***MB: If you witness to the non elect, are you taunting them with what they cannot have?
IT: You apparently have not been used by God as a tool to bring someone to Christ. ***
That is not answering the question.
If you witness to a Reformed non elect about the Good News of Jesus Christ, since the non elect know that they are the non elect, is it the equivalent of waving salvation in their faces in a mocking fashion, since they can never achieve it?
***God uses whom he will and what he will to bring his children home.***
No question about that. My question is about how witnessing affects the Reformed non elect.
***We do not know who the elect are, so we are charged to witness to all what we know about the love of God. That is why we spend so much time with you, because we love you in Christ.***
And I appreciate that time; I may not always show it effectively, but since I think that all men are brothers in Christ by His Grace (although there are many who reject that Grace and therefore separate themselves from Him), that I agree that all men need to be informed about the Good News. I believe that evangelization needs to occur and that we need to share with all. Based upon Scripture (the Great Commission) and the Church’s teachings.
I still don’t understand the point of bringing the Gospel to the non elect under Reformed theology, if not as a taunt.
I think that the notion (See the Articles of Religion from the Book of Common Prayer - on predestination and election) that when the damned hear the proclamation of P + E it just exacerbates their damnedness, and, I suppose, as such, could be seen as the justice of God. After all, the teaching goes, all deserve to be damned, some a predestined for forgiveness, the rest get what they deserve.