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Calvin on Regeneration

steaver

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John 12:37-40 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with [their] eyes, nor understand with [their] heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

Just like these with Paul who could not understand like Paul who was called and heard and followed.

And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. Acts 9:7 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard (understood) not the voice of him that spake to me. Acts 22:9

They were not called and even though hearing their ears were not opened to understanding.

Scripture is clear that God does harden hearts and blind those who have chosen to reject Him over and over. This does not mean everyone's heart is hardened by God.
 

steaver

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No I really dont know, nor do I care....you sort out your salvation & I sort out mine.

i realy don't understand your nasty attitude. where is the manifestation of Christ in your speech? Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ. We can debate doctrines without malice, at least I should hope so.
 

Yeshua1

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i realy don't understand your nasty attitude. where is the manifestation of Christ in your speech? Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ. We can debate doctrines without malice, at least I should hope so.

Agreed, we should be able to discuss this without dividing over it!

Just curious, those holding to a calvinistic salvation view hold thatyou still must receive jesus by faith to get saved by him, do you think we teach that we are programmed Robots or something?
 

steaver

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Agreed, we should be able to discuss this without dividing over it!

Just curious, those holding to a calvinistic salvation view hold thatyou still must receive jesus by faith to get saved by him, do you think we teach that we are programmed Robots or something?

Here is what I see as the key difference between Calvinistic and Armenian that divides us;

Calvinism would say the Holy Spirit must create a new heart before faith can operate and save. AND....there is no choice, the person is caused to believe.

Armenian would say the Holy Spirit must convict and draw before faith can operate and save. AND....there is a choice, the person is not caused to believe, but allowed the opportunity to believe by the extended grace of God. If this extended grace goes ignored or rejected, at some point in God's sovereign timing it can and will be withdrawn and God will harden one's heart.

Both views place God first in the salvation process. So Calvinist need to stop with the "God is Sovereign" rhetoric because God's soveriegnty is not challenged nor disregarded in anyway whatsoever in the Armenian pov.
 

Earth Wind and Fire

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i realy don't understand your nasty attitude. where is the manifestation of Christ in your speech? Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ. We can debate doctrines without malice, at least I should hope so.

Your delusional! Im not even trying to be nasty to you. What do you want out of me ....want me to throw roses at you.....that isnt going to happen. That isnt my style.

Now I have a brother who is a pastor & I dont pull any punches with him. As brothers in Christ we need to hear each others positions but you have made it a point to say that the DoG believer is not credible....I beg to differ. And I will voice my belief system when I believe its necessary. Further, I have full confidence that my belief system is the proper orthodox viewpoint.....while also realizing that its (like other beliefs) a view from a point. I also have told you that I reject both Calvinism & Arminism....one can follow a systematic theology without walking lockstep with John Calvin. If you really have a bug up your butt about Calvinist then I suggest you post on the Puritan Forum, they are chock full of John Calvin / Presbyterian followers.
 

Earth Wind and Fire

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Calvinism would say the Holy Spirit must create a new heart before faith can operate and save. AND....there is no choice, the person is caused to believe.

Not exactly. The bottom line here is that the decisive acts in the salvation sequence is Gods, and even the matters for which we are responsible (repentance and faith, sanctification) are possible only because of Gods prior working. It is the acts of GOD that matter, not one of us would be saved.

So do we have to believe? Of course, we do. But even faith is of God or, as it is better to say, it is the result of his working in us.

Ephesians 2:8-9

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
 

percho

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Agreed, we should be able to discuss this without dividing over it!

Just curious, those holding to a calvinistic salvation view hold thatyou still must receive jesus by faith to get saved by him, do you think we teach that we are programmed Robots or something?

Thanks for this post Yeshua1. That I bolded is the reason I ended one of my post with;

I care not what Bro. Cal or Bro. Arm.thought.

I said that primarily relative to faith which when used in a saving context more ofter than not has the word, "the." preceeding.

Calvinist or should I say Calvin had to determine where, "his," saving faith came from.

Now I believe we are given a gift of faith by measure but I believe it is given us with the Holy Spirit which we received through the faith of Christ, his giving his life a ransom for many, (a Noun) an event, (a Noun) dying on the cross.

The phrase, "obedience of faith," is found twice, Rom. 1:5 and Rom. 16:26.

That was an event that took place. In both places, both words, obedience and faith are nouns. It isn't something that comes from us nor something we do. It was an event that took place in the life of Christ by which the blessings of Abraham might come on the nations (Gentiles). It was the means by which the promise of the Spirit could be given to the nations, for obedience of faith.

Read Romans 1:5, Romans 16:25,26 and Galatians 3:13,14 and please correct me if I am wrong. This goes for all who read this.


BTW this, "the faith," is the same faith spoken of in Hebrews 11. There it is speaking of the events that happened in the lives of those spoken of happened for the faith which was to come. See Gal 3:22-25.

Romans 3:30 Seeing one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through the faith

The circumcision there having the same meaning as under the law will be justified by the faith to come.
The uncircumcision being the nations the Gentiles who are now justified by the faith that did come.

Of course If I am correct all of salvation has to be of the Lord God through election through Jesus Christ our Lord for faith is something pertaining to God the Father and Jesus.
 
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percho

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I though I should add I have been going to the same SB Church for 35 years through five Pastors and my current Pastor, Arminian in though, knows how I feel concerning the faith.
 

Iconoclast

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Winman

Baloney, that whole article is a pathetic attempt to insert false Calvinist doctrine into the OT where it is not shown
.

It is easier to just make a blanket denial of truth ,than interact with the truth presented.I have pointed this out to you before.Again you want to fragment the word which is a unit.

I read his other articles and they are just as desperate. That fellow mentions ALL the scriptures I have shown in past posts that shows a person receives the indwelling Spirit AFTER believing
.

No one is speaking about indwelling...we are speaking about the Spirits work in salvation.....follow the posts.

He knows the scriptures show faith precedes regeneration, but tries desperately to say scripture says the very opposite
.
No....you are saying that but he does not say that. In fact he knows that faith and regeneration are given at conversion by God.

You are not teachable , so all you do is oppose all manner of learned men.


He also knows that no one had the indwelling Spirit in the OT.
No one said they had......but no one is saved without the Spirit...Jesus said he has been with you, He shall be in you. You keep changing to talk about indwelling when the topic is regeneration...try and stay on topic:type:

I would be embarrassed to present articles like this. Ridiculous.
If you understood them ...you would not be embarrassed. You should be embarrassed by not understanding these teachers which many persons have mentioned to you.....but then you slander them which is sad.
 
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steaver

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Your delusional! Im not even trying to be nasty to you. What do you want out of me ....want me to throw roses at you.....that isnt going to happen. That isnt my style.

.

"Isn't your style"?

EWF......But you say, what are you talking about, I go to the church, go to bible study, give to the poor etc. So what! Do you truly love Christ & have you changed your life to the point that is necessary to really get people to see a difference? Have you walked lock step with Christ in every way? Has your heart changed to the point you give all to God? Have you grown a conscience & does all the stuff weigh heavy on you? Brother, only you can honestly answer those questions.....but mark my words, that will be the test of your own personal salvation....& thats the gift that brings us to eternal life.


steaver.......No, I haven't. I have fallen way short on these points. Have you been able to do these things since your conversion? Boy, I sure haven't.

EWF......Yes most definately ...............

Now you told me that you have walked "lock step with Christ in every way". Then why do I see, and I believe others here see as well, a "style" of quite frankly as you put it "don't give a sh##" about other's feelings. Is this Christlike, "lock and step"?

Now, maybe it's just me misunderstanding you, so maybe someone else here could step in and moderate the situation. I think the tone of your post are a bit unchristlike, and I have tried to caringly point it out to you, and I just seem to get more attitude. You are saying it's just your style, well, if we find ourselves having a style that is not like Christ then we should be adjusting that style to conform to the immage of Christ. Wouldn't you agree?
 

Earth Wind and Fire

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Where I grew up we would call you a pansey a cry baby, a wussy. Get over yourself. Your hiidden agenda is obvious...even when I attempt to explain things to you, you deflict with petty insulted feelings. Look I'm done with you. Go annoy somebody else.
 

steaver

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Where I grew up we would call you a pansey a cry baby, a wussy. Get over yourself. Your hiidden agenda is obvious...even when I attempt to explain things to you, you deflict with petty insulted feelings. Look I'm done with you. Go annoy somebody else.

Sorry to have upset you. May God bless you and your's richly!
 

steaver

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What I have found over the years of studying and debating this topic of Election is this; even if one believes Election in the way of the TULIP pov, the way they actually preach is as an Armenian pov. They really have no choice but to preach in this way, for this is how the scriptures preach it, they warn their listeners to examine themselves, they warn their listeners to make sure they are born again, they warn their listeners they better make a choice for Christ. These are all Armenian pov sermons concerning regeneration and are they way the scripture exhorts. So it does not bother me that some preachers believe in TULIP, for when they preach, they must preach as an Armenian preacher!

The sermon I provided from John MacArthur proves this point perfectly!
 

Earth Wind and Fire

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What I have found over the years of studying and debating this topic of Election is this; even if one believes Election in the way of the TULIP pov, the way they actually preach is as an Armenian pov. They really have no choice but to preach in this way, for this is how the scriptures preach it, they warn their listeners to examine themselves, they warn their listeners to make sure they are born again, they warn their listeners they better make a choice for Christ. These are all Armenian pov sermons concerning regeneration and are they way the scripture exhorts. So it does not bother me that some preachers believe in TULIP, for when they preach, they must preach as an Armenian preacher!

The sermon I provided from John MacArthur proves this point perfectly!

Let me make sure I understand....are you asking why do DoG believers preach, your premise is if the DoG believer is already sure that all of the elect are going to be saved in Heaven, so why preach at all? Your saying that any preaching runs counter to DoG Doctrine but not Arminian doctrine so therefore its Arminian in nature...is that it?
 

saturneptune

New Member
What I have found over the years of studying and debating this topic of Election is this; even if one believes Election in the way of the TULIP pov, the way they actually preach is as an Armenian pov. They really have no choice but to preach in this way, for this is how the scriptures preach it, they warn their listeners to examine themselves, they warn their listeners to make sure they are born again, they warn their listeners they better make a choice for Christ. These are all Armenian pov sermons concerning regeneration and are they way the scripture exhorts. So it does not bother me that some preachers believe in TULIP, for when they preach, they must preach as an Armenian preacher!

The sermon I provided from John MacArthur proves this point perfectly!
Being a Calvin or Arminian local church is totally an unrelated issue to missions, outreach and visitation. We are commanded to go tell the Gospel to all the world. It says nothing about God electing, so why bother. It is not for us to analyze God's mind on how He accomplishes His purposes. It is for us to obey, and Jesus commands us to go and tell. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
 

steaver

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Let me make sure I understand....are you asking why do DoG believers preach, your premise is if the DoG believer is already sure that all of the elect are going to be saved in Heaven, so why preach at all? Your saying that any preaching runs counter to DoG Doctrine but not Arminian doctrine so therefore its Arminian in nature...is that it?

No, I'm not saying they should not preach, all i'm saying is that when I hear them preach (like John MacArthur) their sermon sounds exactly like that of one preaching from an Armenian pov as though the listeners can actually DO something about being saved, when they will tell you otherwise in a discussion that they cannot. To their credit, they have no choice but to preach the Armenian pov for that is how the scriptures present the invitation to follow Christ and they are being faithful to the scripture in their actual preaching.
 

steaver

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Being a Calvin or Arminian local church is totally an unrelated issue to missions, outreach and visitation. We are commanded to go tell the Gospel to all the world. It says nothing about God electing, so why bother. It is not for us to analyze God's mind on how He accomplishes His purposes. It is for us to obey, and Jesus commands us to go and tell. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Very true, but we are not speaking about the command to preach but rather the message within that preaching. TULIP preachers, even though they believe a person has no choice, preach to their listeners CHOOSE this day!
 

Earth Wind and Fire

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No, I'm not saying they should not preach, all i'm saying is that when I hear them preach (like John MacArthur) their sermon sounds exactly like that of one preaching from an Armenian pov as though the listeners can actually DO something about being saved, when they will tell you otherwise in a discussion that they cannot. To their credit, they have no choice but to preach the Armenian pov for that is how the scriptures present the invitation to follow Christ and they are being faithful to the scripture in their actual preaching.

I did not read what Johnnie Mac wrote...I personally don't like him...I do nor feel he represents me as I am more inclined toward Old School Baptists beliefs

Now as to why WE preach, it's for the comfort and instruction of the Lord's people (Isa. 40: 1-2, 9; Eph.4: 11-16).
 
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