Without the immense counterweight of premial justice, the grim weight of penal justice creates a darkening OVERCAST, a permanent “LAKE EFFECT” that depresses the human personality and casts a pall over all human action. It can induce abusiveness, restlessness, ill-ease, and existential cheerlessness. [8/26/09]
If John Calvin and his theological heirs had been intent on uncovering the concordant and proportionate system of explanation underlying the apostolic testimonies, he could never have come up with:
–“faith is a gift”
–“God foreknows because He predestines all events”
–“God predestines the elect to salvation”
–“God predestines the reprobate to destruction”
–“the sovereignty of God” [an expression not actually found in Scripture]
–“election is without regard to anything within a person”
–“God desires that the blood of Christ is only efficacious for those whom He has elected”
–“God’s grace cannot be resisted by the elect”
–“the elect are regenerated in order to believe the Gospel”
“those God has elected will necessarily persevere to the end”
–“original sin has placed the human will in bondage”
–etc.
How long must we continue to allow such erroneous clichés to burden the Christian mind? Therefore, if not Arminius, then the Lord would have had to raise up another whistleblower to blow the whistle on these theological crimes…in the name of Scripture and the continuing reformation of the church and theology. Or the very stones themselves would whistle out…!
Having said that, however, I will have to admit that it does look as if the wills of Calvinists are bound to follow their strong delusion regardless of gracious overtures such as those by Jacob Arminius, which they RESISTED vigorously, even to the point of persecuting Remonstrants to death. [8/29/09]
Even as Christ’s faithfulness and obedience to his Father according to the Spirit of the Covenant constituted his own personal, individual RIGHTEOUSNESS before God, and as God’s resurrection of Christ from the dead constituted and mightily displayed God’s own personal, individual RIGHTEOUSNESS according to the promises He made in that Covenant, and to which He was faithful, so our own personal, individual RIGHTEOUSNESS in seed form is our FAITH, and therefore God faithfully and justly reckons it as the righteousness it really is. [8/31/09]
The Premial Atonement 