The Proper Way to Think About Predestination for Calvinists

 

Questions calvinists need to ask themselves:

  1. Why preach ‘repent or perish’ when the non-elect can’t repent and the elect can’t perish?
  2. How can God hold the non-elect responsible for ‘not believing’ and damn them for it, when He deliberately did not give them the faith to enable them to believe in the first place?
  3. If Christ has already made an efficacious atonement for the sins of an elect person, is that elect person actually lost during the period prior to their being saved?
  4. During the period before an elect person gets saved, how are they condemned already (for not believing) when their unbelief (which is a sin) has already been paid for by Christ on the cross?
  5. If repentance is a gift only given to the elect, what did Jesus mean when He said that some of the people in hell would have repented if they had had the same opportunity as the people to whom He preached?
  6. Why does the Spirit of God strive and convict some sinners who later prove, by dying and going to hell, that they were non-elect? What is the purpose of such movings of the Spirit?

If the following are true:

then, how is it John Smith’s fault that he will end up burning forever in the lake of fire?

 

The Bible - "Ye MUST be born again!" Calvin - "Ye are, or ye are not already chosen to be born again! So don't worry!"

 

The Forgotten Five Points of Calvinism as Stated by John Calvin


1) AMILLENNIALISM

"But a little later there followed the Chiliasts, who limited the reign of Christ to a 1000 years. Now their fiction is too childish either to need or to be worth a refutation. And the Apocalypse, from which they undoubtedly drew a pretext for their error, does not support them. For the number 1000 does not apply to the eternal blessedness of the church but only to the various disturbances that awaited the church, while still toiling on the earth."

2) RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

"Servetus lately wrote to me, and coupled with his letter a long volume of his delirious fancies, with the Thrasonic boast, that I should see something astonishing and unheard of. He takes it upon him to come hither, if it be agreeable to me. But I am unwilling to pledge my word for his safety, for if he shall come, I shall never permit him to depart alive, provided my authority be of any avail."

3) PREDESTINATION TO HELL

"We call predestination God's eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others. Therefore, as any man has been created to one or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestinated to life or death."

4) INFANT BAPTISM

"Now, if we choose to investigate whether it is right to administer baptism to infants, shall we not say that a man is talking nonsense or indeed raving who would halt with the mere element of water and outward observance, but cannot bear to turn his mind to the spiritual mystery? If any account of this is made, it will be evident that baptism is properly administered to infants as something owed to them."

5) SACRAMENTS

"Therefore, let it be regarded as a settled principle that the sacraments have the same office as the Word of God; to offer and set forth Christ to us, and in him the treasures of heavenly grace."

Submitted by Jeffrey D. Nachimson

 

If Any of the 5 Points of Calvinism Are Wrong, They All Collapse

 

"But there were false prophets also among the people [everybody], even as there shall be false teachers among you [Christians], who will secretly bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction" (2 Peter 2.1).

 

Those who were unsaved are damned for denying the Lord bought them. Calvinist bring upon themselves swift destruction for denying that Jesus died for sinners. Since limited atonement is destroyed by 2 Peter 2.1, so are all 5 points of calvinism destroyed.

 

"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2.2).

 

Again, Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, so limited atonement is destroyed. If limited atonement is false, so are all 5 points of calvinism.

 

"And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger" (Gen. 25.23).

 

The focus here is two nations, not predestinating robots, but God foreknowing and knowing our free-choice. He knew the line of people. He gave Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, the choice. So there are freewill offerings. When is freewill not freewill? Never. When is foreknowing not foreknowing? Never. Esau, Edom and Ishmael bring forth Islam and the Muslims. Whereas Jacob gives us the line of people from which Jesus would be born through the Israelites.

 

"For the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid" (Rom. 9.11-14).

 

Again, this is talking about two nations and would be addressing foreknowing our free-choice even knowing in the womb. Who would deny God's infinite foreknowing of all choices of all peoples?

 

"The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness" (Mal. 1.1-3).

 

These are two nations which He foreknew (Rom. 8.29) their free-choice. Free-choice was given to the first man and women, the second man and woman and to all men and women.

 

 

A Free Will

 

In discussing man and his will we particularly should bear in mind that he exercises a free will. This means that man is sovereign, that he has a sovereign will. What he disapproves of should not be forced on him, what he opposes should not be coerced. Free will signifies that man can choose what he wants. He is not a mechanical toy to be run by others. He is responsible for all his actions; the will within controls all matters both inside and outside him. He is not governed automatically by an external force; rather, he houses a principle within him which determines his acts.

 

This was the state of man when created by God. The man the Creator fashioned was not something mechanical; for it will be recalled that God said to him: "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen. 2.16-17). How did God command him? God persuaded, prohibited, yet never coerced. If Adam were disposed to listen and not eat the forbidden fruit, it would be Adam who so willed. But if he would not listen and would eat, even God would not restrain him. That is free will. God put this responsibility of eating or not eating upon man for him to choose according to his untrammeled will. God did not create an Adam who was incapable of sinning, rebelling or stealing, since to have done so would have been to make man into a piece of machinery. God could advise, prohibit and command; however, the responsibility of hearing or not lay with man. Out of love, God gave the command beforehand; out of righteousness, he would not force man to do what the latter did not wish to do. For man to obey God, it requires a willingness on his part, because God never compels him. He could verily employ sundry means to make man willing; nevertheless, until he gives his consent God will not make His way into the man.

 

This is an exceedingly vital principle. We shall see later how the Creator never works against this principle, whereas the evil spirits consistently do. By this can we distinguish what is of God and what is not.

 

Your Freewill is Truly Free to be Under God or Under Satan

 

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6.51).

 

Salvation is offered to everyone.

 

“Whosoever WILL, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 22.17).

 

Freewill is freewill. If freewill is not freewill, then why does the Bible use the term, freewill 17 times?

 

"Freewill offering(s)" (Lev. 22.18,21,23; 23.38; Num. 15.3; 29.39; Deut 12.6,17; 16.10; 23.23; 2 Chron. 31.14; Ezra 1.4; 3.5; 8.28; Ps. 119.108).

 

"Freewill offering of the people" (Ezra 7.16).

 

"Which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee" (Ezra 7.13).

 

The question you have to ask yourself is if freewill is not free, then what would convince you it is? It appears nothing, no words, could convince you if you want to still assume total depravity. Though man is fallen, he is not totally deprave. Man is deprave, not totally deprave. A calvinist can't discern the difference in the rigid legalisms of their mind without the spirit. Adam and Eve chose freely; Cain and Abel chose freely; and so it continues with each man and woman.

 

If you are totally deprave and everyone is totally deprave, then your god must work indiscriminately, randomly, inconsistently, inconsiderately and picking without reason, feeling or conscience.

 

But if God does not make you totally deprave, He is can operate accordingly to fulfill all these requirements to draw those people to Himself who are willing recipients as sovereign beings when "God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion..'." (Gen. 1.26), "so God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female, he created them" (v.27). Repeated twice for double emphasis! Don't sweep over. He gave them the choice: "and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it..'." (v.28). If a person doesn't want to have sex or manage the earth, that is his or her option. God will never coerce man.

 

The Fall and Salvation

 

Unfortunately, mankind has fallen. By this plunge man’s unfettered volition suffered prodigious damage. We may say that there are two massive contradictory wills throughout the universe. On the one side stands the holy and perfect will of God; on the other is arrayed the defiled, defiling and opposing will of Satan. In between subsists the sovereign, independent, free will of man. When man listens to the devil and rebels against God he seems to render an eternal "no" to God’s will and an abiding "yes" to Satan’s. Since man employs his volition to choose the will of the devil, his volition falls captive to the devil. Therefore all his acts are governed by Satan’s will. Until he overturns his early subjection, mad s will remains unquestionably oppressed by the enemy power.

 

In this fallen position and condition man is fleshly. This flesh—by which his will, together with his other organs, is ruled—is thoroughly corrupted. How can anything pleasing to God ever result from such a darkened will? Even his questing after God springs from the realm of the flesh and therefore lacks any spiritual value. He may invent many ways of worshiping God at this time, yet all are his own ideas, all are "will-worship" (Col. 2.23 ASV), totally unacceptable to Him.

 

Let us realize, then, that except a man receive God’s new life and serve Him therein, every bit of service for God is but the work of the flesh. His intention to serve and even to suffer for Him is vain. Before he is regenerated, his will, even though it may be inclined towards good and God, is futile. For it is not what fallen man intends to do for God but how He Himself wishes man to do for Him that really counts in God’s eyes. Man may devise and initiate countless notable works for God; nonetheless, if they do not originate with God they are nothing more than will-worship.

 

This is true with respect to salvation. When man lives carnally even his desire to be saved is not acceptable to God. We read in the Gospel of John that "to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (1.12-13). Man is not regenerated because he wills it so. He must be born of God. Nowadays Christians entertain the incorrect concept that if anyone wishes to be saved and seeks the way of life he undoubtedly will be a good disciple of Christ, for nothing can be better than this desire. God nonetheless affirms that in this matter of regeneration as well as in all other matters related to Him, the will of man is totally nonefficacious.

 

Many children of God cannot understand why John 1 asserts the will of man to be noneffective whereas Revelation concludes by saying, "Let him who desires take the water of life without price" (22.17), as though man himself is entirely responsible for his salvation. And does not the Lord Jesus Himself give as explanation for the Jews not being saved the following declaration: "You refuse to come to me that you may have life" (John 5.40) ? Here again, the responsibility for perdition apparently rests on man’s will. Can the Bible be contradicting itself? Is there any special meaning behind these apparent inconsistencies? A comprehension of this matter will help us to appreciate what God requires of us in our Christian life.

 

We will recall that God wishes no one to "perish but that all should reach repentance" because He "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Peter 3.9; 1 Tim. 2.4). No problem arises concerning whom God wants to save or whom He will let perish. The problem before us is, rather, what is the sinner’s attitude towards God’s will? If he decides to be a Christian because he is naturally inclined towards "religion," naturally contemptuous of the world or naturally influenced by his heredity, environment or family, he is as far from God and His life as are other sinners. If the sinner chooses to be a Christian at the moment of excitement or enthusiasm, he may not fare better than the rest. It all reduces itself to this: what is his attitude towards God’s will? God loves him, but will he accept this love? Christ calls him, but will he come? The Holy Spirit wants to give him life, but is he willing to be born? His will is useful only in choosing God’s will. The question now is, and solely is, how does his volition react towards God’s will?

 

Have we noticed the difference here? If man himself commences the search for salvation, he is yet perishing. Various founders of religions belong to this category. But if man, upon hearing the gospel, is willing to accept what God offers to him, he shall be saved. In the one case, man originates; in the other, he receives. The one does the willing himself while the other accepts God’s will. John 1 speaks of man himself willing, whereas John 5 and Revelation 22 refer to man’s accepting God’s will. Hence no contradiction exists between these two; rather is there a very crucial lesson for us to learn.

 

Troy Brooks