No one can come to me” “unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
First the Father draws. And if God does not intervene, none of us have the choice of coming. But God HAS drawn us, and those who respond by coming (”whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.- v 35) “will [be raised] up on the last day.”.
HD “Now why would the Holy Spirit forbid speaking in certain places? Why would God harden the hearts of Jews? Why would God not do the miracles in Tyre to cause them to repent?”
1 - Now why would the Holy Spirit forbid speaking in certain places?
Don’t know. Because it wouldn’t be productive? Haven’t you ever talked to someone, and then felt a strong compulsion to stop? Arminius didn’t teach man comes to God, but that God reaches to man, and that God’s grace or revealing himself is given in different measure. And we don’t know why, but we trust God is just.
2 - Why would God harden the hearts of Jews?
See Romans 9-11, where Paul explains, not how men come to be saved, but why the Jews are STILL God’s chosen people, inheritors of the promise.
3 - Why would God not do the miracles in Tyre to cause them to repent? See #1.
HD “The only obvious answer is because it is His will that they DON’T repent.”
No. It is explicitly stated that it is God’s will for all to repent. However, it is also explicitly stated that he gives up men who have rejected his revelation to greater degradation.
“In the above example one could argue that the disciples caught the fish. However, we know that they really would not have caught anything if it was not for the Lord telling them to drop their net. In fact, they had been trying to catch fish all night.
It is the same way with our belief. In every case that you’ve pointed out our Lord tells them their “faith has made them well” just like He told the disciples bring in “the fish YOU caught”. God must grant to us what He commands.”
You miss what happens. God doesn’t compel them to toss their nets anywhere. He directs them to, and they...respond obediently. NO one is claiming we save ourselves. But God doesn’t climb in our boats and toss the nets for us, either!
You also miss what happens when Jesus was healing, so I’ll repeat it:
Mat 8:13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.
Mat 9:28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”
Luk 8:50 But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.”
Mat 8:10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
Mat 9:2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”
Mat 9:22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.
Mat 9:29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”
Mat 15:28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Mar 2:5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mar 5:34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Mar 10:52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
Luk 17:19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
Luk 18:42 And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.”
Act 14:9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,
Faith first, then healing takes place.
“Just to be clear, the early Protestants believe Arminius to be a heretic.”
Just to be clear, the Synod of Dort was a state religion meeting with only Calvinists present. Not surprisingly, the Calvinists decided Arminians were heretics, and 4 days later their chief supporter was executed.
However, the first English Baptists were Arminians, in 1610. The earliest Baptist Confession of Faith was done by an Arminian. The Particular Baptists hit England over 20 years later.
The SBC says there is ample room for both in the Convention, so the official SBC position is that we are not heretics. And of course, we all know that Catholics considered Calvinists to be heretics, and Calvinists considered Catholic to be heretics, and both despised the AnaBaptists, and the English Baptist (both General and Particular) were not loved by Anglicans or Catholics.
The early Protestants continued the idea of a state church (not justified by Sola Scriptura, although the latter is followed only when convenient), and likewise continued baptizing for infants.
HD “What you have steadfastly refused to answer is who gives you your belief? Where does your faith come from?”
What I do know is that the Calvinist idea that they are gifts given by God to the Elect is nowhere taught in scripture. Both belief and faith are repeatedly - in literally hundreds of verses - described as something men do, not receive.
“You will not find Arminius view in the early confessions of the Protestant church. They are Catholic in nature stemming from Pelegius and Cassian. So I don’t consider Arminius or his followers to be a viable source. I would suggest going back to the early creeds of the church.”
You mean, the Ecumenical Councils? HarleyD! I’m shocked!
But I mention Arminius because so many put words in his mouth that he neither spoke, wrote, or agreed with. I don’t do it for authority - I leave scripture for that. And since 4-500 verses support my view, I think I’ll keep it.