Unconditional Election and Total Depravity are Gnostic Teachings
Unconditional Election and Total Depravity are Gnostic Teachings
Unconditional Election (Predestination), is the letter U in the acronym T.U.L.I.P that forms the basis of Calvinism.
The doctrine of Predestination asserts that some people are born already selected for salvation or damnation, which they cannot avoid even by good deeds in this life. For St. Augustine and John Calvin it is a divine mystery that God in His perfect justice makes the apparently gratuitous selection of the elect, with a parallel thought that He has made a similar selection of the damned “…those whom in His justice He has predestined to punishment,” and “those whom in His mercy He has predestined to grace.” –Augustine, Enchiridion c, p. 269
We can’t point fingers at John Calvin alone for this heretical teaching because he obtained it from Augustine’s writings. But where did Augustine get it from?
Prior to Augustine becoming a Christian in 387 AD he adhered to Manichaeism, an Iranian Gnostic religion proclaimed by their ‘prophet’ Mani (216-276 AD) originating in Sassanid Persia (Babylon). Shortly after Roman Emperor Theodosius I issued a decree of death for Manichaeans in 382 AD and declaring Christianity to be the only legitimate religion for the Roman Empire in 391, Augustine supposedly became an ardent opponent of Manichaeism however Manichaeism still influenced his thinking as can be seen with the idea of ‘The Elect’.
Mani divided his church into 2 groups; The Elect, The Hearers and then The Sinners.
- The Elect (perfects): those who had taken upon themselves the vows of Manicheaism
- The Hearers (auditores): those who had not taken vows, but still participated in the Church
- The Sinners: everyone else
Augustine was a Hearer as he never took the Manicheaism vows because he could not live up to their very strict standards (Confessions of Augustine). The life of those who took the vows was a hard one. They were forbidden to have property, to eat meat or drink wine, to gratify any sexual desire, to engage in any servile occupation, commerce or trade, to possess house or home, to practice magic, or to practice any other religion. Therefore the vast majority of adherents where Hearers and the number of Elect were very small. When the Elect die their bodies are purified by the sun, moon and the stars – their light particles set free to form little deities in the cosmos surrounding the First-man. The Hearers have to pass through a long purgatory before they arrive at eternal bliss. Sinners are thrown into hell, body and soul where they will wander around for eternity in torment and anguish, surrounded by demons and condemned by the angels.
Augustine said regarding Predestination:
“…are rather to understand the Scripture [1 Tim 2:4] as meaning that no man is saved unless God wills his salvation: not that there is no man whose salvation He does not will, but that no man is saved apart from His will…it was of prayer to God that the apostle was speaking when he used this expression.” …. “We may understand by ‘all men,’ every sort of men. And we may interpret it in any other way we please, so long as we are not compelled to believe that the omnipotent God has willed anything to be done which was not done.” –Augustine, Enchiridion, pg. 103
“…the resources of salvation are located in God, outside of humanity. It is God who initiates salvation, not men or women.” — McGrath, Alister E. Christian Theology: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing, 2007. pg. 19
“God does not choose us because we believe, but that we may believe.” –Augustine, Predestination of the Saints 17.34
One can now see how easy it was for Augustine to mis-interpret scripture regarding predestination. He could not achieve Election in Manicheaism, but by twisting scripture he could be Elect in Christianity.
Mani also believed in Total Depravity (also called Total Inability), which forms the T in T.U.L.I.P, where he said;
“…the nature of man can be corrupt to the point that his will is powerless to obey God’s commands.” — Henry Chadwick, “The Early Church”, Penguin Books Ltd (August 1994), pg. 228.
Calvinism’s definition of Total Depravity asserts that, “as a consequence of the fall of man into sin, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin. People are not by nature inclined to love God with their whole heart, mind, or strength, but rather all are inclined to serve their own interests over those of their neighbor and to reject the rule of God. Thus, all people by their own faculties are morally unable to choose to follow God and be saved because they are unwilling to do so out of the necessity of their own natures. (The term “total” in this context refers to sin affecting every part of a person, not that every person is as evil as possible.) [Emphasis added] –-David Steele and Curtis Thomas, “The Five Points of Calvinism Defined, Defended, Documented”, pg. 25.
Augustine said that;
Adam and Eve in punishment for their sin “became a natural consequence in all their descendants”. Moreover, it is not just a corrupted physical nature that we have inherited from Adam, but our… “human nature was so changed and vitiated that it suffers from the recalcitrance of a rebellious concupiscence….” –City of God, xiii. pg. 3
We can now too see why Augustine believed such an erroneous doctrine. In order for Election to work, man would have to be totally depraved or incapable of initiating any contact with God unless God chooses the person first.
Both Total Depravity and Election are 2 Gnostic teachings and even though Augustine opposed Manichaesim he did not divorce himself from their doctrines.
“The Gnostics [placed]…the natural order at so vast a distance in moral value from the supreme God. The influence of fatalistic ideas drawn from popular astrology and magic became fused with notions derived from Pauline language about predestination to produce a rigidly deterministic scheme. Redemption was from destiny, not from the consequences of responsible action, and was granted to a pre-determined elect in whom alone was the divine spark.” [Emphasis added] — Henry Chadwick, “The Early Church”, Penguin Books Ltd (August 1994), pg. 38
Election was a NEW concept and had not been heard of in Christianity before until Augustine introduced the idea. He had many opponents who rebuked him and his false doctrines.
Julian bishop of Eclanum, said that Augustine was causing trouble because he;
“brought his Manichee ways of thinking into the church… and was denying St Paul’s clear teaching that God wills all men to be saved‘ — Henry Chadwick, “The Early Church”, Penguin Books Ltd (1994), pg. 232-3
Vincent of Lérins said that of Predestination;
“…a most disturbing innovation, quite out of line with ‘orthodoxy'”. — Henry Chadwick, “The Early Church”, Penguin Books Ltd (1994), pg. 223
The following men agreed in the Biblical teaching of free will:
JUSTIN MARTYR (c.100-165 A.D.) said;
Dialogue with Trypho, CXLI:
“God, wishing men and angels to follow His will, resolved to create them free to do righteousness. But if the word of God foretells that some angels and men shall certainly be punished, it did so because it foreknew that they would be unchangeably (wicked), but not because God created them so. So if they repent all who wish for it can obtain mercy from God.”
IRENAEUS of Gaul (c.130-200) said;
Against Heresies XXXVII:
“This expression, ‘How often would I have gathered thy children together, and thou wouldst not,’ set forth the ancient law of human liberty, because God made man a free (agent) from the beginning, possessing his own soul to obey the behests of God voluntarily, and not by compulsion of God. For there is no coercion with God, but a good will (toward us) is present with Him continually. And therefore does He give good counsel to all. And in man as well as in angels, He has placed the power of choice (for angels are rational beings), so that those who had yielded obedience might justly possess what is good, given indeed by God, but preserved by themselves . . .”
“If then it were not in our power to do or not to do these things, what reason had the apostle, and much more the Lord Himself, to give counsel to do some things and to abstain from others? But because man is possessed of free-will from the beginning, and God is possessed of free-will in whose likeness man was created, advice is always given to him to keep fast the good, which thing is done by means of obedience to God.”
ATHENAGORAS of Athens (2nd century) said;
Embassy for Christians XXIV:
“Just as with men who have freedom of choice as to both virtue and vice (for you would not either honor the good or punish the bad; unless vice and virtue were in their own power, and some are diligent in the matters entrusted to them, and others faithless), so is it among the angels.
THEOPHILUS of Antioch (2nd century) said;
To Autolycus XXVII:
“For God made man free, and with power over himself . . . now God vouch safes to him as a gift through His own philanthropy and pity, when men obey Him. For as man, disobeying, drew death on himself; so, obeying the will of God, he who desires is able to procure for himself life everlasting.”
TATIAN of Syria (flourished late 2nd century) said;
Address XI:
“Why are you ‘fated’ to grasp at things often, and often to die? Die to the world, repudiating the madness that is in it. Live to God, and by apprehending Him lay aside your old nature. We were not created to die, but we die by our own fault. Our free-will has destroyed us; we who were free have become slaves; we have been sold through sin. Nothing evil has been created by God; we ourselves have manifested wickedness; but we, who have manifested it, are able again to reject it.”
BARDAISAN of Syria (c.154-222) said;
Fragments:
” ‘How is it that God did not so make us that we should not sin and incur condemnation?’
-if man had been made so, he would not have belonged to himself but would have been the instrument of him that moved him . . . And how, in that case, would a man differ from a harp, on which another plays; or from a ship, which another guides: where the praise and the blame reside in the hand of the performer or the steersman . . . they being only instruments made for the use of him in whom is the skill? But God, in His benignity, chose not so to make man; but by freedom He exalted him above many of His creatures.”
CLEMENT of Alexandria (c.150-215) said;
Stromata Bk ii ch. 4:
“But we, who have heard by the Scriptures that self-determining choice and refusal have been given by the Lord to men, rest in the infallible criterion of faith, manifesting a willing spirit, since we have chosen life and believe God through His voice.”
Stromata Bk iv ch. 12:
“But nothing is without the will of the Lord of the universe. It remains to say that such things happen without the prevention of God; for this alone saves both the providence and the goodness of God. We must not therefore think that He actively produces afflictions (far be it that we should think this!); but we must be persuaded that He does not prevent those that cause them, but overrules for good the crimes of His enemies.”
In Stromata, Bk ii ch 2, CLEMENT argues strongly that “faith is not established by demonstration.” Faith involves a choice and “choice is the beginning of action.”
TERTULLIAN of Carthage (c.155-225) said;
Against Marcion Book II ch.5:
“I find, then, that man was by God constituted free, master of his own will and power; indicating the presence of God’s image and likeness in him by nothing so well as by this constitution of his nature . . .
-you will find that when He sets before man good and evil, life and death, that the entire course of discipline is arranged in precepts by God’s calling men from sin, and threatening and exhorting them; and by this on no other ground than that man is free, with a will either for obedience or resistance.
. . . Since therefore, both the goodness and purpose of God are discovered in the gift to man of freedom in his will . . .
NOVATIAN of Rome (c.200-258) said;
On the Trinity ch 1:
“He also placed man at the head of the world, and man, too, made in the image of God, to whom He imparted mind, and reason, and foresight, that he might imitate God; and although the first elements of his body were earthly, yet the substance was inspired by a heavenly and divine breathing. And when He had given him all things for his service, He willed that he alone should be free. And lest, again, and unbounded freedom should fall into peril, He laid down a command, in which man was taught that there was no evil in the fruit of the tree; but he was forewarned that evil would arise if perchance he should exercise his freewill in contempt of the law that was given.”
ORIGEN (c.185-254) said;
De Principiis Preface:
“Now it ought to be known that the holy apostles, in preaching the faith of Christ, delivered themselves with the utmost clearness on certain points which they believed to be necessary to everyone . . . This also is clearly defined in the teaching of the church that every rational soul is possessed of free-will and volition.”
De principiis Bk 3 ch. 1:
“There are, indeed, innumerable passages in the Scriptures which establish with exceeding clearness the existence of freedom of will.”
METHODIUS of Olympus (c.260-martyred 311) said;
The Banquet of the Ten Virgins xvi:
“Now those who decide that man is not possessed of free-will, and affirm that he is governed by the unavoidable necessities of fate . . . are guilty of impiety toward God Himself, making Him out to be the cause and author of human evils.”
Concerning Free-will:
“I say that man was made with free-will, not as if there were already existing some evil, which he had the power of choosing if he wished . . . but that the power of obeying and disobeying God is the only cause.”
ARCHELAUS said;
The Disputation with Manes:
“For all creatures that God made, He made very good, and He gave to every individual the sense of free-will in accordance with which standard He also instituted the law of judgment. To sin is ours, and that we sin not is God’s gift, as our will is constituted to choose either to sin or not to sin.”
ARNOBIUS of Sicca (c.253-327) said;
Against the Heathen: 64
“I reply: does not He free all alike who invites all alike? Or does He thrust back or repel any one from the kindness of the Supreme who gives to all alike the power of coming to Him? To all, He says, the fountain of life is open, and no one is hindered or kept back from drinking . . . ”
Against the Heathen: 65
“Nay, my opponent says, if God is powerful, merciful, willing to save us, let Him change our dispositions, and compel us to trust in His promises. This then, is violence, not kindness nor the bounty of the Supreme God, but a childish and vain strife in seeking to get the mastery. For what is so unjust as to force men who are reluctant and unworthy, to reverse their inclinations; to impress forcibly on their minds what they are unwilling to receive, and shrink from . . .”
CYRIL of Jerusalem (c. 312-386) said;
Lecture IV 18:
“Know also that thou hast a soul self governed, the noblest work of God, made after the image of its Creator, immortal because of God that gives it immortality, a living being rational, imperishable, because of Him that bestowed these gifts: having free power to do what it willeth.”
Lecture IV 20:
“There is not a class of souls sinning by nature and a class of souls practising righteousness by nature; but both act from choice, the substance of their souls being of one kind only and alike in all.”
Lecture IV 21:
“The soul is self-governed: and though the Devil can suggest, he has not the power to compel against the will. He pictures to thee the thought of fornication: if thou wilt, thou rejectest. For if thou wert a fornicator of necessity then for what cause did God prepare hell? If thou wert a doer of righteousness by nature and not by will, wherefore did God prepare crowns of ineffable glory? The sheep is gentle, but never was it crowned for its gentleness; since its gentle quality belongs to it not from choice but by nature.”
GREGORY of Nyssa (c.335-395) said;
On Virginity (368/3G8) ch. XII:
“Being the image and the likeness . . . of the Power which rules all things, man kept also in the matter of a free-will this likeness to Him whose will is over all.”
JEROME (c.347-420) said;
Letters CXXXIII:
“It is in vain that you misrepresent me and try to convince the ignorant that I condemn free-will. Let him who condemns it be himself condemned. We have been created endowed with free-will; still it is not this which distinguishes us from the brutes. For human free-will, as I said, depends upon the help of God and needs His aid moment by moment, a thing which you and yours do not choose to admit. Your position is that once a man has free-will he no longer needs the help of God. It is true that freedom of the will brings with it freedom of decision. Still man does not act immediately on his free-will but requires God’s aid who Himself needs no aid.”
Against the Pelagians Book III, 10:
“But when we are concerned with grace and mercy, free-will is in part void; in part, I say, for so much depends upon it, that we wish and desire, and give assent to the course we choose. But it depends on God whether we have the power in His strength and with His help to perform what we desire, and to bring to effect our toil and effort.”
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (347-407) said;
On Hebrews, Homily 12:
“All is in God’s power, but so that our free-will is not lost . . . It depends therefore on us and on Him. We must first choose the good, and then He adds what belongs to Him. He does not precede our willing, that our free-will may not suffer. But when we have chosen, then He affords us much help . . . It is ours to choose beforehand and to will, but God’s to perfect and bring to the end.”
As we can see they all believed in free will, except Augustine. This idea was then carried over to John Calvin and today Predestination and Total Depravity form part of the base doctrine of Calvinism.
While I was doing my research I found this youtube video by Paul Washer from Heart Cry Missionary Society who is also an ardent Amillennialist (A Roman Catholic doctirine) and dabbler in Contemplative Spirituality. Paul Washer asserts that an 18th month old baby is totally and utterly evil. How Paul Washer can make such a statement is beyond reason. I suppose when you are ‘Divinely Chosen’ you can say the most ludicrous things. This is a very shocking video.
John Calvin’s reign of terror:
- He had Servetus burned at the stake on October 27, 1553,
- Gentile beheaded in 1566,
- 34 women burned at the stake after accusing them of being witches who caused a plague that had swept through Geneva in 1545,
- “Freckles” Dunant dies under torture in February 1545 without admitting to the crime of spreading the plague,
- Several men and women are apprehended including a barber and a hospital supervisor who had “made a pact with the devil.” in 1545,
- 2 women executed by burning at the stake for sorcery by spreading the plague in March 7, 1545,
- Belot (an Anabaptist) chained and tortured – against infant baptism in 1545,
- 7 men executed concerning the plague outbreak in May 16, 1545,
- a child was whipped publicly for calling his mother a thief,
- a girl who struck her parents was beheaded,
- Jacques Gruet accused of writing a poster against Calvin, was arrested, tortured then executed in July 1546,
- and the list goes on, his victims ranging in age from 16-80.
If John Calvin was Elect, then so was Hitler! 58 murders is as good as 6 million.
John MacArthur and Grace to You ministries has this to say regarding Predestination:
I love the doctrines of grace and don’t shy away from the label “Calvinist.” I believe in the sovereignty of God. I’m convinced Scripture teaches that God is completely sovereign not only in salvation (effectually calling and granting faith to those whom He chooses); but also in every detail of the outworking of Providence. –“Why I am A Calvinist” — Phil Johnson, Grace to You ministries, http://www.gty.org/Resources/Articles/10194
The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended and Documented
Afterward by John MacArthur
I am thankful for this timely revision of wonderful classic that has already been an immense blessing to countless thousands. Notwithstanding its success over the years, the only question that ultimately matters about the “five points of Calvinism” is whether these doctrines are biblical. This book has demonstrated (conclusively, in my judgment) that the “five points” are nothing more or less than what the Bible teaches. The doctrines of grace and divine sovereignty are the very lifeblood of the full and free salvation promised in the gospel.
Today Calvinism is being subjected to constant attack. Several recent, popular, published critiques have tried to discredit John Calvin the man, or they have unfairly blamed Calvinism for the dubious politics of the Reformation era. But the doctrines of Calvinistic soteriology must stand or fall by the test of Scripture, period.
Scripture speaks with absolute, unmistakable clarity on these vital issues: (1) Sinners are utterly helpless to redeem themselves or to contribute anything meritorious toward their own salvation (Rom 8:7-8). (2) God is sovereign in the exercise of His saving Will (Eph 1:4-5). (3) Christ died as a substitute who bore the full weight of God’s wrath on behalf of His people, and his atoning work is efficacious for their salvation (Isa. 53:5). (4) God’s saving purpose cannot be thwarted (John 6:37), meaning none of Christ’s true sheep will ever be lost (John 10:27-29). That is because (5) God assures the perseverance of His elect (Jude 24; Phil 1:6; 1 Peter 1:5).
Those are the five points of Calvinism. I believe them not because of their historical pedigree, but because that is what Scripture teaches.
John F. MacArthur Jr.
— http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/MacArthur_5pts.html
Well John MacArthur, your Calvinistic version of Salvation falls and it falls hard!
The correct Biblical interpretation is this:
- CONDITIONAL ELECTION – God has chosen that all humanity be righteous by His grace, yet has called us to respond to that grace by exercising our God restored human freedom as a condition of fulfilling election.
- DEPRAVATION – Human beings are sinful and without God, incapable (deprived) on their own of being righteous; however, they are not irredeemably sinful and can be transformed by God’s grace; God’s prevenient grace restores to humanity the freedom of will.
Jesus Christ died for ALL mankind, not just for the Gnostic Elect.
Calvinism is not the gospel as Calvinists would love to have you believe. Calvinism is a horribly devious doctrine in that it sounds biblically correct for the most part, until you reach the MOST IMPORTANT PART: Salvation. Here you are presented with Predestination and Total Depravity; teachings out of the pit of hell. If a person is locked into a false sense of salvation, then Satan has done his job well.
UPDATES: Please see this article that EXPOSES John Calvin as a FREEMASON: Huguenots, John Calvin and Freemasonry
And I’m sorry If I have hurt somebody somehow 🙂 . I really am ! May the peace of God be upon y’all.
Miste
We are not judging you Miste, however you are judging us by saying we are judging you. It works both ways remember.
I wish I was 21, then I could go back and fix then what I know now. I had to learn the hard way Miste, and when I was 30 years old I came to Jesus and laid my life before Him and gave Him everything of me. I gave up my friends (who swore at me for doing so) I gave up my lifestyle, everything!!! I begged Jesus for forgiveness for the sinful life I was leading and He forgave me, the big thing was I CHANGED MY WAYS. I told Jesus that I would never ever turn my back on Him again and that I would do anything and everything for for Him. That I loved Him so much and wanted my whole life to be lead by Him. Once I was saved the Holy Spirit started to teach me the Bible and what was truth and what was error and I learnt very quickly. This is one of the MAJOR signs of being genuinely saved Miste and that is that the Holy Spirit teaches you and you can DISCERN truth from error almost instantly.
Did I have a good kushy life growing up? No Miste, I worked for everything I own. Believe it or not some people go through hell and back, and and come out shining because they want to cling to Jesus Christ, and it’s only He who SAVES and helps them weather the storms.
You say you are sorry that you might have hurt someone here? Are you really sorry? This is the internet after all, things don’t mean anything especially when you put a smiley face behind your apology.
Miste..PLEASE STOP giving Debs a hard time! I agree with her that your apologies seem very shallow and not very earnest. I too wish I was 20/21 and that I could start all over again. Your presumption that Debs and many of us on here, are ‘kids’, is quite insulting really. To be perfectly honest, you are the one who is coming across as ‘childlike’, and I am not being nasty to you. I am 50 years old and I have known the LORD a very long time, but Debs is way ahead of me in knowledge and wisdom. Miste, I think you should stop talking (writing), and start listening! I think Debs is being EXTREMELY patient with you and you need to appreciate her, she is an awesome woman of GOD.
Myfanwy
>> she is an awesome woman of GOD.
Thank you 🙂 But I take no credit for what I do here, this is Jesus blog and I can only work if I am guided by the Holy Spirit, without Jesus I am nothing. I make mistakes, typing errors, grammatical mishaps by the gazillion, and sometimes (though quite rare) I get something wrong because I didn’t study the topic intensively enough or at all. I sometimes tell people it’s ok to read others material and then later find out the person who’s material I sent them to read is no longer reliable. So, I am just a little person, like you 🙂
I know you take no credit, and that is what makes you so special! As for the mistakes, yes, you are human like me..but it is very hard to keep up with everything and I think you do a splendid job! : )
Myfanwy
Thanks so much! 🙂
Miste, I have been a Christian for over 50 years. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but have been around the block a few times, made mistakes, etc. But I have tried with the Lord’s help to learn from them and grow.
I would exhort you to listen to the godly and biblically sound wisdom that is being put forth here. You have judged Debs wrongly as her testimony above shows. Debs could have a much easier and calm life if she chose to dump this blog, but she is called to a task and she is doing it to the best of her ability. She is trying to warn and alert, just as the Bible carries many warnings.
The truth here is spoken out off a heart of love for people and love for the Lord and His Word.
I always say what I mean – this is in our culture after all. I am Bulgarian. I am sorry for any misjudging here again and when I say it I really mean it. We are all Christians after all . God bless you guys !
I just felt obligated to explain what Molinism is and why I am not a heretic… 😀 🙂 I just felt abused by this presumption and probably I have overreacted a bit. That’s exactly why I am really sorry – I shouldn’t treated you that way !
Miste
Molinism was invented by a Jesuit priest, therefore nothing of the doctrine of Molinism can be truly biblical. There was no presumption on our part, we speak the truth here, now you need to face facts that you follow after the tennents of the Roman Catholic Church.
I suppose this is why Calvinism appeals to you (Paul Washer in particular) because Calvinism is an off shoot of Roman Catholicism-(THE FALSE PROPHET) and Calvinism is joining it’s hands with Rome again, one day soon you will be going to mass instead of church. Then what will you do?
There was some discussion above about the questions of predestination, and God’s foreknowledge of peoples’ salvation or damnation.
You’re trying to decide whether or not to have a baby. God or an angel appears to you, and says “It’s up to you, but you should know that if you have a baby, he’ll choose the wrong path. This is a certainty. He’ll be damned forever, no matter how piously you raise him. He’s not predestined mind you. It’s only that God knows his choices before he makes them, and it’s impossible to vary from God has foreseen.”
Do you have the baby?
If yes, why?
If no, do you think any person with an adequately developed conscience would answer yes?
If yes, why?
Thank you in advance for your earnest answers.
Also:
How does God knowing a person’s ultimate destiny before the world even exists differ substantially from “predestination?”
Again, thank you.
Hello,
Yesterday I posted some questions regarding predestination. At that time, they were “awaiting moderation.”
At this time, they don’t appear here, and I don’t understand why. If this site has posting guidelines, I haven’t found them. But my questions weren’t profane or anything like that. I was just trying to understand how people reconcile the notion of God’s perfect foreknowledge with the existence of free will, and the ethical basis for choosing to create people knowing before they’re even created that they’re damned for all time.
If I broke any rules, I’m sorry. The only thing I can think of is that my original posts included my last name, which a lot of sites don’t want to publish for understandable reasons. So let me try again. The phrasing is only a little different this time:
1) You and your husband/wife are trying to decide whether or not to conceive a child. An angel appears to you and says:
“God leaves the decision to you, but He wants you to know that if you conceive that child, he’ll make the wrong choices. He’ll be damned to hell for all time. This is certain no matter how piously you raise him. He’s not predestined: it’s just that God has foreseen his ultimate destiny, and what God has foreseen cannot be changed.”
Do you conceive the baby?
If yes, why? How can you in good conscience conceive a baby you know will be damned?
If no, why not? He’s not predestined for damnation, so why wouldn’t you want to give him the opportunity to go to heaven? Just because God has perfectly foretold his ultimate destiny doesn’t mean he won’t have the free will to make the right choices, right?
How does God holding perfect foreknowledge differ substantially from predestination?
Thank you in advance for your earnest efforts to answer these questions. If the moderator declines to post them, please send me an email explaining why.
Dan
Dan,
Yesterday I posted some questions regarding predestination. At that time, they were “awaiting moderation.”
Like you we are only human and prone to flu viruses. So please be patient
Dan,
Your questions are made, I assume, from a Calvinistic perspective and not a biblical one.
First of all God will never send an angel to warn a couple that if they should decide to conceive a child that their child will inevitably be bound for hell because He did not elect him unto salvation and the child is going to make all the wrong choices. As far as I recall God said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it” and that’s it. (Genesis 1:28) He did not say parents who have a desire to conceive a child should first wait for an angel to visit and inform them whether their baby is an elect or a reprobate. I know of no angel or angels who were contracted by God to visit would-be parents and warn them of the ordeal of having children or not, simply because they don;t know whether their child may be an elect or a reprobate.
Secondly, the ability to make right and wrong choices is something of a misnomer in Calvinism. The child is totally depraved and therefore completely inept to make any choices because he is completely devoid of a free-will.
Thirdly, God will never send an angel to a married couple and warn them not to conceive a baby who was chosen by God to suffer in hell for an eternity because election and predestination unto salvation is a man-made doctrine and therefore a lie. (Romans 3:4).
Fourthly, it is every parent’s duty to rear their children in the fear of the Lord and to make known to them the Gospel so that they may make the right choices. In any case, if your scenario of the angel being sent by God to warn would be parents that their child was not elected unto salvation, was true, it would never have been necessary of Jesus to send the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. The parents could simply decide not to conceive reprobate children. In the long run we would reach the bizarre situation where every couple, knowing in advance that their child would be an elect or reprobate child, would only bring forth elect children. In that case there would only be saved sinners on the earth. That’s just too ridiculous.
God’s foreknowledge does not make people do things, such as to accept or to reject the Gospel. His foreknowledge has no bearing on people’s final choices. The words “predestine” and “predestination” do not appear in the Bible. The word “predestinate” appear twice (Romans 8:29-30). Of particular importance is the phrase “for whom He did foreknow” which simply means that those whom He foreknew would respond favorably tot the Gospel and be saved He predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son. In other words, predestinate is not a predestination unto salvation but unto blessing and that blessing is to be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Daniel Winn,
Predestination is never unto salvation. It is always unto blessing or service.
Daniel Winn
I assume that you have kids? What was the name of the angel who told you some of them were not chosen unto salvation? Abaddon, Lucifer, the son of perdition, devil, Satan?
Consequently this whole thing makes not want to be a Christian.
Enter calvinist saying you never had it.
To which I say. I wasn’t predestined and thank you Jesus for making a instrument of wrath against my will as I am totally incapable of repenting because you never predestined me.
What happens to the “elect” that never heard the gospel before dying?
All the “church father’s”, you mentioned were not truly Christian, so why would you think these fake, Anti-christ men’s belief in “free will” makes it valid? They are not saved, and by the way Origen was a Gnostic, mystical philosopher……….so they are blind to the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul also mention’s, in a number of his epistles intoduction’s, he was Born by the Will of God, not himelf, nor by the will of man.
Free will teaching is totally and utterly false teaching straight from the mouth of the Devil.
You believe in a works salvation, the Lord and His Apostles teach something all together opposite. Predestined and elected for Salvation is a biblical truth, you would not believe in because you are not saved.
Paul teaches this in Roman 9….read it all. Just that chapter alone, kills your theory…period.
Also let us not forget Women have no authority to teach over the Body of Christ, let alone the men in the Body of Christ, so you are a false teacher, with no authority whatsoever……..(except if you are just teaching women how to lead Godly lives), but that is questionable since you are not living a Spirit lead life, by and through the Unction of the Holy Spirit which does ALL the work of changing ones life…….the sanctification process is of and by the Holy Spirit and that is it…..otherwise you are prideful and living a self-righteous life, based upon your own works of Righteousness….which you have proclaimed from you own mouth in a comment.
https://comeseegoodnessofthelord.wordpress.com/2020/07/08/the-deceitful-lie-free-will-belief-ism-and-teaching-is-from-the-author-of-all-lies-the-serpent/
Lord help you to understand, you are not in the Faith of Christ towards God the Father.
Cal,
Are you married? If so, did your wife have any choice in getting married to you? If not, where’s the love in your forced marriage? I can have a long discussion with you proving that free-will is a big deal in salvation. However, I think it would be enough for now if you could answer my simple question.
To Tom Lessing,
I am not married, the Lord instructed me to stay single, so it has stayed so these last 43 years since the Lord came and invaded my life, without me seeking Him. No bible, no human, just a simple tract about a criminal who called out to God, because he was a violent criminal in prison.
What truly got my interest was how could a person have a change overnight, then the Lord came and let me know.
Oh, please do not label me as a Calvinist, I only follow the Lord Jesus Christ, I am His disciple, I follow after no other man. I’ve heard about Calvin, never read any of his writings, I have read other people mention the TULIP, and what it stood for, but that is about it. I did read about some of his “actions” from other writers, and I was not impressed.
The Holy Spirit taught me through His Word, and gave me understanding, and Ido know without a shadow of a doubt, of what I know, what I believe. The Lord spoke it, and it is written, and I shall not deny it.
Also why are you responding to me when my comment was addressed to Deborah, since she is the one who did write the article?
Thank you for responding……I await your response. Lord bless you.
Why isn’t Deborah not responding? Well, she and I are in total agreement on the doctrine of free will and Calvinism. So, if you don’t mind, I shall respond on her behalf.
So, you are not married, and you were commanded to stay celibate. You have never broken Jesus’ command in Matthew 5:28? “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart?” You have never? Really? You’ve never been guilty of this sin? Well, in that case, you must have no free will and need to be controlled like a computer with buttons you can press to keep you from looking lustfully at women.
I just love your statement,
It reminds me so much of what Jesus says in Luke 19:10
Do you know what the word invade means? Here’s what the dictionary says:
I am sorry to tell you this, but the Jesus who invaded your life is not the real Jesus of the Bible. It is another Jesus because the real Jesus never invades people. He is not a virus. He saves those who know and realize they are lost sinners on their way to hell.
Cal
Tom Lessing has and will respond on my behalf, he is the other owner of this website.
Thank you.
Cal, How odd of you, you deny women the right to teach others, among whom there are men, on her site but you doggedly insist that Deborah should answer your questions instead of me (a man). Answering someone’s questions is called ‘teaching,’ ‘instructing’ and ‘tutoring.’ Don’t you know that?”
You admitted that you were homosexual. Were you gay by choice (free will) or did God decree (unlawfully invade) you to be gay, or were you born gay? Or could it be that Satan made you gay? I am not being facetious but merely trying to understand the true make-up of homosexuality. Why is there such a thing as homosexuality?
Comment by Cal deleted.
Cal, you are pouring out your insidious hatred on us while you need to forgive your father, mother, and all those who abused you. Have you done it yet?
Tom Lessing,
I was not showing hatred towards you, your discernment is found wanting.
You are being deflective, I know what I wrote, there was no hatred, obviously you did not want to answer any of the questions, so you deflect your guilt trying to falsely accuse me of wrong. That is what guile represents……
I had relationships with my father and mother up to their deaths. The Lord knows I forgave them and informed them of the Gospel
.
I was explaining what happened because you were desiring to know if it was my self will to go into sin. I informed you of such, I have the copy, I saved it. And you then use it to ask if I have forgiven them….the public will see what I was dealing with…….out of everything mentioned in both comments, this is all you have to say………very sad…..
You are being dishonest in righteous judgement, those who do not desire to face the truth always, evade the issues, and then blame those who are representing the truth, because you do not like it. It’s called denial, and typical of those who do not walk after the Spirit, but their sinful flesh.
The Lord knows all things.
The truth is offensive, and it is meant to be. The truth always reveals by the Spirit those who do not walk in it. That is what hate looks like, hate for the truth.
I want to let you know I have copied all my comments, and your replies to me, and the last comment you unjustly deleted, but I have a copy of it.
I will be writing about your web-site, and will reveal how you treated our conversation. It will be posted in the future, people will see that it comes from your DTW.
This comment will be included, so it will not matter if you do not approve it.
I was hoping you were taking your time to seek the Lord regarding your response, but you have not, it’s obvious by your last false accusation towards me.
Since you’ve done this to me in public, I also have to rebuke you both publicly from my blog…..
The Lord says:
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Luk_6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
I forgive you, the dishonesty you have handled me with, and the false accusations.
Cal, you wrote,
I am trying to understand. Was it the abuse of your father and mother who forced you into homosexuality, or was it your own choice to continue your lifestyle, even after their death? The reason why I ask is because of this:-
This puts the view of generational curses to rest.
Furthermore, your take on 1 Corinthians 14:33b-36 is off track. 1 Timothy 2:11-15 also enjoins women to be quiet in worship, in other words in a church assembly.
Did you notice that? “The women are commanded to keep silence in the churches, not in their homes, Bible studies, or any other extra-churchy occasions. In our modern technological and digital age of communication, the Internet may be included in these extra churchy occasions. Look at the next sentence. “but they are commanded to be under obedience . . .” Obedience to whom or to what? Well, of course, the Law. Which Law? Which Law apart from the one given to children to honor their fathers and mothers which is the first commandment with a promise. (Ephesians 6:2), still needs to be adhered to, even to this day?
It seems Paul was speaking to married women and not the unmarried ones. Marriage among believers, as you must know, is a microcosm of the marriage between Christ and all Bible-believing and Holy Spirit redeemed believers. The church being subject to Christ Jesus must of necessity also reflect this subjection in a marriage. Therefore, married women who had been divinely put in subjection to their husbands had to wait until they got home after church if the wife had any questions of a spiritual nature. Had she not obeyed and wilfully spoken in church, it would be a sure token that she rebelliously rejected God’s divine order in a marriage and that she was not submissive to her husband. In fact, it was seen as an act of dishonoring Christ and his own marital order of submission.
If you do not agree, please say so in an honorable way with Scripture to support your view.
Tom Lessing,
I will reply to your last comment, of the 3rd of Dec, 2021 when you will “approve my reply to your comment of the 28th of Nov 2021” where you pointed out the meaning of the word “Invade”. Here is a quote from your reply to me: “. . . it has stayed so these last 43 years since the Lord came and invaded my life,
It reminds me so much of what Jesus says in Luke 19:10
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Do you know what the word invade means? Here’s what the dictionary says: Then you proceeded and gave the definition.
I responded to you that you chose the last “phrase”: “take over
(of a parasite or disease) spread into (an organism or bodily part).
“sometimes the worms invade the central nervous system”
I stated that you only picked out the word that suited your mind-set against me, and I proceeded to tell you that the words, such as “occupy, conquer
capture, seize, take (over), and win” were also representative of the Lord “capturing my heart, occupying my life, He took over my life, He won my heart, by seizing it with granting me the gift of repentance and a new Spiritual birth”.
So the word “invade” has various representations of the meaning, both negative and positive.
I also addressed you trying to accuse me of lusting in my heart with women.
I also addressed another false accusation that I was not saved, based on your unjust understanding of my testimony: “I am sorry to tell you this, but the Jesus who invaded your life is not the real Jesus of the Bible. It is another Jesus because the real Jesus never invades people. He is not a virus. He saves those who know and realize they are lost sinners on their way to hell.”
So I explained that I was a sinner, and I never denied it, and informed you that I know you read my testimony on my blog, which attests to that.
Then I addressed how you again, falsely accused me of “forbidding people to marry, speaking lies in hypocrisy, by using 1 Tim 4:1-3 as proof of your accusation against me.
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1-3)
I mentioned in that reply that I never forbid anyone from marrying, and gave details why.
I also mentioned in that reply how the Love Of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, and I gave scripture explaining from Song of Solomon. “I am sick of Love”.
So please once you “approve” that comment in reply to you, I shall then continue on with this discussion. What are you afraid of? Do you not desire your readers to see my just reply to you?
Also you state in your last reply; “If you do not agree, please say so in an honorable way with Scripture to support your view.”
I will ask you to please be specific in pointing out where I was not honorable in my replies to you……Our God is a God of specific’s and not in generalities…..where I trespassed you need to point it out, so that I can ask the Lord about it, and where I need to confess and ask forgiveness, I will, but I await your response to the “specific’s” where I was not honorable.
One question I need to ask of you, have you been honorable in a just manner in our conversations? If so then why not approve all of my comments? Our Lord desires that we present ALL things honestly and above board to all men, especially within the Body of Christ.
Thank you.
I have one question for you. Show me a single verse in Scripture where the word “invade” is used in connection with salvation.
Tom Lessing
I have one question for you, show me a single verse in Scripture, where the word “a microcosm” is used in describing the marriage connection between Christ and all Holy Spirit redeemed believers?
As I said in my last comment to you, nothing more will be discussed until you approve my comment, of the 28th of Nov,2021, and deal with the issues stated.
Thank you.