Arminian Will worship

[stenerson]

OOps! did it again. I meant Arminian (not Armenian) Will worship.. I've heard the term used by some reformed folk.
They seem to believe Paul was speaking of free will religion or synergism in that passage concerning will worship.

Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility [falsely motivated], and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh" (Col. 2:23).

I don't see the connection.What say you?

(don't get me wrong, I definitely believe Arminianism is false doctrine/error)

 

[AMR]

Corrected the thread title as it had only one post and would not confuse anyone.

 

[stenerson]

Corrected the thread title as it had only one post and would not confuse anyone.

 

[twin1954]

OOps! did it again. I meant Arminian (not Armenian) Will worship.. I've heard the term used by some reformed folk.
They seem to believe Paul was speaking of free will religion or synergism in that passage concerning will worship.

I don't see the connection.What say you?

(don't get me wrong, I definitely believe Arminianism is false doctrine/error)

The passage in its context is speaking of the imposing of rules and regulation and false doctrines that sound wise and right but are only to the satisfaction of the flesh. The term will worship is speaking about worship by the will and of the will. It applies to Arminianism and I believe was intended by the Spirit to mean Arminian free will doctrine. What Paul is writing against in Col. 2 is the essence of Arminianism.

 

[stenerson]

The passage in its context is speaking of the imposing of rules and regulation and false doctrines that sound wise and right but are only to the satisfaction of the flesh. The term will worship is speaking about worship by the will and of the will. It applies to Arminianism and I believe was intended by the Spirit to mean Arminian free will doctrine. What Paul is writing against in Col. 2 is the essence of Arminianism.

Thanks for the reply. I understand the text as dealing with those trying to restrain the flesh through strict asceticism. An extreme example monasticism. I can see how it may all be inter-related. I just never heard that angle on that text till recently.

 

[twin1954]

Thanks for the reply. I understand the text as dealing with those trying to restrain the flesh through strict asceticism. An extreme example monasticism. I can see how it may all be inter-related. I just never heard that angle on that text till recently.

It has more than asceticism in mind. Arminian free-will works religion is certainly described in the passage. It sets up works as a requirement of salvation. It worships the will and makes the will the fulcrum on which salvation rests. It has no real value except to satisfy the idea of the flesh concerning God and Christ and salvation.

There was a thread a while back on the passage you may care to find. It was a bit confrontational though IIRC.

 

[AMR]

Will worship essentially seeks to conform the ways of God to the ways of man, such that all He does is in accordance to how man thinks God should be, versus what God is. Will worship, then, is essentially idolatry.

 

[lesliedellow]

Will worship essentially seeks to conform the ways of God to the ways of man, such that all He does is in accordance to how man thinks God should be, versus what God is. Will worship, then, is essentially idolatry.

I have just encountered plenty of that on a thread in the philosophy section. God is only allowed to act in ways we approve of, and, if he doesn't ask our permission first, he is being a tyrant when he acts.

This is a democratic age, when the consumer is king, politicians do our bidding, and God is supposed to stand for reelection as President of The Universe, every four or five years.

 

[stenerson]

I have just encountered plenty of that on a thread in the philosophy section. God is only allowed to act in ways we approve of, and, if he doesn't ask our permission first, he is being a tyrant when he acts.

This is a democratic age, when the consumer is king, politicians do our bidding, and God is supposed to stand for reelection as President of The Universe, every four or five years.

Yep. The God of scripture is called a monster, tyrant, etc. by these folks. It truly is idolatry.

 

[AMR]

Yep. The God of scripture is called a monster, tyrant, etc. by these folks. It truly is idolatry.

As Spurgeon noted...

“There is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all.

There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend than the dominion of their Master over all creation—the kingship of God over all the works of his own hands—the throne of God, and his right to sit upon that throne.

On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on his throne.

They will allow him to be in his workshop to fashion worlds and to make stars. They will allow him to be in his almonry to dispense his alms and bestow his bounties. They will allow him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean;

but when God ascends his throne, his creatures then gnash their teeth; and when we proclaim an enthroned God, and his right to do as he wills with his own, to dispose of his creatures as he thinks well, without consulting them in the matter, then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on his throne is not the God they love.

They love him anywhere better than they do when he sits with his sceptre in his hand and his crown upon his head.”​