SOME THOUGHTS ON THE VARIOUS MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE, COMMONLY CALLED CALVINISM

Cork Free Presbyterian Church ^ | 6/21/02 | Pastor Colin Maxwell

[RnMomof7]

A little truth for discussion

[RnMomof7]

FYI

[theAmbassador]

An ambassador for Christ is here!

Calvinism teaches that God needs to do everything and we can consistently ask Him to do more and save our lost ones etc., Thank God for inconsistent Arminians [who pray like Calvinists]! Keep praying!

"Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight."

[RnMomof7]

[Big Bopper]

Good one, Mom! Spurgeon rocks, but will this sink in to the usual suspects? Here is what Calvinists believe, plain and simple! Bopper

[RnMomof7]

We just keep bopping along just as it was predestined:>)

[CCWoody]

Good name! I'm actually something of a Buddy Holley fan.

[fortheDeclaration]

Calvinists do not believe words have meaning either. 4) CALVINISTS DO BELIEVE THAT ALL MEN ARE DUTY BOUND TO REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL:

Can all men repent and believe?

They can't?

Why not?

Oh, only those whom God chose can!

So,what is this duty bound nonsense!

Wasn't you who was defending the post on non-elect infants being damned! Now, you are going the all the infants are elect route?

You can print all the double-talk you want, Calvinism comes down to an essential point, God chose some for heaven and the rest for hell-period.

All the fancy footwork in the world cannot the fact that Calvinism makes God the author of sin, death and hell, arbitrary in His choice of those who whom He chose to save, and deceptive in His scriptures on what He really wants.

You were correct about one thing, it was a post with very little truth

[Jemian]

Good post, thank you.

[rdb3]

Nice job, Mom. This describes what is known as Calvinism very well.

I believe that this will have no effect on the scoffers. Man's vanity refuses to allow God to be God. It also prevents man from admitting being wrong.

More of the same is one the way, trust me.

[jude24]

"For many are called, but few are chosen." -- Mat. 22:14

Don't let your quarrel with Calvin (one which I shared with you until about a year ago) obscure the truth from your eyes.

[Jerry_M]

Do you really believe that our opponents will believe that this is true of us? Heck, we have been telling them for two years now that this is the case, but they keep calling us liars.

[RnMomof7]

Do you really believe that our opponents will believe that this is true of us? Heck, we have been telling them for two years now that this is the case, but they keep calling us liars.

NO I do not expect that this will make them understand...Jerry I fear there are hearts that God has given over ..but there are people that read theses threads that are entitled to the truth of what we believe..so for open hearts I posted this..

[restornu]

Terry you got something that wrigley,drstevej,woody nor do I recall any other Calvinist never got the ones I heard have renouce it that! (WELL BLESSING TO YOU TERRY!) -

I can recall the very day and hour when I first received those truths in my own soul - when they were, as John Bunyan says, burned into my heart as with a hot iron, and I can recollect how I felt that I had grown on a sudden from a babe into a man

[Wrigley]

Not to be totally ignorant here rest, but can you re word your post? Especially the first sentence.

[jude24]

The above statements contradict the parody of Calvinism too many mistake for the real thing. This could help correct people like you or myself, when we were Arminians, but mistakenly misunderstood Calvinism. What I opposed was not true Calvinism, but rather hyper-Calvinism I now know.

[restornu]

You and and other Calvinist have belittle the burned into my heart as with a hot iron, you guys made endless jokes and smart ass remarks, yet Terry got it when you she prayed to know the Lord more. Blessings to Her!!!

[Wrigley]

Thank you. That's what I thought you meant. How was breakfast?

[restornu]

Very good I had franks and barley spicy veg stew, ginger, red pepper, garlic. Yum Yum Great!!

[DittoJed2]

Unfortunately, Jerry, I'm finding they will probably believe what they want to believe regardless what the facts are. They have an intense hatred for what they think are the doctrines of grace, which are really charicatures of the doctrines that are skewed so badly that they bear no resemblance to the actual doctrines held by Calvinists. They would like to have us making God into some oger who stands on people's hands when asking "everyone who wants to accept Jesus, raise their hand."

The simple fact of the matter is that NOBODY - no, not one of us wants God prior to the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The Bible says that none can come unless the Father draws them. Is this because God is prohibiting them from coming? NO. EMPHATICALLY NO. It is because their own wills are so dark that they WILL NOT come, ever. Yes, God enlightens the wills of some and changes their hearts to where they will come, but the responsibility of turning to God still rests with the lost who simply will not do it, ever, under any circumstances.

If we want to use an analogy, say there are two people in a fire. Neither one feel they are in any danger and refuse to trust me when I say get out. Yet, after working with one of the people I am able to convince that person to come. The other still sits there in disbelief and ends up dying in the flame. Am I somehow responsible because I did not reach in and cause that person to do something they absolutely refused to do? Hardly. The person was following the dictates of their own will and reaped the consequences.

God has told all of us to get out of the fire. HE is not stopping any one of us from doing so, yet all of us steadfastly stay in the house until He intervenes. He comes to some in the burning house and convinces them that they need to get out of the fire and to trust Him and He will take them out. His persuasion with these people is always effective and they always come because He is God. His Spirit works with them in a way that their hearts WILL believe and they come because they now want to follow Christ. The ones left in the fire, however, still refuse to come because they love the fire and don't want to follow God. God is not stopping them from coming. Sin, which they love more than life, has darkened their wills to where they will not come. THEY are responsible for their own actions.

An Arminian may say God is responsible in the "Calvinist construct" because He didn't take extraordinary measures to wake every single person out of their deadly slumber - but, here they misread Calvinism and Scripture. They want to bind God to their own sense of fairness and justice - but He is not bound by any such rules. He sets the standards for what is fair and just and what is fair and just for people who absolutely refuse to listen is that they reap what they sow. They want Him to pluck everyone out of the fire and the fact that He doesn't bugs them. Yet, the fact remains that even in Arminianism that God leaves some in the fire. Does God have the power to save everyone? Yes, of course. Then isn't He as morally responsible by the rules of Arminianism for not doing absolutely everything within His power to draw every single individual on the face of the planet EFFECTUALLY to Himself rather than letting them roast in the fire? It would appear so. God has the power to convince everyone? Why doesn't He? Why leave it to chance that human beings will actually reach out and give a sinner "a choice?" Humans haven't been the greatest at trying to fulfill the great commission in 2000 years. Why leave it to the chance that they will if it is His will that NONE should perish? Answer: He didn't leave it to chance and He had mercy on who He would have mercy and the rest will get what they desired- eternity apart from Him.

Of course, this will seem abhorent to our Arminian friends because it doesn't fit the image of God they have constructed in their minds. Do they actually think that we would have constructed something like Calvinism if it wasn't in Scripture? There is no superiority about the elect in Calvinism and a whole bunch of people will go to Hell. If it were me doing it, I would have saved everyone and bound Satan from the get-go. But it wasn't me. It was God & He has the right to do whatever He wishes. My responsibility is not to chastise Him for not choosing more or to question why me, but to be thankful that He did choose me and to be obedient to His means for drawing others by telling everyone I know about Christ.