Calvinism always seem the way I wished life was. You are born to go to heaven or you were not. Always seemed like a ticket to party. If your destiny was already determined … party on.
That’s not how it works, though, is it? They’re called the “Frozen Chosen.”
Uh, not quite. I've pinged some of my favorite Calvinists on the board to help you out. :)
party on.
But if one were to ‘party on’, he probably doesn’t have a ticket.
Actually one group took the predestination idea to this point. The Anabaptists believed that debauchery of all sorts was fine, since if you were going to heaven or hell it wouldn’t be affected by your behavior. At least that is what the Calvinists, the Lutherans and the Catholics said, before they killed them all in one splendid Kumbaya moment.
Indeed, Terabitten, doc1019 does not grasp the essence of Calvinism. Rather, he has grasped the essence of the Libertine, IIRC. Or, perhaps, something of a pre-Matrix Keannu budget flick with George Carlin.
Unfortunately, for the non-Calvinist, the party ticket has also been written. For if the future is known by God, even if it has not been declared by God, then that future is still fixed and certain. It simply denies a loving God to be in charge of it. And this is why people are abandoning even non-Calvinist Christian philosophies for Open Theism and “The God of the Possible.”
It's not too late. As one who has experienced life from both sides, I can say I am happier, more productive and less anxious and fearful now that I understand the Scriptural truth that God is in control of His creation, and that he breathed my name, along with the names of all believers, at the same time He ordained the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
All Christians should know that comfort. Pity the secular world and even some misguided Christians seek to demote the grace of God into something we can (futily) try to accomplish ourselves when Christ does it all for us by His finished work on the cross.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." -- Ephesians 1:4-6"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Sounds happy to me. Almost as if Paul is reminding us this life actually is the way we "wished it to be."