Many of them conveniently ignore the fact that one cannot repent of future sins. If you repent today and sin tomorrow, your repentence does not extend to tomorrow. If you believe in Jesus and Him alone for salvation, and continue to sin and do not repent as often as you have sinned, that is hardly evidence of perspicuity. That is evidence of self-declared salvation and has no business in Christian belief.
In fact, only the one who endures to the end is manifestly saved (citation omitted), so our election individually is not written where you and I may read it, but I pray that my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The Bible is replete with how the righteous (elect) will behave. We should all be checking ourselves against the standard He has set for us as set forth in, say, Psalm 1. Again, numerous citations omitted.
The Jews believe that the Book of Life contains all the names of all the humans ever created. It is only by sin and Judgement that one's name is erased. Revelation 3 might be pertinent here.
Revelation 3: 1 1 "To the angel of the church in Sardis, 2 write this: " 'The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this: "I know your works, that you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember then how you accepted and heard; keep it, and repent. If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you. 4 However, you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; they will walk with me dressed in white, because they are worthy. 5 " '"The victor will thus be dressed in white, 3 and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and of his angels.
Your imitation of Christ will cause your name to stay in the Book of Life - presumably the reverse is also true, given the entire Gospel message.
Surely, we do have the Law and the Prophets, and the Lord Himself stated that these would be sufficient to tell us of the way to Heaven. See Luke 16.
It's still the Lord's call. Your Judgement from Him will direct you to Heaven if He determines that you are to be saved.
True - the term ‘elect’ encompasses not all of mankind, for the Calvinist is not a universalist, but perhaps I misunderstand your point, for it seems that the lack of universality is the notion to which you object.
The Book of Life has all men's names written in it. Yet their names can be blotted out for their deeds. Not all men will be saved. Part of the Christian responsibility is to aid all men to be saved. The Beatitudes give some guidance.
This is sort of like the Jews being the ‘chosen people.’ Some take that to mean God chose them because they were special, and therefore they were chosen. Quite the contrary. They are special because God chose them.
The analogy really doesn't work here. The Jews were chosen; Christians are grafted in to the vine. Those who are unChristian are cut off and thrown away to be burned.
The elect are chosen by God purely on His own merit and by His own grace and mercy. They are not saved because they are elect. They are elect because they are saved, and that not of themselves. Nothing to boast about, unless they boast in Christ. More citations omitted.
Even Paul preaches the gospel of Judgement by deeds.
Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient for all the sins of all of His people. Otherwise, He failed, and that cannot be.
John says that he who continues in sin has neither seen Him nor known Him, so that continuing in sin argument is a distinction without a difference. Those who know Him will avoid sin.
We will always sin more than we repent. We have no idea of our effect on this world and on others.
But most importantly, if we deny a limited atonement, we take away the greatest hope, for it is clear that not all men will be saved.
“. . .if you believe that Christ died for all men in the same way, then the benefits of the cross cannot include the mercy by which we are brought to faith, because then all men would be brought to faith, but they aren’t. But if the mercy by which we are brought to faith (irresistible grace) is not part of what Christ purchased on the cross, then we are left to save ourselves from the bondage of sin, the hardness of heart, the blindness of corruption, and the wrath of God.
“Therefore it becomes evident that it is not the Calvinist who limits the atonement. It is the Arminian, because he denies that the atoning death of Christ accomplishes what we most desperately need — namely, salvation from the condition of deadness and hardness and blindness under the wrath of God. The Arminian limits the nature and value and effectiveness of the atonement so that he can say that it was accomplished even for those who die in unbelief and are condemned. In order to say that Christ died for all men in the same way, the Arminian must limit the atonement to a powerless opportunity for men to save themselves from their terrible plight of depravity.” ~John Piper