Only have time for a short post at the moment.
One need only look as far as the bible to see that Calvinism is not based on a biblical footing, but misguided interpretations. Just look at Ecclesiastes 9:11 which clearly states that all things are not predetermined, but validate coincidental, chance outcomes.
Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.
Brother Logos,
I really do appreciate your zealousness for your beliefs. Your willingness and hard labor to find a verse,
any verse that you believe supports your views continues to be noted by all I'm sure. Yet, in your desire to be prove yourself right, you cannot see the truth in many of the verse you keep posting.
Ecclesiastes 9:11 is yet another attempt at this. It too has fallen short again. This verse proclaims just the opposite of what you say it does. Let's take a look.
One key phrase to understand in the book of Ecclesiastes is “
under the sun'.
In short the writer is looking at life on a horizontal plan. He is
NOT looking up to the Heavens, or...he is writing with
no consideration of God. At times he removes himself from this state and makes a statement about God. But he always comes back to the idea of life under the sun, or life with
no consideration of God. That is, he always returns, till he reaches the end of the book where he says, Life has no meaning, if you do not follow God.
Now your verse...
11I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither is bread to the wise nor riches to men of intelligence and understanding nor favor to men of skill; >>>>> BUT time and chance happen to them all.
Notice that the writer has once again returned to the main subject...
UNDER THE SUN.
In this state he makes this statement...in LIFE the battle is
STRONG..but not all
wise men have money, nor do all
wise have skills,
>>>>>>but favors (the blessings of riches and skills) are given to them by
CHANCE/fate!!.
What he is saying, is with
no consideration of God, fate is in control giving out whatever man has.
Now what does that mean?
To me it means, when you
DO consider God, just the
opposite is realized. That is, when you see some men with
riches, and some people with
none, and those that are rich, are not always those that are
wise, and when you see some with
skills, and some with very little
skills, and those with no skills are
smart, we
must understand that all blessings come from GOD.
Obviously anybody who wants to argue that God has predetermined every outcome doesn't need to waste his time arguing with men--their argument is with God.
“Your understanding of the inspiration of Scripture is utterly astounding!” Mel
Why thank you Mel!
I'm still not so sure Mel