Becky , the fact that you can not give a few clear scriptures should make you think about this . Election is a biblical principle...and it is not a general election where everyone is elect and their salvation is theirs to lose. There is absolutely not one scriptural support for that . And Cindy I do know my Bible , I am not a newly saved lamb that might think that saying look in the bible is a satisfactory reply to a serious doctrinal question
From a site that says the Baptists were the first Calvinists (here I thought it was St Augustine )
Here are some verses (not nearly all) on election and predestination from scripture:
“And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:31
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:36
“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
“26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John 10:26-28
“29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he also called, them he justified: and whom he justified, he also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30
“For the children being not yet born, having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;” Romans 9:11
“4 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: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will,” Ephesians 1:4-5
“Knowing brethren beloved, your election of God.” 1st Thessalonians 1:4 “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” Titus 1:2
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” 1st Peter 1:2
You see that is impossible for Calvin to have originated election and predestination, because it is so richly taught in the scripture. That old claim that Primitive Baptists are Calvinist is not correct, has never been, and will never be in the mainstream orderly church. Primitive Baptists teach nothing more or less than God’s Word. That makes us nothing but the true Christian church, which is everything. We have no man made attractions, nor do we bow down to the creeds of men. What we are: is blessed by the Lord in understanding of His word; for that we must be thankful.
You should know that we Baptists were around before Augustine.