Shanny01
Puritan Board Freshman
Having read various discussions on moral and natural ability (especially Owen's treatment in his Holy Spirit volume) I've come to the conclusion that there is a sense in which man has a natural inability to do anything "savingly" towards God. He has the natural facultative capacity for faith and love in that man retains his mind/understanding, will, and affections and exercises these constantly yet with no active power to employ these savingly with expiration in and to God.
Wondering then if Jonathan Edwards treatment on moral and natural inability is thereby incomplete since it doesn't address (at least from what I hear) the "active power" (or lack thereof) of these faculties to be exercised in a Godward direction? An analogy that is often said is that God would never command a man to fly, thereby bringing out the natural and moral ability. However would a more proper analogy be that God commands a man with broken wings to fly? Understanding that analogies do fall short in relation to God and man's relation with him.
Wondering then if Jonathan Edwards treatment on moral and natural inability is thereby incomplete since it doesn't address (at least from what I hear) the "active power" (or lack thereof) of these faculties to be exercised in a Godward direction? An analogy that is often said is that God would never command a man to fly, thereby bringing out the natural and moral ability. However would a more proper analogy be that God commands a man with broken wings to fly? Understanding that analogies do fall short in relation to God and man's relation with him.
