“I wonder where Rahab got her faith from?”
She saw God’s hand at work and believed. That defines faith.
Me “No one is arguing that man gets to save himself”
HD “That statement is incorrect under the doctrine of free will.”
You don’t get to decide what someone else believes. And this is just silly.
“man gets to save himself” = ONE actor...that is what ‘saves himself’ means. That is one side of monergism. As you note, I say that God reaches down, and we accept or reject, IAW scripture. That is two, with God doing all the work. You say we are passive - we have ZERO input, thus another side of monergism.
But no, I am NOT saying man saves himself. A debater who can only defeat straw men is obviously losing the debate.
“It is not a “original” Protestant belief.”
Protestant or not, JESUS CHRIST SAID, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.”
If I have to choose between being an “original Protestant” and a follower of Jesus Christ, I’ll take the latter!
“Foreknowledge, in the biblical sense, means that God developed and foreknew exactly what He wanted. Predestination means that God predetermined the course of what He foreknew.”
Thank you for the Calvinist interpretation. The word is used thus in scripture (all instances below):
Act 26:5 since they have KNOWN about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived {as} a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.
Rom 8:29 For those whom He FOREKNEW, He also predestined {to become} conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Rom 11:2 God has not rejected His people whom He FOREKNEW. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in {the passage about} Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
1Pe 1:20 For He was FOREKNOWN before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
2Pe 3:17 You therefore, beloved, {KNOWING THIS BEFOREHAND], be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,
In scripture, it means knowing something in advance.
And predestination means God has predetermined the final state, which is for those he “foreknew” to be conformed to Jesus.
It seems reasonable to me that we would conform faster if we would listen to what Jesus said, rather than superseding it with our own man-made beliefs.
I would like to point out that for thirty plus years I never heard of Reformed theology. There are many parts of scriptures that did not make sense to me. Instead of accepting winds of doctrines (and there were plenty over these years), I simply decided to reserve judgment until I could understand these pieces of scriptures and how they fit together. My desire is to know God as He truly is-not the way I would like him to be.
When I first encountered Reformed theology on this site I was shocked to hear about this. Instead of going back to Calvin and the Reformers, for who I thought would taint my theology, I went back to many of the early church fathers-particularly Augustine. The early fathers only confirmed what the Reformers were stating. Many of the people who have know me on this site for the last several years will give testamony to this evolution.
I don't just come from a "Calvinist" view but I understand both points of views very well. I'd suggest becoming familiar with the Protestant confessionals. You will find many of the very early confessionals of the Protestant religion give clear and detail scriptural references of the doctrines I'm laying out. I have no hidden "Calvinist" agenda or some affinity for Calvin. In truth all I'm doing is reading the scriptures and the confessionals for what they say. Whether you accept or reject these is your decision.
In truth I know very little. What I do know I know very well. God is sovereign, holy and just; and He elects and choose His own.
I will point out that while I believe Augustine documented my arguments in "A Treatise of the Predestination of the Saints", everything can be summed up in the question the early church father Cyprian asked Augustine, "What do you have that has not been given to you by God." If you can answer this question truthfully, you will become a Reformer.