Jumpstarter 9 of 10

Direct Answer The transcript doesn’t tell us which point should affect a person most, but it presents Augustine’s system as one where human choice is removed and God’s saving decisions are “totally arbitrary,” which would radically reshape prayer, repentance, and evangelism into matters of waiting for gifts God may or may not give. That implies a view of God’s fairness as not influenced by anything humans do.

Support from Transcript:

• Augustine teaches that after Adam’s fall man is “totally depraved” and “absolutely unable to do anything good… even unable to believe.”
• Therefore “humans can believe… only if by grace He first gives them this faith,” and “Man has no free will.”
• He says God’s decision “is totally arbitrary. There is nothing we can do to influence God’s choice.”
• He teaches God “predestined who would be saved and who would be damned… and there’s nothing we can do… to change these matters.”
• He adds perseverance is separate: some receive faith, are baptized, and obey, yet “ultimately won’t persevere.”
• “No one can know” who is elect; we cannot know who has the “gift of perseverance.”