The Calvinism Debate - Way of Life Literature

he is totally depraved...” (p. 138). I certainly don’t believe thatthe sinner is a “free moral agent,” and I believe that man istotally without righteousness before God, dead in trespassesand sins, etc. I simply agree with what the Bible says aboutman believing the gospel. e Bible says that “whosoeverbelieveth in him shall not perish” (Jn. 3:16). at teaches methat a sinner can believe on Christ, but to go beyond thissimple concept and to claim that such a position is to denyhuman depravity or is to make him into a “free moral agent”is nonsense. Romans 3:10-18 and Eph. 2:1-4 are key NewTestament passages on the depravity of the sinner, but neitherpassage mentions man’s will or whether he can or cannotbelieve on Christ for salvation. e same is true for everypassage in the Bible that deals with man’s depravity in Adam,such as Gen. 6:4; Psa. 51:5; 58:3; Prov. 22:15; Ecc. 9:3; Isa.64:6; Jer. 17:9; and Mat. 15:9. Again, the Calvinist reads hisown theology into these passages.Pink and other Calvinists even liken the non-Calvinist’sposition on so-called “free will” to that of the Roman CatholicChurch. Pink quotes from the Council of Trent, which said,“If any one shall affirm, that man’s free-will, moved andexcited by God, does not, by consenting, co-operate withGod, the mover and exciter, so as to prepare and dispose itselffor the attainment of justification; if moreover anyone shallsay, that the human will cannot refuse complying, if it pleases;but that it is unactive, and merely passive; let such an one beaccursed.” Pink then concludes: “us, those who today insiston the free-will of the natural man believe precisely whatRome teaches on the subject! ... the Roman Catholics andArminians walk hand in hand...” (e Sovereignty of God, p.139). is is libelous in the extreme. e Roman CatholicChurch believes that man is not utterly unrighteous in hisfallen state and that he can actually cooperate with God in hisjustification, that salvation is by faith plus works andsacraments rather than by faith alone. e non-Calvinist doesnot believe anything like this. He simply believes the26