>
Personally I too believe Calvinism and Arminianism are two example of extremes which lost the founding doctrine of Christ. Too much pondering on what is 'inside' the mind of God can lead to a distortion of the Gospel. There were many important and, notwithstanding the extremization of their view on the doctrine, imbued by Christ's life preachers and missionaries based on Calvinist and Arminian faith. But the Bible stands in the middle, at the center and not on the extremes.
In particular Calvinism. We are an image of God, and as God has a free-will, God's will, we have an image of it. We render honor and deference to God when our free-will matches to His one. But how we could do that if we have not a free-will? If we are a not complete image of God? Think, you have a free-will to do things for yourself. You can exercise your free-will rebelling to God (Adam's and Eve's first sin), or you rebel against the will of the prince of this world, Satan. Therefore it is the sin in the world [that evil allowed by God in His inscrutable design] that allows our free-will to match to God's one, or, in other words, to repair the damage provoked by the same free-will rebellion in the Eden's age. Remaining at the same time a free-will image of God.
Romans 8:29-30
http://www.freewill-predestination.com/romans8.html
AVOIDING EXTREMES
http://www.biblebaptistelmont.org/BBC/archive/AVOIDING_EXTREMES.html
------------------
The jews believed they had free will in the sense of ability to discern truth and grasp it too John 8:33, but they didn't. Their will, zeal, faith were only carnal and led to murder in the godless manner of cain. We have a will, but it is weak and in our powerless condition of unbelief (Romans 5:6) cannot understand, much less perform the will of God, but only dead, faithless works (Heb 9:14, 11:6) and various sins and lusts were are enslaved to / Titus 3:3-4, until it is given power by the grace of God (Ps 110:3). Read Psalm 119 to see how weak the will is even in the believer and how David struggles to keep his mind on God and begs for power/life/inclination to God's things.
ReplyDeleteAnd people are predestined to faith, because " and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." and
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
He chose us before foundation of world, (nothing of faith is mentioned, because faith is a CREATURE) to be blameless in love. If thats not salvation, i dont know what is.
And foreknew is "approved", not simply he knew whats going to happen, as these verses plainly show.
For that which I do I ALLOW NOT (GREEK=KNOW): for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
1 Corinthians 8:3
But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
Galatians 4:9
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God
Hebrews 3:10
Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not KNOWN my ways.
Revelation 2:24
But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not KNOWN the depths of Satan,
"4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Delete5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
---->
These verses are not referred to salvation, but to the redemption of the body of sins of the flesh, to be then adopted by God.
In the Bible nowhere is stated that God predestined someone to eternal damnation. At the opposite everyone is pleased to repent in order to obtain life.
God let to everyone decide by faith to accept His love through Christ. In affirmative case the one who showed faith in Him (and immediately after are saved) are predestined to have a new body and to be adopted by God. You are predestined to be "blameless and holy", not to salvation, because salvation is already understood. Indeed these verses were aimed *not* to the unsaved ones, but to the church at Ephesus and to the *saved* Christians:
Delete"1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:....".
To the *faithful* in Christ, i.e. to the *saved* ones, Paul simply announces that they, as *predestined* to be adopted by God, will receive the redemption of the body, "blameless and holy", and such decision has been taken by God before the creation of the world.
Why else God should to keep us saved, without our works, if not because we are not yet and *never* we could be with our works in this life, "blameless and holy", as required to stay in His presence?...
I tried many times to NOT believe in the doctrine of predestination, limited atonement, but that is what the scripture is teaching.... I do work fine with people who don't believe in it, though, and i don't judge a sincerity of a christian by it, even if it is sad.
ReplyDeleteI dont let my zeal for this destroy any love, as it should be. There is enough division. There are bad apples among all denomination and good ones too
ReplyDeleteFaith is the greatest thing a christian may have (overcomes the world, produces love, obedience, all kinds of good), but if our will,mind etc, is able, in the same manner as picking a washing machine to buy, to produce faith through a choice, should we thank ourselves for it and not God, or maybe no one, seeing its such an easy thing to get?
ReplyDelete