It's just a matter of compare and contrast. That means you need to have a hermeneutic that works consistently. I use the 'grammatical/historical' model. It demands that you understand the audience, the setting and an appreciation of the times.
Here is a then and now verse that will test if you are being deceived and are not really using the grammatical/historical model. It is historical and spoken by a true apostle.
Acts 16:16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
17 Therefore
disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
19 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
20 For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
21 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
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22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore
ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood
all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
There is not a Calvinist alive today who believes this statement by the Apostle Paul, and especially the para church preacers of Calvinism and the hero preachers of Calvinism, like the guy in California. God tells us here why he divided up the nations from the families. Now watch below.
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29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
My verse is number 30. It is then, before the resurrection of Christ, the times of ignorance, and now, after the resurrection of Christ, that they should seek the Lord. Why does anyone think it was after the resurrection that God began sending preachers into the whole world?
This is the gospel. I have concluded that people who say that God is limited in his atonement are like these Athenians, religious , devout, worshipful but with misplaced loyalties and facing the judgement without a living righteous mediator to stand in for them. Fortunately, a few did believe and were justified and walked away from that crowd. See below.
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33 So Paul departed from among them.
34 Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
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STOP Calvinists and consider your ways. This one passage is enough to refute almost every Calvinist doctrine.
If God commands all men everywhere to repent, and all men everywhere do not repent, then logic says they have a choice, especially if someone is preaching determinism of God and that men have no ability to obey.
It is time for Christians to label this Calvinism among the extreme cults and just hope some of them are saved before the deception of their souls.
There is no such doctrine in Biblical Christianity of limited atonement.