Dead Men Tell No Tales......Unless God revives them!

[zmode82]

Ok I'll start it off:

The Bible says the unbeliever is deceitful and sick (Jer. 17:9), full of evil (Mk 7:21-23), loves darkness rather than light (John 3:19), does not understand, does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12), is dead in his trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3), cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). How then is the unbeliever able to choose God? He cannot.

It is God who draws people to Himself (John 6:44,65).
creates a clean heart (Psalm 51:10), appoints people to believe (Acts 13:48), works faith in the believer (John 6:28-29), chooses who is to be holy and blameless (Eph. 1:4), chooses us for salvation (2 Thess. 2:13-14), grants the act of believing (Phil. 1:29)grants repentance (2 Tim. 2:24-26) calls according to His purpose (2 Tim. 1:9) causes us to be born again (1 Pet. 1:3)predestines us to salvation (Rom. 8:29-30) predestines us to adoption (Eph. 1:5) predestines us according to His purpose (Eph. 1:11) makes us born again not by our will but by His will (John 1:12-13).

Like the above subject says, you are a spiritually dead man. You do not have the power or the ability to get up on your own and decide one day to be a Christian. The fall of man was a pretty long fall from God's glory. When man hit that cursed ground, he wasn't wounded in his trespasses in sin. He was dead. It's going to take a little more than juice to revive you. It is going to take a miracle to bring you back to life. Only God can make that miracle happen.

Salvation is a super natural work of God in a man. A regenerated man, is the greatest miracle that convinces me that God is still at work in this cursed world.
So, Calvinist or not, you know the Bible says not everyone is going to make the team. You got to ask yourself, is it because God couldn't save those sinners, or is it because God didn't save those sinners?
Remember all things are possible for God, there is nothing He can't do.

[SolusChristus]

And of course when the Arminian train arrives, they'll say that God has offered salvation to all people and they have to make it effectual.

[Test All Things]

And of course when the Arminian train arrives, they'll say that God has offered salvation to all people and they have to make it effectual.

The bizarre thing is that most "calvinists" also teach that too.

But it just goes to show that just because a man may call themselves a calvinist, that it does not necessarily mean that they believe the gospel.

A close friend of mine and a dear brother in the Lord who is a pastor in Louisianna testifies that he was indeed a lost "calvinist" before he heard the true gospel of salvation conditioned on the cross of Jesus Christ ALONE.

Many "calvinists" believe that God sincerely desires the salvation of all men and that the reprobate must meet the condition of faith. They then teach that God enables the elect to meet this condition of faith and justify themselves before him.

But the bible teaches that Jesus met all of the conditions for the salvation of His elect people and when he said "it is finished" IT REALLY WAS.

Faith is not a prerequisite or condition for/to salvation.
Faith is a gift of God given to His people at regeneration whereby when they hear and learn the true gospel they see that Jesus their saviour met all of the conditions for their salvation and they rejoice.

Chris
Jesus is Lord!

[HardlyExegetic]

The problem is that you present a Straw Man version of Arminianism. No well read Arminian will argue that a man comes to salvation by his own power. It isn't even a central doctrine to Arminianism.

On the other hand, how can Calvinism extol God's sovereignty and supreme authority and still feel comfortable with the Bible saying that it is God's will that all come to salvation.

There is no difference between God's desired will and God's decreed will. That argument simply isn't Biblical.