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Predestination is Practical

Discussion in 'Calvinism & Arminianism Debate' started by Iconoclast, Apr 16, 2021.

  1. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    I looks as if some still struggle with this issue. Here is a short helpful article to help out;
    Predestination is Practical

    Predestination is a beautiful doctrine. Its beauty lies in the fact that a holy God has revealed it to us in his Word. And, as Calvin and Boettner point out, it has significant practical application. Predestination is not merely a topic for discussion and debate among curious seminary students. It tells us much about the character of God:

    • God is meticulously writing the story of history according to his own script. Though we speak of “accidents,” really, there are no accidents. Nothing will take place today that hasn’t been carefully planned before in eternity past by an all-powerful and good Creator.
    • God loves sinners. We should never get over the stunning reality of this statement. Though we have rebelled against him, yet God sent his only Son to die in the place of sinful men and women to rescue them from sin and death (Rom. 5:8). Christ, who was not guilty, laid down his life for the guilty (1 Pet. 3:18). He bore the wrath we deserve.
    • God uses means to achieve his ends. Our Lord selects weak clay pots and sends them to the ends of the earth to preach the good news of his rescue mission in Christ (Rom. 10:14-15). He gives fallen men the unconscionable privilege of proclaiming his sin-slaying, death-defeating gospel.
    • God’s glory is ultimate, not man’s. The outset of the Shorter Catechism famously marks out the chief end of man—to glorify God and enjoy him forever. God made us for his glory (Isa. 42:8). Every pursuit in life is to be done with an eye to the spread of his fame.
    Predestination also says something important about us: apart from a unilateral work of grace, we cannot please God. We are dead in our sins, and dead men can do nothing (Eph. 2:1). Therefore, we ignore predestination to our own spiritual malnourishment.
     
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  2. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    pt2;
    A Practical Doctrine

    Here are a few ways this often-maligned doctrine puts steel in our spiritual backbones.

    1. Predestination means our salvation is as secure and settled as the God who selected us. If our inheritance is rooted in God—who chose us before the salvation of the world—then we cannot fall away. We did nothing to gain it. We can do nothing to lose it (Rom. 8:31-29). By his grace, God’s people will persevere to the end, even through many dangers, toils, and snares. This truth is a balm of comfort to saints who are wearied by the daily struggles of life, whose spiritual legs may be weakened by the daily war within and without. The God who chose you will surely keep you (John 10:28). Calvin:

    “For there is not a more effectual means of building up faith than the giving our open ears to the election of God, which the Holy Spirit seals upon our heart while we hear, showing us that it stands in the eternal and immutable goodwill of God towards us; and that, therefore, it cannot be moved or altered by any storms of the world, by any assaults of Satan, by any changes, by any fluctuations or weaknesses of the flesh. For our salvation is then sure to us, when we find the cause of it in the breast of God.”

    2. Predestination means our salvation is eternally grounded in a sovereign, good God, therefore, our sufferings, sorrows, persecutions, and defeats are not an accident. God is not taken off guard when we suffer. As Spurgeon put it, “All the hounds of affliction are muzzled till God sets them free.” And, of greater importance, as Paul famously articulated it in Romans 8:28, “God causes all things to work together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.” God is never late. He never gets the wrong address. Though you may never fully understand it, your hurt is his instrument put to use in his indefatigable mission of remaking you into the image of his Son. God’s absolute sovereignty wed with his goodness is the best medicine for human anxiety.

    Boettner draws on the words of Presbyterian pastor Clarence E. Macartney:

    “The misfortunes and adversities of life, so called, assume a different color when we look at them through this glass. It is sad to hear people trying to live over their lives again and saying to themselves, ‘If I had taken a different turning of the road,’ ‘If I had married another person.’ All this is weak and unchristian. The web of destiny we have woven, in a sense, with our own hands, and yet God had His part in it. It is God’s part in it, and not our part, that gives us faith and hope.”

    3. Predestination means we should be humble and thankful, not bitter, fearful or always spoiling for debate. Why did God choose to adopt me into his family? Why am I a Christian and (at least for now) my neighbor is not? Why was I born to parents who valued the church and treasured God’s Word? Why do I have the indescribable privilege of serving as a herald of God’s truth and serving God’s people. I can’t explain any of it except as Scripture does: It was the kind intention of his will (Eph. 1:5). I did not—could not—save myself. That it pleased God to do so should humble me and put thanksgiving on my lips every moment of every day—because God did it all, and I did nothing. My life could’ve been radically different, but because of his grace, it’s not. God has been good to me, has suffered long with me, and I must extend the same grace to others, particularly brothers and sisters in Christ who have yet to fully wrestle with this doctrine.
     
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  3. utilyan

    utilyan Well-Known Member
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    We shouldn't seek leverage over God.

    To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of "predestination", he includes in it each person's free response to his grace.


    "God uses means to achieve his ends." Some folks would argue God is limited. For example some Calvinist would say the GOSPEL can't save anyone.
     
  4. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    Perhaps if you read what was offered you might get closer to the discussion and thought offered.
    Your random thoughts are off topic.
    Your futile attempt to caricature Calvinists shows defective thought and lack of honesty.
     
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  5. utilyan

    utilyan Well-Known Member
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    2 Problems here.

    #1 your looking for leverage against God. God is not dependent of "predestination". Loving God vs having God figured out.

    #2 Is it not all on God or not? We cannot please God and in the same breathe Where do you get the idea that a more proper behavior or respect qualifies you better?




    "God is meticulously writing the story"
    This is where God is telling you that you are wrong. I rather be authored eating some ice cream.
     
  6. utilyan

    utilyan Well-Known Member
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    Very evident in this thread.

    Had I argued Jesus Christ was a woman, anyone gleefully would provide scripture to the contrary.

    However instead all you can provide was an ad hominem, "defective thought and lack of honesty."
     
  7. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    This post is incoherent.I have no idea what you are trying to say.
     
  8. 37818

    37818 Well-Known Member

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    God's absolute omiscience cannot not be.
     
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  9. tyndale1946

    tyndale1946 Well-Known Member
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    They are trying to get back to the garden... IOW... Jesus Christ is dead in vain!... Either he is the Savior or you appointed yourself?... Brother Glen:)

    Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

    8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

    8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

    utilyan!... Ben and Jerry's or Baskin-Robbins?
     
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  10. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    For you to even mention trying to "leverage " God makes no sense.
    That is not even Christian conversation.
     
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