Calvinists are Dead Wrong on this:
Teaching a False Predestination
That removes the Freedom of Man to Choose His Own Destiny:
It ALL boils down to simple clear, understanding. The more complicated, intricate, complex, and intellectual your doctrine becomes (and all the arguments supporting it), the further, you get away from the Truth.
The Truth Throughout the Testimony of God, is that men have an opportunity, and invitation, and finally an obligation to choose the Word of God, over the precepts of men.
When you choose to receive, believe, and live by God’s invitation, instruction, and contingent commandments, that is all included into what it means to believe on Christ, (a.k.a. to trust in Christ, which equates to following and obeying Jesus as your Lord in every area of your life, every day). That is just the simple definition of what it means to make Jesus, the Lord and Savior of your life.
When you choose to reject, ignore, not live by God’s invitation, instruction, and refuse to follow God’s contingent commandments, (that is your proof to yourself, and the whole world, that you have chosen not receive everything God is offering to you). Then all the benefits of receiving are predestined, are forfeited: The Gospel of Christ: Salvation, Sanctification, and ultimate Glorification with Jesus. And the consequences are levied: the separation from Eternal Life, causing eternal Death, which equated being cast into the Lake of Fire, in the end.
The choice to receive the Gift of God is clear and it takes nothing away from the Great Grace and Majestic Goodness, and Heavenly Sacrifice that made the Gift of God possible:
SEE BELOW:
“When Common Sense Makes the Best Sense, Any Other Sense is Non-Sense.” (The third rule of interpretation.)
If I were a true Card Carrying Calvinist, I would have to remove, Colossians 1:26-29, from my bible (as well as the plethora of scriptures Allan Parr just mentioned): Let’s see why?
Colossians 1:26-29 (KJV)
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28 Whom we preach:
1) Warning every man, and
2) Teaching every man in all wisdom;
3) That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Can you see that that to do the WORK of sharing the message of Christ,
And to make the choice to receive the work of Christ
And conversely, to make the choice to reject the work is a free will offering?
These are all choices, but they in no way denigrate the Majesty of the Gift being Offered.
These are all choices: simple, practical, unavoidable choices. And no matter how complex, nor how complicated and intricate you create a theology to say something different, it cannot change the truth, that we make a choice to serve God, or to reject him by our own free will.
As far as I understand it: Pure Predestination taught by Calvinists says,
that man’s choices are already predestined so therefore,
There is not real reason to:
- Warn Every Man
- Teach Every Man
- Present Every Man perfect in Christ.
Why? Because warning, teaching, and presenting won’t help those predestined to Hell.
And it won’t matter to those predestined for heaven.
Therefore, there is no reason to fully give of oneself the striving, working, laboring according to His Working, in the labor of Christ for lost souls.
If a man is already predestined, the above work of Christ, and work of the Gospel, and work of a faithful minister, and ambassador of Christ is meaningless.
Yet, as I see it: It is the job of every convert, disciple, believer, and true follower of Christ to embrace this calling to:
- Warn Every Man
- Teach Every Man
- Present Every Man perfect in Christ.
This is like a binding contract and mission manual expected to be completed in the Body of Christ, as “each joint and member suppliers support.” Every Gospel Minister who seeks to Honor God, by bringing men out of darkness into Light, out of death into Life should see this as a shared responsibility of those in Christ. He should not only teach this, but example this on an daily basis, to give his disciples a clear picture of what it looks like to follow Christ with one whole Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength. The Result: Snatching men, women, and children out of the hands of Satan and devils, and delivering them into the Kingdom of God.
This is our faithful duty. And that is our Great Reward as Well. The means to fulfilling that duty and receiving that Great Reward are listed in the contract: to strive with the strength He gives us to do the work He has called us to do, to compel the lost to come to the Master’s/King’s Final Wedding Banquet.
And the more we apply ourselves to our calling to become mature in Christ, while abiding in Christ, the greater our fruitfulness will become. If I were a card carrying Calvinist, I would have no motive, reason, or cause to strive to:
- Warn Every Man
- Teach Every Man
- Present Every Man perfect in Christ.
Nor would I have any compelling reason to encourage or inspire any single convert or disciple to do the same.
We all have the same choice to make weather Jew, white or black, slave or free, rich or poor, educated or unschooled, we still have the same choice, and the same freedom to make that choice. Once we make our choice, then our lives are predestined, as we live out that choice that we have made.
Therefore to remove the freedom of choice from the gospel, makes that gospel a false message. If that false message doesn’t come from God, where else could it come from? If you guessed the pit of hell, you wouldn’t be far from the truth.
But if I fully believed all men were predestined, then all my energy, faith, perseverance, endurance, love, and work would be meaningless.
Jesus said we will be able to Tell a Tree, by It’s Fruit? If our Tree is Good. It will reproduce an abundant harvest of Good Fruit, resulting in the effective presentation, and outworking of the Power Gospel of Christ being expanded from our lives into the lives of all those around us, (see Our responsibility to embrace the Ministry of Reconciliation, learning of the Choices to:
- ACCEPT CHRIST: His Kingdom, His Dominion and His Rulership (in every area of our lives), and spend Eternity with Him in His Intimate Eternal, Holy, Pure, and Obedient Family (as the predicted or rather predestine result of our acceptance of Christ), or to …
- REJECT CHRIST: and spend eternity far away from His Rulership, Intimacy, Holiness, Purity, and Heavenly Family, but instead, spend eternity in the place prepared for the Devil and his rebellious demonic angels, in the Lake of Fire for all of Eternity. (as the predicted or predestined result of our rejection of Christ.)
These two choices will be given to every person ever born. And God is just, and will judge justly, and according to His Perfect Justice. Everyone who accepts Him will be treated one way, everyone who rejects him will be treated another, all based on the personal choice of the individual involved.
The parable of the useless (Calvinistic) fishing business:
I liken this whole Calvinistic Fishing Operation to a whole fishing company, sending out whole fishing teams to bring in large harvests of fish.
But with one strange idea: Each team is sent out to catch fish, but without a fishing poles, without fishing line, without fishing hooks, and without fishing bait.
Not only that: but the leaders of the fishing teams, don’t believe in providing any fishing training, nor passing on any fishing experience, nor expect the experienced individuals to share their successful fishing testimonies, in order to inspire novice fisherman.
Worse than that: they have no fishing vessels: no fishing boats to carry the fisherman to the place of the fish, and they have no fishing barrels to collect all the fish being caught. And they have no fishing knives that have been sharpened and made ready to clean the fish. They have no salt water brine to preserve the freshly caught fish. So, in the off chance, they actually do catch a fish, that fish will become rotten on the very day it was caught. As such: The flesh of the fish will become toxic, and those who eat of the flesh of that fish may become sick, and may even die.
And it is worse than that: they don’t even believe in cleaning the fish. So they don’t teach their fisherman how to preserve the fish that they catch, so that, in the very odd chance that one of their fisherman actually catches a fish by accident, he has no means, no plan, no tools, no training, not even a belief that he is supposed to preserve the fish that he catches.
And it is worse than that: they have no Belief in maintaining, or even equipping their fishing boats, to plug the wholes, to repair, the rotting wood, that will in theory, take them out onto the water where the fish are. They have no oars in their boats (that don’t exist), and no Rudders. They have no maps to guide the boats in the direction of the fish, and then back to shore with their large catch of fish. Yet, they still sing songs about catching fish, and about being great fisherman, and about the good old days of fishing that are long gone by.
We are not robots
God is not looking for pre-programmed robots, but for men who have the free will to choose His Way, His Will, and His Word, or to go the Way of the World.
The Choice is Ours: To Deny that Choice is to Deny God. That is what Calvinistic Predestination (Pre-determination) does. I see it as a Humanistic Spiritual kind of Nihilistic Fatalism.
That is so far away from the Word of God. It is not even funny anymore, but tragic: Millions of souls have been infected, and been deceived by this false doctrine of demons, with its spiritual poison, and have been swayed by a man-centered, humanistic religious traditions that block men from receiving the Original Clean and Pure Calling of God, to love Christ with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, and to lay down your life in the sharing of the gospel, not for your own benefit, but for the benefit of others. That is yours, and my Choice. And God will never take that choice away from us.
These commandments are not are not suggestions. We cannot ignore them without choosing to jeopardize our own faith, as well as the faith of all those around us–this increasing our chance of becoming “tares/weeds in the wheat”. It would be virtually impossible to walk out, through our own personal choice the work of God, if we followed Calvinistic Fatalism on a daily basis, that removes our gospel choices.
Why do Calvinists attack evangelists?
Like Finney and Comfort?
I find that Calvinists are typically the Ones most reviling in their attack on Evangelism, and Evangelists, especially those that present the Pure Gospel of Christ with the choice to Choose Christ, or to reject Christ. I have regularly seen Calvinist get offended by the true Saints of God, laying out the convictions of scripture according to the biblical pattern. I see Calvinists regularly, getting offended and calling that work of God, a Gospel of Works (a.k.a. legalism)–because they deny the choice involved, and they absolutely hate and attack some of History’s Greatest Evangelists, and most effective Gospel Working Ministers of the Faith, Like Paul the Apostle (who they twist his teachings to suit they false doctrines). They hate Charles G. Finney, Ray Comfort, and all Gospel Preachers who call their hearers to make a decision to:
- To Repent of their sins (all of them), and transform their lives.
- To Believe the Gospel.
- To Accept Christ as LORD.
- To Obey Christ in every way while on Earth.
- To lay down their lives for the work of the gospel.
- To become a role model that others can follow to see the work of the gospel being worked out in real life.
- To Enter Heaven receiving their eternal rewards: the treasure they have stored up in Christ.
Or to continue in their sins, obeying the Devil, and ultimately going to the Lake of Fire.
Why do Calvinists practically ignore 1/5 of the New Testament?
In order for Calvinistic Doctrines to be True: One must remove 1/5th of your New Testament, or One must keep one’s head in the sand of unbelief. One must deny the personal responsibility essential for the Gospel of Christ to Work in Your Life, and deny the Power and Grace Promised to you in the Kingdom of God.
One must deny and reject their personal responsibility:
1) TO WALK IN ONGOING REPENTANCE; 2) TO GROW DAILY IN THEIR FAITH AND PRACTICE OF HOLINESS, 3) TO DEVELOP A SPIRT OBEDIENCE, RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND FORGIVENESS, 4) to become a light that will to grow in , for are you awake sir?Faith, Repentance, Transformation, Salvation, Sanctification, and the final resulting Eternal Glorification that is the Hope and Fulfillment of All the Promises of God.
To say, or believe we have no accountability, no responsibility, to keep the commandments, instructions, and teachings of Christ, is to ultimately to divorce ourselves from our duty, to follow Jesus, and to become the He called to Follow Him. Disciples becoming like their Master.
Matthew 10:24-25 (KJV) 24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.
Ephesians 4:11-14 (KJV)
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
The whole ministry of Jesus Christ, and the building up of the body of Christ, until we all come into the unity of the faith, and enter into the knowledge of the son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the full measure of the full stature of the fullness: works by the free will offering of every man, woman and child involved in the work of Christ. No one is forced. No one can be manipulated. No one can be robotically controlled.
Romans 12:1-2 (KJV)
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
That ye present your bodies:
[By your own free choice, and thereby become …]A living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
Which is your reasonable service.2 And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
In other words: We must all offer ourselves freely and unreservedly to the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. Without this free will offering being made on a daily basis, (yeah, even on an hourly, and minute to minute basis) both our individual and corporate growth into the fullness of Christ, would be impossible.
I pray you don’t fall into this trap, and it’s snares in your faith in Christ.
I pray you don’t fall into this trap and it’s snares in your Work for Christ.
As I see it:
Calvinism Promotes “Spiritual Victimization.”
Calvinism Removes the Freedom of Choice:
- To Walk in the Light as He is in the Light … or not.
- To Become a Vessel of Honor … or not.
- To Become a Sheep … or a Goat.
- To Become a Wise … or Foolish Virgin.
- To Become a Faithful/Wise Steward … or a Lazy Selfish One.
- To Become a Seasoned Soldier/Athlete/Farmer … or not.
- To Have a Single Eye, with a whole Body full of Light … or not.
- To Prepare a New Wineskin, to be Filled with New Wine … or not.
- To Become a Lamp Burning Brightly to the whole House … or not.
- To Seek the Glory of God … or seek the pleasures of this world.
- To Enter the Narrow Way … or to Follow the Road to Destruction.
- To Overcome this World … or to love this world.
- To Abide in the Vine … or to whither and be cut off the Vine.
- To Run a Good Race, persevering to the End … or not.
- To Endure Hardship as a good soldier … or not.
- To Deny yourself, pickup your cross and follow Christ … or not
And we have not even scatched the surface of the choices, God has given us the freedom to choose. Again, He didn’t create us to be his spiritual robots, but Freemen, with the power to choose Life or Death, to choose Him, or to deny Him.