1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Calvinism : Questions

Discussion in 'Calvinism & Arminianism Debate' started by LaGrange, Nov 10, 2020.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2006
    Messages:
    52,030
    Likes Received:
    3,657
    Faith:
    Baptist
    And I define it as if some are predestined to salvation then all others are automatically predestined to damnation.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Agree Agree x 1
  2. JonC

    JonC Moderator
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2001
    Messages:
    35,198
    Likes Received:
    3,791
    Faith:
    Baptist
    That stands to reason.

    If God is omniscient then everything is predestined to occur as God knew it would prior to Creation. Those God knew would be saved will be saved. Those God knew would remain lost will be condemned.

    God decreed that this would happen by His act of creation.

    If one thing is not predestined then that thing exists out of God's purview.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  3. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2006
    Messages:
    52,030
    Likes Received:
    3,657
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I dont hold to Calvinisms view of predestination
     
  4. JonC

    JonC Moderator
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2001
    Messages:
    35,198
    Likes Received:
    3,791
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Neither do I. But I do believe everything is predestined.
     
  5. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2006
    Messages:
    52,030
    Likes Received:
    3,657
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I believe that those who believe are predestined to be the sons of God
     
  6. JonC

    JonC Moderator
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2001
    Messages:
    35,198
    Likes Received:
    3,791
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Do you believe God is omniscient?
     
  7. Alan Gross

    Alan Gross Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2018
    Messages:
    5,632
    Likes Received:
    461
    Faith:
    Baptist
    We would all be hot under the collar and post insults, etc., without first praying and trying to have a contributing, peaceful, spirit.

    Just pray each time and you will be fine.

    Those prayers may lead you to watch and avoid some like the plague.

    I am just interested in What Worships God.

    Welcome.

    May God clobber (Mercifully) you WITH HIS TRUTH, like all of us, if we need adjustment and not WITH our flesh ATTEMPTING TO WORK THE GRACE of GOD!!!

    That doesn't even work.

    WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME.
     
  8. robustheologian

    robustheologian Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    1,767
    Likes Received:
    167
    Faith:
    Baptist
    This is key here, sir! If one believes in God's omniscience it would logically stand to reason that we live in a universe that is determined.
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  9. Barry Johnson

    Barry Johnson Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2020
    Messages:
    2,353
    Likes Received:
    171
    Faith:
    Baptist
    How ? they refused to believe the truth so as to be saved .
     
  10. JonC

    JonC Moderator
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2001
    Messages:
    35,198
    Likes Received:
    3,791
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Yep.

    This is the reason we see some redefining omniscience to mean knowing all that can be known at a given time. It is to exclude knowledge of contingent events.

    To illustrate a problem with that definition: prior to our conception our births were contingent. God would have been ignorant of our future existance and any events contingent on our existence as foreknowledge would not exist.

    Either everything is predestined or Open Theology is correct. There are no other logical options.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  11. atpollard

    atpollard Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2018
    Messages:
    4,714
    Likes Received:
    1,174
    Faith:
    Baptist
    What of Schrödinger's cat?
    Cannot multiple possibilities simultaneously exist that collapse into a single reality once the action is taken, yet an Omniscient God already know which possibility will ultimately become reality?

    I am only asking if LOGIC actually demands Determinism from Omniscience.
     
  12. Scott Downey

    Scott Downey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2019
    Messages:
    4,329
    Likes Received:
    765
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    Isaiah 46, God declares the end from the beginning, so God's will can not be thwarted
    The end is as determined as the beginning, God does what He wills according to His pleasure.


    9 Remember the former things of old,
    For I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like Me,

    10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
    And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
    Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
    And I will do all My pleasure,’

    And we have at the Jerusalem council in Acts15, with all the Lord's apostles there this is said.
    18 “Known to God from eternity of old are all His works.

    So there really are not any other possibilities and God just chooses one like picking out of a hat.
     
  13. JonC

    JonC Moderator
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2001
    Messages:
    35,198
    Likes Received:
    3,791
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I'd say that multiple possibilities do exist, but only one conclusion.

    If I could choose door A or door B there are at least three possibilities (provided I can't choose both). I could choose door A, door B, or no door.
    But if I choose door B, and if there was an entity that knew which would become a reality, then door B was the only possible conclusion out of those three possibilities. My choosing of door B was predestined in the past if we suppose an omniscient being existed prior to my choosing.

    The issue is never freedom of choice but the omniscience of God. We freely choose, but that does not mean those free choices are not predetermined.

    My 2 cents, anyway.
     
  14. Scott Downey

    Scott Downey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2019
    Messages:
    4,329
    Likes Received:
    765
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    This Psalm 139 shows God as our origin, our creator, and His love is for His people who praise Him. v14

    God did make man from the dust of the earth... v15

    And in God's book were written all of your days before you existed. v16

    And God's thought towards us, here, are precious, meaning He loves His people with a great love. v17

    His people will remain with Him forever v18

    13 For You formed my inward parts;
    You covered me in my mother’s womb.

    14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    Marvelous are Your works,
    And that my soul knows very well.

    15 My frame was not hidden from You,
    When I was made in secret,
    And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

    16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
    And in Your book they all were written,
    The days fashioned for me,
    When as yet there were none of them.

    17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
    How great is the sum of them!


    18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
    When I awake, I am still with You.
     
  15. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    All Calvinists, unless they are Hyper, hold that the offer to get saved is legit, but that only the Elect shall receive it!
     
  16. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    God ordained/decreed that the lost will end up in lake of Fire as their final judgement is not same thing as saying he is the one that forced/caused them to get there!
     
  17. robustheologian

    robustheologian Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    1,767
    Likes Received:
    167
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Exactly. My biggest issue with this contingent view Molinist view of the future is that it isn't truly omniscient. It says God knows what could be while the classical belief is that, not only does God know what could be, but what will actually be.

    That was a tough pill to swallow in undergraduate philosophy for me.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  18. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    The question is if God determines all things directly, or does He also factors in and allows/permits for our decisions and responses?
     
  19. robustheologian

    robustheologian Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    1,767
    Likes Received:
    167
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Yes, it does. Look at it this way: If God revealed prior that next Saturday you're going to eat a sandwich. In a way, you have a choice. You can choose to have a sandwich on that day or not. However, with one choice (the choice to have a sandwich), you would confirm God's omniscience. With the choice not to have a sandwich, God's omniscience is disproved.

    Now, of course, this is where objections would arise that it would be absurd to think our choice along dictates the reality of God's omniscience....and this would be correct. Something would happen, that would result in you having a sandwich on Sunday—whether it's because everything else is closed, you have a hankering for a tuna sandwich, or you were trapped in a sandwich shop.

    I often use Schrodinger's cat as why evangelism and good choices are still necessary in a determined world.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  20. robustheologian

    robustheologian Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    1,767
    Likes Received:
    167
    Faith:
    Baptist
    It depends on how you define "directly" and "allow" or "permit". I view permission and allowance as action by negation—especially since one can get to an intended result by action or inaction.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
Loading...