Whosoever Will May Come!

"Total depravity" is a concept found in the writings of Calvinists and Arminians alike but not in Scripture. They contend that fallen men are incapable of doing what is right. If that's true, however, why are there literally hundreds of instances recorded in Scripture where men are required by God to make moral choices?

Calvinists assume that man's moral incapacity has been compensated for by God's foreordination of human choices and election of some to salvation. Arminians explain that God's prevenient grace has removed some of the debilitating effects of the fall allowing even fallen men to freely choose.

But, while Scripture does have a lot to say about fallen man's pervasive sin nature, careful word studies and analysis of conventional "proof-texts" drive us to conclusions other than those of the two traditional theological boxes.

Though Scripture reveals God as absolutely sovereign over His creation, His sovereignty is found to be not that of a puppeteer who manipulates His creatures to do His predetermined will but that of a loving father who extends to his children a measure of autonomy to choose between right and wrong. And, while God foreknows the choices men will make, he sovereignly orchestrates the outcomes of those choices in line with his wise and loving purposes.