Scriptur
05-30-2009, 11:15 PM
I. Howard Marshall said, "Whoever said, 'the Calvinist knows that he cannot fall from salvation but does not know whether he has got it,' has it summed up nicely." Which leads to the obvious question: Was Calvinism itself the root of doubt for Calvinists?
Dillow goes on and on about faith that brings assurance until it becomes far too complex theologically for the Philippian jailor to have known what Paul meant when he said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16.31). But could it really be as simple as Paul's bare statement? He does have free-will.
If you are a Christian who once believed that God loves the whole world and wants everyone to be saved and gives us all the right to choose-so it's not His doing if anyone goes to hell-then repent of Calvinism (all 5 points of TULIP).
However, if you can't repent of the new God who gives no one a choice and regenerates certain elect ones against their will, then realize you are not born-again. But also, do not fret. You can now trust in what Paul had said.
If you still insist He makes us willing by changing our hearts without allowing us to have the choice even though you can't remember being regenerated before having the faith you now have, then present this question to yourself. How can a loving God send anyone to hell He could rescue? Admit it make you uncomfortable and doesn't seem like God's good pleasure. At least give into the minimum standard God has set for you which is your own conscience that is telling you something is wrong in that still small voice. God has no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked but wants all to be saved.
You can study for months and years, but it takes but a moment to realize that God loves the whole world so much that He sent His Son to die for everyone's sins, so that "the world might be saved through Him." Calvinism libels the God for whom Paul said wants "all men to be saved" (1 Tim. 2.4) and Peter said "is not willing that any should perish" (2 Pet. 3.9).
Stop trying to complicate the Bible for another teaching.
"Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass" (Ex. 35.5). Did God cause Cain to kill Abel and was Abel irresistibly graced to give a proper offering?
Dillow goes on and on about faith that brings assurance until it becomes far too complex theologically for the Philippian jailor to have known what Paul meant when he said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16.31). But could it really be as simple as Paul's bare statement? He does have free-will.
If you are a Christian who once believed that God loves the whole world and wants everyone to be saved and gives us all the right to choose-so it's not His doing if anyone goes to hell-then repent of Calvinism (all 5 points of TULIP).
However, if you can't repent of the new God who gives no one a choice and regenerates certain elect ones against their will, then realize you are not born-again. But also, do not fret. You can now trust in what Paul had said.
If you still insist He makes us willing by changing our hearts without allowing us to have the choice even though you can't remember being regenerated before having the faith you now have, then present this question to yourself. How can a loving God send anyone to hell He could rescue? Admit it make you uncomfortable and doesn't seem like God's good pleasure. At least give into the minimum standard God has set for you which is your own conscience that is telling you something is wrong in that still small voice. God has no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked but wants all to be saved.
You can study for months and years, but it takes but a moment to realize that God loves the whole world so much that He sent His Son to die for everyone's sins, so that "the world might be saved through Him." Calvinism libels the God for whom Paul said wants "all men to be saved" (1 Tim. 2.4) and Peter said "is not willing that any should perish" (2 Pet. 3.9).
Stop trying to complicate the Bible for another teaching.
"Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass" (Ex. 35.5). Did God cause Cain to kill Abel and was Abel irresistibly graced to give a proper offering?