Calvinism is a way of teaching, summarized by men to describe how God saves people and redeems them from sin.
Calvinism doesn’t save people or cure people’s diseases. Calvinism is a name people gave to a summary of teachings from the bible that tell us that God is in control of all things at all times in all circumstances and that all those things are in the end good for His people. Kind of like how people describe the prayer that Jesus prays that begins "Our Father which art in heaven...", The Lord's Prayer or the Our Father. It's just a way to get people to understand what you are talking about without having to explain the whole thing each time. Unfortunately, over time people have fallen into debates and made accusations that if you believe that God is in control of everything then God must force people to believe and he predetermines certain people to go to hell. The bible is clear, "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18) So each individual must believe that God is and that God will do what He has committed to do. “Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Galatians 3:6) So, man must exercise, by God's grace, his own decision to trust by faith in Christ for their forgiveness and redemption from their sins. Sins our faith comes from God, when we exercise that faith to believe, He alone should receive all the credit. We are His creation, this is His world, it's His Kingdom, and ultimately it's His giving to us of faith that we use to believe in His Son! “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3) As Christians our desire is to glorify God, that He alone would receive all the credit and honor for saving us from our sins. Lastly, in God’s desire to rescue people who are lost and captured by Satan He also has revealed to us through His Word that some will freely choose to NOT believe. Those who refuse to believe that God Word is true are condemned to Hell for their unbelief. So then, God clearly does NOT choose for people to go to Hell. Those who refuse to believe the truth revealed by the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He came to be offered as a sacrifice for their sin and was resurrected as confirmation that His sacrifice was sufficient to conquer sin and the penalty of sin are condemned because there is nothing left to rescue them from their sinful state of unbelief. “…and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,”(2Thes. 1:7-9) This is not a defense of Calvinism or reformed theology. This is an exposition of scripture that all of God’s people can rally around to give Him honor and glory for all of the wonderful things He’s done for us.
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June 2017
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