Debate With Turretin Fan, Introduction
After dropping a triple-whammy on Triablogue by crushing Paul Manata's arguments, reducing Steve Hays to incoherence and outright fallacy, and exposing Triablogue's sockpuppeting, looks like one of their fans who goes by the moniker of "Turretin Fan" is going to try and soar where Triablogue crashed and burned. He's issued a challenge for me to engage in what will be my first formal, written debate. I'll post links here for my statements as well as his from his debate blog.
My Opening Statement
Turretin Fan's Response
Cross Examination (5 questions by me, then 5 by TF):
My Questions:
#1 How exactly would something like damnation being the consequence to violating a ‘pastoral warning’ “have use in the form of preventing the warned person from ever doing” what is warned against?
TF's first answer
#2 How is being diligent to enter into eternal rest so that we do not fall after Israel's example of unbelief (for which they did not enter that rest) a "condition of Christian life" that is mutually exclusive of being a "condition for Heavenly Life?"
TF's second answer
#3 If God unequivocally promises that the consequences of His warnings against apostasy given to the saints will never come to pass, then why should anyone pay any heed or caution to avoid them?
TF's third answer
#4 If both the warnings against final apostasy and their consequences are given to motivate believers to persevere/avoid chastisement/obey/love/etc (as your responses indicate), yet the consequences are not even to be considered real-world possibilities, then how are the given consequences specifically meant to spur believers to perseverance?
TF's fourth answer
#5 Hypothetically speaking, if God did allow one who was born again and had his sins atoned for by the blood of Christ to sin by violating the scriptural warnings given against apostasy, would the violator then no longer be born again or have his sins atoned for?
TF's fifth answer
TurretinFan's Questions:
#1 Is God's love for those humans whom he loves conditional on their behavior, or is God's love for them unconditional on their behavior?
My first answer
#2 Given your comment, "God desires that none of His apostatize," (yet seemingly God might not prevent apostasy) is God able to keep people from falling away into apostasy or does something (man's free will?) stop God from keeping them from falling?
My second answer
#3 Given your comment, "God can do whatever He pleases within the range of His holy nature, nobody prevents Him," is it pleasing and within the range of Christ's holy nature to save to the uttermost those whom he wishes to save by making intercession for them?
My third answer
#4 It appears that your position is that genuine believers can violate certain warnings, with the consequence of such violations being hellfire. Is that correct, or is the consequence merely a return to an unsaved (but re-savable) state from a saved state?
My fourth answer
#5 Given your assertion that, "We have to a degree attained salvation through faith, but it's ours probationally, its condition being continuance in Christ; final salvation is not attained until one has endured to the end," what shall we make of verses that suggest salvation is unconditional on works?
My fifth answer
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