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Need to convince at least 51% of the ‘electorate’, before Judgment Day.
Heroes of Faith
http://historyreally.org/pitcairn.html
New Dort 5 Calvinism (same dog, same Pied Piper). They are sending out disciples two by two to inflict churches with their ‘agree to disagree’ philosophy. Confusing the issues and eventually breaking up Church Unity and focus on ‘The Great Commission’.
If we put Origin, Augustine, Arminius, Calvin in a discussion room we might have a consensus opinion:
Intellectually (to some degree) we hear the Gospel, Emotionally (to some degree) we make a decision in our soul or being – Salvation. And this, an ongoing process, especially for ‘those He foreknew, those He predestined’. The proper definition of ‘The Parable of the Sower’. Those who desire to have ‘ears to hear’. Even trained to listen to what God, in His Word, has said…
To totally ignore the intellectual or the emotional is demonstrating insincerity before God. I suppose this is ‘will of the creature’ or ‘election and predestination’ thinking. But to say ‘we have no choice’, is rejecting the Words of Jesus, ‘the whosoevers’, and Jesus Himself. Don’t know how else to say this.
http://historyreally.org/piedpiper.html
? Chosen or Calling ?
Seems like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time mistook chosen or calling for salvation rather than what they were supposed to do in life, according to the Scriptures, as Paul learned and recorded about what he learned from Jesus.
Acts 9: 11. So the Lord said to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12. "And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.'' 13. Then Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14. "And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.'' 15. But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16. "For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake.
Pharisees (if they go) go kicking and screaming, to Jesus. As RC Sproul said, at the end, on broken glass, on their hands and knees. As Paul did.
I listened to RC most of my Christian life. Generally I heard ‘election and predestination’. And security.
But, I have to go along with Arminius. ‘If grace is not cooperative, everything is meaningless’. And so is God.
And maybe the bottom line in this argument is ‘are we resisting the Holy Spirit by not looking at God’s Word in context’. Ie, the Pharisees of Jesus’ and Stephen’s time, or any time. Oh you foolish Galatians 1. Dismissing and distorting important parts of Scripture to support your total depravity.
Even NIV and ESV. Rev 22:18-19 – Adding unto and taking away: billions of years in the Beginning and some ending futuristic kingdom (1000 years or whatever).
Not to mention the Big Addon: you must confess that ‘it was not your choice’, but ‘God’s Sovereign Choice’.
John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17. "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19. "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20. "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21. "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Ephesians 1: 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4. just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5. having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6. to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. 7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8. which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9. having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10. that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in Him, 11. in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12. that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 13. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14. who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Are we humbly confessing our belief in Christ and the surrender of our will, or are we pridefully confessing our predestination and winning lottery number?
The Epistles (ie Ephesians 1) are doctrinal and remind us of ‘the whosoevers of the Gospels’, or ‘those He foreknew, those He predestined’ (Romans 8:29).
Demonstrating the security of our decision and of our calling, what we are to do and how to do it. Not ‘called or chosen to salvation’ but to ‘fulfill Christ’s Great Commission’.
