Back in the late 300 AD time, Constantine had converted to Christianity and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. He also bankrolled seminaries and theological schools. From this time, therefore, people arose, debating and writing about what Christianity was, what it meant and how it all worked. One such writer was Augustine. He wrote about original sin and how people were born into sin and the need for grace. One person arose to oppose him and that was Pelagius.
Pelagius said that people were born neutral or sinless with a completely free will. People had the capacity, unaided by God, to keep most of the commandments and to please God. He said that people could, on their own, reason out what God wanted and therefore accept Christ and be saved. God still did the saving work, according to Pelagius, but God would be sitting back waiting for people to come to him. Pelagius said that there was a universal grace given to everyone to allow people to have free will to accept or reject Christ all on their own.
Today, the ideas of Pelagius have been expanded. Modern Pelagianism says that people are basically good. If left to themselves, people will always do good and choose the right thing to do. Progressives take this idea one step further. They say that people will always choose good and right thoughts and actions. If they do not, however, it is because external forces are coming against them. Progressives talk about lack of education and lack of money as the causes for crime. This is why they are pushing for free or low cost education. Anyone can get a government guaranteed college loan. This is why they seek a high minimum wage. They are trying to form a utopia of goodness.
Moral Philosophers like Immanuel Kant, Martin Heidegger and Georg Hegal tried to come up with reasons why people should be good, and compassionate and helpful. One such through is this: If everyone was doing what you are doing, would it be good for society. This sort of utilitarian thought does no go far, because most people will favor their self interest over the interests of society.
The problem with modern progressive Pelagianism is that it is not supported by reality. All over the world there are horrible atrocities. Recently Boka Haram came into a village in Africa, hacked up everyone with machetes, and kidnapped 40 young girls to be sex salves. If people are left to themselves with no restraint and no accountability, they will not seek to help and be compassionate, they will kill people and take sex salves. If people are basically good, why do people have and use keys? Why are there passwords for bank accounts? Why do people protect themselves from thieves and robbers if people are basically good?
Augustine stood against Pelagius. Augustine said that people have no capacity for good, that they fight against God all the time, actually hate God and cannot choose Christ and believe in Christ on their own. Augustine said that God is the first mover in salvation by enabling certain people to believe and accept Christ. Today it is clear that people are not using their free will to choose good, but to choose evil. Praying for God to save people is the only fix for the horrific, terrible, evil state of the world. External forces are not causing people to do evil, sin is.
Pelagius said that people were born neutral or sinless with a completely free will. People had the capacity, unaided by God, to keep most of the commandments and to please God. He said that people could, on their own, reason out what God wanted and therefore accept Christ and be saved. God still did the saving work, according to Pelagius, but God would be sitting back waiting for people to come to him. Pelagius said that there was a universal grace given to everyone to allow people to have free will to accept or reject Christ all on their own.
Today, the ideas of Pelagius have been expanded. Modern Pelagianism says that people are basically good. If left to themselves, people will always do good and choose the right thing to do. Progressives take this idea one step further. They say that people will always choose good and right thoughts and actions. If they do not, however, it is because external forces are coming against them. Progressives talk about lack of education and lack of money as the causes for crime. This is why they are pushing for free or low cost education. Anyone can get a government guaranteed college loan. This is why they seek a high minimum wage. They are trying to form a utopia of goodness.Moral Philosophers like Immanuel Kant, Martin Heidegger and Georg Hegal tried to come up with reasons why people should be good, and compassionate and helpful. One such through is this: If everyone was doing what you are doing, would it be good for society. This sort of utilitarian thought does no go far, because most people will favor their self interest over the interests of society.
The problem with modern progressive Pelagianism is that it is not supported by reality. All over the world there are horrible atrocities. Recently Boka Haram came into a village in Africa, hacked up everyone with machetes, and kidnapped 40 young girls to be sex salves. If people are left to themselves with no restraint and no accountability, they will not seek to help and be compassionate, they will kill people and take sex salves. If people are basically good, why do people have and use keys? Why are there passwords for bank accounts? Why do people protect themselves from thieves and robbers if people are basically good?
Augustine stood against Pelagius. Augustine said that people have no capacity for good, that they fight against God all the time, actually hate God and cannot choose Christ and believe in Christ on their own. Augustine said that God is the first mover in salvation by enabling certain people to believe and accept Christ. Today it is clear that people are not using their free will to choose good, but to choose evil. Praying for God to save people is the only fix for the horrific, terrible, evil state of the world. External forces are not causing people to do evil, sin is.
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