Wes Outwest
New Member
Thanks, but you're missing the point of my question. Nobody says that we are responsible for predestination.Originally posted by whatever:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Wes, Outwest:
Predestination is not a human responsibility because it has not been revealed to us who is predestined to what! EXCEPT! Believers in the Christ shall have everlasting life, while unbelievers will be cast into the lake of fire.
Whether any given person will believe or reject the gospel has already been determined by God, who perfectly knows the future. This is what we mean by predestination. Does this mean that people are not responsible to believe, since whether they will believe or not has already been determined and will surely come to pass? We say that each person is still responsible to believe. Arminians (and most other non-Calvinists) say that if predestination in this sense is true then no one can be held responsible for not believing. That's what 'icthus' was getting at in the OP. The question for you (or anyone else) is, can you prove this assertion? </font>[/QUOTE]If EVERY PERSON is responsible to believe, yet only those who are predestined actually get saved? What actually happens to those who were not predestined yet believed? You see, their names, according to YOUR doctrine, were never written in the book of life from before the foundation of the world. Revelation 20:15 tells us that ALL whose names were not found in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire. So you are saying that believers whose names are not found in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire. Wow! that's heavy judgment dude!
Are they saved? OR, Is it impossible for those who are not predestined to be saved?
How would one know the difference between being predestined and not being predestined, if everyone who believes is saved? Do the predestined ones have a big purple "P" emblazoned on their chest for "Predestined Man"?
How would one know they are elect?
How does one know that he/she is elect? Is it merely because one thinks that God has given them some "special flavor of grace"?
If being elect means that one has faith in God, then being elect is no different than getting "born again", because being born again means you have changed from having NO FAITH in God to HAVING FAITH in God, especially God's son Jesus. Therefore, there is nothing to "the vaporous doctrine of Election". It is a hoax!
An oxy-moronic statement! "Been determined" and "Perfectly Knowing the future" are not related. "Been determined" implies that there is no reason for any man to have to come to faith by hearing the word of God, because as you say, he will be regenerated INTO FAITH!Whether any given person will believe or reject the gospel has already been determined by God, who perfectly knows the future.
"Perfectly knowing the future" expresses the timelessness of God, meaning that there is no 'future', or 'past' for God because in eternity there is no time.
So you are saying that God has already from before the world was made, selected all of the world's inhabitants that HE HAS SAVED! So what is the purpose of living this natural life if it has already been established before "time" began. The creation being the beginning of time.
There must be some other explanation that is not included in "predestination" and "election"! And that is what Calvinism refuses to acknowledge!