Faithful
01-09-2010, 05:47 AM
If the Bible using the term free will doesn’t convince you, God commanding you and pleading with you doesn’t convince, dying on the cross for the sins of the world doesn’t convince you, God blaming you for not responding doesn’t convince you, saying none of us are that far away from God doesn’t convince, and God saying He wants none to perish doesn’t convince, then I don’t think there is anything else that can be said to convince you that God’s grace is sufficient for all. You won’t accept any proof that God has given you the choice, therefore you won’t receive Christ. By your approach your faith is unfalsifiable: you offer no way to prove that Arminianism is true and Calvinism is false. Anything that is unfalsifiable is itself false.
Think how evil it is for us to overlook helping someone in need. We are made in God’s image. Therefore, God’s standards can’t be lower than ours. Where is the glory given to God by making God an evil tyrant? Where is the sovereignty in that? He created us for Himself and He will not be evil. Calvinism is man’s desire to declare to the world you have been selected, but all I see is your assumption that is pride-filled and self-induced. Nothing could be more man-centered, giving glory to your assumed selection though, of course, never admitting it.
“And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). Ask the question, how they were ordained? You can’t use this as a proof text, because it doesn’t specify how God ordained whether the Calvinist way or the Arminian way. So if that is your best text then you got nothing to support your beliefs. I would be very concerned that you have no evidence for your faith.
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). This verse says no man can come to the Father unless the person is drawn, not that all that are drawn will necessarily come. All that come must be drawn, not all that are drawn will. A person can draw back.
But there are some solid verses that destroy Calvinism. “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world” (1 John 2:2). There is simply no way you can contort this verse to say the “world of the elect”. It’s the whole world, believers and unbelievers alike that Jesus died for, and therefore it stands “whosoever is willing” shall be saved by grace through faith.
You’ve contradicted yourself because you said you were saved as an Arminian which means you believed God gave you sufficient grace to give you the opportunity to be saved and you made a choice to repent and come to Christ to be saved. Keep in mind the Bible accounts for those who enter into a superficial salvation which is not real and so you were not really born-again (see 2 Peter. 2:21). Now you are a Calvinist but still claim you were saved back then not by way of Calvinism but according to Arminianism. Do you see how bizarre that sounds? You claim you were saved the Arminian way yet you are a Calvinist now. That’s nonsense and confusion. Who is the author of confusion? What you should do to at least be consistent with your conversion to Calvinism is admit you were deceived when you thought you were saved as an Arminian, but in fact you weren’t, then converted to Calvinism by being irresistibly regenerated without having had the choice in the matter. Christians treat the latter as demonic because it came upon you irresistibly. Whereas the Bible says to come to God with an honest heart and though shalt be saved. If only you were willing. But you are not, and that makes me very sad for you.
Total depravity is nullified. It's not real. Why? Because since God's grace was sufficient for us all, some receiving more mercy others less but always sufficient, then you can't be totally depraved. Man fell from grace but God provided sufficient grace. The deception comes in when you assume God doesn't provide sufficient grace, thus worshiping a false Christ. If God doesn't provide sufficient grace, even irresistibly imposing salvation on someone is wrong, so no matter how you look at it, Calvinism is dead wrong, and is the faith of the false Christians.
Think how evil it is for us to overlook helping someone in need. We are made in God’s image. Therefore, God’s standards can’t be lower than ours. Where is the glory given to God by making God an evil tyrant? Where is the sovereignty in that? He created us for Himself and He will not be evil. Calvinism is man’s desire to declare to the world you have been selected, but all I see is your assumption that is pride-filled and self-induced. Nothing could be more man-centered, giving glory to your assumed selection though, of course, never admitting it.
“And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). Ask the question, how they were ordained? You can’t use this as a proof text, because it doesn’t specify how God ordained whether the Calvinist way or the Arminian way. So if that is your best text then you got nothing to support your beliefs. I would be very concerned that you have no evidence for your faith.
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). This verse says no man can come to the Father unless the person is drawn, not that all that are drawn will necessarily come. All that come must be drawn, not all that are drawn will. A person can draw back.
But there are some solid verses that destroy Calvinism. “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world” (1 John 2:2). There is simply no way you can contort this verse to say the “world of the elect”. It’s the whole world, believers and unbelievers alike that Jesus died for, and therefore it stands “whosoever is willing” shall be saved by grace through faith.
You’ve contradicted yourself because you said you were saved as an Arminian which means you believed God gave you sufficient grace to give you the opportunity to be saved and you made a choice to repent and come to Christ to be saved. Keep in mind the Bible accounts for those who enter into a superficial salvation which is not real and so you were not really born-again (see 2 Peter. 2:21). Now you are a Calvinist but still claim you were saved back then not by way of Calvinism but according to Arminianism. Do you see how bizarre that sounds? You claim you were saved the Arminian way yet you are a Calvinist now. That’s nonsense and confusion. Who is the author of confusion? What you should do to at least be consistent with your conversion to Calvinism is admit you were deceived when you thought you were saved as an Arminian, but in fact you weren’t, then converted to Calvinism by being irresistibly regenerated without having had the choice in the matter. Christians treat the latter as demonic because it came upon you irresistibly. Whereas the Bible says to come to God with an honest heart and though shalt be saved. If only you were willing. But you are not, and that makes me very sad for you.
Total depravity is nullified. It's not real. Why? Because since God's grace was sufficient for us all, some receiving more mercy others less but always sufficient, then you can't be totally depraved. Man fell from grace but God provided sufficient grace. The deception comes in when you assume God doesn't provide sufficient grace, thus worshiping a false Christ. If God doesn't provide sufficient grace, even irresistibly imposing salvation on someone is wrong, so no matter how you look at it, Calvinism is dead wrong, and is the faith of the false Christians.