Theology Club: A Question for Open Theists

intojoy

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“You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. (*Amos‬ *3‬:*2‬ ESV)

I guess that means God only knew about this people...
 

jsjohnnt

New member
Romans 5:12-21 gives us our doctrine of original sin. I will work through this to show the parallel relationship between what Adam imputed to us and Christ imputed to us.

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

- sin came into the world through the one man Adam’s sin, producing death
- all die because <i>all sinned</i>
- There is a causal inference here.
actually, Romans 5:12 teaches us that the Adamic sin condemns us all "because we have all sinned." We are not "lost" because of Adam, we are lost because of our own malfeasance.

No doubt about it, Adam was the anti-type to Christ, but just as we benefit from the curse of Adam because we participate in his sin, so, too, we benefit from the Life, because we participate in Him.
 

Cross Reference

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actually, Romans 5:12 teaches us that the Adamic sin condemns us all "because we have all sinned." We are not "lost" because of Adam, we are lost because of our own malfeasance.

Spiritual death is what is being inferred. Spritual death is eternal separation from God which, for the righteous before the cross meant paradise, the abode of the dead, Abraham's bosom, without the possibily of release to Heaven and the Presence of God..

No doubt about it, Adam was the anti-type to Christ,

Adam may hve been the anti-type of the man Jesus but Christ, The Word? I don't think so.

but just as we benefit from the curse of Adam because we participate in his sin, so, too, we benefit from the Life, because we participate in Him.

So what you are saying is we benefit from sinning and dying and living because we participate in the Life of Jesus Christ? How does that work?
 

Desert Reign

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Spiritual death is what is being inferred. Spritual death is eternal separation from God

CR: Firstly, I presume you mean 'implied' and that your level of English doesn't extend to distinguishing correctly between these basic words.
Secondly, it is entirely your own invention that God's warning to Adam was in reference to something you call spiritual death. Your invention.
Thirdly, your ridiculous idea that God pronounced eternal separation from God on every man and then sent Jesus to save us - which can only mean that the so called eternal death wasn't eternal at all - is nothing but a joke that you haven't bothered to think through for even a second.

You remind me of the guy in Proverbs who does his best to tell as many people as possible what a fool he really is. You know - the one whose only chance of looking intelligent is if he keeps his mouth shut.
 

jsjohnnt

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Spiritual death is what is being inferred. Spritual death is eternal separation from God which, for the righteous before the cross meant paradise, the abode of the dead, Abraham's bosom, without the possibily of release to Heaven and the Presence of God..



Adam may hve been the anti-type of the man Jesus but Christ, The Word? I don't think so.



So what you are saying is we benefit from sinning and dying and living because we participate in the Life of Jesus Christ? How does that work?
My goodness, how old are you? Out of high school? Seriously.

(allow me to finish my edit of this post after I publish it .. so don't jump to conclusions until this caveat is resolved. Just give me a couple of minutes. Thanks). I am finished and the following is more of my responce:

Spirtual Clearical - what difference does it make to my point? The fact is that Romans 5:12 has that pesky line in it that declares that we all die because we all sin . . . . and how many scriptures are there that declare our personal responsibility for caving in to our humanity? I mean, Jesus as "son of man," proved that "I am only human" is an excuse. His life of perfection condemns us all; his death and resurrection saves us all . . . . . . . . . as long as we in the shadow of love and caring, ala the prodigal and his father.

And why on earth do you deny Jesus as the Christ of God and, thus, God himself when you write: "the man Jesus but Christ, The Word?" Splain please or repent.

Finally, you write this: "
So what you are saying is we benefit from sinning and dying and living because we participate in the Life of Jesus Christ? How does that work?" We benefit from the faithfulness of Jesus, the Christ of God. Why would you include "sinning" in your question? You believe that Christ was sinless as do I. So, your question should have been: " . . . . what you are saying is we benefit from . . . . . dying and living because we participate in the Life of Jesus Christ? How does that work?"

How does that work? Well, he became like us in everyway (Heb 2:17-18) so that he could minister atonement to all of us as the Priest of God. It is by his faith that we are saved (Habakkuk [in prophecy] 2:4). We are baptised into the Living Christ, we believe into the Living Christ, we confess into the Living Christ . . . so why is "into the Living Christ" so important? Because, again, it is his life, his death, his resurrection that benefits us all.
 

Cross Reference

New member
CR: Firstly, I presume you mean 'implied' and that your level of English doesn't extend to distinguishing correctly between these basic words.

Obviously you understood enough to ridicule and scoff.. But I will give my reply.

Secondly, it is entirely your own invention that God's warning to Adam was in reference to something you call spiritual death. Your invention.

My invention? Really?? Any serious student of the Bible knows otherwise. Are you a serious student? If so, maybe you can give reasons why it needs to be saying more?

Thirdly, your ridiculous idea that God pronounced eternal separation from God on every man and then sent Jesus to save us - which can only mean that the so called eternal death wasn't eternal at all - is nothing but a joke that you haven't bothered to think through for even a second.

God never pronounced eternal separation. Adam's sin pronounced that on its own, without words. No sin allowed in the Presence of a Holy God. Remember that one?

Therefore, it was eternal separation in the spiritual sense which carries the day in the phsyical sense, as well.

Jesus came to ransom those righteous held in the grave because of the penalty for Adam's transgression sometimes called "death" that caused the separation. Mediocre students know that..

You remind me of the guy in Proverbs who does his best to tell as many people as possible what a fool he really is. You know - the one whose only chance of looking intelligent is if he keeps his mouth shut.

Wonderful! :kiss:
 

Cross Reference

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Originally Posted by jsjohnnt
actually, Romans 5:12 teaches us that the Adamic sin condemns us all "because we have all sinned." We are not "lost" because of Adam, we are lost because of our own malfeasance.

No doubt about it, Adam was the anti-type to Christ, but just as we benefit from the curse of Adam because we participate in his sin, so, too, we benefit from the Life, because we participate in Him.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cross Reference View Post
Spiritual death is what is being inferred. Spritual death is eternal separation from God which, for the righteous before the cross meant paradise, the abode of the dead, Abraham's bosom, without the possibily of release to Heaven and the Presence of God..

Adam may hve been the anti-type of the man Jesus but Christ, The Word? I don't think so.


So what you are saying is we benefit from sinning and dying and living because we participate in the Life of Jesus Christ? How does that work?
No. I am saying Adam was not anti-type of Christ, the Word of God


My goodness, how old are you? Out of high school? Seriously.

Probably much older than you are. So please have pity on me.

Spirtual Clearical - what difference does it make to my point? The fact is that Romans 5:12 has that pesky line in it that declares that we all die because we all sin . . . . and how many scriptures are there that declare our personal responsibility for caving in to our humanity? I mean, Jesus as "son of man," proved that "I am only human" is an excuse. His life of perfection condemns us all; his death and resurrection saves us all . . . . . . . . . as long as we in the shadow of love and caring, ala the prodigal and his father.

Romans 5:12 doesn't say that. So please start over. Read it until you get it right before comenting.

And why on earth do you deny Jesus as the Christ of God and, thus, God himself when you write: "the man Jesus but Christ, The Word?" Splain please or repent.

I didn't say that either. Seems you are on a roll.

Finally, you write this: "
So what you are saying is we benefit from sinning and dying and living because we participate in the Life of Jesus Christ?

You said that, not me. My comment was: "How does that work?"

We benefit from the faithfulness of Jesus, the Christ of God. Why would you include "sinning" in your question?

Again, they were your words, not mine.

You believe that Christ was sinless as do I. So, your question should have been: " . . . . what you are saying is we benefit from . . . . . dying and living because we participate in the Life of Jesus Christ? How does that work?"

These were you words: "No doubt about it, Adam was the anti-type to Christ, but just as we benefit from the curse of Adam because we participate in his sin, so, too, we benefit from the Life, because we participate in Him.

Hence your explanation for that understanding is too convoluted for being any kind of help to my understanding... Old age, perhaps.


How does that work? Well, he became like us in everyway (Heb 2:17-18) so that he could minister atonement to all of us as the Priest of God.

He was MADE to be sin by God. Jesus did not become us in everyway. That would imply He willingly sinned to understand our pain! However, Jesus was in every way TEMPTED as we are to understand our issue in dealing vanity. BTW, that is one more reason He wasn't divine at this point in time otherwise He would not have to be tempted to find out anything about us.

It is by his faith that we are saved (Habakkuk [in prophecy] 2:4).

Correction: "It is the JUST who are saved by His faith." If you are of the Just then you must be walking as He walked. Now, if you want the details on that kind of faith know that it implies living by the very Life of the Son of God. See Gal 2:20 KJV ONLY __ no modern translation here for their lack of the insight into what Paul was attempting to convey..
We are baptised into the Living Christ, we believe into the Living Christ, we confess into the Living Christ . . . so why is "into the Living Christ" so important? Because, again, it is his life, his death, his resurrection that benefits us all.

Whose we?? If you are all of that why are you still sinning????!!!! STOP!!
 

Desert Reign

LIFETIME MEMBER
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DR,

It is from the same post:

http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4274385&postcount=172

You said:

"The position regarding the career of those who have never heard the gospel is the same as babies who die before maturity."

And further down you said:

"So when God judges those who have not heard the Gospel, his judgement is against all those who commit wickedness. There is no disputing this. We are all agreed on it. All those who have committed sin will be punished according to their deeds."

So what is it? Those who have not heard the gospel are judged, or do they share their eternal destiny with babies who die?

Your statement regarding that the Bible does not say anything on that subject is beside the point, for you those who never hear the gospel are with infants.


Mr Orr.

Just for the record, if you persist in continually misrepresenting me and making up straw men, I will have to just ignore you. This kind of talk doesn't help anything. It only serves to make you look worse than you already do. If I say I don't mean something, then that is the end of the matter and there is no point whatsoever in your insisting that I do mean it. It is not my responsibility to help you to understand - it is your responsibility to work out what it was that you misunderstood. Your problem lies in two contributory factors: 1) Your inability to understand plain English and 2) your insatiable desire to prove openness theology wrong, no matter what the cost, which leads you to add to your inability to understand plain English your acceptance of the idea that lying about or misrepresenting your opponents is acceptable. I hope this doesn't happen again. It has happened before. If it happens again I shall cease debating with you.

Also for the record, you did not answer the substantial issues I raised in previous posts but carried on regardless. I said that your position was incoherent and that if you tried to support it with scripture, then this was the same as stating that scripture supported incoherence. All your analysis of Romans 5 won't help you make your position coherent. You need to bring some arguments why your doctrine of original sin is coherent, not reinforce your incoherence with some scripture quotes. It is easy to see that the scripture doesn't support your position at all. (of course it doesn't - because Scripture is inspired by God and a house divided against itself cannot stand.) You glide in easy steps from 'All men sinned' to 'All men are condemned in Adam from birth'. I look forward to hearing from you your logical justification of your doctrine. And why God is just if he makes men sinful and then judges them for it.

I don't think there are many takers for 'Sure, God is unjust/incoherent and here is the scripture to prove it.'
 
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BrianJOrr

New member
Your failure to address issues I have raised is stacking up:

Your contradiction regarding the fate of those who have not heard the gospel, my Genesis 3:15 question, the tension between 2 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1, and your so-called refutation of 'Calvinist's proof-text' post, which I responded to, was weak.

However, I really don't need you to answer these because I see that you are so anti-Calvinist, your presuppositions force you to steer away from any Reformed interpretation. When I make a plain objection, showing inconsistencies and even a blatantly clear contradiction, you don't address them because the I believe the consistent conclusion would result in a Reformed understanding (the most biblical one that is) of the texts, and you can't have that.

I think if your position was truly the coherent and biblically sound one, it would be readily available for the church at large in some published form, having been tried and tested over the years, showing its ability to hold weight and be consistent in all aspects of the faith.

However, based off these few interactions, I don't think your interpretive model could stand up to being poked, prodded, and ultimately thrashed by seasoned biblical and systematic theologians. Historical theology and the plethora of biblical and systematic expressions of the Scriptures from the Reformed persuasion has demonstrated its consistency in biblical interpretation. Just because you reject it, doesn't prove anything. I believe you are not able to handle that the Scriptures rightly declare that God is sovereign over the ends and the means of everything, all according to his will.

If what you have given me in response is your best effort, then I will accept and not insist you provide more thorough answers, plus I am tired of reading your personal attacks when I ask for clarification.

So, by all means, ignore me. I am good with that.
 
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musterion

Well-known member
Very well said and very true. At this very moment on another board, a quite arrogant newbie is stirring up trouble over completely innocuous topics. One of his stated hobbies is systematic theology. If I get a chance I'm going to ask him if he digs Sproul...I bet the answer will be "of course!"

Systematic theologies are boxes into which finite men end up trying to stuff the infinite God.
 

Desert Reign

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If what you have given me in response is your best effort, then I will accept and not insist you provide more thorough answers, plus I am tired of reading your personal attacks when I ask for clarification.

So, by all means, ignore me. I am good with that.

Brian, if I interpret my own words, surely that is the correct interpretation of them, no? What was it about

Nowhere did I say that the career of those who have never heard the Gospel was the same as that of babies. I explained my statement right then and there in the part that you conveniently forgot to include in your second cite.
Quote:
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BACKGROUND: #ffffff; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset" class=alt2>The Bible says nothing about this subject. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
That is the position I was referring to.

that you do not understand???

You asked for clarification and that is what I gave. It is obvious that you did not listen. It is obvious that you ignored. It is obvious that you showed no respect.

PhD? I hope you feel you have more authority when you eventually get it.
Pastor, front lines? I feel sorry for the ones who will have to pick up the pieces.
Thanks for your interaction.
By the way, I don't usually put people on ignore. I just ignore them. I'm fed up with saying things that you don't manage to listen to.
Cheers.

Theology will always thwart attempts to systematize it. Theology is the study of God, who is a person, not a system.

Well said. It's exactly what I said earlier in the thread, which I will requote as my final statement in this debate:

This explains the limits of a 'coherent, integrated theology'. It is a disavowal of the idea that formulations are paramount in theology and an affirmation that Christian faith is about relationships. Thus, when reading the Bible, the primary interpretive principle is not some doctrine of God but the historical outworking of a relationship. When reading the Bible, the Christian should thus seek not to glean from it a set of doctrines but to grow in relationship with God through learning how others have grown (or not) in that relationship. Also see 1-1 on Hebrew thought patterns. Doctrines are ok in moderation but a complete systematic theology is not to be found because the nature of Christian faith is not about systematising. Living relationships cannot fundamentally be systematised. I know this is hard for you to comprehend, all you who have spent your lives debating on which statement of faith is the right one, whether Origen was a heretic or not or whether the baptism of the Holy Spirit is given at conversion or afterwards. I can offer no apologies. Just a warning that if you instinctively seek ways to refute this stance by arguing that some or other doctrine is wrong or that I have misinterpreted some or other scripture or if you treat openness like any other heresy, then you will get nowhere. If you are to understand, then you need to start by getting an appreciation of how very very far away from a systematising theology openness is. Openness is not about whether Calvin was right or wrong. Openness is antithetical to predestination, not a doctrinal refutation of it.
 
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Cross Reference

New member
Very well said and very true. At this very moment on another board, a quite arrogant newbie is stirring up trouble over completely innocuous topics. One of his stated hobbies is systematic theology. If I get a chance I'm going to ask him if he digs Sproul...I bet the answer will be "of course!"

Systematic theologies are boxes into which finite men end up trying to stuff the infinite God.

Much like other untoward "newbie" theologies as dispensational(ism) and cessation(ism), endeavor to do. To what end is the question, isn't it? I susppose some new sort of elit(ism) ___ or bane, eh?
 

Cross Reference

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stripe View Post
Theology will always thwart attempts to systematize it. Theology is the study of God, who is a person, not a system.

Something to keep in mind when entertaining these more newbie theologies like MAD, etal.
 
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