--------------------------
Ms. Prata is back too soon, this time to provide some Bad Bible Teaching about predestination, the Calvinist's favorite doctrine. Yes, we've written a lot about predestination, but it's like wack-a-mole. So, we'll keep wacking.
---------------------
There is one doctrine, or, a teaching, that incites rebuttal, refusals, and even anger. It’s the Doctrine of Election. It is also known as the doctrine of Predestination. (Tell us, why would this doctrine elicit such reactions? Perhaps because it makes God out to be a deceiving control freak who loves to play with reality?)
This teaching in the Bible says that no one chooses God for themselves. God chooses who will be saved. Further, this teaching states that God does not choose who will be saved based on His foreknowledge of who will choose Him. God decided before anyone was ever born who goes and who doesn’t.
He determines who goes to heaven and that person avoids His wrath. Heaven’s citizens are there due to God’s own will and purpose, not due to any choice or decision the individual person makes. (Indeed. We await the biblical explanation of these assertions.)
There is another aspect to this. Some say that while God chooses whom He will save and allow to enter His heaven, the unchosen are passed over and defaulted to hell, while others say God not only chooses those people He desires to go to heaven, He also chooses on purpose those who will enter hell. In other words, God predestines some for heaven and predestines others for hell. (Ms. Prata will go to affirm the second one. In doing so she makes a significant departure from standard Calvinism. Calvinists do not allow for the possibility of God choosing the non-elect for hell, because they want man to be to blame for his destiny. Under the typical Calvinistic understanding, God only chooses the Elect, but the non-elect are essentially passed over and thus continue in their sin.
There is one doctrine, or, a teaching, that incites rebuttal, refusals, and even anger. It’s the Doctrine of Election. It is also known as the doctrine of Predestination. (Tell us, why would this doctrine elicit such reactions? Perhaps because it makes God out to be a deceiving control freak who loves to play with reality?)
This teaching in the Bible says that no one chooses God for themselves. God chooses who will be saved. Further, this teaching states that God does not choose who will be saved based on His foreknowledge of who will choose Him. God decided before anyone was ever born who goes and who doesn’t.
He determines who goes to heaven and that person avoids His wrath. Heaven’s citizens are there due to God’s own will and purpose, not due to any choice or decision the individual person makes. (Indeed. We await the biblical explanation of these assertions.)
There is another aspect to this. Some say that while God chooses whom He will save and allow to enter His heaven, the unchosen are passed over and defaulted to hell, while others say God not only chooses those people He desires to go to heaven, He also chooses on purpose those who will enter hell. In other words, God predestines some for heaven and predestines others for hell. (Ms. Prata will go to affirm the second one. In doing so she makes a significant departure from standard Calvinism. Calvinists do not allow for the possibility of God choosing the non-elect for hell, because they want man to be to blame for his destiny. Under the typical Calvinistic understanding, God only chooses the Elect, but the non-elect are essentially passed over and thus continue in their sin.
But Ms. Prata seems to believe that God chose a long time ago to send a bunch of people to hell, making it His responsibility. This means that God chose some people for wrath without their involvement in any way.
The ramifications of this regarding the character of God are significant.)
John Piper answered that question with scripture, here in his short essay Does God Predestine People to Hell? (Piper concurs: "My answer is yes. God does determine from eternity who will be saved, who will be lost." But he punts, attributing it to a mystery. This is a familiar refrain among Calvinists when they encounter a difficulty created by their doctrines: "It's a mystery...")
It is very hard for us to consider these things. Our heart hurts to think of hell, never mind a God who either allows to default or directly chooses some to experience conscious torment for all eternity. (Hell is certainly a reality, but the non-Calvinist believes that anyone in hell made an actual choice that led them there. They rejected the Gospel as fully capable moral agents. They are there justifiably. God neither passed them by nor directly choose this destiny for them.)
The Bible says we are dead in our sins. (Every Christian agrees.)
Colossians 2:13 says “When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,”
Romans 6:11 says before Christ saves us, we are dead, dead IN sin. “So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
1 Corinthians 15:22 says anyone who is in Adam, is dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
How can someone who is spiritually dead choose Christ? Scales are upon our eyes, our minds are futile, our heart is stone (Ezekiel 36:26. We CANNOT choose Jesus. We CANNOT repent. How can someone who is blind even see their sins in order to repent? We cannot. (This is the key moment in Calvinistic doctrine, the assumption that being dead means we are unable to choose and unable to repent. And that's what it is, an assumption. This leap from a biblical truth to a conclusion derived from a truth is merely speculation. But the Calvinist relies on this speculation to build an entire doctrinal structure.)
God darkens people’s hearts, He lightenes (sic) them too. In Romans 1 we read that God gave them over to their sinful passions after stubbornly refusing Him. (This is not an example of God darkening hearts. These people rejected God and God gave them over to their passions.)
But what about foreknowledge? Did God who saw down the halls of time ("Corridor of time." Ms. Prata can't even get the Calvinist talking point correct. This phrase, often cited by Calvinists, is attributed to "Arminian" theologians, yet after a diligent search we were unable to find its source.)
Man’s pride (due to our sin nature) wants to say I did this, I chose, I am in charge of my faith. But we aren’t. We are dead in sins and trespasses. (Spiritually) dead people cannot do anything except lay dead. (She repeats her position, adding no new information.)
God is not ‘a gentleman’. He doesn’t stand aside and hope or wish or plead with us to follow Him. (Maybe not, but Jesus did:
John Piper answered that question with scripture, here in his short essay Does God Predestine People to Hell? (Piper concurs: "My answer is yes. God does determine from eternity who will be saved, who will be lost." But he punts, attributing it to a mystery. This is a familiar refrain among Calvinists when they encounter a difficulty created by their doctrines: "It's a mystery...")
It is very hard for us to consider these things. Our heart hurts to think of hell, never mind a God who either allows to default or directly chooses some to experience conscious torment for all eternity. (Hell is certainly a reality, but the non-Calvinist believes that anyone in hell made an actual choice that led them there. They rejected the Gospel as fully capable moral agents. They are there justifiably. God neither passed them by nor directly choose this destiny for them.)
The Bible says we are dead in our sins. (Every Christian agrees.)
Colossians 2:13 says “When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,”
Romans 6:11 says before Christ saves us, we are dead, dead IN sin. “So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
1 Corinthians 15:22 says anyone who is in Adam, is dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
How can someone who is spiritually dead choose Christ? Scales are upon our eyes, our minds are futile, our heart is stone (Ezekiel 36:26. We CANNOT choose Jesus. We CANNOT repent. How can someone who is blind even see their sins in order to repent? We cannot. (This is the key moment in Calvinistic doctrine, the assumption that being dead means we are unable to choose and unable to repent. And that's what it is, an assumption. This leap from a biblical truth to a conclusion derived from a truth is merely speculation. But the Calvinist relies on this speculation to build an entire doctrinal structure.)
God darkens people’s hearts, He lightenes (sic) them too. In Romans 1 we read that God gave them over to their sinful passions after stubbornly refusing Him. (This is not an example of God darkening hearts. These people rejected God and God gave them over to their passions.)
He darkened Pharaoh’s heart after multiple offerings and displays of His power. (Does Ms. Prata understand that the history of Israel includes all sorts of interventions by God on behalf of His people, and that this is not the way He operates regarding gentiles, particularly in our day?)
Thus, God lightens hearts and minds as well. He is fully in control of His creation, all of it. (By "fully in control" it means that the whole of every life is predetermined and dictated by God. Which of course makes Him a puppet master, and we are simply actors in a play, reading our lines on cue. This means reality is a cruel joke, Jesus' death on the cross was irrelevant, and God arbitrarily sends people to hell for His amusement.
Ms. Prata's god is not the God of the Bible.)
From the planets and the earth to us humans. We are created beings living in God’s universe.
But what about foreknowledge? Did God who saw down the halls of time ("Corridor of time." Ms. Prata can't even get the Calvinist talking point correct. This phrase, often cited by Calvinists, is attributed to "Arminian" theologians, yet after a diligent search we were unable to find its source.)
see that so-and-so will choose Him, and then He elected the person to salvation? No, what a ghastly thought! That would make God subservient to man’s decisions. (This is another speculative conclusion, that if a man makes a decision he is exercising power over God. It's simply not true, but it is automatically assumed by Calvinists.)
It is God who decides. Spurgeon had this to say about election and foreknowledge:
“But,” say others, “God elected them on the foresight of their faith.” Now, God gives faith, therefore he could not have elected them on account of faith, which he foresaw. There shall be twenty beggars in the street, and I determine to give one of them a shilling; but will any one say that I determined to give that one a shilling, that I elected him to have the shilling, because I foresaw that he would have it? That would be talking nonsense. In like manner to say that God elected men because he foresaw they would have faith, which is salvation in the germ, would be too absurd for us to listen to for a moment. Faith is the gift of God. Every virtue comes from him. Therefore it cannot have caused him to elect men, because it is his gift. ~Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Election” No. 41-42. (Spurgeon goes in a circle. "Exercising faith doesn't make sense because faith is a gift of God" is absurd itself.)
Here are some verses in support of the Bible’s teaching on predestination:
Jude 1:4a- For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation ("Certain people" does not speak to universal predestination.)
Proverbs 16:4– The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil. (This does not say that God predestined people so that they must do evil, or that He does not save them, or even that their destiny is hell. Ms. Prata presumes way too much.)
Ephesians 1:11– In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will. (Sigh. Who is "we," Ms. Prata? Read the next verses:
“But,” say others, “God elected them on the foresight of their faith.” Now, God gives faith, therefore he could not have elected them on account of faith, which he foresaw. There shall be twenty beggars in the street, and I determine to give one of them a shilling; but will any one say that I determined to give that one a shilling, that I elected him to have the shilling, because I foresaw that he would have it? That would be talking nonsense. In like manner to say that God elected men because he foresaw they would have faith, which is salvation in the germ, would be too absurd for us to listen to for a moment. Faith is the gift of God. Every virtue comes from him. Therefore it cannot have caused him to elect men, because it is his gift. ~Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Election” No. 41-42. (Spurgeon goes in a circle. "Exercising faith doesn't make sense because faith is a gift of God" is absurd itself.)
Here are some verses in support of the Bible’s teaching on predestination:
Jude 1:4a- For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation ("Certain people" does not speak to universal predestination.)
Proverbs 16:4– The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil. (This does not say that God predestined people so that they must do evil, or that He does not save them, or even that their destiny is hell. Ms. Prata presumes way too much.)
Ephesians 1:11– In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will. (Sigh. Who is "we," Ms. Prata? Read the next verses:
Eph. 1:11-12 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined... 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.Ms. Prata, were you among those who were the first to hope in Christ 2000 years ago? No? So when were the rest of us saved? Paul again tells us:
Eph. 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.You, Ms. Prata, were added to the predestined ones when you heard the Gospel and believed. You were not predestined.)
Man’s pride (due to our sin nature) wants to say I did this, I chose, I am in charge of my faith. But we aren’t. We are dead in sins and trespasses. (Spiritually) dead people cannot do anything except lay dead. (She repeats her position, adding no new information.)
God is not ‘a gentleman’. He doesn’t stand aside and hope or wish or plead with us to follow Him. (Maybe not, but Jesus did:
John 12:44 Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.
And Peter:
Acts 2:40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
So did Paul:
Gal. 4:12 I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you.
Apparently Jesus, Peter and Paul didn't believe in predestination.)
That song “I have decided, to follow Jesus” is doctrinally incorrect. He smashed S/Paul to the ground, blinded him, charged him with persecuting God’s people, and sent him to a Gentile’s home to think about it. He burst into Abram’s life unexpected and told Abram to go to another country. (And He gently pleads:
Humans are appointed to eternal life by God since before the beginning of the world.
When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48). (Ms. Prata extends this to universal predestination. This presumption is not justified.)
For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love / He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, (Ephesians 1:4-5) (We already explained who us/we are above.)
Mat. 9:9 “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
Mk. 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Jn. 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Doesn't Ms. Prata understand these things?)
When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48). (Ms. Prata extends this to universal predestination. This presumption is not justified.)
For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love / He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, (Ephesians 1:4-5) (We already explained who us/we are above.)
The Doctrine of Predestination AKA the Doctrine of Election is a humbling one. Once the Lord instills in us the knowledge of Him and lets the scales fall from our eyes, we truly see who we are. Who are we? Sinners in need of a transcendent, holy God who forgives. (Correction: "A transcendent, holy God who already chose who He would forgive.")
He sent His Son to teach, live a holy life as the spotless Lamb, be killed in the cross as the sacrifice for sin, rise again, and ascend. All for us, who need Him desperately but would otherwise never know it unless He intervened and saved us first. (Non-Calvinists would agree.)
What a blessing! It’s all HIM! If I was in charge of my salvation for sure I would lose it. (No one believes they are in charge of their salvation.)
What a blessing! It’s all HIM! If I was in charge of my salvation for sure I would lose it. (No one believes they are in charge of their salvation.)
I can trust and rely on Him who saves to keep me and bring me home in His timing. (What difference does your trust make, Ms. Prata?)
What a relief and a joy.
Further Resources
The Cripplegate: Pick me, pick me: Unconditional Election
9Marks: A Softer Prosperity Gospel: More Common Than You Think
Grace to you article: What is the Doctrine of Election?
Further Resources
The Cripplegate: Pick me, pick me: Unconditional Election
9Marks: A Softer Prosperity Gospel: More Common Than You Think
Grace to you article: What is the Doctrine of Election?
GotQuestions: Is the doctrine of Election biblical?
No comments:
Post a Comment