Originally posted by pituophis:
npetreley & J.D. obviously see what I am trying to ask. What about you non-Calvinists?
Helen said, "There is no man on earth who has not, in some way, had the opportunity in his life to seek the truth of God, by being presented with enough truth to head in the right direction. From there the Father would lead them to the Son, who would refuse no one."
Jesus said in John chapter 6, "All that the Father gives to me WILL come to me... So Helen you are saying that God the Father is leading everyman on earth to the Son?
No, I am not a universalist. The key is in Romans 1, where we read that God's wrath is being poured out on those who suppress the truth...
You cannot suppress what you have not been aware of.
God has made enough of the truth of Himself and that He will provide for salvation available to every adult who ever has lived to provide that person with the opportunity to choose the truth or choose the lie. One or the other. Those that want the truth will get it, as the Father will lead these people to Christ, who refuses none. However those who prefer the lie, consistently, will finally get that, too, just as Romans 1 indicates.
"Choose this day whom you will serve" is a real and
available choice to all people.
My father was a 'deathbed conversion', but it was more of a deathbed 'completion'. He had been searching for the truth his entire life, but the circumstances of his life precluded his associating that truth with the Bible. On the August before he died, when he was very sick, I was sitting by his bed and we were quietly talking, and he asked me about my faith. I told him my story. After that, God did the rest. He died November 1, 1978, literally full of joy that he had found out the answer to his lifelong search for truth: Jesus Christ. God allowed me to be there to answer the questions he asked, when he was ready to ask them. But he had also seen my life change before that, so there was a reason for him to ask the questions. "Seek and ye shall find" is a two-edged sword also -- some seek the lie and get it. My father sought the truth and God made sure he got it, and it was received with joy and thanksgiving.
It was, actually, listening to fights like there are here on BB which turned him totally off to 'religion' when he was a radio announcer in the fifties and drew Sunday duty for eight years, thus listening to fourteen religious broadcasts each Sunday and ministers, rabbis, brothers, fathers, pastors, etc. all trooped in for their individual half-hour broadcasts -- and fought like cats and dogs as they passed each other coming and going.
Daddy HEARD all right -- and then he SAW the results of the things these men believed in their behavior towards one another.
Any unbeliever who wants the truth and reads these threads or becomes aware of the Calvinist heresy that he may or may not have been chosen by God before he was born and therefore there is no chance for him if he was not chosen -- these people will, like my father, be totally turned off to the Bible they see presented here.
And that is why
1. I will fight Calvinism with every ounce of my being as long as I can
and
2. I have stated over and over again on this board that our witness is our lives. What people see trumps what they hear.
In the meantime, people have SEEN the Gospel from the beginning, as Paul stated in the part of the passage folks still refuse to quote which is from Psalm 19 -- which Paul directly connects with the preaching of the Gospel. "The heavens declare the glory of God." It has been warped and perverted into astrology, but the truth was there from the beginning, right along with the promise to Eve, that God Himself would provide and, in fact, WAS the Savior Himself, and that we could always trust Him with ourselves.
