Can you tell me what "NO ONE CAN COME TO ME" means, in John 6:44?
Can you tell me what "DEAD in trespasses and sins" means, in Eph. 2:1, and Col. 2:13?
Can you tell me what "slave of sin" means in John 8:34?
And can you tell me something else?
Which of the two statements better matches your theology?:
a) "And all who were appointed to eternal life believed."
b) "And all who believed were appointed to eternal life."
Which of the two statements better matches your theology?:
a) "You do not believe, because you are not my sheep."
b) "You are not my sheep, because you do not believe."
The gospel that you believed when you got saved was not the gospel which states that God so loved the elect, but that God so loved the world, meaning everyone. That is how every person understands it that gets saved. That is the gospel everyone hears and believes in.
It's only later that you move on that you believe a different gospel, but it was not the one you initially believed in, yet now you will say, I just didn't understand it, I do now and so nothing has changed.
However the gospel calvinism preaches is God doesn't love the everyone, just the elect and Jesus didn't die for everyone, just the elect.
How can you share the good news of the gospel with anyone, when you won't know if they are elect, if they ask did Jesus die for my sins, you can't honestly answer them, you have to repeat what you said. The calvinist belief that Jesus didn't die for everyone, is a gospel with no saving power for the one hearing it, if they ask, because you can't say yes, because that person you are witnessing to might not be elect.
I see calvinists say hyper calvinists are heretics, but they are the fruit of calvinism, and even calvinists say their fruit is bad. Every tree is known by it's fruit, didn't Jesus say that? So where did hyper calvinism grow from?
2 Corinthians 11:4
For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a
different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
A Jesus who loves everyone, to a different Jesus, who doesn't, starting to ring any bells yet, ie alarm bells? You now believe in a different Jesus from the one you got saved by.
Galatians 1:8-9
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Calvinism is another gospel and if you say it's not, why not preach it if it's the truth? Go tell all those that are perishing, that Jesus loves only those who God has predestined to be saved and no one has the ability to respond to the gospel, because you are totally depraved.
Like I said, that is not the gospel anyone gets saved by, so calvinism is a distorted gospel.
Can you tell me what "NO ONE CAN COME TO ME" means, in John 6:44?
Can you tell me what "DEAD in trespasses and sins" means, in Eph. 2:1, and Col. 2:13?
Can you tell me what "slave of sin" means in John 8:34?
You only quote these verses, because it supports your doctrine, like your doctrine is all that matters, you defend it with a zeal, because all your faith is in it. But we both know the Jesus you initially believed in that brought you to faith, is not the same Jesus you believe in now.
You initially believed Jesus loved everyone and he laid down his life for everyone, now you believe he doesn't, that is a different Jesus to the one you believed in initially. Calvinism seduced you, you saw probably OSAS, swallowed that, fairly easy and then more food for thought was presented to you, Total depravity, predestination, I bet you struggled with that, for a while and then you felt you had to accept it, a lot to swallow, but you finally caved, it must have felt like an enormous force, compelling you to believe it and after that, the rest was easy. How you calvinists must dream, if only Jesus loved everyone, sharing the gospel would be so much easier, I could proclaim it from the roof tops, but you know, what if someones asks me, did Jesus die for everyone, even me, you have to either lie to them or dodge the question, because if you tell them the truth, they will walk away.
You spend your whole life desperate to try and convince yourself, it's all true, looking for more scripture to back up your doctrine, but deep down, you wish it wasn't so, that the initial Jesus you believed was true. You have to surpress that.
You know, you can read the scriptures all you want, you can dig deep into them and find more hidden jems, but none of that compares to having a relationship with Jesus, does it, do you agree?
I was doing bible study with someone, they are not saved, but they want to learn, they have an interest, I have been praying for them. We were reading John and it can BE quite long winded, for some one not saved and they said I am getting a bit tired and bored now, it is so repetitive. I saw the next verse and laughed, they had not seen it and I said read the next verse, which was John 16:12. They read it and saw nothing. I said read that again, they did, still did not see anything. I said what did you just say before reading that, they said I was tired and getting bored a bit. Now read it again. They did, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.". They looked, confused and then I said, can't you see, God is speaking to right now, through the scripture, through his word. Then they saw it, God very gently rebuking them, through his word.
I know my fathers voice, when he speaks, all who belong to Jesus do. I am fully aware of what "DEAD in trespasses and sins" means, I see it every day. So I don't need to explain that to you, now do I?
