Yesterday I was drawn to a book I have had for a while, but never read. The book is "What Is Reformed Theology? Understanding the Basics" by
the late theologian, founder of Legonier Ministries, professor of
systematic theology and apologetics at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, and ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church in
America, Dr. R. C. Sproul. I have had the book for awhile, but for some
reason had not bothered to read it until now.
In the book Dr. Sproul tells of visiting a prominent Midwestern college with a rich Christian and Reformed tradition. He tells of his tour of the school and of noticing an office in the faculty office building with the sign "Department of Religion" on the door. Later meeting with a group of faculty he asked about the sign and if it had always been the Department of Religion. He was told that years before it had been called the "Department of Theology."
When he asked why it was changed, no one seemed to know, for it had been changed many years before. He got the feeling that their attitude was, "What does it matter?" He took that moment to explain to the faculty that there is a profound difference between the study of theology and the study of religion.
He told them, “The study of religion is chiefly the study of a certain kind of human behavior, be it under the rubric of anthropology, sociology, or psychology. The study of theology, on the other hand, is the study of God. Religion is anthropocentric, theology is theocentric. The difference between religion and theology is ultimately the difference between God and man. Hardly a small difference.” - R.C. Sproul, "What Is Reformed Theology?: Understanding the Basics"
At this point in the book, I am in total agreement with Dr. Sproul. There is a vast difference between "religion" and "theology." For me, religion encompasses a wide range of beliefs which are most often defined by rituals, sacraments, costumes, traditions, dogmas, and a wide range of teachings - most which have nothing to do with God or the Christian faith.
At one end of the spectrum we have all the world religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Atheism, Humanism, Secularism, etc.
And we have many pure cult religions: New Age religions, Unitarianism, Armstrongism, Wicca, Hare Krishna, Nation of Islam, Scientology, etc.
Then there are those who wear a Christian hat, but do not follow the same Jesus Christ: Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Unification Church, United Pentecostal Church, etc.
Finally there are those religions more closely related to Christianity, but still not fully based upon the full 66 books of Scripture: Judaism (Tanakh, i.e., Jewish Scripture) through which our Savior was born - Roman Catholicism (Bible plus Apocrypha and Vatican writings) - Adventism (Bible plus Ellen G. White writings), etc.
These are all man-made means of trying to reach some kind of utopia here on earth - or of man adding his own extra-biblical documents of authority to what God has revealed to us in His Written Word, the Bible. This is what Dr. Sproul defines as anthropocentric - centered upon man as the central and most important element of existence.
While theology is all about God, theocentric, where God is the main and central focus, explained in His full revelation to man, His Written Word, the Bible.
To this point Dr. Sproul and I are in agreement. Let me take a side trip and clarify one point about Reformed Theology. Reformed Theology is the same as Calvinist Theology. Reformed churches which follow Calvinist teachings are: Reformed Baptist Churches, Presbyterian Churches, Reformed Churches, The United Church of Christ, The Protestant Reformed Churches in America.
When speaking of the Reformed Church the two names which come to mind are the late Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Dr. Robert Schuller. Both were highly recognized Reformed pastors. And when considering the Presbyterian church the name most obvious to me is the late Dr. D. James Kennedy.
And when I think of Calvinist/Reformed Theology, I have two major areas of disagreement with their teachings: (1) Covenant Theology including the associated Replacement Theology and (2) Calvinist Predestination.
My main problem with (1) Covenant Theology is their teaching of Replacement Theology (also known as supersessionism), which teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan, that Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, and that God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. To believe that one must totally ignore Daniel 9 when the archangel, Gabriel, appears to Daniel with the Vision of the Seventy Weeks:
Instead of direct Replacement Theology, some Covenant/Calvinist Theology churches do not see the church replacing Israel, but instead teach that the church is just an expansion or extension which grew out of Israel. Since the early Christians were predominately Jews, the church's roots are Jewish, therefore in their view Christianity grew out of Judaism. And in a sense it did, for Christ came to the Jews first and we are a branch that was grafted in - yet in God's eternal plan, Israel and the church are still two separate entities - His chosen people and the bride of Christ.
Covenant Theology sees the Bible teaching three basic Covenants: The covenants of Works (Adam), Grace (Christ), and Redemption (Election).
Today a large number of the Protestant churches have a literal interpretation of the Bible and lean toward a Dispensational Premillennialism Theology rather than Covenant Theology. For the record, this is where I stand doctrinally, for I believe in a PreTribulation Rapture of the church and a PreMillennial Second Coming of Christ to establish His 1000 year Millennial Kingdom on earth.
This theology teaches a PreTribulational Rapture of the church, i.e., that the bride of Christ will be removed from earth before the seven year Tribulation begins. And it teaches a PreMillennial Second Coming of Christ in glory, that at the end of the seven year Tribulation, Jesus Christ will return to earth accompanied by His Bride the church, the Old Testament saints, and the martyred Tribulation saints. He will establish His 1000 year Millennial Kingdom from the throne of David in Jerusalem.
And my second major disagreement with Dr. Sproul and the Calvinist Theology falls upon the teaching of (2 ) the Calvinist Predestination doctrine - that before the Creation God, in His sovereignty, arbitrarily chose some of the humans He was planning to create in the future Creation and elected them to spend a glorious, joyful eternity in His presence. These He called the Elect, for they had been elected to share the glory of His presence eternally.
At the same time God, before the Creation, decided that the vast majority of humans He planned to create - He would condemn, with no chance to be saved, to an eternity of pure torture, suffering, and agony - never ending hell. These, according to the Calvinist theology He named the Reprobates.
Before we look at Scripture to find the truth, ask yourself: Would God, the God of perfect Love and perfect Justice - create billions of people just to cause them to suffer that horrible existence eternally? Does that, in any way, fit the God of the Bible, the God you and I worship? No, even my limited human mind can neither grasp nor accept that view of God.
Is Predestination in the Bible? Yes. But not the Calvinist version of Predestination. Predestination is in the Bible, that whom God Foreknew (meaning He knew them from eternity to eternity, down to the hairs on their head) in His Omniscience, He fully foreknew from eternity to eternity every sparrow which would fall and every person who would become a believer. Yes, He knew that Bill Gray would become a believer at age 50 in 1987. So He predestined Bill Gray to be among His Elect, His body of believers - from Adam to the last person saved. He knew that I would meet my wife, Dory, who would lead me to meet Pastor Sam Lacanienta, who would lead me to the foot of the cross where the Holy Spirit would bring me into the family of God. Yes, Bill Gray was predestined to eternal life in Christ - for He foreknew that Bill Gray would believe and receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
Did He "chose us in Him before the foundation of the world"? Yes. Then doesn't that prove that God chose the Elect before the Creation, just as the Calvinist tell us? No. That tells us that God knew, in His omniscience before the Creation - who will believe. He Foreknew who will believe - and these people He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Look at what Ephesians 1:13 is telling us, "In Him you also trusted ~ after you heard the word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation ~ having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." How many people hear the Gospel and do not believe? There are many. For the first fifty years of my life, I heard the Gospel, I was in and out of so many churches, so many denominations, hearing the Truth, hearing the Gospel. But, even though I believed that God and Jesus Christ were real - I had never put my faith in Him.
What if I had not met Dory, then Pastor Sam - would I have been lost eternally? There is a good possibility that I would have been lost. But we know that God, in His Omniscient Foreknowledge, knew from before the Creation that I would meet Dory, that I would meet Pastor Sam, that I would believe - and I did, through the gift of Free Will that He has given to all people.
All people, the whole world from Adam to the last person born - have the gift of Free Will - the ability and the responsibility to choose to follow Christ and be saved - or to reject Christ and be lost eternally.
In the New Testament sinners are commanded over and over to “repent” and “believe” (Matthew 4:17; Acts 3:19; 1 John 3:23). Every call to repentance is a call for that person to make a choice, to use his Free Will to choose or to reject Christ. That command to believe assumes that the person hears the admonition - and God knows that person has the Free Will to choose to obey the command.
Matthew 4:17 was Jesus speaking publicly to the people, first in Capernaum, then in many other places. Acts 3:19 is Peter speaking to the crowd, the people in the streets of Jerusalem. In these cases, and in many others, were all the people to whom Jesus and Peter speaking - all counted by God among the Elect before the Creation? If not, and only that Elect can be saved - why would Jesus and Peter admonish all the people to repent and be saved?
If Calvinist Predestination were true and many in these crowds were Reprobates, would Jesus really be that cruel to tease them and suggest they could repent and be saved - if God had already condemned them to eternal hell as Reprobates?
A solid, Biblical theology must be built upon the entire Bible, all 66 books, plus nothing else. The Bible is God's full revelation and sole authority for our Christian faith and our daily Christian walk. We can add nothing to it, nor subtract anything from it. There are no other writings nor documents which have authority equal to or above the Bible. So if a church, denomination, or individual believer has a theology which is not built upon all of the Bible, or where points of that theology contradict any portion of the Bible - that is a weak and invalid theology.
Years ago, Dory and I were watching a Christian television station and Benny Hinn came on. Normally I would change the channel, but I decided to watch. He was teaching about anointing oils and how they fit into his Prosperity Gospel Theology. As he spoke the show director would pop up Scripture verses quickly to support what he was saying, but would not leave the verse or passage on the screen long enough for us to check it against the Bible. So I just wrote down the verses and after it was over, I went to my Bible to check if those verses were applicable to what he was teaching.
As I said, he was teaching about anointing oils and his Prosperity Gospel. It was obvious what he had done was to search for all Scripture verses that referenced "oil" and put those verses into his teaching - even when there was very little, if any at all, connection or reference to his message. Of the ten verses I checked, maybe five somewhat fit his message, the others were no where close to his message thoughts.
And I get the feeling that my Calvinist friends who are attempting to prove Calvinist Predestination in the Bible are doing the same - finding verses with "predestine" "predestinate" or any similar spelling - and declaring that proof of their theology.
Other areas of Scripture where my Calvinist Friends and I take different paths are:
My Calvinist brethren tell me that in this Scripture verse the word "world" really only means those who were elected before the Creation. Yet according to Strong's Concordance the English word "world" is the Greek word "kosmos" which means: "the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human family." In other words, all mankind. Does God really love all mankind? According to John 3:16 and other verses, He absolutely does love all people.
According to that, God loves ALL the world, all the people - and 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God really desires that all people be saved eternally. Yet He knows that because all mankind has Free Will - many will not choose to not believe and receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Yet those who do believe and receive (John 1:12) Him will have eternal, everlasting life.
What is everlasting life, i.e., eternal life? It is life that will never end. That is what God is promising to everyone who will believe and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. No restrictions - no "sorry you were not elected" - no "sorry, you had it, but you lost it." No, God is telling us that if we will receive Christ, we definitely HAVE eternal, never ending, life in Him.
These are thoughts prompted from my reading Dr. R.C. Sproul's book "What Is Reformed Theology? Understanding The Basics." Does this mean I believe that all my Calvinist brethren are not saved? Absolutely not! If they have believed and received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they, just like all my Arminian brethren, are absolutely saved and I will enjoy their fellowship in heaven, eternally.
All I am saying is that I believe their Calvinist or Arminian Theologies are flawed. That will not keep them out of heaven, but it may affect their sense of eternal security while still struggling through this mortal life. We all just keep saying, ". . . Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20).
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
In the book Dr. Sproul tells of visiting a prominent Midwestern college with a rich Christian and Reformed tradition. He tells of his tour of the school and of noticing an office in the faculty office building with the sign "Department of Religion" on the door. Later meeting with a group of faculty he asked about the sign and if it had always been the Department of Religion. He was told that years before it had been called the "Department of Theology."
When he asked why it was changed, no one seemed to know, for it had been changed many years before. He got the feeling that their attitude was, "What does it matter?" He took that moment to explain to the faculty that there is a profound difference between the study of theology and the study of religion.
He told them, “The study of religion is chiefly the study of a certain kind of human behavior, be it under the rubric of anthropology, sociology, or psychology. The study of theology, on the other hand, is the study of God. Religion is anthropocentric, theology is theocentric. The difference between religion and theology is ultimately the difference between God and man. Hardly a small difference.” - R.C. Sproul, "What Is Reformed Theology?: Understanding the Basics"
At this point in the book, I am in total agreement with Dr. Sproul. There is a vast difference between "religion" and "theology." For me, religion encompasses a wide range of beliefs which are most often defined by rituals, sacraments, costumes, traditions, dogmas, and a wide range of teachings - most which have nothing to do with God or the Christian faith.
At one end of the spectrum we have all the world religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Atheism, Humanism, Secularism, etc.
And we have many pure cult religions: New Age religions, Unitarianism, Armstrongism, Wicca, Hare Krishna, Nation of Islam, Scientology, etc.
Then there are those who wear a Christian hat, but do not follow the same Jesus Christ: Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Unification Church, United Pentecostal Church, etc.
Finally there are those religions more closely related to Christianity, but still not fully based upon the full 66 books of Scripture: Judaism (Tanakh, i.e., Jewish Scripture) through which our Savior was born - Roman Catholicism (Bible plus Apocrypha and Vatican writings) - Adventism (Bible plus Ellen G. White writings), etc.
These are all man-made means of trying to reach some kind of utopia here on earth - or of man adding his own extra-biblical documents of authority to what God has revealed to us in His Written Word, the Bible. This is what Dr. Sproul defines as anthropocentric - centered upon man as the central and most important element of existence.
While theology is all about God, theocentric, where God is the main and central focus, explained in His full revelation to man, His Written Word, the Bible.
To this point Dr. Sproul and I are in agreement. Let me take a side trip and clarify one point about Reformed Theology. Reformed Theology is the same as Calvinist Theology. Reformed churches which follow Calvinist teachings are: Reformed Baptist Churches, Presbyterian Churches, Reformed Churches, The United Church of Christ, The Protestant Reformed Churches in America.
When speaking of the Reformed Church the two names which come to mind are the late Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Dr. Robert Schuller. Both were highly recognized Reformed pastors. And when considering the Presbyterian church the name most obvious to me is the late Dr. D. James Kennedy.
And when I think of Calvinist/Reformed Theology, I have two major areas of disagreement with their teachings: (1) Covenant Theology including the associated Replacement Theology and (2) Calvinist Predestination.
My main problem with (1) Covenant Theology is their teaching of Replacement Theology (also known as supersessionism), which teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan, that Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, and that God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. To believe that one must totally ignore Daniel 9 when the archangel, Gabriel, appears to Daniel with the Vision of the Seventy Weeks:
In Daniel 9:24-27 Gabriel tells Daniel, (24) "Seventy weeks are determined for your people (the Jews) and for your holy city (Jerusalem), to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy (Jesus Christ). . . . (27) Then he (the Antichrist) shall confirm a covenant with many (Israel) for one week (seven years, the Tribulation). But in the middle of the week (3 1/2 years) he (Antichrist) shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate (Antichrist defiles the temple by sitting on a throne in the temple and declaring himself to be God), even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate."
Instead of direct Replacement Theology, some Covenant/Calvinist Theology churches do not see the church replacing Israel, but instead teach that the church is just an expansion or extension which grew out of Israel. Since the early Christians were predominately Jews, the church's roots are Jewish, therefore in their view Christianity grew out of Judaism. And in a sense it did, for Christ came to the Jews first and we are a branch that was grafted in - yet in God's eternal plan, Israel and the church are still two separate entities - His chosen people and the bride of Christ.
Covenant Theology sees the Bible teaching three basic Covenants: The covenants of Works (Adam), Grace (Christ), and Redemption (Election).
Today a large number of the Protestant churches have a literal interpretation of the Bible and lean toward a Dispensational Premillennialism Theology rather than Covenant Theology. For the record, this is where I stand doctrinally, for I believe in a PreTribulation Rapture of the church and a PreMillennial Second Coming of Christ to establish His 1000 year Millennial Kingdom on earth.
This theology teaches a PreTribulational Rapture of the church, i.e., that the bride of Christ will be removed from earth before the seven year Tribulation begins. And it teaches a PreMillennial Second Coming of Christ in glory, that at the end of the seven year Tribulation, Jesus Christ will return to earth accompanied by His Bride the church, the Old Testament saints, and the martyred Tribulation saints. He will establish His 1000 year Millennial Kingdom from the throne of David in Jerusalem.
And my second major disagreement with Dr. Sproul and the Calvinist Theology falls upon the teaching of (2 ) the Calvinist Predestination doctrine - that before the Creation God, in His sovereignty, arbitrarily chose some of the humans He was planning to create in the future Creation and elected them to spend a glorious, joyful eternity in His presence. These He called the Elect, for they had been elected to share the glory of His presence eternally.
At the same time God, before the Creation, decided that the vast majority of humans He planned to create - He would condemn, with no chance to be saved, to an eternity of pure torture, suffering, and agony - never ending hell. These, according to the Calvinist theology He named the Reprobates.
Before we look at Scripture to find the truth, ask yourself: Would God, the God of perfect Love and perfect Justice - create billions of people just to cause them to suffer that horrible existence eternally? Does that, in any way, fit the God of the Bible, the God you and I worship? No, even my limited human mind can neither grasp nor accept that view of God.
Is Predestination in the Bible? Yes. But not the Calvinist version of Predestination. Predestination is in the Bible, that whom God Foreknew (meaning He knew them from eternity to eternity, down to the hairs on their head) in His Omniscience, He fully foreknew from eternity to eternity every sparrow which would fall and every person who would become a believer. Yes, He knew that Bill Gray would become a believer at age 50 in 1987. So He predestined Bill Gray to be among His Elect, His body of believers - from Adam to the last person saved. He knew that I would meet my wife, Dory, who would lead me to meet Pastor Sam Lacanienta, who would lead me to the foot of the cross where the Holy Spirit would bring me into the family of God. Yes, Bill Gray was predestined to eternal life in Christ - for He foreknew that Bill Gray would believe and receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
Romans 8:28-30, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (29) For whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."
Ephesians 1:3-6, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (4) just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, (5) having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, (6) to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."
Did He "chose us in Him before the foundation of the world"? Yes. Then doesn't that prove that God chose the Elect before the Creation, just as the Calvinist tell us? No. That tells us that God knew, in His omniscience before the Creation - who will believe. He Foreknew who will believe - and these people He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Ephesians 1:11-14, "In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, (12) that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. (13) In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, (14) who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."
Look at what Ephesians 1:13 is telling us, "In Him you also trusted ~ after you heard the word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation ~ having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." How many people hear the Gospel and do not believe? There are many. For the first fifty years of my life, I heard the Gospel, I was in and out of so many churches, so many denominations, hearing the Truth, hearing the Gospel. But, even though I believed that God and Jesus Christ were real - I had never put my faith in Him.
What if I had not met Dory, then Pastor Sam - would I have been lost eternally? There is a good possibility that I would have been lost. But we know that God, in His Omniscient Foreknowledge, knew from before the Creation that I would meet Dory, that I would meet Pastor Sam, that I would believe - and I did, through the gift of Free Will that He has given to all people.
All people, the whole world from Adam to the last person born - have the gift of Free Will - the ability and the responsibility to choose to follow Christ and be saved - or to reject Christ and be lost eternally.
In the New Testament sinners are commanded over and over to “repent” and “believe” (Matthew 4:17; Acts 3:19; 1 John 3:23). Every call to repentance is a call for that person to make a choice, to use his Free Will to choose or to reject Christ. That command to believe assumes that the person hears the admonition - and God knows that person has the Free Will to choose to obey the command.
Matthew 4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' "
Acts 3:19, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."
Matthew 4:17 was Jesus speaking publicly to the people, first in Capernaum, then in many other places. Acts 3:19 is Peter speaking to the crowd, the people in the streets of Jerusalem. In these cases, and in many others, were all the people to whom Jesus and Peter speaking - all counted by God among the Elect before the Creation? If not, and only that Elect can be saved - why would Jesus and Peter admonish all the people to repent and be saved?
If Calvinist Predestination were true and many in these crowds were Reprobates, would Jesus really be that cruel to tease them and suggest they could repent and be saved - if God had already condemned them to eternal hell as Reprobates?
A solid, Biblical theology must be built upon the entire Bible, all 66 books, plus nothing else. The Bible is God's full revelation and sole authority for our Christian faith and our daily Christian walk. We can add nothing to it, nor subtract anything from it. There are no other writings nor documents which have authority equal to or above the Bible. So if a church, denomination, or individual believer has a theology which is not built upon all of the Bible, or where points of that theology contradict any portion of the Bible - that is a weak and invalid theology.
Years ago, Dory and I were watching a Christian television station and Benny Hinn came on. Normally I would change the channel, but I decided to watch. He was teaching about anointing oils and how they fit into his Prosperity Gospel Theology. As he spoke the show director would pop up Scripture verses quickly to support what he was saying, but would not leave the verse or passage on the screen long enough for us to check it against the Bible. So I just wrote down the verses and after it was over, I went to my Bible to check if those verses were applicable to what he was teaching.
As I said, he was teaching about anointing oils and his Prosperity Gospel. It was obvious what he had done was to search for all Scripture verses that referenced "oil" and put those verses into his teaching - even when there was very little, if any at all, connection or reference to his message. Of the ten verses I checked, maybe five somewhat fit his message, the others were no where close to his message thoughts.
And I get the feeling that my Calvinist friends who are attempting to prove Calvinist Predestination in the Bible are doing the same - finding verses with "predestine" "predestinate" or any similar spelling - and declaring that proof of their theology.
Other areas of Scripture where my Calvinist Friends and I take different paths are:
John 3:16, "For God so loved the world (you, me, all people who have ever or will ever be born) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
My Calvinist brethren tell me that in this Scripture verse the word "world" really only means those who were elected before the Creation. Yet according to Strong's Concordance the English word "world" is the Greek word "kosmos" which means: "the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human family." In other words, all mankind. Does God really love all mankind? According to John 3:16 and other verses, He absolutely does love all people.
According to that, God loves ALL the world, all the people - and 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God really desires that all people be saved eternally. Yet He knows that because all mankind has Free Will - many will not choose to not believe and receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Yet those who do believe and receive (John 1:12) Him will have eternal, everlasting life.
What is everlasting life, i.e., eternal life? It is life that will never end. That is what God is promising to everyone who will believe and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. No restrictions - no "sorry you were not elected" - no "sorry, you had it, but you lost it." No, God is telling us that if we will receive Christ, we definitely HAVE eternal, never ending, life in Him.
These are thoughts prompted from my reading Dr. R.C. Sproul's book "What Is Reformed Theology? Understanding The Basics." Does this mean I believe that all my Calvinist brethren are not saved? Absolutely not! If they have believed and received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they, just like all my Arminian brethren, are absolutely saved and I will enjoy their fellowship in heaven, eternally.
All I am saying is that I believe their Calvinist or Arminian Theologies are flawed. That will not keep them out of heaven, but it may affect their sense of eternal security while still struggling through this mortal life. We all just keep saying, ". . . Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20).
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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Right on my brother. I thank God for the gift He's given you to share the Word. May God continue to bless your ministry, your marriage, your family! We are Anchored in Him, Paul and Nora
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