Comments on: Linkage: freedom and islamophobia.

By: will

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:45:00 +0000

Forced conversion only alters the external appearance for most but not really the heart.

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By: Wiless

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:29:00 +0000

Yes. We certainly don’t believe in forcing conversions, agreed.

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By: chrisgale

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:07:00 +0000

Well, he is orthodox, and I would rather quote him in his entirety. Whiskey is best drunk neat. And the 40 virgins being sacrificed witness against our tolerance of a hooking up culture in the church.

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By: chrisgale

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:06:00 +0000

Will, I must admit that I have difficulty here. I believe that we are chosen from the beginning and the will of God is inexorable, but I also believe God is a God of laws and we live in a predictable universe. And we have the ability to choose.
Without Christ, however, we will choose evil. Even our best work and deeds are tainted.
Now is that free will or free agency? I’m not sure.

But we do not force this choice onto people. Consider Iran (now) and Geneva (under Calvin). Calvin was not the final authority. He set up the consistory, certainly, but on many issues (such as frequency of communion) he had to bow to the city council. He was never able to set up a panoptical society.

Islam forces submission — you convert, die, or become a dhimmi. We don’t: in fact, if you consider that the second half of the 100 years war was much more about France fighting with the Hasburgs than the Prots, then we have had very few sectional wars. We work by arguing. For us, freedom is an opportunity: for Islam it is a threat.

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By: will

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:35:00 +0000

A shame though that the Author goes on about o the ever-virgin Mary.Ruined to whole thing for me. Just as a little leaven sours the dough. It brings to mind the Vestal virgins.

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By: will

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:30:00 +0000

What is goodness without free will?
What is obedience ,What is love?

without a potential for the opposite to occur

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By: Wiless

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 06:22:00 +0000

We Reformed don’t believe in free will, and actually, that puts us in common with the Sunnites; the Shiites believe in free will, like everyone in Christendom who isn’t Reformed.
Now, we believe in free agency; that is, the ability to make decisions, but our being dead in our sins and trespasses till quickened by the Holy Spirit, means until that happens, we can’t choose for Christ; but once quickened, we realize our helplessness and need of a Saviour, and freely flee to the Cross, for our salvation.

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