# The Bondage of the will and as it relates to predestination



## dudley (Aug 8, 2012)

I am currently reading “On the Bondage of the Will” or “De Servo Arbitrio” by Martin Luther at the recommendation of my new friend and also your friend on this and other Reformed forums, Derek Lambert. I have recently I believe become more Calvinistic and agree completely now also with Luther in that I believe like Luther and many Calvinists on “Un-free Will", or the will being limited according to ones nature which he is born into, or bound choice. I have come to believe like many Calvinists do now in “bound choice” which means that sin incapacitates human beings from working out their own salvation, and that they are completely incapable of bringing themselves to God. As such I believe now like a Calvinist Protestant which I believe I have become. I believe because of Derek Lamberts guidance and a few conversations I had with him like Luther that there is no free will for humanity because any will we might have is overwhelmed by the influence of sin. I also believe we are chosen and elected to salvation by God alone because I believe like Luther and as a Reformed Protestant in the power and complete sovereignty of God. 
My religious beliefs have undergone I think a radical transformation in recent years in that I can relate with Calvin and Luther as a former Roman catholic and also say as John Calvin did that I have experienced a ‘true Protestant conversion”. I not only was “born again“, I experienced “a true Protestant conversion ”as Calvin also described of himself in his biography. I deduce it was only through the wonderful grace of God and his total sovereignty over all things that I imagine , thank God , that I do not have a trace of Roman Catholicism left in my heart and soul and being after this unique conversion experience. I have become very much like the Reformers of the 16th century, who also were at one time Roman catholic; I have experienced a complete conversion and I am now like them and many of my fellow protestants on the Reformed forums. It is why I have become such a militant and uncompromising Protestant. I also therefore stand with all the Reformers and as a current day confrontational Protestant against the Roman Catholic Church and all that she teaches. I stand with Martin Luther who grandly laid uncovered the glorious foundation of Justification by faith Alone! I stand today with an equally grand worker of this great endeavor, John Calvin who lay unlocked the ancient foundations of the Covenant of Grace. I stand as well with his supportive brother of Zurich, I stand with Zwingle, and John Knox in Scotland, and all my fellow Protestants today in protesting the apostate teachings of Roman Catholicism and her antichrist pope. I am proud to be and stand up for the truth of the Gospel and it is why I therefore proclaim so loudly “I am now a Protestant!” I also stand with another great Reformed protestant of the modern era; Charles Spurgeon who I admire and have read much of in recent years since becoming a Protestant. Spurgeon said the Roman Catholic Church is the masterpiece of Satan and the Queen of Iniquity“ I agree with Spurgeon completely and it is why I am not afraid to renounce the Roman Catholic Church, I believe we should renounce her if we are true Protestants. Spurgeon went on to say “Her idolatries are the scorn of reason and the abhorrence of faith! The iniquities of her practice and the enormities of her doctrine almost surpass belief! Popery is as much the masterpiece of Satan as the Gospel is the masterpiece of God! There can scarcely be imagined anything of devilish craftiness or Satanic wickedness which could be compared with her—she is unparalleled as the queen of iniquity.”
Finally I stand with you Navajo, and Derek and all my fellow Reformed Calvinist Protestants on this and many other Reformed Protestant forums as my brothers in Christ and as fellow messengers of the true Gospel and faith of the apostles which we all believe is the Reformed Protestant faith. I vow and pledge to do all I can do to help others see the truth of the Protestant Reformation and I, Dudley Davis, stand today with you as a Protestant and a Calvinist and a Presbyterian.!


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## earl40 (Aug 8, 2012)

Love your convictions that I also enjoy as a "rabid" protestant. With this in mind remember that our conversion probably happened before we realized it. As a matter of fact I believe this is so with most Christians and we need to be charitable to many who have not received the grace to overcome the error of false teachings. So let's keep on reforming dear Dudly towards the goal of meeting Jesus face to face.


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## AlexanderHenderson1647 (Aug 8, 2012)

What glorious thoughts, what an amazing journey! It is very emotional for me, first because you speak these wonders of God's glory and great power. But also hearing your story reminds me much of my own. What a delightful thing to proclaim that Gospel religion that is Christ's family!


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## johnbugay (Aug 9, 2012)

Hi Dudley, I know what you mean about a "true Protestant conversion" and "not a trace of Roman Catholicism left in my heart and soul". Keep on fighting the good fight.


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## earl40 (Aug 9, 2012)

johnbugay said:


> Hi Dudley, I know what you mean about a "true Protestant conversion" and "not a trace of Roman Catholicism left in my heart and soul". Keep on fighting the good fight.



I wonder if our brothers that came from other protestant backgrounds realize the what a "true Protestant conversion" is. I know I did not while attending a Baptist church though I believed in faith alone. Personally I think one would only find it in the theology of The Reformers who almost were all RC at one time. I heard RC Sproul explain this when he often confuses his "true Protestant conversion" with when he was regenerated. He stated he did not know when he first believed but often cites his "experience" in collage as when he was converted.


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## NB3K (Aug 9, 2012)

I am happy for you and it is amazing to see how the Spirit illumens the eyes of blind men and makes them see what they never saw what was there in the first place.


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## NB3K (Aug 10, 2012)

Dudley,

My favorite passage of Scripture that destroys "free-will" in the act of "Salvation".




> I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
> I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
> I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
> to a nation that was not called by my name.
> (Isaiah 65:1 ESV)


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## Frosty (Aug 10, 2012)

Dudley, as usual, thanks for sharing your mind with the board. I am currently reading _Admiral Coligny and the Rise of the Huguenots_, by William Blackburn, and that work has done a lot in helping me understand more deeply what it means to be a Protestant. It makes me sad when Protestants, especially leaders, want to buddy-up with the RCC. It seems they are not thinking about the great theological differences, as well as the struggles that their ancestors in the faith went through at the hands of the RCC. I praise God for His work in your life.


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## dudley (Aug 10, 2012)

earl40 said:


> johnbugay said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Dudley, I know what you mean about a "true Protestant conversion" and "not a trace of Roman Catholicism left in my heart and soul". Keep on fighting the good fight.
> ...



Amen Earl and you are correct. Many cradle Protestants do not realize what It means to have "a true Protestant converesion". I was not only born again I truly cam to believe in the teachings of the Protestant Reformation completely. I tell many There are Five reasons I am now a Reformed Protestant and they are the same Five reasons I am no longer a Roman catholic!
As a Reformed Protestant We give glory to God alone , Roman Catholicism does not give Glory to God alone.
As a Presbyterian and a Reformed Protestant I place my faith in Christ alone. Roman Catholicism does not.
As a Reformed Protestant in the Presbyterian church I rely on scripture alone as our final authority , Roman Catholicism does not; it says scripture must be seen with tradition and then the RCC and her pope can even override and add to scripture!
I am a Reformed Protestant and thankful as such I am now a Presbyterian because I know I am saved by faith alone, Roman Catholicism says it is faith and works; we must merit our salvation and that theology leads men int...o the turmoil of hell and despair. Man cannot save Himself that is why God sent us the Redeemer, Jesus Christ to save us and make us righteous by imparting Christ’s righteousness to us to justify us and sanctify us but through no merit of our own, He did that because He knew we were not able to do it for ourselves. 
It is through Grace alone that we are given Faith alone In Christ alone and know that it is Scripture alone that is our only and final authority. Because of this great gift of Grace alone I am a Reformed Protestant now and a Presbyterian. Roman Catholicism does not accept the 5 solas of the Protestant Reformation which are biblically correct and supported. This is also why I renounce my former Roman Catholic faith and her antichrist pope and proclaim by the Grace of God alone I am now born again into the truth of the Gospel and salvation. I now embrace and defend the Reformed Protestant faith as a Presbyterian and I renounce and protest the teachings of the RCC because Roman Catholicism is Apostate!!! I am now a Protestant and stand with the Protestant Reformers of the 16th century and my Protestant friends in Christ and protest the heretical teachings of Roman Catholicism!


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