Mike Winger's "Why I think Calvinism is Unbiblical"

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Everlasting-Grace

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This only makes me wonder why the translators felt the need to use different words for the same Greek. :unsure:
It depends on context and how it is used. The flaw is the english language not the greek.

An example. For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, that whoever faith's in him will never perish.

You see the word faith does not fit.. However in the same token, We know Jesus was not just talking about mere belief.
 

ThereRoseaLamb

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then please prove by using the Bible that what Calvin said was unbiblical. Failure to do so will and correct those you believe are in error will prove that the love of God is not yet in you (1 Jn 3:17).

No it simply proves Calvinist twist certain Scriptures, no matter how plain they are, and totally ignore others.
 

Mem

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It depends on context and how it is used. The flaw is the english language not the greek.

An example. For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, that whoever faith's in him will never perish.

You see the word faith does not fit.. However in the same token, We know Jesus was not just talking about mere belief.
That might provide some insight to the difference, provided that faith is ever considered applicable within a usage as an action verb.
 

Mem

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That brings up the question, without first checking, whether believe is an active or a passive verb, although I'd think that it would be obvious.
 

FollowerofShiloh

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can you please share with all here how do you know you are saved and where do you look for assurance?
Ephesians, Mark, Luke, Acts were fulfilled.

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
 

FollowerofShiloh

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Who does God foreknow? At what point does God "know" a man?
From Theologians. I do not trust Scholars because many are atheist but Theologians are Bible Professors in Bible Colleges.

This is what preachers in today's Bible colleges are taught by Theologians and I agree with 100%

(Rom 8:29-30) Notice the conjunction, “for”’; it ties what is about to be said with what has just been said. We know what God has done for the Old Testament saints, those that He “already knew, He predestined, (aorist indicative, completed action) to be conformed to the image or likeness of His Son. They died long before Jesus was even born but they are still a part of the promises of God! God planned from the beginning to bring their salvation to completion in Christ Jesus. Moreover, those He predestined (aorist indicative, completed action) He justified (aorist indicative, completed action) and those He justified He glorified (aorist indicative, completed action). If Paul had any intended notion that he was speaking to the Roman Christians he would have used the same tense he used previously in verse 16, that being the aorist passive subjective. He did not do so because he was speaking here of the Old Testament saints who had already died but God had provided hope for.


Theologians claim Paul in Romans 8:29-30 are speaking about the Old Testament Saints who God FOREKNEW and PREDESTINED to be conformed to be like Christ.


I agree with them 100%
 

Evmur

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then please prove by using the Bible that what Calvin said was unbiblical. Failure to do so will and correct those you believe are in error will prove that the love of God is not yet in you (1 Jn 3:17).
This is not at all difficult, Calvin ASSUMED upon human logic alone that if it be true that God has predestined and elected some to be saved then necessarily He must have passed over all others.

There IS no scripture for this.

we are predestined and chosen to be conformed to the image of God's Belovéd and we have been chosen in Christ before all worlds began to be a people for the praise of His glorious grace.

That is to be the church, His body.

It excludes NOBODY from being saved, in fact since all others are to be judged by how they dealt with the Lord's brethren it opens the door for a much, much greater mercy.
 

Evmur

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Scripture needs to always be taken in its immediate and overall context and the verse you use to say that God does not desire any to perish is said to those to whom it is written which is Christians and not every single person in the world without exception. Such a view makes God out to be frustrated and not able to do what He decrees He will do.

If God does not want any to perish then why did Christ rejoice below and thanked His Father for hiding the truth from many and even said it was good to do so?

Luk 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.
God's will for mankind is fully revealed in the creation story.

God took the man and placed him a garden of great beauty and abundance. All mankind was in Adam so this can be taken as God's will for all mankind.

The man rebelled against God's will.
 

Evmur

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God commands all men to repent and believe but how can a man repent when he loves his sin and how can a man believe on Christ when all that he does is believe in himself? The answer is that he can not do these things unless he is first born again from above to see this (John 3:3).

Those whom God has chosen will repent and believe because they have been drawn to Christ through the preaching of the Gospel and humbled to cry out to Him to grant them a new heart so that they can obey His just command given to all.

Those who die in their sin will prove that they were never chosen by God and will receive His eternal, perfectly good, righteous, holy and just wrath which every person deserves.

View attachment 263958
You start off with scripture but very soon veer off into man's logic and suppositions. You take theologians [however great] and hold their commentaries up as though it were scripture truth.

Nowhere does the bible say that God desires the death and damnation of the sinner. That's what theologians assume.
 

John146

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From Theologians. I do not trust Scholars because many are atheist but Theologians are Bible Professors in Bible Colleges.

This is what preachers in today's Bible colleges are taught by Theologians and I agree with 100%

(Rom 8:29-30) Notice the conjunction, “for”’; it ties what is about to be said with what has just been said. We know what God has done for the Old Testament saints, those that He “already knew, He predestined, (aorist indicative, completed action) to be conformed to the image or likeness of His Son. They died long before Jesus was even born but they are still a part of the promises of God! God planned from the beginning to bring their salvation to completion in Christ Jesus. Moreover, those He predestined (aorist indicative, completed action) He justified (aorist indicative, completed action) and those He justified He glorified (aorist indicative, completed action). If Paul had any intended notion that he was speaking to the Roman Christians he would have used the same tense he used previously in verse 16, that being the aorist passive subjective. He did not do so because he was speaking here of the Old Testament saints who had already died but God had provided hope for.


Theologians claim Paul in Romans 8:29-30 are speaking about the Old Testament Saints who God FOREKNEW and PREDESTINED to be conformed to be like Christ.


I agree with them 100%
I believe it's a general statement concerning those God foreknew. Before God predestinates a man, he must first know the man as one of his. After knowing a man is one of his, he then determines that man's end result, thus "predestinates".

1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. The adoption is to which a believer is predestined to. See Ephesians 1:5. It is the redemption of the body. It is a future event.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. The Spirit seals us unto the adoption, the redemption. See Ephesians 4:30.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? There is a point in time when God knows a man. Notice the phrase, "after that ye are...known of God."
 

Evmur

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The wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles was broken down and both had become one in Christ (Eph 2:14-16) therefore those who are elect are the true seed of Abraham who are circumcised of the heart and not of the flesh (Rom 2:28-29).

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

The Old Covenant has ended and the New Covenant has arrived and as prophesied by Christ the old and its systems was utterly destroyed in 70AD and therefore besides those Judeans who were converted to Christianity, there are none today who can prove any historical lineage to the Israel of old and those who claim to be Judeans (Jews) today are as Christ also prophesied twice, imposters and of the Synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9, 3:9) who are mostly Khazarian Talmudic Pharisees and if they die in their sin will prove themselves to be reprobates and not the seed of Abraham.
The Jews are among the most recognisable people upon earth. I can spot one from 500 yards in the dark :) Hitler knew who they were.

The covenant God made with Abraham and his seed is an everlasting covenant, the covenant of the law has ended.

Paul bases his doctrine of predestination and election upon God's dealings with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Israel. Now if God does not keep His promise to them, how can you be sure He will keep His promise to you?

Moreover Paul says that the Jews the very enemies of the gospel yet as touching ELECTION they are beloved for the fathers for the call and gifts of God cannot be revoked.

Can't call back the blessing once it has been given [ask Esau] and all the prophecies concerning Israel are that their ending shall be greater than their beginning ... that one prophecy alone blows all opposition out of the water.
 

FollowerofShiloh

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I believe it's a general statement concerning those God foreknew. Before God predestinates a man, he must first know the man as one of his. After knowing a man is one of his, he then determines that man's end result, thus "predestinates".

1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. The adoption is to which a believer is predestined to. See Ephesians 1:5. It is the redemption of the body. It is a future event.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. The Spirit seals us unto the adoption, the redemption. See Ephesians 4:30.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? There is a point in time when God knows a man. Notice the phrase, "after that ye are...known of God."
I definitely agree that God foreknew everything because in Isaiah God said He knew the "End from the Beginning" to show Isaiah no other gods can do that. So He was giving a characteristic of Who God is to Isaiah that is unlike what any other deity can claim.

But the reason I believe Paul is speaking about Old Testament Saints here is because what he wrote describes that God already foreknew the O.T. Saints and once Jesus DBR happened the O.T. Saints come under the same Blessing and Promise we have today.

Paul in previous chapters in Romans already established we (those saved after the DBR of Jesus) have that Promise but here he explains so does the Old Testament Saints.
 

studier

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Hello studier.

You use the words, faith and believe/belief and you view them differently - why?

The answer to this dual translation, I believe, is the background theology they have been taught.

The translators of the Bible also follow an inherent theological basis.

Thanks for the reply. I mostly agree. Theological systems' teachings and interpretative translations and inconsistencies remain a problem. Also, it's not an easy topic. There's a lot of data to digest and harmonize.
 

studier

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The translation of pistis above, obviously refers to 'believe' and not faith.

So, you would translate pistis and cognates as belief or faith depending upon context?

If we believe Jesus is Christ and the demons believe Jesus is Christ, is our belief different? How and why?
 

John146

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I definitely agree that God foreknew everything because in Isaiah God said He knew the "End from the Beginning" to show Isaiah no other gods can do that. So He was giving a characteristic of Who God is to Isaiah that is unlike what any other deity can claim.

But the reason I believe Paul is speaking about Old Testament Saints here is because what he wrote describes that God already foreknew the O.T. Saints and once Jesus DBR happened the O.T. Saints come under the same Blessing and Promise we have today.

Paul in previous chapters in Romans already established we (those saved after the DBR of Jesus) have that Promise but here he explains so does the Old Testament Saints.
God knew the end from the beginning, yes. But why make that more than what's there? God knew, from the beginning, how this is all going to turn out. It's written for us to see in Revelation. We now know how it's going to turn out. Jesus wins!
 

selahsays

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So, you would translate pistis and cognates as belief or faith depending upon context?

If we believe Jesus is Christ and the demons believe Jesus is Christ, is our belief different? How and why?
There’s a humongous difference. The “faith” of demons is useless, even though they might tremble with fright at what they know to be true. They have no love for Jesus. —selah
 

Everlasting-Grace

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There’s a humongous difference. The “faith” of demons is useless, even though they might tremble with fright at what they know to be true. They have no love for Jesus. —selah
It also says they believed in one God.

19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

It never said they had faith in Christ..