“But that precludes choosing, which God commands clearly in Scripture.”
This is a false assumption. Calvinists don’t believe there is no actual believing or choosing going on. We just assert that it is God who gives it to us to believe.
Jer_24:7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Eze 36:26-27 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (27) And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
“If His will is indeed irresistible, then all men would be saved since He clearly states in Scripture that that is His will.”
But the fact is that not everyone actually receives it from the Father to believe.
Joh 6:64-65 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. (65) And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
I’ve used this example a number of times, though if you notice that constantly in Christ’s dealings with those who do not believe, His response isn’t “I revealed the truth to you and you rejected it.” He constantly asserts that they do not believe, because it is impossible for anyone to believe unless the Father gives it. The Lord does indeed offer and reason with unbelievers everyday... yet He is found among those who “did not seek me.”
Only those whom the Father has given to the Son can come to Him, and none who belong to the Son can fail to come.
While it is true that no one seeks after God and no one can come to Him unless God draws him, I don't see where, in this passage, it says that if God draws someone, it will guarantee their choosing Him.
God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4) and commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). He even has us living in the exact time and place we are in order that we should seek Him (Acts 17:27)
If it's so God's will that all men be saved, then Calvinists have the problem of explaining away why they aren't and so far, I haven't heard any reasonable explanation of why they aren't.
Greetings_Puny_Humans wrote:
This is a false assumption. Calvinists don’t believe there is no actual believing or choosing going on. We just assert that it is God who gives it to us to believe.
But the fact is that not everyone actually receives it from the Father to believe.
Only those whom the Father has given to the Son can come to Him, and none who belong to the Son can fail to come.
Sounds like ol’ Dr E has returned! Another OPC Calvinist amongst us, right?