All #ourCOG News 5.0
Part 1-
I am For truth and Against error.
That’s all.
Here are 19 questions:
Calvinism answers No,
but Scripture says Yes!
1. Does God want to save everyone?
Yes.
“Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God , I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”
Ezekiel 33:11 (and all of Ez.18)
2. Is God willing to save everyone?
Yes
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, ?not willing that ANY should perish?, but that all should come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9
3. Does God “draw” people gently in love without irresistible force?
Yes.
“The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
Jeremiah 31:3
4. Can we resist His will?
Yes.
“Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye DO always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”
Acts 7:51
5. Does Christ want to save those who resist?
Yes.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34.
6. Did Christ pay for everyone’s sins and not for believers only?
Yes.
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1 John 2:1-2
7. Did Christ REALLY pay for everyone? Even people who deny him?
Yes.
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, ?even denying the Lord THAT BOUGHT THEM,? and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”
2 Peter 2:1
8. Did Christ even pay for Judas?
Yes.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life ?for his friends.?”
John 15:13
“And while he yet spake, lo, JUDAS, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.”…. “And Jesus said unto him, ?Friend,? wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.”
Matthew 26:47, 26:50
9. Do people make their own choice to reject Christ, and are they free to change their mind?
Yes. Yes.
“For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes THEY have closed; lest AT ANY TIME they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
Matthew 13:15
10. Is “knowing God, loving God, hearing His voice, and obeying Him” an actual choice that people have the ability to make?
Yes.
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore CHOOSE LIFE, that both thou and thy seed may live: ?That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him?: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
(see 30:15-20)
11. Can people turn to God before they’re allegedly “regenerated” and born again?
Yes.
“And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, ?which worshipped God,?heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.”
Acts 16:14-15
12. Did Jesus himself tell people who are “Not His Sheep” that they COULD become believers??
Yes.
“Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.”…..”If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, ?though ye believe not me, BELIEVE THE WORKS:? that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.”
John 10:25:26….10:37-38
13. Can people actually intervene in God’s supposedly immutable predetermined roster of salvation recipients?
Yes.
“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for YE shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, ?neither suffer ye them that ARE entering to go in.?”
Matthew 23:13
14. Wait! Did these Pharisees actually SUCCEED at preventing people from entering heaven?? people who would have otherwise entered?
Yes.
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and WHEN he is made, YE make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”
Matthew 23:15
15. So, people actually CAN make decisions without God predetermining and foreordaining them?
Yes.
“They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:”
Jeremiah 19:5 (also Jer. 7:31, 32:35)
16. So God DID give humanity the ability to make choices AGAINST His will??
Yes.
“Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”
Ecclesiastes 7:29
“And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”
Genesis 11:5-6
17. That means God acts in response to OUR free choice?
Yes.
“And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; ?The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.? Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. ?But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.?”
2 Chronicles 15:1-4
18. So, we might be free to make “some” decisions according to our own will, but is there any evidence that we can choose for ourselves to accept and receive the Gospel??
Yes!
“And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, SAVE YOURSELVES from this untoward generation.” ?Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”?
Acts 2:40-41
19. Then… is it TRUE that Christ really did die for every last person on earth without exception???
YES!!
“For by him were ALL THINGS created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: ALL THINGS were created by him, and for him:”
Colossians 1:16
“And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him TO RECONCILE ALL THINGS unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
Colossians 1:20
The debate about “All without distinction VS All without exception” is over. There’s nowhere else to go. Paul just exhausted the language. Every single thing on earth and in heaven was made by Jesus and for Jesus. Every single thing is either visible or invisible. Nothing is excluded. He died for every person he made!
Read Colossians 1:16-1:20.
he created ALL THINGS without exception.
he is before ALL THINGS without exception.
by him ALL THINGS consist without exception.
in him ALL fullness dwells without exception.
he died for ALL THINGS without exception!
The only person Christ DIDN’T die for, is a person who doesn’t exist. A person not made by him, nor made for him. A person not in heaven or earth. A person not visible, but also not invisible either. A person not created! Those are the qualifications set forth by this passage. Such a person is nowhere to be found.
Therefore, if the calvinists will not let go of their irresistible grace, and admit that everyone is free and able to accept or reject the blood of Christ, then THEY become the universalists. Because the “all things” that Christ made is the same “all things” that Christ died for. They CANNOT have it both ways. If irresistible grace is true, then universalism is true and calvinism fails. If universalism is false, then they MUST give up irresistible grace, or else Paul was wrong.
Paul just said Jesus provided this reconciliation by means of his blood on the cross. His blood is not necessary to send anyone to hell. It is only necessary to declare someone righteous and cleanse their sins. Therefore salvation must be openly available for every last person on earth.
Christ chose everyone and opened the door for everyone to be saved. He truly does “stand at the door and knock”.
Regardless of how some people may feel about “man’s freedom and ability to choose Christ”… There is no narrative which brings more glory and honor to Christ than His OWN narrative. God has sovereignly chosen to make salvation available for EVERYONE, and anyone who wants it can have it. THAT was His decision And He has the right to make such a decision. Calvinism limits God’s sovereignty and says He is unable to do that.
Calvinism is false.
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