Originally posted by Bill Brown:
The scriptures are replete with characters who faced crisis decisions. What if Rahab had not hidden the spies? What if Moses refused to leave Midian for Egypt? What if Ruth stayed in Moab? What if Jesus decided He didn't want to die? What if Judas decided not to betray the Lord? What if any of dozens of other characters chose differently? According to the laws of probablity the odds of all of these decisions going the right way is staggering. And remember, God could have nothing to do with any of these decisions. They all had to be made by the free will of the choosers. It is statisically impossible for all the correct choices to be made given the number of choices there are in the bible. Free will would would eventually cause at least one prophecy to fail. The resulting failure would cast doubt into all of scripture. Since each part of the bible is intricately woven with all the other parts, one failure would cause the whole bible to be suspect and untrustworthy.
Now...if you are going to say that God would not allow that to happen, that somehow He would/did intervne, then free will is not really free will.
Just something to munch on.
God does have Predestinated plans, six days of work, another day of rest, but no soul was ever predestined to hell, I think God's statement, Jesus mission proves that beyond a reasonable doubt, unless of course all doesn't mean all.
When Israel rejected Jesus, God said to invite as many as you find.
Mt 22:8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Re 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
The invitation is open to the whole world, and God certainly wouldn't tell me to invite as many as I can find unless he also would welcome them.
Calvin's doctrine is "Backwards" to the scripture,
1. saved before faith,
2. limited atonement when Jesus die for the sins of the whole world,
3. God predestine people to hell when God said it wasn't his will for any to perish,
4. God showing respect of persons, when respect is a sin in judgment.
5. predestination condemns, not "unbelief"
and to make it "ALL" fit, ALL doesn't mean All.
There's more contradiction in calvins doctrine than lies in a politicians campaign promises.