Dr. Yamil Luciano wrote:
I affirm the doctrine of original sin.
One is not a sinner because he sins.

He sins because he is a sinner.
I also believe that original sin still applies to the Calvinist. Do you?
Are we still going to have that three-way conversation with your pastor?

Perhapd JD would like to answer the question as well. He seems to oppose the doctrine from what I've gathered.

Dr. Yamil Luciano wrote:
...The problem of disbelief is not a problem of ability but of volition. If it were a problem of ability then you have a god that will judge men for something that they have no control over. If it is a problem with volition, then God is the more just to send you to hell.

You may not believe this, but the bible tells us, Rom 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Rom 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" You may disagree again, but you are included in that group. And so am I.

Strongs defines it as

A primary preposition; to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etc.); also in adverbial phrases.: - [abundant-] ly, against, among, as, at, [back-] ward, before, by, concerning, + continual, + far more exceeding, for [intent, purpose], fore, + forth, in (among, at unto, -so much that, -to), to the intent that, + of one mind, + never, of, (up-) on, + perish, + set at one again, (so) that, therefore (-unto), throughout, till, to (be, the end, -ward), (here-) until (-to), . . . ward, [where-] fore, with. Often used in composition with the same general import, but only with verbs (etc.) expressing motion (literallyor figuratively.

JD wrote:
I hope you do not mind but I have two important words for this philosophy.
"Pooh - Pooh"
Where are we told God makes them willing?

When God removes the blindfold, you will see your total depravity. He enables you to see the dangers of your destination in the fires of Hell.

Mike wrote:
So DB, are you saying God does force belief? Of course it is God who saves. That is not the issue. The question is not who saves, but is someone *made* to believe?

Actually according to Luke's gospel account of the birth of Christ, it was shepherds that saw Jesus laying in a manger, not wise men or kings. There was also no mention of gifts brought to them either.

Mike, I would be very careful what you say.

If I am reading your post correctly, I am picking up that justification is applied by faith alone. Justification has always been based on the merits of Christ and the imputed righteousness of God but it is applied by faith alone.

Am I correct?

How can it be by grace and by faith at the same time. Grace is something God has given, faith is something you exercise. Do you beilieve in that grace through faith or does faith activate that grace? Same principle with justification.

Yamil has already admitted that justification is based on something we do and that we are declared righteous based on something we do and not on the imputed righteousness of God or on the merits of Christ.

I'll have to agree with a previous poster in saying that justification is by faith, but not in the same sense you mean it. Faith is not the grounds for justification, but the grounds of believing on that justification.

We are declared righteous based on the righteousness of Christ imputed onto us, not our own righteousnss or deeds. You are basing it on something one does, not on what has already been done. You are not basing it on the merits of Christ.

MurrayA wrote:
DB,
Regarding John 3:16,

As to "inviting Jesus into one's heart", this is not really Scriptural. Should you point me to Rev.3:20 that has nothing really to do with the issue. That misunderstanding has more to do with Holman Hunt's famous - and misleading - picture than with serious exegesis of the text.
Rev.3:20 is a call to a lukewarm church, and those within it who remain faithful. The missing bit which is seldom quoted is the clause immediately prior, "if anyone hears my voice..."
Before any door-opening is done, one must first "hear His voice".
Who are those who hear His voice? Let another passage from the Johannine literature of the NT answer:
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me" John 10:27
"A stranger they will not follow, but will flee from Him, because they do not know the voice of strangers." John 10:5

It is only a rabbit trail when it exposes your false doctrines of man-centered salvation.

I am still waiting for your answer to

Yamil: "Justification is the judicial act by which God declares one to be righteous."

In that I agree.

When you live in a world of sin and darkness, the last thing you want is to have your sins exposed. Jesus is the light of the world. He did not come to give light to everyone in the sense of cognizant ability, but that light he gives exposes the world of their sin.

They chose to love their sins and to remain in them.

JD,
"For you to say a man cannot beieve because he is dead is the same as saying he cannot hear because he is dead. However, faith comes by hearing."

Have you never heard of people becoming dull of hearing?

(Mat 13:15) "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."

There is such a thing as spiritual deafness to as well as spiritual blindness. (John 8:43)

I reiterate:
"The natural man will not repent because he loves his sin and is perfectly content to stay in it. *** Repentance is a turning away from sin because you see the awfulness of it to the righteousness of God. That can only be effected when God changes the heart.***"

Basically your premise is that salvation is all a work of man and none of God.

You said: "God does not have to sovereignly intervene to make one willing"

Scripture says: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." (John 6:44-45)

Weapon of Mass Instruction wrote:
Wrong on all three points as usual.
1. You insinuate that somehow the saved man can. The saved man cannot change his heart neither. Sanctification is a lifetime process. The change of heart does not come before salvation, but after salvation.
2. Repentance is a cognizant ability, not a supernatural act. Your version of repentance cannot be found in the Bible, let alone anywhere outside your Calvinistic theology. There is no such thing as a carnal pizza and a spiritual pizza.
3. The problem with man is not that he cannot turn to God, but that he will not.

If a lost man will not turn to God, what has to happen to his will. God has to sovereignly intervene to make him willing.

You contradict yourself. You teach that the unsaved man can indeed understand the mystery of faith and can by his own power and freewill repent and turn to God for salvation. You do not see the need for the Holy Spirit regenerating the sinner who is dead in tresspasses and sin, you do not see the need for God to change the sinner's heart. You do not see the need for God to turn the heart of the sinner to Himself, but that man is fully capable of himself to do those things.

If I am wrong, then will you admit.