Dan Chapa

OBJECTIONS EIGHTEEN and NINETEEN. "God says concerning his people, 'I will give you one heart, and I will put a new Spirit in you, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them an heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances.' ' And again, ' I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness, and I will put up my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments to do them;"' where a new heart and spirit are said not only to be given, but put into them by God, and therefore they were to do nothing towards it." ( Ezekiel 11:19-20 ) ANSWER FIRST. The arguments taken from both these places have two of the general faults which render all arguments of this nature null, v. g. (1.) That they speak of all the whole house of Israel, ( Ezekiel 11:15, 36:21- 22 ) to all that were "gathered out of all countries, and brought to their own land....

OBJECTIONS SIXTEEN and SEVENTEEN. "God promises to 'write his law in the hearts of his people, and to put it into their inward parts; ( Jeremiah 31:33 ) that he will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear him forever, and will make an everlasting covenant with them; that he will not turn away from them to do them good, but will put his fear in their 'hearts that they shall not depart from him'." ( Jeremiah 32:39-40 ) ANSWER. These promises are made expressly to the whole house of Israel, and to 'all the children of Israel and Judah' to all with whom the old covenant was made, and whom God' brought out of Egypt,' and would bring again ' out of captivity' it therefore, by the second general rule, can be no promise made to, or covenant made with, the elect of the house of Israel and Judah. (i.) Because then the whole nation of the Jews must have been elected and converted, (ii.) Because it is made with those who "kept not his...

Turretinfan responded to my post on Calvinism and Determinism. ( link ) The purpose of my post was to point out that Calvinists are determinists and exhort people to check not only their soteriology but also their philosophy against scripture. Turretinfan’s response is odd, because at first he at first tries to put some space between himself and determinism, but then he argues forcefully for determinism and against libertarianism (the opposite of determinism). I didn’t intend the term “determinist” to be a pejorative, and if one is a determinist, I have no idea why they should be ashamed of it. As for Turretinfan’s concern that people don’t understand determinism or the subcategories that fit under the umbrella of determinism, I suggest the solution is not hiding facts, but rather examining them. Let’s examine the supposed “inaccuracies” of my post. TF: GIMJ claims that Calvinism teaches, "Our destiny is determined before we were born without having anything to do with us....

V. OBJECTIONS FOURTEEN and FIFTEEN. "God promises ' to, circumcise, the heart,' ( Deuteronomy 30:6 ) and Ephraim prays thus, 'turn thou us, O Lord, and so shall we be turned ( Jeremiah 31:18 ) he therefore only does these works in us, and we are purely passive." ANSWER. Now in answer to such texts as these in general, I lay down this as a most certain rule, that when God does require us to do what he himself does promise, and hath made it our duty to, perform, his promise is only to perform what is requisite on his part towards the work, he certainly expecting we ourselves should do what he commands; and the tenor of those prayers is only to afford his assistance to help our infirmities when we are truly willing and desirous to perform our duty by virtue of those inducements he hath already laid before us; for if in such cases the whole was to be done by God immediately, not by way of persuasion only, but by unfrustrable influence, his command to us to do it, coul...

OBJECTION THIRTEEN. " 'The Lord opened the heart of Lydia;' therefore conversion is wrought by his immediate impulse and powerful influence." ( Acts 16:14 ) ANSWER FIRST. That God inclined her to do this, is not denied. The question only is, whether he did this by an extraordinary and irresistible influence. And this it seems reasonable to deny; for either she alone was prepared disposed and fitted to receive this influence, and then she had done something already towards her conversion; or if it were absolutely necessary that she might believe, and yet she alone, though no more fitted or prepared for it than the rest, received it ; the other auditors, for want of this extraordinary influence, must be under a necessity of not believing, and so it could not be blameworthy in them that they did not believe. ANSWER SECOND, ' To open the heart', and ' to open the ear' are scripture-phrases of like import; for the effect of both is the same, viz. the render...

Theojunkie responded to my recent post on Calvinism and Determinism . He provided 4 corrections, but I don’t think I misrepresented Calvinism. I explained Calvinism as I understand it; but perhaps I have some things to learn about Calvinism. Still, I can’t help but think it’s likely I simply highlighted aspects of Calvinism, which, although they are not often discussed, they are non-the-less true of Calvinism. Limited Atonement Me: Christ's death was sufficient for all meaning if He had died for the reprobate, He could have been able to save them. The "possibility" of salvation is based on a different past then the actual past - a hallmark of determinism. TJ: Correction: If Christ had died for the reprobate, then 1) they would with certainty be saved, and 2) they would not be reprobate. Salvation is not "possible" for anybody-- it is certain. No where does the bible speak of the "possibility of being saved". No where does anyone in the ...

IV. To the ELEVENTH and TWELFTH OBJECTIONS the same general answers may be given, they both depending on the same phrase, and making thus one argument: " What God gives we only receive, and so are only passive; but God gives faith and repentance." ( Acts 11:18, Ephesians 2:8 ) ANSWER FIRST. To show the vanity of such objections, I shall confront them thus, what God commands we must do, and therefore must be active in it; but God ' commands all men every where to repent,' ( Acts 17:30 ) and ' this is his commandment that we believe in the name of the Son of God,' ( 1 John 3:23 ) therefore we must be active in the works of faith, ( John 6:29 ) and of repentance. Yea, by this way of arguing, all that hardness of heart the Jews contracted must be ascribed to God, and they must have been purely passive in it, God having 'green them a spirit of slumber:' ( Romans 11:8 ) Ahab's false prophets must be purely passive; for, says Micaiah, ' the Lord hath ...