One last part of this very long and interesting article on calvinists
Posted : 13 Nov, 2011 10:35 PM
There is most definatly a choice to be made
The reason man doesn't respond to the gospel is not because he has the inability to do so.The following verses clearly show that man has the free will to believe.
Matthew 23:37"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under [her] wings, but you were not willing!"
Luke 8:12"Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved."
John 5:40 "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life."
1 Thessalonians 2:16forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up [the] [measure] [of] their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
The person who refuses to believe in Jesus Christ cannot have eternal life with God because he has rejected the forgiveness of his sins provided by Christ's death on the cross, he has rejected Christ as the Mediator between God and man provided by Christ's resurrection, and refused Christ's life which is provided by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 59:1Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden [His] face from you, So that He will not hear.
John 3:36"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
John 8:24"Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am [He], you will die in your sins."
John 14:6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
1 Timothy 2:5For [there] [is] one God and one Mediator between God and men, [the] Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Man's Free Will to do Good or Evil
The Bible throughout Scripture instructs mankind to make righteous decisions by free will. Many persons misinterpret a few verses to arrive at the false idea that mankind does not have a free will to do good or make righteous decisions. Below are some verses which strongly show that mankind has the responsibility to exercise his free will and is commanded by God to do so. God would certainly not ask people to do something if they did not have the ability to respond. These Scripture strongly refute the false theology of John Calvin that mankind is in a state of Total Depravity and Total Inability.
Deuteronomy 30:11"For this commandment which I command you today [is] not [too] mysterious for you, nor [is] it far off. 12 It [is] not in heaven, that you should say, `Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 13 Nor [is] it beyond the sea, that you should say, `Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 14 But the word [is] very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it."
Deuteronomy 30:15"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 "in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 "But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 "I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong [your] days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.
Romans 2:10but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
1 Corinthians 9:24Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain [it]. 25 And everyone who competes [for] [the] [prize] is temperate in all things. Now they [do] [it] to obtain a perishable crown, but we [for] an imperishable [crown].
1 Timothy 6:12Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and [before] Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep [this] commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing.
2 Timothy 2:21Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
1 John 5:1Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.
Calvinism teaches that the natural man cannot do anything good in a condition of Total Inability, but this doctrine is proven to be false in Romans 2:14-15. The unregenerate have a conscience that teaches them right and wrong from which they can do good or evil by their own free will. The lost Gentiles were keeping some of the Ten Commandments even though the Law had not been given to them.
Romans 2:14-16for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves [their] thoughts accusing or else excusing [them]) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
Total Depravity or Total Inability is the major foundation of Calvinism. Without Calvin's doctrine of Total Depravity his theology crumbles like a house of cards, and with it election, grace, and atonement as presented in the Bible must be redefined. The false doctrine of Total Inability must by its very logic lead to the false doctrines of Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, and Irresistible Grace in cascading steps of error. We shall see in the next sections that John Calvin rejected the true Biblical definitions of election, grace, and atonement in order to formulate his theology.
Calvinists worship a god that saves the "elect" who have no faith whatsoever. The false doctrine of Total Depravity stipulates that a lost person cannot believe in God without first being saved. Faith for salvation would violate the false doctrine to Total Depravity. They certainly do worship a god, but the god of their faith does not exist. The clearly teaches that the Almighty God of Creation saves those who come in faith believing in their heart that Jesus Christ took upon Himself the sins of the whole world and rose from the dead to give eternal life to all after they believe.
We believe that salvation is by grace through faith based upon the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus took upon Himself the sins of all mankind by His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead provides salvation to all who believe. All who receive the Lord Jesus Christ through faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become the children of God.
