ZOMBIE-ism?

-Jon Irenicus

Some of the free-willers that I had conversation with consider the [Calvinistic] doctrine of Total Depravity as Zombie-ism (a term they use to make fun of the doctrine because it seems to deny free will).

The truth is, Zombie-ism is a fact according to the Scriptures!

1. Man's heart is evil (Mark 7:21-23)
2. Man's heart is sick (Jer. 17:9).
3. Man is a slave/zombie of sin (Rom. 6:20).
4. Man does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12).
5. Man cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14).
6. Man is at enmity with God (Eph. 2:15).
7. Man is is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3).

Calvinism does not make a zombie out of a man, rather it exposes it. It is the concept of obedience that follow faith not reason that makes a zombie out of a man. Does Zombie-ism deny the FREE WILL of man? I don't think so.

Regarding Free will, the Westminster Confession of Faith rightly explains,

[9.1] God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good, or evil.

[9.2] Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom, and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God; but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it.

[9.3] Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto. [Westminster Confession of Faith, Article 9]

In my previous article about Unconditional Election (Is God's election Unconditional?), I have already stated how I understand Free Will:

I insist, on the other hand, that Unconditional Election is not inconsistent with free will, that is, as I understand the term. I deny, however, that humans have free will in the Arminian sense. What Calvinists emphasize is that sin has removed, if not freedom, at least the ability to exercise that freedom properly. Loraine Boettner, for example, compares fallen humanity to a bird with a broken wing. The bird is "free" to fly, but is unable to do so. Likewise, "the natural man is free to come to God but not able...."

Man's freedom of will, therefore, is limited within certain boundaries:

1. Man's free will is limited within the boundary of God's sovereign decree. It can neither go beyond nor contradict what God has already planned. (click here for a more extensive study).
   
2. It is limited within the boundary of man's nature. For example, you can choose to fly like superman, but your human capabilities will not let you do so. In application, a sinner has freedom of will, but inclined only to do the evil desires of his sinful nature.
   

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The Arminian Election

Arminian: "I believe in Bible election. God votes for you, the devil votes against you, and you cast the deciding vote."

The evangelist (?) cackled like he had laid an egg after "refuting" the biblical doctrine of election with the above illustration. Since this is the Arminian's favorite story, several things should be pointed out.

• First, this illustration denies that God is even close to Almighty. He desperately wants to accomplish His purpose but is unable to do so.
• Second the reason that God is unable to do what His heart desires is that another being, of equal ability and power, can checkmate Him. This terrible illustration gives the devil equal power with God.
• Third, to add insult to injury, the mighty will of man comes in to break the deadlock between God and the devil.
  

How God-dishonoring can false doctrine become? The free-willer may be "unwilling" to admit these, but his theology makes man supreme, the devil second, and God is third at worst, and tied for second, at best. I wonder if these people ever read;

• But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth Job 23:13.

• Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth Romans 9:18.

• "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.... what I have planned, that I will do." Isaiah 46:10-11 (NIV)
  

• "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand." Proverbs 19:21 (ESV)
  

• "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD." Proverbs 21:30 (NIV)

• "The LORD works out everything for his own ends— even the wicked for a day of disaster." Proverbs 16:4 (NIV)

• "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,.." Ephesians 1:11 (NIV)

An outline of the doctrine of Total Depravity

-Jon Irenicus

I first wrote this for myself in my notebook long ago before I actually embrace the whole of Reformed theology with all my heart (that was last year). I compiled the points of Total Depravity because I found it necessary for me to better grasp the whole concept of the doctrine in an overview, outline-like manner. Here are the points which I arranged myself (some points here, however, are not my own words but from certain Reformed articles that I read in the past). I hope this helps you too!

1. When Adam committed his first sin against God in the Garden of Eden, we also sinned with him (united with him in committing that sin) since he is the universal representative (head) of mankind (Rom 5:17-18). Therefore, every man is a sinner since birth (Psalms 51:5) and by nature “children of wrath” which also means “enemies of God” (Eph 2:3; Col 1:21). [It was Adam’s original sin that brought condemnation to all men (Gen 2:17, 3:1-24; Rom 5:17-18). The Fall is necessary and permitted by God so that He may demonstrate His mercy and grace through His Son (Rom 11:32).]
2. If Adam represented all men when he committed the First Sin, then all men are also by nature “slaves of sin” for whosoever commits sin is a slave of sin (Jn 8:34; Rom 3:9, 23). A slave of sin is someone who is in bondage to his sinful nature, hopelessly gratifying the cravings of the flesh and its thoughts (Eph 2:1-3).
3. Even though free and uncoerced, the fallen will has no desire for anything except to indulge the evil tendencies of the heart (Gen 6:5). As long as a person is inclined only to evil, he chooses only evil (Rom 3:9-12). Fallen humanity loves darkness and hates light (John 3:19). So whenever a person is confronted with a choice between darkness and light, he chooses darkness. He chooses what is attractive to him, what his free will desires (Rom 3:9-12).
4. Sinners are not as sinful as they can be. A sinner can also serve for his community, donate alms to the poor, and have domestic love, etc. But all these works, even if done sincerely, will not please God for it comes from a sinful heart (Isa 64:6; Rom 8:8). What we say is: sinners have wholly lost ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation (Prov 20:9; Rom 3:9-12; Eph 4:17-18).
5. Everything that proceeds not from faith is sin (Rom 14:23). Therefore, everything that a sinner does is abomination to the Lord for it does not proceed from a saving faith in Christ, and unless a sinner is grafted into the true Vine (Christ), he will never be able to bear fruits that are acceptable before God (Mat 7:17; John 15:5). Even his prayers shall be abominations unto the Lord (Prov 28:9)—even his thoughts (Prov 15:26). Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, because it cannot be. So then, they who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:7-8).
6. A sinner is someone who is spiritually dead (insensitive and unable). He cannot see spiritual things, and he cannot understand and perceive them. The natural [or unregenerate] person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (Mat 13:13-15; 1 Cor 2:14).
7. All men have the responsibility to repent for their sins and turn to God through faith in Christ. But because they were blinded by Satan so “that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God,” sinners will consistently and willingly reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ unless God has enabled them through Spiritual Regeneration (Acts 26:18; Rom 3:11; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 4:18).
8. There is none who is righteous in the sight of God, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one (Rom 3:9-12). Therefore, All men (without exception) deserve death and hell (Mat 5:48; Rom 3:23).
9. The reality of hell is God's clear indictment of the infiniteness of our guilt. If our corruption were not deserving of an eternal punishment God would be unjust to threaten us with a punishment so severe as eternal torment. But the Scriptures teach that God is just in condemning unbelievers to eternal hell (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9; Matthew 5:29, 10:28, 13:49, 18:8, 25:46; Revelation 14:9-11; 20:10). Therefore, to the extent that hell is a total sentence of condemnation, to that extent we must think of ourselves as totally blameworthy apart from the saving grace of God.

It is hard to exaggerate the importance of admitting the condition of all men to be this bad. If we think of ourselves as basically good or even less than totally at odds with God, our grasp of the work of God in redemption will be defective. But if we humble ourselves under this terrible truth of our total depravity, we will be in a position to see and appreciate the glory and wonder of the work of God for our salvation.

It is also helpful if we consider the confession of the LBC (1686) regarding the doctrine:

[6.1] Although God created man upright and perfect, and gave him a righteous law, which secured life for him while he kept it, and although God warned him that he would die if he broke it, yet man did not live long in this honour.

- Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve, seduced Adam by her, and he, without any compulsion, wilfully transgressed the law of their creation and the command given to them by eating the forbidden fruit. - And this act God, according to His wise and holy counsel, was pleased to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory.

[6.2] Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them. For from this, death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.

[6.3] They being the root, and by God's appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and their corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation. Their descendants are therefore conceived in sin, and are by nature the children of wrath, the servants of sin, and the subjects of death and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus sets them free.

[6.4] All actual transgressions proceed from this original corruption, by which we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil.

[6.5] During this life the corruption of nature remains in those who are regenerated, and although it is pardoned and mortified through Christ, yet this corrupt nature and all its motions are truly and properly sinful. [London Baptist Confession (1689), VI. 1-5]

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My Personal undersanding about Irresistible Grace and Effectual Calling

-Jon Irenicus

As I understand the term, "Irresistible Grace" implies that when God has decreed something for the good of his elect, God will carry out that plan sovereignly by using every possible means of Grace in accordance to his own good pleasure (Eph. 1:4-5, 11). God's Grace then, is irresistible; not merely in the sense that man cannot resist the exertions of Grace or of the Holy Spirit (Act. 7:51). It means, rather, that Grace can overcome all resistance and make his influence irresistible (1 Cor. 15:10). After all, God is sovereign and can overcome all resistance when he wills (Pss. 115:3; Dan. 4:35).

Also, it does not mean that God makes his elect receptive and obedient by FORCING their will; instead, he do so by inspiring them inwardly by the Holy Spirit’s conviction (2 Cor. 3:18), and outwardly by making all things work together for the good of his people (Rom. 8:28-30; Eph. 1:11), to the point that they, by their own free choice, will obey God and grow in love through faith (Phil. 2:13). This will be further explained again later.


Is God's sovereignty artificial?

If in the end Grace can be overcome by the will of man, then the truth of God's sovereignty will be at stake. (*Arminians also agree that God is absolutely Sovereign over ALL things, but at the same time "not so" sovereign over the will of man, for man is sovereign over his own salvation). Would God plan something and at the end fail in fulfilling that decree? Is God that weak that he will let his eternal decree fall into pieces just because man's so called free-will stood against it? Who is more sovereign then? The Potter or the clay? The Bible tells us that God is totally and absolutely sovereign in fulfilling his decrees. In the book of Isaiah, God declares:

• "[I am God, and no other is God, even none like Me], declaring the end from the beginning, and from the past things which were not done, saying, My purpose shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure. . . . Yes, I have spoken, I will also cause it to come; I have formed; yes, I will do it." Isaiah 46:10-11 (MKJV)

Morever, the Bible says that God's ways are all perfect; meaning, when he use something as a means to carry out his plan, it will be effectual and efficacious (Ecc. 28:15; Isa. 55:11). James White once said, "God is not a god who merely attempts to save those whom he wants to save..."

More specifically irresistible grace refers to the sovereign work of God to overcome the rebellion of our heart and bring us to faith in Christ so that we can be saved (Eph 2:1-6). If our doctrine of total depravity is true, there can be no salvation without the reality of Irresistible Grace. If we are dead in our sins, totally unable to submit to God, then we will never believe in Christ unless God overcomes our rebellion; and God does, sovereignly, by his Irresistible Grace (Act. 16:14).

The Gospel of our Lord is offered to all men (in the sense that God calls everybody to repent and believe in him)--this is what we call the "universal invitation" or "outward calling." But since all men are desperately wicked and inclined only to doing evil, they will never respond unless they are first regenerated by God. Therefore, this outward call will have no effect to the sinner unless God grants him belief and repentance (Joh. 6:44, 65; Act. 18:27; Phil. 1:29).

When God calls an elect outwardly, he also extends that call inwardly by giving him a "new heart" and a "new spirit" to make it certain that the elect will receptively believe the Gospel (Ezek 36:27; Jer. 24:7). This is what we call "EFFECTUAL CALLING" which is a result of God's irresistible Grace. I must emphasize, however, that God never forces the will of the spiritually DEAD sinner. Try forcing a DEAD, ROTTEN person to labor for you and see if he would respond! Therefore, God does not merely assist the spiritually dead sinner; he actually quickens them (Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13)!

The London Baptist Confession (1689) shares with the same idea with this Reformed view of Irresistible Grace. It states:

[10.1] Those whom God has predestinated to life, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time to effectually call by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death which they are in by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. He enlightens their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God. He takes away their heart of stone and gives to them a heart of flesh. He renews their wills, and by His almighty power, causes them to desire and pursue that which is good. He effectually draws them to Jesus Christ, yet in such a way that they come absolutely freely, being made willing by His grace.

[10.2] This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not on account of anything at all foreseen in man. It is not made because of any power or agency in the creature who is wholly passive in the matter. Man is dead in sins and trespasses until quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit. By this he is enabled to answer the call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed by it. This enabling power is no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead. (The London Baptist Confession 1689, Article X. 1-2)

Therefore, those whom by the Grace of God has chosen from eternity to be saved, when called by the Gospel, will surely respond in faith and repentance through the Holy Spirit's germination. Jesus Christ himself declares:

• "All that the Father gives me WILL COME TO ME, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." John 6:37 (ESV)

Those whom the Father "gives" to Christ are the elect, and according to our Lord, they will [surely] COME to him [ofcourse, by Faith]. This is irresistible grace. In the same chapter, Christ also says,

• "NO ONE can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day." Joh 6:44 (ESV)

Notice how Christ emphatically declares that "NO ONE" [including the elect] can actually come to him [or have faith in him] unless he is drawn first by the Father. This reflects the total inability of man to have faith in Christ which I explained here. As long as a person is inclined only to evil, he chooses only evil (Rom 3:9-12). Therefore, the initiative must come from God, not from the will of man (as free-willers insist). It is God who enables the sinner so that he may willingly respond in faith and repentance:

• He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has ENABLED him." Joh 6:65 (NIV)

Implication of the doctrine: This doctrine actually gives way to the 5th petal of Calvinism which is Perseverance of the Saints. You cannot believe Perseverance of the Saints without accepting the reality of irresistible grace. Also, you cannot be consistent with the truth of Total Depravity if you reject the truth of irresistible grace. In the end, by God's sovereign Grace, all elect will be saved to the fullest and none of them will be finally lost nor totally fall away, that is, in accordance to what God has already planned even before the world began.

Here are some useful verses in the Bible with relevance to the doctrine of Irresistible Grace:
Gen. 20:6; Ezra. 1:5; Eze. 36:27; Pss. 139:16; Pro. 21:1; Hag; 1:14; Joh. 6:37, 45, 10:3-4, 27; Act. 13:48, 16:14; 1 Cor. 12:13, 15:10; Eph. 2:1-6, 3:7; Phil. 2:13; Jam. 4:15; Rom 8:33-39; Jer. 24:7.

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God's Sovereignty Vs. Man's Free Will??

-Jon Irenicus

In this article we will try to answer the question of whether God can create genuinely free beings and yet [sovereignly] render certain all things that are to come to pass, including the free decisions and actions of those beings.

The key to unlocking the problem is the distinction between rendering something certain and rendering it necessary. The former is a matter of God's decision that something will happen; the latter is a matter of his decreeing that something must occur. In the former case, the human being will not act in a way contrary to the course of action which God has chosen; in the latter case, the human being cannot act in a way contrary to what God has chosen. What we are saying is that God renders it certain that a person who could act (or could have acted) differently does in fact act in a particular way (the way that God wills).

What does it mean to say that I am "free"?

What does it mean to say that I am "free"? It means that I am not under constraint. Thus, I am free to do whatever pleases me. But am I free with respect to what pleases me and what does not? To put it differently, I may choose one action over another because it holds more appeal for me. But I am not fully in control of the appeal which each of those actions holds me. That is quite a different matter. I make all my decisions, but those decisions are in large measure influenced by certain characteristics of mine which I am not capable of altering by my own choice.

If, for example, I am offered for a dinner a choice between liver and steak, I am quite free to take the liver, but I do not desire to do so. I have no conscious control over my dislike of liver. That is a given that goes with my being the person I am. In that respect my freedom is limited. I do not know whether it is my genes or environmental conditioning which has caused my dislike of liver, but it is apparent that I cannot by mere force of will alter this characteristic of mine.

There are, then, limitations upon who I am and what I desire and will. I certainly did not choose the genes that I have; I did not select my parents not the exact geographical location and cultural setting of my birth. My freedom, therefore, is within these limitations. And here arises the question: Who set up these factors? The theistic answer is, "The Sovereign God did."

The Potter's hand

I am free to choose among various options. But my choice will be influenced by who I am. Therefore, my freedom must be understood as my ability to choose among options in light of who I am. And who I am (as a pot) is a result of God's decision and activity (as the Potter). God is in control of all circumstances that bear upon my situation in life. He may bring to bear (or permit to be brought to bear) factors which will make a particular option appealing, even powerfully appealing, to me. Through all the factors that have come into my experience in time past he has influenced the type of person I now am. Indeed, he has affected what has come to pass by willing that it was I who was brought into being.

At this point we may conclude that there is actually no contradiction between God's sovereignty and the free will of man. It is God, the Sovereign Potter, who formed us in accordance to his own purpose and will. Our will, therefore, can never go beyond nor contradict what God has already planned from eternity past.

Consider these fantastic Biblical verses describing the sovereignty of God:

• "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.... what I have planned, that I will do." Isaiah 46:10-11 (NIV)
  

• "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand." Proverbs 19:21 (ESV)
  

• "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD." Proverbs 21:30 (NIV)

• "The LORD works out everything for his own ends— even the wicked for a day of disaster." Proverbs 16:4 (NIV)

• "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,.." Ephesians 1:11 (NIV)