That Calvinism teaches that before any humans were born, God picked out which of us would spend eternity with Him and which ones would end up in eternal conscious torment?
Would this be a fair statement?
Discussion in 'Calvinism & Arminianism Debate' started by saved and sure, Dec 15, 2017.
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saved and sure MemberSite Supporter
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What does the Scripture state?
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1)Not a Calvinist position, but the Scripture position.
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If by free will men choose, then that depends on where God had them be born, and to whom. He knew that He would create millions of people who would never hear the gospel.
Calvinism = God is God -
saved and sure MemberSite Supporter
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What are infralapsarianism, sublapsarianism, and supralapsarianism?
HankD -
saved and sure MemberSite Supporter
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saved and sure MemberSite Supporter
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saved and sure MemberSite Supporter
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Ephesians 1. The entire book of Romans, especially chapter 9 for a start. John 6 and 10. . . -
We are already condemned by our own actions.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. -
Aside from JMB, the recently deceased R.C. Sproul held it as well as Luther, Calvin, Zanchius, Turretin, Bavinck and Warfield among many others.
Double predestination is not equal ultimacy --even Herman Hoeksema acknowledged that. -
I have held from early on in my walk with the LORD that the 'tension" between the sovereignty of God and the responsibly of man in reference to soteriology is beyond us for the present time else this centuries long debate (for the most part) would have ended long ago.
It may not become clear to us perhaps not even until we enter the eternal state of the resurrection.
My opinion (strong) of course.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
HankD -
Your reply makes God a poor communicator. He gave us His Word, but people twist it, Hank, as Peter tells us. Just because there is disagreement doesn't mean that both sides are right. There is disagreement because we have an enemy, we have minds that need renewal, and some of us are a little slower than others. -
Your question is more pointed in that it desires to resolve if God actually made a person to be condemned.
It is not hard to understand, but hard to be settled, for the questions ultimately presents God as some kind of ogre in the human perspective, being unfair and unjust.
But, as Romans 9 states, can the vessel make a complaint about how they are made to the potter?
So, what is already known?
1) God created all things (John 1)
2) Those who are unbelievers are "already condemned." (John 3)
3) Therefore, it is concluded that God in fact made all as unbelievers (already condemned) in which He purposed of His own choosing to redeem some. (consistent with Romans 9)
Example:
Next time you are in the fruits and vegetables sections of a grocery, consider why you choose some and reject others.
Did the fruit have any effort in itself to make an appeal?
Did the vegetable have any authority in itself to acquire your attention?
Were you not both the chooser (author) and the purchaser (finisher) of the grocery? -
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
Ecclesiastes 8:17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
HankD -
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HankD -
Once we understand the true horror of our sin, and the true Holiness of God, and come to understand what Paul meant when he said in Romans 7:18 "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing" then, and only then, can we finally get a grip on what our salvation really is. All of Grace. None of ourselves. :)
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