Rick R wrote:
“So you have a God that when He was forming the world didn’t know what would happen when man fell? Or did He know and chose to [do] nothing about it?”

No, you are the one who believes that God could only have known what would happen in the future by decreeing it to happen. To say that God decreed every evil sin, including the rape of children, (pedophilia), is the most wicked thing imaginable. In fact, you are not, I repeat NOT, honoring Him as a sovereign God but putting Him on equal footing with Satan’s wicked psychic devices. He does not and cannot foreknow the future. He can only inspire his soothsayers to tell people what would happen to them and then CAUSES it to come to pass, so as to pretend that he has the divine quality of foreknowledge. Surely, you must know that Satan has always craved to be like God in all aspects of his divinity. Clairvoyance is only one of his despicable ways to imitate God, and the sooner you realize that you are worshiping another god and not the God of the Bible, the better for you. There is still time to repent.

Contrary to your despicable and wicked characterization of God, we believe that God foreknew that mankind would fall into sin and therefore decided to do something about it. Yes, it was the lawless hands of men who crucified Him but it was God the Father Himself who crushed Him. The word dâkâ’ in Isaiah 53: 10 means “to crush,” “to beat to pieces,” “to destroy,” “to bruise.” At any rate, Jesus said, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” (John 10:17-18).

Like all Calvinists, you have a warped idea of God’s sovereignty and his foreknowledge. I suggest you repent and believe the Gospel.

The events leading up to Christ’s death on the cross were not some random acts that God just managed to string together for some God. It was part of a “definite plan” (Scripture’s words) YET, this took place through the free actions of sinful man without God causing them to act sinfully.

I also always found it interesting how some Christians get so bent out of shape over God’s eternal decrees, yet don’t realize your non-sovereign God approach is even worse (if by worse we’re defining it as to why evil exists.) I’m thankful, that like James White, I understand that even a horrific event like the rape of a child does have some ultimate purpose. What purpose is there in the evil to the non-sovereign God many of you are proposing? So you have a God that when He was forming the world didn’t know what would happen when man fell? Or did He know and chose to nothing about it? How in the world do you think that get’s God “off the hook” so to speak. You just pushed your apparent issue of evil “up a level” – yet you still have to deal with it.

Then they also believe that children of the non-elect go to hell if they die. That is not what the Bible says.

Matthew 18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

Now that I am righteously angry with this Calvinism…I will go eat lunch.

The question that comes to mind is this – Can Satan do something that God does not allow – in other words, can Satan “overrule” Christ?

As long as you believe that God’s creatures (humans and angels) do not have a free-will, you will always argue from the perpective of “Can Satan do something that God does not allow – in other words, can Satan “overrule” Christ?”

In any case, allowing and causing something to happen are two different things. You, for instance, are overruling Christ’s will for your life in many ways everyday single day (unless you are alrerady perect). Is He allowing or causing it to happen? The right thing for Him to do whenever you overrule his will, is to immediately judge and get rid of you. Why doesn’t he do it? Maybe you are still not saved and He is patient toward you because He does not want you to perish OR you are already saved and He wants to sanctify you for his glory.

God is GOD; He is not a tyrant.

Martin

>> His retort reminded me of a Calvinist accusation on the net which accused Dave Hunt of being a Jesuit.

Yes we’ve seen this, how rediculous. It’s actually gotten so bad now they they claim all Arminians are Jesuits. LOL (Calvinists call everyone who is not a Calvinist Arminian) Their minds are so small.

Calvinists dare not renounce or recant of their despicable belief that God decreed everything that happens, including such an heinous sin as child rape. Should they do so, their entire doctrine on the sovereignty of God would collapse, and that to them is blasphemy.

The irony, however, is that they are the ones who are committing the sin of blasphemy because they are attributing to God that is of the devil. And that’s dangerous, very dangerous.

And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. (Mat 12:32-33)