Any action on our part, whether meritorious or not, undermines the sufficiency of Christ's finished work. The Biblical view is that Christ's death alone was sufficient to save those whom the Father gave Him; that no one given to Him by the Father would be lost. The Biblical view is that Christ stated unequivocally on the cross: "It is finished." The Open View assaults the sufficiency of Christ by putting conditions on salvation. On the Open Theist's conception of soteriology, Jesus could not say, "It is finished," because more would have to be added later. The best He could say would be: "Let's see if this works."
I have grown up and can use quote boxes (thx to GIT). God in His sovereignty and wisdom set conditions on how we are to enter into a relationship with a holy God. We subjectively appropriate His objective provision. He initiates and provides, but we respond to His drawing and conviction. Love and faith are not coerced, but are an intelligent, volitional response to truth. Some reject the truth because they love darkness. Others receive Him (active vs passive) and become children of God (Jn. 1:12; 3:16, 36). God's 'atonement is not limited. His love is not arbitrary, but it is impartial.
The GROUNDS of salvation (reason for which) are grace and the person and FINISHED, sufficient work of Christ. We cannot save ourselves. Receiving this gift does not take away from its perfection nor make it self-salvation.
The CONDITIONS (if...then...whoever believes, etc...NOT WITHOUT WHICH) are set by God and are the way we enter into right relationship with Him. The reason some are not saved is not due to a limited atonement or an arbitrary decree in eternity past. The reason is that men reject truth and light. This is why they are culpable and condemned (Acts 17 shows the different responses to the gospel...receive/reject/procrastinate).
IT IS FINISHED (grounds). Appropriating this (conditions) does not mean that we are adding to the perfect provision. You confuse conditions/grounds and cling to a deductive theology that is not based on exegesis.
What one "deserves" has nothing to do with it. Rather, it has everything to do with the sufficiency of Christ's work. If you had to accept the gift in order to receive salvation, then Christ's work was not sufficient to save you.
Christ's work is sufficient, but not everyone receives Him. Accepting a gift is not a work, nor meritorious. It is a response to God's drawing. Your causative/coerced views do not resonate with the nature of love, relationship, and freedom (compatibilism is as strained as a decretal system or Molinism).
No one deserves salvation under any circumstances; no one deserves a wife under any circumstances. The only thing we all deserve is hell. That's what makes Christ's work so blessed and awesome for those He died for.
This is correct, but you are making God's love and justice limited and partial, contrary to His revealed character and ways. God does not save some, but not save others that He could save if He wanted to (elect vs non-elect is a wrong doctrine...corporate vs individual election is defensible). The atonement is not limited; grace is not irresistible; election is not unconditional.
He does. Absolutely. He holds every atom inside your brain together. Col 1:16,17. That's micromanagement.
This is true for metaphysics or atoms. It is not applicable to moral, relational, volitional, freedom, love issues. You are proof texting atoms and applying it to those created in the personal, moral, spiritual image of God :nono:
False dichotomy. God predetermined that we would have give-and-take reciprocal love relationships.
God did set the parameters for this. This includes genuine, significant freedom. He does not predetermine every moral and mundane choice (negating freedom/responsibility). He does determine that we would have the capacity to chose between alternatives. God's will is not the only factor in the universe. He is not the only free moral agent. This is by His sovereign choice and design. You go beyond the text to think this means exhaustive, meticulous control vs providential control/responsiveness (omnicompetent vs exhaustive control).
God's decrees always comes to pass. But His commands are not always obeyed. Please have a look at the following link for elaboration on this.
God's Prescriptive vs. Decretive Will.
God does not have a secret will back of His apparent will. A decretal system is needed to prop up a defective theology.
Not an absurdity; a necessity. God must have exhaustive foreknowledge precisely because He determined it all in advance.
There are two motifs in Scripture. You are prooftexting one motif (Is. 46; 48) that God predestines some things and brings them to pass by His ability (not foreknowledge=Arminian), while ignoring the other motif that some of the future is contingent, open, unsettled (e.g. changes like Hezekiah/Moses/Jonah).
He is a loving Father who, through His son, holds every atom of the universe together. This is not a "cosmic control freak." This is God. He cannot NOT be in complete and utter cosmic control of all things whatsoever. Only the humanist/existentialist will be so bold and insolent as to question God's prerogative, indeed the necessity, to control the cosmos down to every last detail.
God could have chose this type of controlling, deterministic universe. The evidence is that He chose a providential vs exhaustive control. Calvinism and Islam are fatalistic, not biblical. God holds the universe together, and creates the parameters that His creation will operate in. This does not necessitate that He dictates whether I will chose vanilla or chocolate or which way I will drive to work.
You extrapolate from a specific idea and wrongly over-generalize it.
Hypocrite, moron, jackass, and liar,
How wude...where's the soap for your mouth?
You said you read "The God who risks". While not perfect, it is unfortunate that you persist in a no-risk, deterministic view rather than the self-evident relational, risk view of God's self-revelation. God is not humanized by Open Theism. Rather, God's great love and wisdom are exalted as we see how great He is to be able to govern a universe of significant others without treating us like pawns on a chess board. Nothing and noone can thwart His project and plans. This does not mean that He gets His way in every detail (Hitler/hell).
You are a smart man, but evidence of how a preconceived theology can blind one to simple, biblical truth :readthis: