Hi, Robby:
        You asked,
| RW>         In this way, this passage resolves the apparent
| RW> dichotomy between Calvinism and Arminianism.  God's election
| RW> includes both grace, or "power" to respond and be saved, -and-
| RW> grace, or "permission" to use our fallen will and resist if we
| RW> really insist on it.
|
|Before I respond, I need to clarify what you are saying.  I believe that
|you are stating that God predestines the elect, but they have the ability
|to refuse.  Is that right?
        Looks to me as if the elect are chosen by God's
foreknoledge of how they actually are going to respond to the
gospel.  I would say that, yes, they have the ability to
refuse, but God already knows they are going to accept.
        With regard to the others, who are not elect, it looks
to me as though they have the option of accepting or refusing.
If they accept, it is a work of God in their hearts.  If they
refuse, it is by the use of our own stubborn will.
        Our Fresh Manna on ACTS 16:14-15a, which we sent out
just a few minutes ago, touches on this, and may help
elucidate, not so much how we would explain election, as how we
handle it in practical teaching.
    ||        Praise the name of Jesus!   --Ralph
    ||        Ralph & Gene Ann Wood
    ||        randg.wood@encode.com
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