Why do you agree to it?
Because scripture commands believers to spread the Gospel via the Great Commission. We know that the Great Commission does NOT apply only to clerics of a certain faith because sharing the Good News is a form of loving one's neighbor. Certainly it cannot be argued that this commandment does not apply to all believers.
What use is the Gospel to the Reformed? If the elect are predestined for salvation, what effect does the Gospel have for them?
The Gospel informs us of what our faith is in. Merely believing that there is some kind of God out there does not constitute saving faith. Since this knowledge is needed, in the normal course the elect are predestined to have it.
If the reprobate are predestined for hell, what effect does the Gospel have for them?
Well, for sure it does not have saving effect, but that is not to say no positive effect at all. The Gospel message along with the stories surrounding the Gospel serve as excellent moral guides of benefit to both the elect and reprobate. On average, even the reprobate will lead better and happier lives if they are more moral.
FK: However, the Bible is clear that not all people are God's children.
No; those are the Jews. The Gentiles are able to be grafted into the true vine.
God's children are those who have been given faith:
The reprobate are the children of someone else:
Therefore, my statement stands that the Bible is clear that not all are the children of God.
FK: And when you criticize "limited love" and "limited mercy" don't forget that your own versions of God's love and mercy are VERY limited too in that you require acts of men to get (or earn) that love and mercy.
Negative. I'm surprised after your extended talks with Kolo that you would say this. God love and mercy are unlimited. His atonement extends to all men. There is no earning; but there is Judgement.
But your Judgment is based on your works, making God's mercy limited to your choice of works. If you don't do enough works, then you don't get the mercy. That is not unlimited mercy, it is conditional mercy with the condition being what is earned through works. If you don't like the word "earned" I am fine with using "merited" if you like, but it is all the same. Under your view of the parable of the talents, the first two certainly did WORK the money given to them, and they EARNED a return on that money which resulted in "salvation", so there is no getting around the Catholic position on this. :)
FK: So, if you see limitations on God's grace and mercy as being a bad thing, then the Catholic God is in the same boat as the Reformed God.
Negative. The Reformed theology calls for limited atonement, limited mercy and limited salvation. The Catholic theology calls for this to apply to all men; the preaching of the Gospel is to convert all men to God, not merely a mechanical exercise.
So under Catholic theology atonement applies to all men, mercy applies to all men, and salvation applies to all men???? That can't be right. I've never heard Catholics argue for universal salvation before.
In other words, a mechanical exercise only for the Reformed. The Great Commission was given to only a few by Jesus. Loving your neighbour may involve the preaching of the Gospel, but consider this: do the Beatitudes involve preaching the Gospel? Or are they a list of things that we ought to be doing for our neighbours?
The Gospel informs us of what our faith is in. Merely believing that there is some kind of God out there does not constitute saving faith. Since this knowledge is needed, in the normal course the elect are predestined to have it.
The indwelling Reformed Holy Spirit is unable to inform the elect of the Faith in an infallible fashion? Sounds like a repudiation of the Reformed Faith.
Well, for sure it does not have saving effect, but that is not to say no positive effect at all. The Gospel message along with the stories surrounding the Gospel serve as excellent moral guides of benefit to both the elect and reprobate. On average, even the reprobate will lead better and happier lives if they are more moral.
I am trying to imagine you, above all, writing this with a straight face.
God's children are those who have been given faith:
John 1:12 "To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
The way that this is written puts the onus on the individual and his free will. To all who received Him (individual action), to those who believed in His Name (individual action), God rewarded them with salvation. This is evidence for the early Christian and always Catholic model of salvation.
The reprobate are the children of someone else:
John 8: 42-44 : 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Context, context. Jesus is speaking of and to the Jewish religious hierarchy. He is reprimanding them in rather harsh language, much like He reprimanded Peter (get thee behind me satan). A reprimand is not a point of rigourous theological doctrine.
But your Judgment is based on your works, making God's mercy limited to your choice of works. If you don't do enough works, then you don't get the mercy.
God gives mercy to all men. His Judgement though, based upon Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, is upon our deeds. I cannot quibble with them - Paul, the Catholic letters, and even Revelation state this unequivocably.
That is not unlimited mercy, it is conditional mercy with the condition being what is earned through works. If you don't like the word "earned" I am fine with using "merited" if you like, but it is all the same. Under your view of the parable of the talents, the first two certainly did WORK the money given to them, and they EARNED a return on that money which resulted in "salvation", so there is no getting around the Catholic position on this. :)
What is the point of this and all the other Judgement teachings throughout the New Testament? Matthew 25 cannot be ignored. Neither can the Beatitudes or Luke's Sermon on the Plain.
So under Catholic theology atonement applies to all men, mercy applies to all men, and salvation applies to all men???? That can't be right. I've never heard Catholics argue for universal salvation before.
And you have not now. I never said universal salvation. I said that God offers universal salvation. He extends His Grace to all men. God's mercy applies to all men. Yet not all men are saved and the teachings of God appear to sum up to those men are saved who embrace God and those men are condemned who reject God.