Reformed vs. Arminian: children and the way they should go

Well, I'm not really "reformed" in the covenant theology sense, and someone who holds to covenant theology might have a slightly different answer.

I'll give you my own personal Calvinistic answer, though.

No more than any other believing parent would be concerned that their children might not believe.

God uses means to bring His elect to salvation, and the training received in a believing home is one of those means. It is God who determines when and where and to whom we are born, and determining the home someone is born into may be one of the ways He ensures that His elect hear the gospel so they will believe and be saved.

(BTW, I believe this is a proverb--a general principle to go by, but not an absolutely hard and fast promise. It is possible to teach your child as you ought to, and still have him willfully rebel against God.)

 

God uses means to bring ALL who will be saved into salvation. So the question is how are the elect saved differently than all others who will be saved? You do believe that more will be saved than just the elect don't you?

As for God determining when, where, and to whom we are born, if you truly believe that then you must believe that God endorses unmarried sex. It is estimated that slightly under a majority of children born today were conceived prior to their parents being married, and many are born to unwed mothers. Does that sound like something that God would endorse? Does he know? Of course he knows, he's omniscient God. And He knows that those who engage in unmarried sex are sinning against God and against themselves.

Did God determine what child is conceived through rape? Not likely or God would be an accomplice to the rape. What a position you place God in with that one.

If God determines each conception and birth you are saying that God knew that there would be tens of millions of American children aborted and he would have determined exactly which ones. This line of thinking places the blame for every abortion squarely on God, are you sure you want to so accuse God? I wonder if any of those tens of millions were the "elect of God"? Odds are some fair percentage of them would have been.

Is it not enough to know that God created the mechanism through which the Human race is perpetuated without Him having to determine exactly when and to whom each human will be conceived?

It seem to me that is a pretty good reason why God leaves the choice of believing, which results in "the new birth" up to man, Ya see, God created the Salvation Mechanism, but like natural conception, he does not make the choices for us. Our "new birth" is the result of our choice, and not the predetermination of God!

Think it through!

 

Think it through and ignore what the Bible says!

 

Well, if Paul says in his speech in Acts that God determines the when and where of our births, don't you think there must be a way God can do that without endorsing unmarried sex?