Replies

To be honest I think you have OVER studied..

.Our faith is not an intellectual pursuit it is a spiritual one... Scripture tells us the the cross is foolishness to the perishing, it does not matter how much they study they will not get it. In some ways that is also true for us.. I,like you, argued against Calvinism for months.. right here on this forum. The Calvinists were pulling their hair out at me.. then one day as I sat to read my scriptures for the day...It jumped off the pages at me.. The intellectual arguments did not move me, the debate did not move me, trading scripture quotes did not move me...but on that day the Holy Spirit did.

We can not intellectually understand something like election,it is against everything we ever learned about independence and freedom .
We want to believe we wanted God, somehow that desire will make us dearer to Him... But God’s word says no one wants Him, no one looks for Him, that He will have mercy on who He wants to have mercy.. That just does not mesh to what we think we know about God

I know I did fall on my knees because I wanted to, I needed to.. but I also know I did not initiate the events that brought me there...
God was the 1st cause.

So please put aside the intellect and the Calvinist /Arminian debate and defend the gospel and let God speak to you in his word as you study.
If he so ordains I believe you will see it.. if not He continues to use you where you are.

This is not an issue of salvation it is a matter of doctrine on the glory of God..

BTW Did you know the original Mr Rogers was a Presbyterian minister??

“So please put aside the intellect and the Calvinist /Arminian debate and defend the gospel and let God speak to you in his word as you study.”

I don’t think the Calvinists would give me many points for intellect. And mostly, I’ve just quoted scripture - what does the scripture say the Gospel is?

And it says this: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Not rocket science stuff. Repent. Believe. Be saved.

As I’ve said before, I like the man who said, “If the Bible says the whale swallowed Jonah, I believe. And if it said Jonah swallowed the whale, I’d believe THAT!”

So I ask - where are the scriptures that say we are saved by election, or that faith is a gift, or that Jesus did NOT come because he loved the world, but because he loved the elect?