Dr. Phil, whether you realize it or not, your false doctrines come from Greek humanism. They were fostered by neo-Platonists, Augustians, & Calvinists.

Every man can understand the Bible b/c God is making it that way. Deuteronomy 30:11-15
11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

Semi-Pelagianism fits in well with the concept that Jesus died for every man. God wants to buy back or redeem man from his sin. Have ever looked at those words, Reconciliation (to restore to favor or friendship), redemption (to buy back), Regenerate (to renew, retore, generate again). These are Semi-Pelagian terms.

Dr. Phil, you need more than grace. I am confident I can help you.

Minnow & rogerant, Adam Clarke says of Eph 2:1 “Death is often used by all writers, and in all nations, to express a state of extreme misery. The Ephesians, by trespassing and sinning, had brought themselves into a state of deplorable wretchedness, as had all the heathen nations; and having thus sinned against God, they were condemned by him, and might be considered as dead in law - incapable of performing any legal act, and always liable to the punishment of death, which they had deserved, and which was ready to be inflicted upon them.”

What does it mean to be dead? Death in the spiritual context has nothing to with being able to respond to God’s call to salvation or not. Death in its spiritual context is separation from God. You should know that by now. We were dead b/c our sin sins separated us from God.
Before the age of accountability children are alive. Paul says in Romans 7:9 “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."

Minnow
Rom 3:10-12 Calvinists don't think enough about these verses. These verses are saying that no one can understand or seeks on his own. In short, man needs help. Everyone knows that . God convicts people to respond. God enlightens man (John 1:9) so that he can understand (even John Calvin admitted to this).

Minnow & rogerant, Rom 3:12 actually helps establish Semi-Pelagianism. Reread the the verse. It says, "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;" This tells of a time of previous innocence. A time of no depravity. Man left the way. He BECAME unprofitable.

Rogerant, context means nothing to you. Ezk. 37 is talking about bringing the nation of Israel back together from captivity. This is not Calvinism.

Dr. Phil you never said where my argument is wrong. Furthermore, if you try, I will prove you wrong yet again. Nothing a Calvinist can send my way phases me. The Bible deals with error effectively.

Minnow, none of your Scripture proves Limited Atonement or Calvinism.

1 Cor. 2:14: Of course the natural man receives not the things of the spirit. Obviously he must receive the spirit before can accept his things.

Next...

John 15:5 Of course we cannot obtain salvation without Christ. He gets it started and gets it finished. We are like a drowning man. We call and He performs the work. Since Jesus died for every man, he lets man know that he is drowning in the first place.

Michael Hranek, God hardened Pharoah's heart first. This hardening wasn't to salvation. It was a hardening "that he shall not let my people go." Ex 4:21

Dr. Phil, everybody already knows that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. I don't count this as quoting Scripture b/c Rom 9:16 does not prove your point. If anything it proves my point.

My point? Phil, read the verse slowly again. There is not a bone of Calvinism in it.
1. "Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up" Its not for this purpose have I created you. Raise up to power. God can choose evil men for His purposes.
2. "..show my power in thee..my name might be declared throughout all the earth." God wanted all men to know Him.
3. God has mercy on those who love him and obey His commandments. God hardens those who ignore His conviction (you can't buy time with God).

Minnow wrote:
Arminian philosophy establishes the principle that man can overcome sin/depravity on his own ability.
BUT
In the same breath states that the same sin/depravity prevents man from coming to seek salvation???

Depravity is being deprived of something or Someone. A lot of the times it is just old bad habits that we cannot break without the Lord's help.

Only the reprobate are totally depraved. These are those who have consistently ignored God's word. They had ears to hear but didn't hear so God shut them.

No one is born totally depraved of ability to respond to God's general and personal call for salvation.

Many people think that everyone is born as actually part of God's elect at birth. This also is true. Every man is a child of God at birth.

What hardens some, softens others. Moses's style of confrontation didn't work with Pharaoh. While commenting on Origen's view of Pharaoh (On First Principles book 3) Erasmus observed, "For just as the same rain brings forth excellent fruit in cultivated ground, but thorns and thistles in uncultivated ground, and just as wax melts, but mud hardens under the action of the same sun, so God's lenient toleration of sinners leads some to repentance and makes others persistent in their wrongdoing."

You see Contender, your god is not found in Scripture (so you cannot claim Sola Scriptura), but your god is found in the Satanic philosophy of Greek Humanism (Neo-Platonic [denial of free-will], Manichaeism [total inability; false interpretation of John 6:44; inheriting Adam's sin], (Gnostic inspired) Valentinianism [responsible for predestination independent of the God's foresight of volition], etc.

The greatest mistake of Calvinism is the plagurizing of Augustine's works. Britannica.com states, "Intellectually, Augustine represents the most influential adaptation of the ancient Platonic tradition with Christian ideas that ever occurred in the Latin Christian world."

The phrase in verse 13, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated”, was not made while “the children being not yet born” [vs. 11]; but approximately 1,300 years after the death of Jacob and Esau. Verse 13 is not a quote from Genesis but from Malachi 1:2-3 which says, “l have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”

Just because one is elected does not mean they are elected for salvation. Judas was elected yet was not saved. Election to salvation requires one to receive God. Not all of God's own (elect) received Him. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" [John 1:10-12]

First, Jesus died for all mankind (1 John 2:2). Second, He gave man Holy Spirit conviction (Jude 15, John 1:19). Third, He gave man conscience (Rom 2:14-15). Fourth, He uses nature (Rom 1:20, Ps 19:1-3). Fifth, He gives all men eyes to see and ears to hear (Matthew 13:15, Eze 12:2).

Contender, your problem is that you don't see past the horrid Calvinistic tunnel. Because of that, you can't understand Job 23:13. All the verse says is that God does what He wants to do. No man can convince or force Him to do something that He doesn't want to do. What God does, He does because He wants to do it. What this verse does not say is that God will always do everything He desires to do. God wants to bless and use man, but man limits God's ability to bless and use him all the time. "Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel." [Psalms 78:41]

However in the context of this verse, God only does what He desires to do. For instance, God does not desire sin, so He will not accomodate to or allow man's sin just to reconcile man.

Other Scriptures can help you Contender. Mat 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: Act 17:26-27

Contender, you need to get off your Esau election kick. Are you too dense to understand that Jacob's election over Esau was to service? Can't you read, "The elder shall serve the younger." Serve does not spell salvation.

Take Romans 9:16 at face value. God's mercy comes from Himself. Man cannot blackmail, bribe, or coerce God to do anything. However, God tells us what man has to so (as Nahum humbly did in submission) to obtain mercy. Scripture says God will have mercy on those who fear Him. Luke 1:50 says, “And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.”

Election to salvation is conditional. 1 Peter 1:2 says, "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." John R. Rice remarks that this verse "is a flat contradiction of the so-called unconditional election." (Rice, John; False Doctrines, Hyper-Calvinism)

Thurant, your type never changes. They falsely accused the beloved Arminius and now now they falsely accuse us. They claimed Arminius taught that “Faith is not the pure gift of God, but depends partly on the grace of God, and partly on the powers of Free Will; that, if a man will, he may believe or not believe.”

In the matter of salvation, we choose with our own free will for God to save us or not. Some put it off to savor sin longer. Delay is dangerous, however, because God only gives man a short time to repent (Proverbs 29:1)

“I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway” [Psa_119:112]
Deut 10:16 "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked."

"Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings." [Jeremiah 4:4]

The Psalmist upbraids the Jews as “a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright” (Psa_78:8);

Thurant, I didn't think even you would stoop so low as to deliberately man-handle the sacred Scriptures. Have you gone mad? Where is your fear of God?

Obviously, the kingdom of God is in Heaven. No one can go and see Heaven unless he is saved. Thus, the Heaven here is the kingdom of God. Why? Because Jesus specifically says that His kingdom is not of this world. In John 18:36, "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence."