Saturday, February 26, 2011

Debunking the doctrine of "Limited Atonement"

Below is a PDF of a 20-page paper for my Pauline Soteriology class defending the idea that Christ's sacrifice was intended for all humanity and not just some as the doctrine of Limited Atonement asserts.

Click here to download The Universality of Salvation.
(I improved a few grammatical parts in this PDF from when it was first submitted. Also, this is a much more extensive treatment on the subject than my Jan. 9 article on the Scope of Christ's sacrifice.)

3 comments:

  1. Sam how does the Catholic view of the atonement align with Arminius? do you have any idea?

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  2. I haven't studied Arminianism much, but if I understand correctly, Catholics depart in that Catholics do not believe man of his own accord can come to faith. I believe Arminians do think man can come to faith of his own accord. Catholics believe grace must be the driving force of that assent. Council of Trent: "[Man] is...not able, by his own free will, without the grace of God, to move himself unto justice in His sight. Whence, when it is said in the sacred writings: Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you, we are admonished of our liberty; and when we answer; Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted, we confess that we are prevented by the grace of God."

    Not a year ago, I asked the folks at CAF what was the scoop with Arminianism, but did not get an answer.
    http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=522910

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  3. Oh, and looking through other notes here, see also the concluding paragraph of the Council of Orange (529) that Trent echoed:

    "The sin of the first man has so impaired and weakened free will that no one thereafter can either love God as he ought or believe in God or do good for God's sake, **unless the grace of divine mercy has preceded him**." (Council of Orange, conclusion)

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