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Paul identifies "us" as himself along with all the believers mentioned in the letter. They were not unkown to God prior to creation. They were chosen by Him and were predestined to be conformed to His image and receive the blessings associated with being in Christ.

The situation would be conditional if you were the one initiating the action; however, it would not be conditional if the action occurs due to an external force.

The Gospel message is effective only for the elect. It's not effective at all for those who are perishing. 1 Corinthians 1:18 (ESV) For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. The ability to believe comes from the Father...

Welcome, @easternstar. Happy to have you here!

And we should all praise the Lord for that. However, what you fail to recognize is that you think you had the ability to exercise that faith all on your own. If God is the one granting you with the ability to have faith and to persevere in it, then all the glory belongs to Him. If not, then you...

What the verse does NOT say: And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as believed were appointed to eternal life. What the verse DOES say: And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord...

I don’t know about you, but when I go to bed, I’m worried about some arbitrary condition preventing the sun from rising the next morning.

It means that Christ can’t do anything unless, by your own effort, you choose to cooperate with Him.

Tasso is a perfect passive, which means the appointment came from someone other than the appointee. As I said, some on here have to jump through hoops in order to arrive at their conclusions.

Absolutely, I will. As much as you think you can find a way around it, any means of salvation that requires external effort apart from Christ utterly destroys the meaning of grace.

It’s not a strawman at all. As @kyredneck has said before, it’s a statement of fact. Everyone knows that the sun is going to rise tomorrow and there’s going to be daylight. It’s silly to even have a debate on that. According to your logic, the sun will rise, but there must be a condition met in...

Yes, I suppose that would be very much like how some on here jump through hoops in claiming that Acts 13:48 doesn’t really say “appointed.” The Christian attitude should be to hasten for the day of Christ’s return, but that in no way does that imply that time has to be flexible. Otherwise, the...

The way “if” is used is descriptive, not prescriptive. It would be like saying, “If the sun rises tomorrow, then we’ll have daylight.” If we believe, it is because we have His imputed righteousness. We don’t believe so as to earn His imputed righteousness.

Perhaps the OP might be referring to these shows as featuring Christian symbols, like crucifixes. If that's not the case, then I would be inclined to take it as a joke.

If God was aware of this before anyone came into existence, then that must be the sole outcome for them. Following that logic, there is no possibility to somehow artificially introduce free will into the equation. Mark 13:20, Philippians 1:29, Acts 13:48, Romans 8:29, Ephesians 1:4, Revelation...

If someone asks you to tell them the number of atoms in hydrogen, there is only one correct answer. It’s the same idea here, a number that can’t be changed. I can allow all those verses to say exactly what they say, as well as other verses that clearly do teach unconditional election, and...

For the sake of the OP, please set aside thoughts about Augustine. I presented evidence showing that Clement's use of a singular noun in Greek indicated his belief in the truth of unconditional election. That happened near the end of the first century, hundreds of years prior to Augustine's...

If I’m being a troll, then @Zaatar71, @canadyjd, and @kyredneck must be trolls also because they have been telling you these same things over and over again. Heck, I suppose every Calvinist throughout history must be a troll, teaching the doctrines of grace just to get a good chuckle out of it...

Hastening essentially refers to a strong desire, so I don't think 2 Peter 3:12 can be used to support the idea that God adjusts time based on human actions.

The natural man suppresses that truth. Unless they are liberated from the chains of sin, no matter how much revelation you provide, they will only continue to suppress that truth deeper. Once more, they will never reach out to God unless the Son liberates them first. They have to be...