But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor.2:14). Now the Calvinists believe this verse to say that man is incapable of understanding the Scriptures (which are the things of the Spirit of God), without first receiving what they call regenerating grace. To a Calvinist, regenerate means to be born again. They also use John 3:12 which says, If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? So they believe man, since the fall, since the Garden of Eden, has been dead to sin and incapable of understanding heavenly things. They also use John 3:19 which says, ...men love darkness rather than light. They also use Romans 8:7-8 which say, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. And there are some other verses, but their point is, that man cannot understand the gospel without first receiving this regenerating grace (which is not in the Bible), and this regenerating grace comes from God for those He foreknew who receive it. So you have to be born again, not by faith as which the Bible says, but through the foreknowledge of God, then you can understand the Scriptures through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which will in turn, give you the faith needed to believe in the Gospel and lead you to salvation. So with this teaching, God has predestined who will be saved and who will not, even though the Bible says God wants all to be saved. Mans choice seems to have been taken away from him. There are some things a sovereign God cant do, and one of them is to make you love him. What kind of love is this (which is the title of the book Dave Hunt wrote on Calvinism). God wants your heart. He wants you to chose to love Him. He wants you to chose to believe in the Gospel, and not all will, which God says, He wishes even the wicked would repent and be saved. Calvinists believe Jesus died on the cross to accomplish salvation, for those that God foreknew would accept Christ, not to offer a way that all men could be saved, by choice, by believing in their heart on the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 13:17:35 +0000
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