Featured Why Do The Elect Need to Be Persuaded?

Hello SBG
The error is coming from your keyboard.
God has elected a multitude of sinners and passed over the rest.
Not only has God elected these persons, but He has ordained the means of grace...prayer,preaching,and teaching accompanied by the work of the Spirit. Jesus seeks and saves each and every lost sheep.lk19:10
Jn6;37-44.
He is not willing that any one of them perish.He saves all the Father gives to Him.
We did not plan it.God did.He clearly revealed it in scripture.
We believe those verses.Do you?

 

It adds up just fine.
6:44 shows it is an effectual drawing...it draws each and everyone.
The answer has been simply supplied you cannot grasp it yet.
God uses all those actions in real time to take a child of wrath even as others, and have them made willing as spoken of in psalm110:3.
It is simple and happens all the time.
That is a why people sing and confess I once was blind now I see.
Keep looking.
Also.. no verses are ignored in Reformed theology.
Do you expect me to put each one into use in every post.

 

I did answer.
All those verses are used as we do what we can to remove obstacles from the people who are walking blind dead men.
God gives light and sight to the elect.
The others go on resisting and hating the truth of God.

 

We put a sense of urgency on the need to come savingly to Christ.
I use Jn 6 :37-44 all the time as a great evangelistic portion of scripture.
The certainty that all that are given shall indeed come .
When sin and death are explained the person can be informed of God's elective purposes. It can be explained that all that are given SHALL COME.
Have you come?

 

That is what it sounds like. And it's what I figured it meant too. But everything Iconoclast has posted above is true. What helped me the most was reading actual sermons by reformed pastors. It isn't what you think.

 

Your arguments are as futile as arguing with a statue of Sherman about ravaging DIXIE!
I agree with you, but the door you’re trying to open is shut tight, triple locked, & barracaded.

 

You missed my point. Their sermons tend to be Hell, Fire and Brimstone, or gentle pleading and inviting, often with warning to respond to God's calling now and without delay. Theology is a good background framework for a pastor in the field. So you might say "Then what good is it". Well, without a reformed theological framework convincing someone to get saved is up to you. So the well meaning pastor decides that he's got to do something to get them in so he can work his magic. So you end up with strong guys tearing phone books in half or a guy on a motorcycle jumping a giant horseshoe crab purchased from the Creation Museum and calling it the "Leap of Faith". Oh yeah, we need theology.

 

And I have shown you that reformed preaching (by strong Calvinists) who believe all 5 TULIP points has all of those aspects. What do you think a sermon like "Heaven Taken By Storm" is going to be about, how you just realize you're saved? A lot of people don't like theology, which is fine. Most people that don't or aren't aware of it simply jump in at the point where they hear about Christ and him crucified - and they believe. But that doesn't make the theological explanation of what happened false.

 

You're right. Bunyan's sermon "The Strait Gate" will scare the snot out of you, and he also was a 5 pointer. I had forgotten about your reference to the narrow door.

CONTENDING< FIGHTING<STRUGGLE, yup, that's Calvinist reformed Puritan teaching. "Make every effort" is wimpy language. STRIVE.

 

Read carefully & don’t assume all replies are bucking your statements.

I AGREED WITH YOU!!!

 

Here again, reformed theology explains this better than other systems. You have to admit first of all, this verse is a much bigger problem for free willers. They seek to enter in but they can't. How would you explain it.

Here's how I would:
Reformed theology teaches that men are not capable of doing anything good on their own. As I read Calvinist literature I discovered that they did not mean that men can't do anything virtuous or have high thoughts about morality or even how to please God. Read Calvinist explanations of the "general call" as stated in the WCF and they say this call is real and many move quite far along toward saving knowledge of Christ. But they don't enter. Why? It could be they loved darkness rather than light. They found the narrow way not to be the path they wanted. Figuratively, they wouldn't ditch the stuff they wanted to bring with them, whether sin or self righteousness, or works and they can't fit through the gate with those. Notice that this is all according to their choice and will. But some, because of God's saving grace and "effectual call" do finally rip themselves from all these things and after much struggle enter the gate and go on the way, giving glory to God for saving them - even though there was much anxiety as this happened. And of course, that verse doesn't even mention the fact that there are many others who don't even bother to look for the gate!