Why Calvinism preaches a fraudulent gospel to some of the lost.

Saved is the action of God in removing you from the bondage of sin and placing you in the Kingdom of God.
Grace (unmerited favor) is the reason God acted to save. Faith is the gift God gives upon saving us so that we stand before the Judge, justified in the gracious work of God alone.

 

It's the beginning of the salvation experience. If you ever experience the new birth, it's self-explanatory. The Spirit bears witness with your spirit and causes you to believe in the Christ associated with that experience.

 

I think you're missing the point that I'm trying very hard to make, Mark, and to me you keep looking at it like some sort of a market deal.

God did not design a "needed response" into the Gospel...
God designed that the Gospel would be believed by His children.

Belief of the Gospel is an evidence of a person being one of His own elect, created in Christ Jesus...
"A vessel of mercy afore prepared unto glory."
It is not a pre-requisite to the Lord saving someone, it is post-"requisite" to Him doing so.

The Gospel is not the message of potential salvation to all men, it is the message of God's love towards His children and their deliverance from His wrath and to an eternal relationship with Him and His Son.
Their belief of it was given to them in the behalf of Christ ( Philippians 1:29 ).
Their faith through all their trials and tribulations in this life is a gift from Him ( and is a fruit of the Spirit, the mark of a true believer ) not something that we as men provide in order to gain His favor.

You genuinely do not understand this, do you?

 

Which tells me that those that did receive Him and were given the power to become the sons of God, were not born of blood ( inheritance ), nor of the will of the flesh ( our own will ) nor of the will of man ( other people's will ), but of God.
The same principle is taught in James 1:18:

" Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."

Again, we're going back to God's will as opposed to our own rebellious and hard-hearted will (which the Lord Himself says is dead-set against Him and His ways, even from birth), and being born again has nothing to do with our will.

"Reaching out and accepting the gift" does not lead to being born again, my friend...
Our being born again opens us to listening to God's words ( when before that we rejected them as foolishness ), which then prompts us to "reach out" in faith and believe the truth of them.

Acts 16:14 tells us part of this, and it is this truth that completely defies human logic.

People have been trying to figure out "how to get saved" for a very long time,
and the truth is that it is a miracle of God that a person comes to Christ in true faith and hope.

My friend, I'm sorry that I've not been able to persuade you of what I see in the Scriptures,
though I've tried very hard to do so in this thread and despite me saying in the past that I would not try again.
I'll do my best not to reply to you further on this.


May He bless you with His goodness in more ways than you can count.

 

This will be my last response to you because once again your replies toward me just deteriorate into this.

Here is what you do not seem to understand. If my point does not apply to your theology then it’s not necessary for you to get involved. I’ll give you this, your position that God did not design salvation so that man must respond prior to salvation is a much stronger position than many of your reformed brothers who hold that such an idea would be works. Your position is at least consistent and reasonable however wrong it is.

 

Dave is a hyper-Calvinist.

 

Are you saying I haven’t “experienced the new birth”?

peace to you

 

You would be first to know if you did. It's an experience that makes understanding scripture possible. I had never been happier than when I experienced it.

 

The whole debate in a nutshell: How it works: Two different atonements = two different gospels.

The gospel designed for universal atonement won't fit the limited atonement. Nor will the limited atonement gospel fit the universal atonement.

Universal gospel = an offer for people to save themselves through obedience.

Limited gospel = essentially an announcement made to all. Seeking those who believe, telling them they are saved, faith being the evidence of eternal life found in those who God saves.

 

Are you saying that if I were truly saved, I would understand scripture exactly like you do? Since I don’t, I’m not saved. Is that what you are saying?

peace to you

 

There is only one revealed truth. The rest is an attempt by the flesh to make sense of scripture.

 

The truth of scripture is that Jesus said let your Yes be Yes and your No be No.

Let’s see if you can follow the commands of our Lord Jesus.

Are you saying that if I were truly saved, I would understand scripture exactly like you do. Since I don’t , then I am not truly saved. Is that what you are saying?

Let your Yes be Yes and your No be No, if you are able.

peace to you

 

So your gospel says nothing but yes or no?

 

We are to be of the one common faith. Not like today.

 

As I explained. You have a universal atonement gospel and you are attacking it because it doesn't fit Limited Atonement. You assume that you have the true gospel which can be easily proven wrong to the unbiased reader.

 

Jesus said to let your Yes be Yes and your No be No. Are you able to obey the command of our Lord Jesus?

You are making indirect accusations that I am unsaved because I don’t understand scripture exactly like you do. Undoubtably, you know that to say so directly would get you banned from the BB.

And so, you refuse to obey our Lord by saying it directly., obeying the rules of the BB rather than obeying the commands of our Lord Jesus.

What does Holy Spirit indwelling tell you? Are you grieving Holy Spirit by refusing to obey our Lord Jesus?

peace to you

 

You should know by experience if you are born again. It's Phenomenal happiness like nothing you ever experienced before.

 

I have no doubt that I am born again. I have Holy Spirit indwelling. Holy Spirit testifies with my spirit that I am a child of God.

You have expressed doubt s about my salvation, because I don’t believe exactly like you do.

Just say it plainly, if you are able. Otherwise, stop the vague accusations.

peace to you

 

If the Spirit bears witness with your spirit you will know it. It causes you to believe in the true Christ.