Calvinism in Soul-Winning

A couple of other things: As I mentioned in my earlier post, I was trained in the Roman Road. One of the most valuable things I was taught was how to initiate a conversation on the subject of salvation.

I was taught to ask, "Do you give much thought to spiritual things?"

I was also taught to ask, "how do you think someone comes into a right relationship with God?' This question will tell you how much the person knows about it, and what his beliefs are. You need to know if he's depending on his good works to get him to Heaven.

Do not ask someone if they're a Christian. Christian means different things to different people. Be careful about asking if they are saved. If they say yes, where do you go from there? You must then ask what they base their hope of heaven on. That's why you must first determine how they define the terms you are using.

We must all remember that some plant, some water, but God gives the increase.

 

One more thing: Please, please, do not tell a lost person that God has a wonderful plan for his life. That fact is, God has a terrible plan for lost sinners.

The fact also is, that in much of the world today, one's public confession of Christ as Lord can get them tortured, imprisoned and/or killed.

 

How about God loves you (He does love everyone, just not everyone the same) and has a wondeful plan for HIs glory. :thumbs:

 

What? You mean you don't go along with the "purpose-driven life"?

 

Oh, don't make me puke. :flower: Have a tulip.

 

I generally agree. But can you be intellectually honest by saying to a lost person, "God loves you", while thinking, I wish I knew which kind of love God has for him, since he doesn't love everyone the same.

I just think it's better to speak in general terms, such as "God loves sinners just like you."

If you were a non-Cal, we wouldn't be talking about this. Non-Cals can say "God loves you" and be perfectly consistent with their soteriology.

Unless you can say "God loves you" without qualification and without mental reservation, 'tis better not to say it.

 

Nah, I'm a "Your best life now" kinda guy.

 

I can say it without qualification and mental reservation.

 

That should settle the question, then. The only reason I answered the way I did was that it seemed that you had placed a qualifier when you wrote:

"...just not everyone the same" was basically what I was commenting on. I just wanted to be sure that you weren't saying one thing, but thinking something else.

 

Techinally it is "loved" not "loves".

 

This one should teach me NOT to eat my dinner at the computer.

*cooouuuugh*

 

If I understand what you're saying correctly, you no longer felt guilty if someone did not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior because it was God's decision not to make them one of the elect not your's. Is that correct/

 

1. Though not directly addressed to me, I wish to propose this: In Acts 18, we find Paul frustrated at his evangelistic efforts in Corinth; he is ready to move on, but we find this: "And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people" (vv.9, 10, emphasis added).

2. A few months later Paul would write, "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God(1 Cor 1:26-29, emphasis added).

3. The natural reading is that God made a choice from among those in Corinth. It was God's doing, so that no one gets the glory but God.

 

This is particularly telling, because there's no way you can twist this to say things like "God only chose a few of noble birth because not many of noble birth responded". The whole point of this passage is about who God chooses, not about who responds.

 

Yes. :thumbs:

 

Please expand on this thought.

 

Why should anyone feel guilty about somebody not accepting Christ as Savior as if that person's eternal destiny depended on the one bringing the gospel and not on the Christ of the gospel ?

I would feel more guilty about the one who is in my care in church as pastor and proceeds to live as if the gospel meant nothing to him for there are Scriptures that lay that responsibility directly on the one who keeps the sheep for the Chief Shepherd.

 

Originally Posted by Tom Butler
Nah, I'm a "Your best life now" kinda guy.

Sorry, Bitsy, didn't mean to mess up your dinner. Actually, I'm not really a "your best life now" kind of guy. I got a little ahead of myself. I think I'm still in the a "discover the champion in you" stage. My self-esteem is just not high enough to get to the "best life" level yet.

 

But not even this obvious conclusion we are willing to accept.

 

My job as a minister of the Gospel, really as Christian since I have not been called to be an elder, is to be faithful to Christ and His message, and faithfully proclaim it. The results are in God's hands.