Calvinism

Hey everyone! I wanna start this entry off with telling you who my God is. My God is the one who created the heavens of the earth, who came down in human form and died on the cross for ALL mankind’s sin. He is “especially fond” (a The Shack reference ;]) of each and every person who has walked, does walk and will walk this earth. My God’s love is endless.
There. Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I will move onto the main subject of this blog entry. Calvinism. I was talking to a friend of mine a few weeks ago and he brought it up. I didn’t understand exactly what it was so I finally did some research on it. What I found made my heart ache for my friend. He thinks that this is the way God works and its just not true.
If you Google Calvinism you will find that it is summed up in the mnemonic TULIP. After studying up I’ve found that the T, Total depravity/Total inability, is the only one that Calvin seemed to get right. Total depravity says that because of “Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God sin has extended to all parts of every person's being”. Total inability says that it’s impossible for an ordinary human being to understand the Gospel’s message. The verses they give to back up these are Romans 5:12 and Mark 4:11. And I would also like to add John 1:5.
The rest of the mnemonic I would love to just throw out the window.

The U stands for Unconditional election. This basically says that God divided humanity into two groups, those He would make knowledgeable about Himself and those whom He would not. The latter are damned to Hell. The verses used to support this are Romans 5:15 and 9:21.
Why would God create a group of people who were made specifically to go to Hell? Why create them at all? He didn’t. Just because God knows who will choose The Way doesn’t give them any less of a choice in the matter. The verses found to refute this point of view were found by the people I go to Bible study with. (Thanks Darrin and Mel!!). Ezekial 33:11 says that The Lord takes NO PLEASURE in the death of wicked people. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 says that God wants EVERYONE to be saved. 2 Peter 3:9 says that God doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed but He wants EVERYONE to repent. Once again, I will be using something from The Shack…. God created us to share in his fullness but then Adam chose to go it alone, as God knew he would and everything got messed up. But instead of scrapping the whole creation, God rolled up His sleeves and entered into the middle of the mess- which He did through Jesus (pg 101).
The L stands for Limited atonement. This says that Jesus did not die to save all humans but He only died for the specific sins of those sinners who are saved. The verses given to support this idea are Matthew 26:28 and Ephesians 5:25. Now using these verses is really stretching it. Constantly throughout the Bible it says that what Jesus did, He did for THE WORLD. All we have to do is accept this gift. Because otherwise, how can you use a gift without first accepting it? The verse I have to support my claim is possibly the most well known… John 3:16. “For God so loved THE WORLD that He gave his only begotten Son that WHOEVER BELIEVES in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” And seriously, go to biblegateway.com and type in “the world” and I’m sure you’ll find plenty more where that came from.
The I stands for Irresistible grace. None of ‘the elect’ can resist the call. The verses for this are John 6:44, Romans 8:14 and 1 Peter 5:10. I don’t think this is true at all! This interferes with the fact that God gave human kind free will. If we don’t have a choice in the matter then are we really more than robots? God gives each person on this earth the same choice: to believe in Him or not to believe in Him. John 6:66 says that at this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Back in 6:64 it says that Jesus knew those who would desert him. But he didn’t send them away saying “Leave because you’re going to do it anyway.” He still gave them a chance. Also in 6:70 Jesus says that He chose the twelve, but that one of them was a devil. But He Chose The Twelve Of Them! Judas always had the choice of turning away from his evil thoughts but he didn’t. Even after he betrayed Jesus he could have repented and He would have been forgiven. But he CHOSE to hang himself.
Now finally, we come to the P. This stands for the Perseverance of the saints. This basically means that once you are saved you are always saved. You will never be able to lose your salvation. Philippians 1:6, Romans 8:28-39, John 6:39. This view is one of the most deceptive in all the world. Many believe that salvation is a one-time deal. So this means that today you can accept Jesus into your heart and tomorrow and for the rest of your life never pray or pick up your Bible and you will still go to heaven. WRONG. What would happen if you were to stop talking with and spending time with your boyfriend or girlfriend? The relationship would fade until there wasn’t one anymore. Accepting Jesus into your heart is beginning a relationship with the living God. You can’t just go to church once a week and for the rest of the week live in sin. I’m sorry it just doesn’t work that way. In Philippians 2:12 it says that we need to daily work out our salvation. My Bible specifically says “Work hard to show the results of your salvation obeying God with a deep reverence and fear.”

It all comes down to this: Jesus died for the entire world. Anyone and everyone has the chance to believe. Once you accept Jesus into your heart you’ve started a new relationship. All He asks is that you Love him with every ounce of yourself. If you truly love God are you going to go out and rob a liquor store? That’s to a bit of the extreme but you get my drift. Or how about this? Say you are married. If you love your wife/husband with all your heart are you going to go out and cheat on them? No.
I hope you guys have gained new insight on Calvinism and maybe The Way as well. Till next post- <3