Kristen

Mark said:
“A free choice has to be free from external forces does it not?”
No. A real choice can be made even when there are external forces. What you are talking about is a choice made in a vacuum. That is not possible. That doesn’t mean there’s no such thing as free will. You say our choices are bound by our desires, as if all we ever have is one desire, rather than an abundance of overlapping and conflicting desires, which is the human condition. Among all the desires, the non-coercive “draw” of God is one. (“If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw ALL men unto me.”) I cannot believe that God is so short on finesse that He cannot pull gently enough to make it possible for us to resist.

Now– I hope you will excuse me, but I’m not going to go through a whole defense of free-will doctrine. You are asking me questions and bringing up points you already addressed with Cheryl, and she answered you with Scripture. You haven’t accepted her answers, so why would you accept mine? Frankly, I’m not really interested in convincing you to abandon your reformed theology. I simply wanted to respond to your misstatements about what Arminians believe.

I’m not interested in accepting your reformed theology. I don’t find your points logical, and I don’t think they take all the Scriptures into account– such as when you ask me to read Roman 6:15ff and ignore the context of Romans 6:11, which I earlier pointed out.

However. This isn’t a salvation issue, so there’s no reason why we can’t agree to disagree. I just prefer you to be accurate in your representations of the other side of the issue.
Thanks, and God bless.