CANON IV. If any one shall affirm, that man’s freewill, moved and excited by God, does not, by consenting, cooperate with God, the mover and exciter, so as to prepare and dispose itself for the attainment of justification; if moreover, anyone shall say, that the human will cannot refuse complying, if it pleases, but that it is inactive, and merely passive; let such an one be accursed"!
CANON V.- If anyone shall affirm, that since the fall of Adam, man’s freewill is lost and extinguished; or, that it is a thing titular, yea a name, without a thing, and a fiction introduced by Satan into the Church; let such an one be accursed"!
I guess I'll never be a Catholic. I happen to believe what Scripture actually says about the ability of men to "accept Christ" as Savior. In a nut-shell it says we are dead in the water, and cannot assist in our recovery. There are too many verses affirming this to list, so, I won't try. Having said that, I "...affirm, that since the fall of Adam, man's freewill is lost and extinguished...." therefore, whatever I am today is a direct result of a rebirth by the Holy Spirit on my being. I had nothing to do with it. That makes me "anathema" according to the Council of Trent and the Catholic Church.
I have another problem now however, it is that my Baptist church teaches the same thing. so now I'm beginning to wonder what I am. I'm probably just a Christian, since I really didn't choose to be what I am. God did it to me and that's all there is to it. [note: The technical terminology for this is monergism].
I read this analogy about the idea that "all" men are fully capable as fallen humans, to "choose to accept Christ as savior." [note: The technical word for this is synergism; it is the doctrine that man must cooperate with God through his "free will" to attain salvation].
Let us consider the following analogy to illustrate synergism. Developers purchase some undeveloped land to create a new housing subdivision. They hire contractors to build houses on the land. The contractors hire electricians to wire each house for electricity. The power company is hired to bring electric power to the subdivision and hook each house up to the power. The houses are sold and occupied. If one drove through the subdivision at 11:30 p.m., and noticed that the lights were on in some houses but not others, who would they consider responsible for that fact? Since every house was equally wired with power and occupied by a person capable of turning on a switch, the only reason the lights would be on in some houses but not others is that in some cases the occupants turned them on. The occupants are the responsible parties.
That is what Catholicism teaches and what my Baptist church teaches regarding the salvation of the lost. One man told me, "I knew I was lost and needed Jesus, and that's all I know: So, I chose to accept Christ as my personal savior." In other words this man tells everyone HE turned on the "light switch." Why? Because he "felt" the need to do so.
I wouldn't be writing about this if wasn't for the fact that our Pastor is very disturbed that the "synergists" (those who have free-will) don't participate in church stuff very well and he can't figure out why? Maybe it's because they either can't find the light switch, or they really do enjoy sitting in the dark. I read on Al Mohler's blog this morning that one of these kinds of people defined herself this way:
(I am) "culturally, though not theologically" Christian
I think that phrase pretty well defines too many "Christians" in America today.
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