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The Elect
Posted : 21 Aug, 2011 06:32 AM
Scripture tells us (God Tells us) that God Wants EVERYONE to be Saved! God does everything but �get down on His Knees� and beg us to Repent.
2 Peter 3:9
New International Version (NIV)
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Nothing HAPPENS in this world Without God ALLOWING it to Happen. Yet�by saying that God Gives us Free Will�aren�t we saying that God gives up Control to man�that he has no Power to �override� or �supersede� man�s decision? That by God allowing man Free Will then �God�s Will Be Done� is meaningless.
No�because God�s Will (Be Done) is reflected in three different ways:
(1) God DECIDES to do something and God does it (nothing can Stop this).
When God Absolutely wants something to happen�it is going to Happen�nuff said�it�s DONE! In this Sense God�s Will is Unstoppable.
(2) God DESIRES something to happen (Our Salvation), but allows us Free Will in choosing whether to Cooperate.
God wants EVERYONE to be Saved. God Desires All Mankind to Repent�but what good is it if God has to FORCE Us to Repent? God Presents us with a Choice �Accept Jesus as Savior and be Saved� or �Be Damned for Eternity in Hell�. God Permits us to Choose�God Gives us the Ability to say No�to God! In this Sense His Will is Subject to our Cooperation.
(3) God PERMITS something to happen (Hurricane Katrina).
Here God will ALLOW Bad things to happen to Good People. God has a Reason for doing this�often times something Good comes out of it.
Calvinist Believe that God CAUSES Everything that Happens (whether Good or Bad) for His own Reasons. Calvinist Believe that Everything that Happens�happens because God CAUSED it to Happen.
Thus God Decides Before you are Born�if you are to be Saved (The Elect) or Damned (to Hell).
In the words of Lorraine Boettner
"A man is not saved because he believes in Christ; he believes in Christ because he is saved." (Boettner, op. cit., page 101)
"The elect of God are chosen by Him to be His children, in order that they might be made to believe, not because He foresaw that they would believe." (Boettner)
Calvinists take away God�s Omni-Prescience because God does not need to have Foreknowledge of The Future because (wait for�) God CREATES THE FUTURE! If Everything Happens because God makes it happen�then God does not need to be Prescience�then God does not need to have Foreknowledge of The Future.
But if God is Omni-Prescient�if God can �see� into the Future and KNOW what will happen�then God will KNOW who will Believe and Follow Christ and who will Not! So you see my Brothers and Sisters God KNEW
Before you were Born
That you would CHOOSE to follow Jesus and Obey. Thusly God �Predestined� you
TO BE CONFORMED
��to the image of His Son,��
Romans 8:29-30
New International Version (NIV)
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
This is Quite Different than God Selecting you before you are Born to be one of His Elected. Not as �cool� as Being Elected, but it is what Scripture tells us is The Truth.
1 Peter 1:1-2
New International Version (NIV)
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God�s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Again�they are God�s Elect because they ��been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,��.
God Knew that they would Believe�be Sanctified by The Holy Spirit. Nowhere in Scripture does it say that God Selected anyone and then FORCED them to receive The Holy Spirit in order �to have faith and believe� and therefore be Saved.
God indeed has Foreknowledge, even of the
��future Free Will Choices of men and women.�
This allows Him to choose, foreordain, predestine, or elect individuals without violating their Free Wills.
Acts 2:23
New International Version (NIV)
23 This man was handed over to you by God�s deliberate plan and
FOREKNOWLEDGE;
and you, with the help of wicked men,[a] put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
God KNEW (Foreknowledge) that given the opportunity, the Jews would crucify His Son�Jesus. This is the same as when Jesus Chose Judas. Christ Chose (Elected) Judas because Christ knew (beforehand) that Judas would Betray Him.
Before I continue�I need to make One thing Perfectly Clear. While Man Freely�of his own Free Will can Choose to Cooperate with God�s Plan of Salvation�it is GOD and GOD Alone that Offers this to Mankind FREELY as a GIFT. Nothing man does or will do or Can Do will EVER MERIT this Gift!
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Salvation, then, is an undeserved, unmerited gift from God, for this is the meaning of the word "grace."
That being said�because Man has Free Will, Salvation is something man must work out for himself.
Philippians 2:12
New International Version (NIV)
Do Everything Without Grumbling
12 �Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed�not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence�continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,��
Acts 2:40
New International Version (NIV)
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, �Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.�
In these passages, the Bible teaches that a man, of his own Free Will, must, in order to be saved, respond, and continue to respond, to the demands of God's Preceptive Will (what God Wants for us�but will not Force us to do).
As such, Faith and Works work together to produce Salvation.
James 2:14-26
New International Version (NIV)
Faith and Deeds
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, �Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,� but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, �You have faith; I have deeds.�
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that�and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[a]? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, �Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,�[b] and he was called God�s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Man working out his own Salvation and thereby saving himself does not mean, as Calvinists erroneously think, that God is forced to give up His Sovereignty. On the Contrary�In the verse immediately following the command for Christians to Work out their own Salvation, Paul said,
Philippians 2:13
New International Version (NIV)
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Just because God grants man Free Will does not mean He has relinquished Control of His Plan of Salvation.
Ephesians 3:16
New International Version (NIV)
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Acts 5:32
New International Version (NIV)
32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.�
This "Gift" of the Holy Spirit to Obedient Believers43 functions as God's "Guarantee" that He is still in Control of His Plan of Salvation,
2 Corinthians 5:5
New International Version (NIV)
5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
which, in turn, causes us to be confident that He is able to finish the work He has started in us right up to the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6
New International Version (NIV)
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Consequently, "we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
Romans 8:28
New International Version (NIV)
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.
I have once again taken way too much space and of your Time. These Truths are Indisputable. God Wants EVERYONE to be Saved! Not just a �few� that God Selects and then �Forces� them to Receive The Holy Spirit.
Choose your Earthly Shepherds Carefully!
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