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Originally Posted by Tomes
Fritz Ridenour maintains, the “Orthodox do not agree that man is bound by a totally corrupt, sinful nature. According to the Orthodox, through the Fall, mankind did not inherit guilt through Adam, but instead man inherited death, mortality and corruption. When mankind fell in Adam, it was a ‘departure from the path,’ not a drastic plunge from a state of blessedness.” Hence Orthodoxy rejects Calvin’s dictum of the ‘total depravity of mankind’ (Rom. 3:10-18).
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But if Augustine and Calvin hold to total depravity of mankind, why should I follow their logical trains? They (Calvin and Augustine) are totally depraved, and their logic is thus distorted. Or is their logic somehow unquestionable, post-redemption? They have 'oracular' status, like that of Darby, Nee and Lee to come after them? Anyone who questions them is fallen; they alone have the light? I think not. Wake up and listen to yourselves. You don't have the inside track on human thought. You can look, and think, and hold forth, yes; but so can everyone else. Including the EO, and others.
To make sense of the Bible the proponents of this position need a vastly truncated scripture. Jesus taught that infants angels' were constantly beholding the face of the Father in heaven, but Calvin's reading of total hopeless depravity had them destined for the pit from birth. Or 'Limbo'. So what gives?
What gives is scripture; where the theology can't hold up to scripture, scripture is studiously ignored. I found this out in the LC: bring up the 'wrong verses' and you get a blank stare, and silence. Bringing up the 'wrong verses' in the LC means that you're not compliant; that you're questioning God's oracle; that you have a dark heart; that you're rebellious and trying to draw others after yourself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomes
Fritz Ridenour notes that “Evangelical Protestant scholars believe that the Orthodox deification approach to salvation leaves them practically ignoring the doctrine of justification by faith. For example, [Professor] Donald Fairbairn observes that ‘most elements of the orthodox understanding of salvation actually pertain to sanctification.’
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Salvation ultimately includes the salvation of the soul and transformation of the body. So that the term 'salvation' is operationally linked to 'sanctification' shouldn't be too shocking. I'm an Evangelical Protestant by birth, and affiliation, and am not a proponent of deification as an idea. But I don't really think the argument is too compelling, here.