Greg Koukl: Explaining Free Will and Calvinism | Part 1 of 3
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
- Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason discusses free will and Calvinism. Recorded at STR's weekly radio broadcast.
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I wonder if 5 pointers look down at their 2 yr old daughter and wonder, "Wow, she might be in the reprobate from start so salvation is not available to her. But that's God's sovereignty so I'm okay with that." Or if they comfort the family who just lost a child to cancer telling them they are at peace in heaven, when the child very easily could not have been in the elect.
Even if these were reasonable questions that could be asked with a valid understanding of calvinism, they don't refute calvanism. It's just emotional blackmail
@@praze2god37 thank you! I was going to call the same thing, but now I don't have to.
@@taylor-bh8re Even if Calvinist’s were are all cold, soulless meanies it doesn’t disprove Calvinism as an interpretation of scripture. Reformed theology is either exegesis or eisegesis. It’s emotional consequences (if any) are irrelevant to the truth of the belief. @texasautiger is using the logical fallacy known as “argument of consequence” here
@@praze2god37 I do very much appreciate you pointing it out!
You cannot know if you have freewill if you believe men do not have Freewill! It is not logically possible. But, as usual, reform theology leaves these conundrums to ITS A MYSTERY!! What a cop out.
Men like Sproul, J. White, Bauchum will say a blade of grass won't move in the wind without God making it so, that everything, EVERYTHING is determined by God. From the flower that blossoms, to the man that murders someone. Since determinism is to that degree, what is the point of satan if God determines his actions? It doesn't fit other scripture.
The problem is the understanding of the word "predestination".
@@lasirius1 Really? What's the problem? Does predestination not mean predestination? Maybe justification doesn't mean justification either, nor sanctification, nor incarnation, nor crucifixion, nor resurrection, nor ascension, and thereby no salvation. Oopsie!
God's determining all things simply means that God actually is God -- that He actually rules over His creation. If God isn't in charge of the smallest molecule at the farthest reach of the universe, then who is? Beside that, God let's us know very clearly that He absolutely is in control of His creation, yet without puppetizing a single morally-responsible agent (humans and angels). And we know this because the Word of God teaches both of these things. I'd love to challenge you to a study of the matter. I ask that you read even such a simple and short book as The Sovereignty of God by AW Pink, or even Chosen By God by RC Sproul. I wouldn't expect you to be as diligent as I was when I was opposing the Reformed Faith when I was challenged, and accepted the challenged, to carefully, prayerfully, and honestly, read the book The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Loraine Boettner. Or if you're willing we could just go through a study together, that I've offered to numerous cowardly folks opposing these great doctrines, though they've all chickened out. I've had only one who took up the challenge in many years, but he bailed before we could even get through the T in TULIP. I know why he did. He felt himself being painted in a corner. I got painted into a corner many years ago, and I'm so glad that I did. Glory to God, I'm no longer trapped in that foolishness. Here's hoping you have the wherewithall to accept, go through, and not bail, on such a challenge.
@@stegokitty Hello! Thanks for the offer to walk me through a study of reformed theology! Be gentle with me, I'm just a guy with his bible! I accept!
So, I'm a bit confused. I see you say that God "controls" everything in His creation down to the smallest molecule, but at the same time man has a free will to do as he chooses (not a puppet as you said). How does God "control" a free will while still keeping it's freedom? If man has a free will, as you eluded to, can he freely come to the knowledge of truth through hearing the gospel? This is where I get confused about Satan. If yes, and God has given man the ability to come like John 6:44 says, then total inability can't be true. But if it's no, and He controls ALL things down to furthest molecule of His creation, isn't he controlling the wills of His creation, and so, even the will of Satan? Maybe I'm just confused here and you can help straighten me out.
Thanks for your help, I look forward to it!
@@bolt.22 Well, thanks for taking me up on the challenge. I'll go over the details after giving you the short answers to your questions.
I have no idea of HOW God is in control over all things, including the decisions of men, but the Bible teaches it thusly, and therefore I am to believe it, whether I understand it or not. I don't understand how the Trinity works, nor how Jesus can be 100% God and 100% Man at the same time, nor of how He, being God almighty in the flesh, can die; now how God can be infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, but I know the Scriptures teach it, and therefore I believe it. As someone once said, I believe in order to understand (even if I never completely understand).
To answer your questions (quickly):
//If man has a free will, as you eluded to, can he freely come to the knowledge of truth through hearing the gospel?//
The "free will" is something that must be discussed in greater detail. Mankind's will, and everything else in him is corrupted. We inherited this corruption in the fall of our first parents, particularly Adam, in the garden. All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God; are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of Hell forever. Man's will is "free" only in the sense that he chooses in accordance with the inclination of his heart and never against those inclinations. Since his heart is desperately wicked, he chooses only sin always and cannot choose good. Even when he does what is, humanly speaking, good, as in caring for his family, he still is sinning because he doesn't do it out of love for Christ. Even if he says 2+2=4, he thinks this is so because "the universe!", and does not give God the glory for creating a meaningful and logical cosmos, and he certainly isn't giving Christ the glory.
The Bible describes mankind as being in BONDAGE to sin (and loving it); under the rule of Satan, who has blinded them, keeping them from turning from their sins unto Christ. They are unable to please God, opposed to all righteousness, etc. That is not the description of a will that is free, but rather one that is in bondage. And a will enslaved to sin cannot do anything pleasing to God. To turn from sin unto Christ in faith and repentance would be pleasing to God. They cannot do this on their own. This is why the regeneration of their hearts by the inner working of the Holy Spirit is necessary for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
//This is where I get confused about Satan. If yes, and God has given man the ability to come like John 6:44 says, then total inability can't be true.//
John 6:44 doesn't say that God has given man the ability. Jesus says that UNLESS the Father draws a man, he CANNOT come to Christ. Notice He doesn't say "may not" (which has to do with permission) but rather "can not" which has to do with ability. And He drives this home when He says "This is why I told you that no man is able to come to me unless it is GRANTED to him by the Father." As well, notice that ALL whom the Father draws DO come to Christ; ALL whom the Father has given to the Son DO come to Him; and ALL who learn from the Father DO come to Him ... and this phrase He repeats three times "and I will raise him up on the last day." So this is not some general description of God giving blanket ability to everyone, because very obviously not everyone comes to Christ, and therefore not everyone is going to be raised up on the last day, in the sense the Jesus is referring, which is being raised to life and not to condemnation. The ones who are given by the Father, who are drawn by the Father, and who learn from the Father, ALL of these are those whom Christ raises up on the last day.
//But if it's no, and He controls ALL things down to furthest molecule of His creation, isn't he controlling the wills of His creation, and so, even the will of Satan? //
Indeed God controls Satan, yet without puppetizing neither him nor mankind. We all "freely" choose to sin. Only if we are MADE actually free by the Spirit of God (think of Ezekiel's "very dry bones", being raised, with all they accompany, with breath and life) are we then ENABLED to see our sin for what it is, and it's offense to God, turn from it with grief and hatred of it, and turn unto Christ in faith and repentance, and be saved.
With this in mind, the method of our study must not take place in these tiny RUclips chats, nor merely in email, but via reading material designed to help you to understand the actual and full teaching of Scripture on this matter. And even if you aren't convinced of this position in the end, at least you'll have an understanding of what the Reformed position is, and you won't be swinging in the dark. What I'm asking of you is to actually communicate in real time, whether via phone call or Skype or something else like that. This way real conversation can be had and neither of us can dodge the other's questions. I would be sending you some short and readable information to read and then we'd discuss it with whatever questions or objections you might have.
I'm hopeful with your initial agreement but I'll reserve admiration for if you actually take me up on the full offer thusly described (hint: this is where every other person who has said to me "Okay!" has stopped, with one exception a few years ago ... though he bailed on me before we even finished Chapter 1 on "Total Depravity".
I wasn't raised in Reformed Theology, and I fought against it tooth and nail. I expect you to do the same thing -- and you should! You shouldn't believe anything that cannot truly stand on its own. If something is the truth it will stand. So I urge you to approach this in the same way that I did back some years ago, which is to pray for wisdom; to be willing to say "Amen" to that which you agree, and to put up your best (honest) fight you can against that which you believe to be false; and yet to be willing to be wrong, and to change your mind when the evidence from Scripture demands it. If we can do a 180º turns on lesser things in our lives, how much more so should we be willing, if the Word tells us to.
Just like if you were debating a JW on the deity of Christ, or with a Oneness Pentecostal on the Trinity, you'd want him to be honest with the Word and to not ignore it when it inconvenienced his position.
Anyway, I hope to hear a positive on the conditions of our study. The Lord bless and keep you.
Just makes me lose a ton of respect for Greg. Such a huge blind spot.
That all sin is a fact is undeniable… that any person will sin a particular sin at a particular time is not something that seems obvious. If my intuition on this is correct, it would mean that for any given sin a given person might abstain from committing it which opens, as a mere possibility, that one might never choose to sin. That is is possible in no way means that it will happen and this is, I think, an important point to ponder.
This showed back up on my feed and I was inclined to and ultimately chose to write again🤪 I think that I can offer some help here. Think of when you get an itch… you can choose not to scratch it but you will pretty much always scratch it. This is how I think it works with many sins and, if I’m correct, then it seems like I have the genuine ability to scratch the itch but I just will scratch it. Free not to scratch but I am still a scratcher. One of the things that I am looking forward to is when, in resurrection, God sets my inclinations right so that they are aimed at righteousness (at him). Interestingly enough, these inclinations exist in a way that points me away from him and they exist against my will; I am not free from such inclinations nor am I in a position to set them right (they happen to me). When God acts to free me from wicked inclinations he will, ultimately, be acting in accordance with my will.
The problems of Calvinism are simply explained historically. John Calvin got his theology from "St." Augustine of Hippo . Before Augustine became a Christian he was a Manichean Gnostic for nearly ten years.. If you look at Manichean Gnosticism, you find all the points of Calvinism. And if you examine the earliest Church Fathers, there is nothing that matches any of either Augustine's or Calvin's beliefs.
This is the logical fallacy known as the genetic fallacy. You cannot claim a statement of reality is false simply because of where the statement came from.
If a magic muskrat gave John Calvin a grape laced with drugs and he went into a trance wherein a dragon told him that 2+2=4, it would still be true that 2+2=4
@@praze2god37 Matt. 7 16 - "By their fruits you will know them." I've heard people say and do things that are patently unChristian and justify their right to do such things by directly citing John Calvin.
@@robertm2000 You are correct. Every belief structure throughout all of human history has had at least one person abuse it. People do it often with Christianity. In fact, I suspect you are doing it right now with the verse you just gave me but I can't tell because I don't know what point you are trying to make with it. What point are you trying to make and what relevance did this have to the point I made about your logical fallacy?
@@praze2god37 James 1:22 - "Be doers of the word and not hearers only..." If you don't understand that, I can pray for you but I can't help you any other way.
@@robertm2000 Hey I don’t know if you knew this but in the English language if your objective is to be understood, it would behoove you to use full, relevant, coherent sentences when responding to a logical engagement.
Not option B which apparently is linking verses out of context with no obvious relevance to any objection pitted against your logical failures
Stand To Reason, except with calvinism, and its incoherence, still can't believe Greg subscribes to this.......just putting a stone is his sock.....
Subscribes to what?
@@leonardu6094 calvinism
You failed to offer what the alternative lens to views Christianity though is. No Calvinist will turn away when you fail to offer anything to turn to.
@@HearGodsWord alternative lens to calvinism??I failed in what way? how about the calvinist step out of their isigesis and search a little bit to see other views. Simply bizarre Greg adheres to reformed theology while talking about "putting a rock in ones shoe...." yet subscribing to determinism. I admired him for adopting I think 2 girls in his 50s. I do think deep inside him he must know calvinism is not true.It's not easy to step away from such a system, especially when entrenched with so many who adhere to this way of thinking. Calvinism is a very short step from atheism/materialism, and their god is very much like Allah. Maybe consider reading John Lennox "Determined to Believe," and really considering Augustine's life in a broad coherent perspective. Lord have mercy!
@@truthseeker5698 so you don't know then.
The unbeliever always sins against God because of their ignorance, blindness and fallen nature. Their free will always NOT choose God. The believer, we have died to sin Romans 6:1-4. We don't have to sin because Jesus has conquered sin and it is no longer our only option or totality of nature. Thus, for the saved, when we sin; it is a choice.
God will not make a person obey Him unless it is to fulfill prophecy.
We have the freewill to choose just like the angels who chose to follow Satan.
God chooses whom He will save because He knows who will believe and who will obey. Many are called but few are chosen. The road is narrow and few find it. John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
64. However, there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him.)
65. Then Jesus said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has granted it to him.”
From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. John 6:66
My name is Arnold Bur and I am an Elohimist.
Sad. This is why I stopped listening to Greg koukl
What an absolute waste of time. Have faith in God. Live for God. Leave the details to Him. It is not that difficult guys.
Yes, ignore particular teachings in the Scriptures, if you don't think they have any bearing on you. That's helpful. What's next, suggesting that the Doctrine of the Trinity isn't important?
It disappoints me to hear Koukl is a five-point Calvinist, but I'm really glad he isn't a garden variety Calvinist -- the kind that considers only Reformed views worthy of consideration and habitually lambastes non-Calvinists as "man-centered" in their theology.
I listened to probably 100 sermons from John Macarthur before I heard him saying the calvinist nonsense that Jesus died only for the elect and everyone's destiny was already chosen for them before birth. I ignored it the first time then I heard it a couple more times and started looking into their ignorant teachings. Thankfully there are so many good videos on here refuting the calvinist nonsense.
Few people realize that John Calvin was the pioneer in "separation of church & state" & "freedom of religion (conscience)" thinking. He actively promoted it. For that, America owes him a debt of gratitude.
Being "self centered" and being "man centered" are not the same thing. I said the latter. Non-Calvinists, by nature of their necessary theological position, are man-centered, in that man is the ultimate reason for salvation, rather than God. There isn't enough room in this tiny box to get into the explanation of this fact, but I'm willing to go through a concise study on the matter with you, if you're willing, in private messages.
This is a logical fallacy, non Calvinist's are in no way man centered. Non Calvinist's hold that God does all the work and that man has zero activity in the process of salvation, when we accept the gift created and made for us, that does not make us a part of creating the gift or choosing to offer the gift.
@@JStevensdk7 Really? So all of those non-Calvinists through the years, fussing at me for saying that God must sovereignly change the disposition of the hearts of fallen men so that they are then enabled to see their sin, repent of it, and turn to christ in faith and obedience -- really believed the same thing as I did, even though they kept saying they didn't? I believe there's a disconnect in your logic, friend. Tell me, Why God saved you?
@@stegokitty Would need more details but you may have been talking with an Armenian possibly? They believe in the unsupported view of original sin aka inherited sin guilt which again Ez18 refutes. Both Calvinism and Arminianism were created in the 16th century based on Augustines manichean gnosticism. Pre Calvin and Augustine the early church held and believed the following:
James 1:13-15
“13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
God does not either directly determine (EDD) nor use desire manipulation aka compatibilism to determine all things, people sin when they freely choose based on all sorts of desires influences and other factorsz but none of those are determinative.
Back to Greg, he holds the lowest form of compatibilism but even that lowest form is not compatible with scripture.
I recommend you do a quick search in YT for the words Kosmos Sozo, watch and let me know where I'm wrong. 👍
God elects all those who put their faith and trust in His Son. How you become saved is quite simple and everyone has the ability.
Romans 10:9
"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you WILL be saved.
@@JStevensdk7 //Would need more details but you may have been talking with an Armenian possibly? They believe in the unsupported view of original sin aka inherited sin guilt which again Ez18 refutes.//
I think you mean Arminian, as Armenians are people from the country of Armenia. But Ezra 18 in no way, shape, nor form refutes the doctrine of original sin, since this is the teaching of Scripture and of just plain ol' reason. You cannot point out anyone who has not sinned. Just can't happen. It's because it's in us genetically. This is why Jesus had to be born of the woman and not from the union of a man and a woman as that would be a corrupted seed. And as Christ said through Paul in Romans 5:12-21. Again and again, we see that through ONE MAN'S SIN all men DIED because IN that one man ALL MEN SINNED.
So actually you reveal that your position is that of the heretic Pelagius. Yours is a salvation in which you can take credit but Jesus said through Paul that we are saved by God's GRACE through faith, and even that faith is not from us, but is a gift from God; not of works, lest any many should boast. But YOU can boast since you helped God to save you, or that you saved yourself through your great virtue.
We are born into this world children of wrath and enemies of God by NATURE (Eph 2:2-3)
//Both Calvinism and Arminianism were created in the 16th century based on Augustines manichean gnosticism.//
That's like JW's saying the Trinity was created blah blah blah. You don't deny the Trinity do you? Do you?
Pre Calvin and Augustine the early church held and believed the following://
That's a ridiculous thing to say. Oh so after Augustine and Calvin no one believed James 1:13-15 except for people who didn't like Calvin and Augustine. Good grief.
James 1:13-15
“13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
Umm ... notice that Christ speaking through James says "each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own DESIRES ..." The desires come from a corrupt heart, one that we are born with. It's why babies can die. See, the wages of sin is death. And only if babies rose from the dead, at least on the third day, could your position have a leg to stand on. But they die because they are sinners. They are guilty by association with the first Adam. This doesn't mean they go to Hell, but they do die. And they die because they have sinned in Adam. Just as those who are in Christ (the Second Adam) are made alive, etc.
So as you can see, we believe James 1:13-15, we just believe it in keeping with the rest of Scripture. We don't go cherry picking verses. It's all one inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God.
//God does not either directly determine (EDD) nor use desire manipulation aka compatibilism to determine all things, people sin when they freely choose based on all sorts of desires influences and other factorsz but none of those are determinative.//
And yet we see this over and over in Scripture, including the crucifixion of Christ. "this Jesus, delivered up ACCORDING to the DEFINITE PLAN and FOREKNOWLEDGE of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." (Acts 2: 23)
Explain that to me. How is God going to have a definite plan and foreknowledge of something that hadn't happened. And it can't just happen out of thin air. It has to happen by means of human agents. Furthermore, it's not the Calvinists who are complaining to Paul, when he talks about Moses and Pharaoh and God, and how God chose to be merciful to Moses but raised Pharaoh up for the explicit purpose of displaying His glory through Pharoah's disobedience. Did God CAUSE him to sin? Of course not! But it was both foreordained, and that which was done by the free moral agency of Pharaoh. And what does Paul say concerning the folks (the anti-Calvinists, basically) who are complaining about that situation? "You will say to me then, “WHY DOES HE STILL FIND FAULT? FOR WHO CAN RESIST HIS WILL?”
And the answer ... : "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make OUT OF THE SAME LUMP one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? "
... same lump. God is dealing with sinners. Sinners are guilty and worthy only of death, and He has mercy on some sinners and in others He displays His wrath, and Glory to God. Don't believe me? Keep reading ... :
"What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath PREPARED FOR DESTRUCTION, in order to MAKE KNOWNS the riches of his glory FOR VESSELS OF MERCY, which he has PREPARED BEFOREHAND for glory- EVEN US whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?" (Rom 9:19-24)
You see, God does this for the benefit of His people, so that they can see the mercy and wrath of God in the same act. We ALL deserve God's wrath and indignation forever. But He had MERCY on us. He didn't have mercy on every sinner. And you and I should be quaking in our boots. There's absolutely no difference between you and me and Pharaoh or Hitler or Jeffrey Dahmer, etc. except that God brought us out of the pit and left the others in it, where we all belong.
But you can't have that kind of humility, can you?
Please do read the whole chapter after you go back and read the original situation in Exodus 7:3-4 (where God says he will harden Pharaoh's heart BEFORE He sent Moses to him.
//Back to Greg, he holds the lowest form of compatibilism but even that lowest form is not compatible with scripture.
I recommend you do a quick search in YT for the words Kosmos Sozo, watch and let me know where I'm wrong. 👍//
I've already shown you where you're wrong. Stop being wrong.
//God elects all those who put their faith and trust in His Son. How you become saved is quite simple and everyone has the ability.//
Firstly, once again, you have some place to boast in your salvation because "everyone has the ability". How do you explain the fact that someone else heard the same Gospel and though it sounded about as attractive as a frontal lobotomy? What made the difference between you and that person? Was the difference from WITHIN or from WITHOUT? Either everyone has it and some just don't choose it, which means that you, because you chose correctly are smarter, more noble, wiser, more virtuous, than those who did not choose correctly. How is that? Do you see the problem here?
As well you have God being very careful to elect those who elect themselves. In other words, God's election is meaningless. He's just scratching goody marks on the chalkboard for the folks who said "Yes" to Jesus, because of everyone's great ability. And those stupid people over there, they didn't use their free will as nobly and wisely as YOU did. That's the key right there. You can have no humility about salvation at all, because "How you become saved is quite simple and everyone has the ability." And yet Jesus said "NO ONE CAN come to me UNLESS it is GRANTED to him by the Father." So you say that man has the ability and Jesus says he doesn't. Guess who I'm going to believe.
//Romans 10:9
"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you WILL be saved.//
That's right. So how many dead people can raise themselves up to do that?
@texasAUtiger
No to both of your wonderings. There is no way in this life to dicern who is among the elect or reprobate and Calvinists DO NOT claim to know who in in either camp. The Gospel is to be preached to all, and it is the Lord Who will call whom He will call and overlook whom he will overlook.
... raver ... !
Everyone limits the atonement, whether in scope or in power. Calvin was a bit sloppy in some of the things he said, but by and large, his teaching was the Christ suffered and died for the sake of the elect, just as He said in the Scriptures. Again, ALL Christians limit the atonement: Calvinists see the blood of Christ actually accomplishing that for which it was shed; non-Calvinists see Christ's blood as mostly ineffectual.
@ElasticGiraffe - Non Calvinists ARE man-centerd in their soteriology. I can prove it in less than five minutes with you or any non-Calvinist. There is only one kind of Calvinist, BTW, just as Greg said. Anything less than five points is logically impossible. If you agree with the BIBLICAL doctrine of the permeating depravity of fallen mankind, then you MUST, agree with the rest of the doctrine. This is also easily proven from Scripture.
that's what calvinism tells you and you think you are pleasing God by believing it. Garbage.
This is a logical fallacy false statement. See my comments above. Accepting the free gift of salvation does not make the person in any way apart of the process of salvation nor in the offering of the gift.
@@JStevensdk7 //Accepting the free gift of salvation does not make the person in any way apart of the process of salvation nor in the offering of the gift.//
It does if you believe that in your unregenerate estate you inclined yourself away from your sin (which you by nature loved) and toward Christ (whom you by nature loathed) in faith and repentance in obedience to the Gospel. If the Spirit of God did not of necessity change the disposition of your unregenerate heart, you did, and therefore you had something to do with your salvation, including raising yourself from the dead.
@@stegokitty Not at all, you falsely assume total inability which is unbiblical, there are zero verses that infer nor explicitly stated humanity has some sort of inability to be able to believe the well meant offer of the Gospel. John 3:17 and Kosmos Sozo explicitly refutes such a concept.
Scripture is clear that God genuinely seeks to save all sinners and the lost, desires that all of humanity might be saved, died for all, I could quote the many verses irrefutably proving this.
Per Romans 1 God has sufficiently revealed Himself and the gospel to everyone such that no one can have any excuse.
God creating people in a blocked or unable state while at the same time commanding all men everywhere to repent is a blatant illogical and unscriptural contradiction, easily debunked if simply accepts the preserved word of God.