Resequitur
Javier
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As the year is coming to a close my mind shifts back to a year ago when My soul and I could together rejoice and sing ” I am truly blessed by God!”. Many things were going my way in life. After what seemed like a short stream of awesome blessings , The Lord took those things away from me, leaving me to feel as though I had been awoken from the climax of an amazing dream. All of what he had blessed me with at that point..gone. Vanished into thin air. I felt pain. I felt betrayed. Though in hindsight I look back an know it needed to happen.
Throughout this year, God has given me the grace to lay my hope and trust in Him. This Psalm comforts me in the sense that in this suffering, I am not alone. I am not alone in my emotions. There are times where I feel God has abandoned me. There are times where I feel as though my enemies are surrounding me and mocking me, and asking “Where is your God? “. Amidst this pain, I know He is there. I know because His breakers and His waves are going over me. Though they are painful, I know it is for my sanctification. But I continually call out to Him and it is though He has forgotten me. As I take another look at the Psalm, I notice something the Psalmist does. He talks to himself! “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,my salvation” . The most influential voice in our lives is our own voice. We are constantly talking to ourselves. My own voice had been leading me to the conclusion that “the temporary blessing from God was supposed to be forever! But God doesn’t want me to be happy! He has forgotten me!”. Over and Over the voice in my head has the microphone and it is not speaking from the truth of God. But we are to talk to our souls. Preach our Souls the Gospel. Say to our souls by God’s grace “Soul! Do you not remember that you have been called by God! You have been Foreknown!! You were called out of the deadness of your sins, and given to The Son of God! You have been Justified, you are being conformed to Christ’s image! You will be Glorified! Do you think that God is just going to leave you to die?! Again I ask you this question: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?, and then I say to you : Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation!”
It is by God’s grace that we can do these things. Though I may think that God has forgotten me, I know that He has not. These trials were foreordained beforehand for my sanctification. The Lord is preparing for me a blessing. The Storm cloud is darkest right before it is about to break with rain. And O, The rain is so much more enjoyable after the drought! Though now I may yearn for God, and think that He has forgotten, I will again praise Him, my salvation!
First of all I want to express how much I have come to hate this phrase. It does not emphasize the power behind our Salvation and what Salvation actually is. I do agree that once one has received genuine Salvation from The Lord God, who authored it, that no force on earth can deny you of it, and my life bears witness of that very truth.
That being said I want to express the problems with the “Once Saved Always Saved” theology, as it derives from a bad, unbiblical theology known as “Non-Lordship Salvation” or “Easy believism”.
First of all the underlying logic behind this, is that one can exercise one’s will and choose to have genuine faith in the Lord, and of course there is an underlying contradiction to this belief to Scripture. Let us take a look at Scripture here : “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)
So right here we see that a man dead in sin (As we are described in Ephesians 2:1-5) and does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. So relative to this verse, how can one make a choice to understand the Spirit of God, when that person is dead spiritually? You cannot decide NOT to be dead once you are dead. This applies Spiritually, you cannot just simply decide to be Spiritually alive. It must be God’s decision. Which we see that he decided before time,if it is to be called time, (Romans 8:28-30, Ephesians 1:4) And for the ones known as the “Red Letterists” (John 6:44) Which reads (Jesus Speaking) “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day”. So Christ unpacks two HUGE truths for us right here. Lets look at it :
A) No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him;
This particular sentence is mind blowing. NO ONE can come unless the Father has drawn him. This is perfectly in line with Paul’s teachings in Romans, Ephesians, and 1 Corinthians listed above. So these scriptures do not contradict. We must look at the Scripture that explains a particular subject and use them to interpret others. Scripture interprets Scripture and we have this perfectly in what Jesus teaches and what Paul teaches.
B) and I will raise him up on the last day
This is another HUGE promise made by Jesus. There have been many a time when reading this text I have glossed over it, which I have been learning now to always read the Scriptures carefully. The same “him” in A) is the “him” in B) . This “him” is the group known as the “Beloved” in 1 and 2 Peter also referred to by Paul as the group know as the Elect. From here we see the ones drawn by the Father are the ones raised up on the last day. Jesus makes that promise. This Group of very many individuals which are greater in number than the stars in the sky (From every tribe, Tounge, Kind of people, and nation, whether Jew or Gentile) will be raised up on the last day.
So we should come to the conclusion that God chose us, and this is why we have chosen Him. He did not choose us because of something we good we have done, He chose us for the good intention of His will.
This had to be covered before we got to Salvation. We know from all of Scripture (specifically the ones listed above) that Salvation is the complete work of God. The book of Hebrews proclaims this wonderful truth. Lets look at a couple of verses :
” Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-3)
The author obviously knew of the weight sin has on a man. Even after putting one’s belief in Christ, the weight of sin can be heavy, but look at the continuation of his thought : “let us run with endurance that the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith”. So from this we see that Christ has FOUNDED (To establish or set up, especially with provision for continuing existence) our faith. This is harmonious with Ephesians 1:4 and Romans 8:28-30. Not only does He create or author this salvific faith, He PERFECTS it. Again this is harmonious with (John 6:39,44; Romans 8:28-30) So right here we have the perfection of The Triune God’s perfect salvation, perfect meaning He will save who He has willed to save, The Father entrusts the Son with the ones chosen, and The Son raises them ALL up on the last day.
There is one more thought dealing with man’s responsibility. There is a time between God’s drawing the man to The Son, and the man being glorified by Christ Jesus on the last day:
“ Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13).
Notice Paul saying “My beloved“. This (as mentioned earlier) is a reference to the invisible church aka the elect, or the ones believing in Christ etc. He goes on to say “as you have always obeyed” He is saying this to signify the nature of those who have believed in Christ. Christ describes us (the Elect) as “His Sheep” and Himself as “The Sheppard” (John 1o:11) He goes on to says in v. 10 and the latter part of v. 12 that His sheep know his voice and listen to Him, or that His sheep obey Him. This is who Paul is referring to. So going back to Paul we finish his though out “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you , both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” So it is right here we are told to work out the Salvation (given to us by God’s Grace) , then he reminds us that it is GOD who is really working in us through the Holy Spirit. So this really hits it home for man’s responsibility. Having Grace through Faith, we are to WORK this faith out. God give us this power through the Holy Spirit because remember “for it is God who works in you” this part is really important to understand; The reason being that God is using us by His Grace “both to will and to work for His good pleasure”
O the power behind God’s Mighty Grace. These scriptures do not conflict with themselves. They are in Harmony with each other. Through His Word is the Life giving power of Faith. So in this we see that “Once Saved Always Saved” doesn’t really cut it in describing our Perseverance through God’s Grace, and His Grace alone. Not simply just our choice. It is His Grace that is empowering us not only to Choose but to Endure in the Faith He has given us.
Sola Gratia
-Justin
One of my good friends the other day had posted a status on Facebook that said ” I have a Crush on Jesus.”. Which I know her well and I know that she was just joking around when she posted that comment. But it reminded me of a few things that the The Lord has been speaking to me about, and it forces me to ask some questions and check my heart.
1. Are we simply just “Crushing” on the LORD? When He commands us to Love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Mark 12:30; Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
2. Does the love we have for our Sovereign Savior include fear and reverence to His majesty and His power? (Proverbs 3:6-7)
3. Are we worshiping the Lord in Spirit and in Truth? (John 4:24)
Something God has opened my eyes to lately is that no matter what He does in the wise council of His perfect and Sovereign will, He is WORTHY of worship and praise. We really get this picture of Jesus in Revelation (Rev 5:12).
Another thing I have realized is that everything we know about Him, comes from Him. What we know about the Lord is because He has revealed it to us. The reason we know Jesus is because God revealed the Son to us. Not even our Faith comes from us, It is from The Father who has given it to us. ( John 6:44; Ephesians 2:8) It is God’s Grace and His Grace alone. It is Sola Gratia. That is the only difference between the Sheep and the reprobate.
The same God in Isaiah 10:1-14 who used the Assyrians as His “Rod of Anger”(verse 5) to discipline Israel for their godlessness, and then turned around and punished the Assyrians for their arrogance that resulted from the LORD hardening their heart (Verse 12).
This is the God we worship. The Triune God. God is one Being existing in Three Persons. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Each person equal in essence and nature. This is Whom we worship. Let us praise Him with every aspect of our lives, and have reverence and fear as well as Love for Him.
- Realize that we need a relationship with Him
- But Let this relationship carry a weight that cannot be described as “crushing” or anything that brings Christ down to something He is not.
Filed under: The Issues
So I just very recently tried to apologize to an enemy of mine, who apparently does not know Christ. We have had some strong issues in the past, which both of us are in the wrong. I have repented of doing the things that I have done, but he does not know Christ and therefore the burden is not on him to do the same.
I am writing this in annoyance because he will not hear my apology. With God as my witness I have tried to apologize and he will not have it, yet friends of mine say “I should know better”. There is only so much that I can do. The strength to have mercy is not from me. It is from The Lord. If it were from me I would have never apologized in the first place. There is only so much a man can do with unregenerate men.
1. Pray that God will have Grace on them as He has had for you
2. Preach the Gospel to them.
3. Develop relationship, and if not possible continue praying.
Children of wrath do not follow God’s perscriptive will, and in their rebellion, it is possible that they will prefer to keep you an enemy on their “list”. I will not have any more interactions with this person because he wants to remain my enemy. It is my hope and prayer that God will crush this person in their rebellion and give him the desire to follow Him. It is not our job to “make converts”. It will be the Holy Spirit’s job to regenerate this person and make them aware of their sins to repent of them.
But as for me, to follow God’s perscriptive will, I must continue to repent of my sins, humble myself, and pray for him, even though he is my enemy. Tough love is the route I must take here, because loving him as I would a brother is not an option at this point. Join me as I pray for this person and myself.
God will be glorified whether he repents or not.
Filed under: "In House" Apologetics
The Evangelical community is going crazy over it and I, myself, cannot see why. It seems as though the evangelicals go crazy over anything pronounced as a Christian fiction and therefore force it on Christian bookshelves. In the research I have done I want to push forward the many problems I have with the book and and stress how important Good Theology is.
According to Mack’s account, God summoned him, through a note, to a shack, the very one where, apparently, his daughter was killed. In this shack, God the Father appeared to him as an African American woman (p. 82) named Papa (p. 86). Jesus is a Middle Easterner who “was dressed like a laborer, complete with tool belt… and a plaid shirt with sleeves rolled just above the elbows,” (p. 84). The Holy Spirit was an Asian woman (p. 85) who was named Sarayu (p. 87, 110).
Problems already occur. According to John 6:46 and 1 Tim. 6:16, No one has seen the Father except for The Son. This is a big problem, It is bring God the Father down to a graven image. Lets move on to the next problem.
The Father had scars on his wrists – like the crucifixion wounds of Christ (p. 95).
Nope, Sorry . The Father DID NOT die on the cross. It was the Son who suffered on the Cross. To push forward the idea that the Father suffered on the cross is modalism, which was condemned as heresy. The Father is Spirit (John 4:24) and cannot have scars. The Son is The One who suffered the death on the cross while the Father sat in heaven.
Before moving on, There is some explaining that needs to be done on the Biblical Doctrine of “The Economic Trinity” . It describes the relationship of the members of the Godhead with each other as well as with us. For example, the Father sent the Son. The Son did not send the Father, (John 6:44; 8:18; 10:36; 1 John 4:14). Jesus came down from heaven, not to do His own will, but the will of the Father (John 6:38). The Father is the head of Christ (1 Cor. 11:3). And, 1 Cor. 15:27-28 speaks of creation being in subjection to Jesus and then in verse 28, Jesus will be subjected to the Father. All this means is that there is a hierarchy within the Trinity. But in looking at this quote on page 124
“So you think that God must relate inside a hierarchy like you do. But we do not.”
This is an obvious contradiction of the Scriptures. This book, even though declaring itself to be within the Christian worldview, is not written out of Biblical Christianity. Many come out of reading this book saying “I Understand the Trinity now”. Nope, Sorry, you do not if your idea of the Trinity is drawn from this awful Theology. You want to understand the Trinity? Read the Bible.
Truth in this generation is being watered down, especially in the evangelical community. This book is a great example of it. Lets move on.
On page 136 it says, “Mackenzie, evil is a word we use to describe the absence of Good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of Light or death to describe the absence of Life. Both evil and darkness can only be understood in relation to Light and Good; they do not have any actual existence.”
Wow. Now we are just getting way out of hand. Evil is a reality, and here it is being rationalized to “the absence of God”. I think the author needs to take a look at Romans Chapter 1 here. I’m sure the author is well aware that child sacrifice to pagan gods actually exist very much so.
On page 145-146 we find, “Mack was surprised. ‘How could that be? Why would the God of the universe want to be submitted to me?’ ‘Because we want you to join us in our circle of relationship. I don’t want slaves to my will; I want brothers and sisters who will share life with me.’”
And here we have it. The Evangelical community belief that God is supposed to be submitted to all mighty man. This is a perfect example of Christian humanism. The idea that God is this huge cosmic butler, or an ASK! internet search engine. There is nowhere in scripture that expresses God being submitted to human beings. God is a Sovereign and Holy God, that casts down nations to lift others up. He is a free being and is not subject to “the almighty will of man”. Therefore He is free to have mercy on whom He has mercy, and have compassion on whom He has compassion (His Sheep or His Elect). (Exodus 33:19; John 10:14-18)
There are many more errors this book’s theology points to, so many that I could probably write a book about them all. The thing I want to point out is that Biblical Theology matters. The evangelical community needs to realize this before it endorses books like this. This book is very closely related to the book of Mormon in its Theology. Theology (knowledge of God) really impacts the way we worship Him. In John 4:24, Jesus states that we are to worship God in Spirit and In Truth. This book is very left field as far as biblical truth is concerned. Especially when one comes out of it thinking they know God better after reading the book. Sorry, but you don’t! In fact, you probably know Him a lot less. This book is a perfect example of why Theology matters.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Misconceptions Explained, Reformed Apologetics
I remember a few years back when I started looking deeper into what is known as “Calvinism” it never struck me as offensive. I would hear of many arguments that took place having to do with the word predestination, and what the word entails. I began asking a close mentor of mine what predestination was and does it compromise our “free will”. I remember the first thing he told me was ” The Bible never mentioned anything about free will”.
From then on I started better understanding the Calvinist’s point of view and I began hearing the beautiful Doctrines of Grace being sang out in Scripture. Many will disagree, but this note is really to clear up the misconceptions and misunderstandings of what is known as Calvinism to give the reader a better idea of where the Calvinist is coming from.
1. The biggest misconception is in saying that Calvinists teach that scripture says “we do not have a choice.” This is False. We do not endorse the idea of being robots. We agree that we do have a choice. So now that is cleared up, It is only logical to ask what our will actually consists of. What drives us to make the decisions we do? Why do we choose?
We of course want to retreat to Scripture dealing with man’s “choice”. In Romans 1:18-32, Paul hits the nail on the head of humanity. Paul is explaining the depth of the natural man, that is, the state in which Christ found us in. So in this circle of our nature, we make our choices. Free will – freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention. So in light of this scripture and definition, we understand that our will is based upon our choices to act upon our natural desires (That is to sin) that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention (God). So if God did not interact, our choice is only based upon what we want and not God’s will. So we can make choices, but our slavery to sin limits us to make choices only to sin (Romans 6:19) So there must be regeneration before we could ever choose to do God’s will.
So where do we get this desire to do God’s will? Well, Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. We get this from the Spirit of God. Jesus talks about the means in which we are saved in John 6 starting at verse 35. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nYeahothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
So here we are seeing what Christ came to do, The will of His Father. He states the Father’s will in verse 39 and 40. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And This is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose NOTHING of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day”. So it is right here that we see that Jesus is talking about His mission, to lose none of which the Father has given. In verse 36 and 37 we see Jesus talking to the specifically to the ones who did not believe. Moving down to 41 we see that the Jews began grumbling about Jesus because of His statement in being “The bread that came down from heaven” ( Let me note here that Jesus was comparing Himself to the manna that came down from heaven in Exodus, except He would never perish and the ones that came to Him would not perish either. The manna from heaven was a shadow or prototype in which God revealed to Moses and the Israelites about the coming Christ). 42 They said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven?
43 Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. So it is at 44 Jesus makes his message clear : ” No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” So right here, we see election coming more clear, The Father gives the elect (The people who believe ) to Christ to Purchase, Christ dies for those the Father gives to purchase them, and Then The Father draws them to fulfill raising them on up on the last day.
What we need to understand is that when Christ died, He did not die to make men ‘savable’ He did with the intention to save those the Father had given Him. Christ perfectly saves those who believe (note that belief means repenting of your sins, relying on Christ as means of 1. Justification 2. Sanctification and 3. Glorification, and following Him). He did not meet us halfway here, He did not say “Justin, I’m going to die for you, now all you have to do is believe and you are fine” No. He Chose me at the very beginning (including all those who believe) and Christ came to purchase the believers and sent us the Holy Spirit to regenerate so that it would be possible for us to have the faith that we have. Man cannot give himself the justifying faith. Salvation is from God, and He purchased it by coming down to earth and following all of the Jewish laws, being tempted as we are, and dying a gruesome R rated death on our behalf to be the propitiation for the sinners whom He chose before the foundation of the world.
Many would say to this “Well this limits the Salvation, and this shouldn’t be the way we put it across”. I would tell them that this is the way that Jesus put it across, This is the way that Paul and Peter put it across, why are we ashamed to proclaim the truth of God? The Truth is ours to proclaim and not to edit! Don’t water down the truth of the Gospel. Instead of saying “Christ died for your sins” say “Christ died for Sinners” this does not hold back from evangelism. You may say you don’t like it, well we don’t have to like the truth. Christ did not die for the atheist who lives continually suppressing the truth of God without repenting, and eventually dies without ever repenting and goes to Hell. Intentional Atonement may limit the quantity (which we know Not everybody goes to heaven) but unlimited atonement is limiting by quality. Unlimited atonement says “ There had to have been something in the person who went to heaven that the person who went to hell doesn’t have, because the person in heaven chose to accept Christ while the person in hell didn’t”. Limited (Intentional) Atonement says “ The Sheppard knows all of His sheep by name (John 10:26,27) and He guides them, and they listen to His voice. He lays down His life for His sheep (John 10:15). Which is seems to be the most biblical. Test the spirits for each to see if this teaching is from God ( 1 John 4: 1- 6) If it is not, show me why you think it as a false teaching.
I leave this for you to read,
God Bless,
Justin Mccurry
If you say that Christ died for every human being the same way, then you have to define the nature of atonement very differently than you would if you believed that Christ died for those who believe.
These are reasons I do not believe in unlimited atonement
- In one case you would believe that the death of Christ did not save anybody; it only made all men savable. It did not remove God’s Punitive wrath from anyone but instead created a place where people come and find mercy ONLY if they could accomplish the New Birth and bring themselves to faith without God’s irresistible grace. If Christ died to save all men in the same way, then logically you would have to say that he did not purchase regenerating grace for those who are saved
- If you believe that Christ died to save all men the same way, then the benefits of the cross cannot include the mercy by which we are brought to faith, because all men would be brought to faith if Christ died for all men the same way. But We Know They Are Not!
If the mercy by which we are brought to faith (irresistible grace) is not part of what Christ purchased on the cross, we are left to save ourselves from:
- The hardness of heart
- The bondage of sin
- blindness of corruption and wrath of God
We need Salvation from all three
A couple more reasons I do not believe in Unlimited Atonement is:
- In unlimited atonement, it limits the nature and value and effectiveness of atonement JUST so it could be said that it was accomplished even for those who die in unbelief and are condemned
- In this explanation the atonement is a powerless opportunity for men to save themselves from the terrible plight of depravity.
God Bless
In the previous post, we went over the “T” in T.U.L.I.P . In this post we are going to move on to the “U”. Which stands for Unconditional Election.
Unconditional Election is the doctrine that holds that God chose those whom he was pleased to bring to a knowledge of himself, not based upon any merit shown by the object of his grace and not based upon foreseen faith, especially a mere decisional faith (Romans 9:11) . God has elected, based solely upon the counsel of his own will, some for glory and others for damnation (Romans 9:15, 21). He has done this act before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1:4–8).
This is a quote from Dr. John Piper (a Calvinist Theologian, Author, and Pastor):
First notice what the point of God’s choosing is in 1 Corinthians 1:27-30.
- 27 God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
What this text says very clearly is that God chose particular kinds of people to be in the church. He did not just choose the church and leave its composition to man. He chose foolish individuals and called them into Christ. He chose some weak individuals and called them into Christ. He chose some low and despised individuals and called them into Christ. So that no one might boast in anyone but the Lord.
And then to make this crystal clear he said in verse 30 (literally): “From him [God] you are in Christ Jesus.” Or as the NASB says, “By his doing you are in Christ Jesus.” Or the NIV: “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus.” In other words, it is just as though Paul knew that someone would come along some day and say that God does not choose who is in Christ, but only chooses Christ and any who put themselves in Christ. So he says, in verses 27-29, that God chose the individuals who would make up the church in Christ. And he says in verse 30 that it is by God’s doing that they are put in Christ.
So from scripture, we should realize that we are Unconditionally Elected fools that should give all Glory and Praise to God for our election. It has nothing to do with what we have done, giving none us any room to boast. Isaiah was on to something when he penned Isaiah 64:4-9 (actually when he penned the whole book) . If the best we have for God is a filthy tampon(yes that is the context being used here) , then conditionally electing us would be out of the question.
Praise be to God alone for sending His Son Jesus Christ to die to be the Elect’s Righteousness.
more from Dr. Piper can be found at www.desiringgod.org
It is ignorant and superstitious to believe that God made everything out of nothing.
It is rational and scientific to believe that nothing made everything out of nothing.
It is ignorant and superstitious to believe that God is eternal.
It is rational and scientific to believe that matter is eternal.
God is an effect and must have had a cause.
Matter is the uncaused first cause.
If God made everything, then who made God?
Matter made everything and nothing made matter.
Filed under: The Doctrine, The Theology | Tags: Biblical Theology, Calvinism, Reformed Theology, Total Depravity, TULIP, Where The Rubber Meets the Road
This is one of the most difficult topics to discuss with people. All you have to do is say “Predestination” or “Calvinism” and folks will start gnashing their teeth, and ripping their clothes and accusing you of blasphemy.
Okay, maybe that is a little overexaggeration (a little ).
But seriously, no one likes to think they have no control of their lives, or to think themselves as puppets or robots with no choice. Which is totally not the case. But before going into the philosophical detail of what is known as “Calvinism” let’s examine what Calvin’s teachings (which is divided into 5 points aka TULIP) and see where it fits in (if at all) with the Source of Truth, God’s Word, The Bible. For this post we will stick with the “T” in “T.U.L.I.P”
Total Depravity
Total depravity is the word penned to describe how sin has affected all parts of man. The heart, emotions, will, mind, and body are all affected by sin. We are completely sinful. We are not as sinful as we could be, but we are completely affected by sin.
The doctrine of Total Depravity is derived from scriptures that reveal human character:
- Man’s heart is evil (Mark 7:21-23)
- Sick (Jer. 17:9)
- Man is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:20)
- He does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12)
- He cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14)
- He is at enmity with God (Eph. 2:15)
- And, is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3)
This is the main question we ( referring to the “Calvinist”) have in reading the Scripture provided above:
In light of the scriptures that declare man’s true nature as being utterly lost and incapable, how is it possible for anyone to choose or desire God?
The answer to this question is simply that he CANNOT, Therefore God MUST predestine.
By now some would be strongly opposing the use of the accursed P word. But predestination is In fact biblical. So the option not “Believing” in it is not available at all. Unless of course you deny the Scriptures as being the inerrant, infallible Word of God. That is a total different story that I am just not going into right now.
Calvinism maintains that because of our fallen nature we are born again not by our own will but God’s will (John 1:12-13); God grants that we believe (Phil. 1:29); faith is the work of God (John 6:28-29); God appoints people to believe (Acts 13:48); and God predestines (Eph. 1:1-11; Rom. 8:29; 9:9-23).
So there we have it. There are four more points that are going to be covered in other posts. Simply because if your brain is like mine, you need time to soak all of this in. 
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To those who just are totally not grasping this, PLEASE do not hesitate to drop me a comment
God Bless
