Predestination is misunderstood...

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
Mar 23, 2016
7,021
1,673
113
Jean Calvin helped rescue people from catholic heresy
Scripture teaches us to turn from idols to serve the living and true God:

1 Thessalonians 1:

5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:

7 So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.

8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.

9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God
.
 
Dec 18, 2023
6,402
406
83
The true Calvin

Five minute video on link.

Also a link to his 4 books on prayer discipline

Also here Calvin recognises we still have to pray to God.

Well according to people here teaching the wrong Calvin, there saying they don't need to do anything.


https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/5-minutes-in-church-history-with-stephen-nichols/calvin-on-prayer

MAY 20, 2015
Christian LivingSpiritual GrowthSpiritual DisciplinesPrayer
Calvin on Prayer



Transcript
"Words fail to explain how necessary prayer is, and in how many ways the exercise of prayer is profitable. It is therefore by the benefit of prayer that we reach those riches which are laid up for us with the heavenly Father."
These are the words of John Calvin on the necessity of prayer, and they come to us from his Institutes of the Christian Religion. In this work, Calvin gets at theology through the structure of four books. The first book is on the knowledge of God the Creator; the second book is on the knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ. In the third book, Calvin turns his attention to the Holy Spirit and the way in which we receive the grace of Christ and what benefits come to us from it. Book four is about the church and life in the Spirit.
In book three, chapter twenty, Calvin writes on prayer. He begins by talking about the necessity of prayer: "We need prayer because this is how God's benefits reach us." Of course, Calvin raises the question of why we should pray if God is sovereign over all things. Doesn't that make prayer superfluous? Calvin responds by saying that prayer first of all has to do with us—prayer changes us, and prayer is a crucial discipline of the Christian life. It's also our duty. God commands us to pray; that's enough for Calvin.
Calvin then turns to what he calls the rules for right prayer. He lists five rules; the first is to come before God with reverence. This is how we frame prayer—we recognize who God is; we revere Him; and in light of who He is, we recognize who we are.
The second rule of prayer is to pray out of insufficiency. It's very simple: we ask because we need. Prayer is a constant reminder of our utter dependence on God and of God's all-sufficiency for us.
The third rule is to come pleading mercy. We don't deserve anything—this is the posture that Calvin wants us to take. We don't deserve anything before God; it is His sheer good pleasure and mercy to extend to us these blessings and benefits and to answer our prayers.
Calvin's fourth rule is to pray with confident hope. We should be encouraged that God answers prayer. If we are living in tune with the Spirit, reading God's Word, and praying in accordance with Scripture, then we can be assured that God hears our prayers and that He will answer our prayers.
The fifth rule is to pray in Jesus' name. Jesus is our intercessor, our mediator. He's not only our High Priest who sat down after completing the work of redemption; He's our High Priest who stands up and ever intercedes for us before the Father's throne. This is what Calvin says about praying in the name of Jesus and recognizing Jesus as our intercessor: "For as soon as God's dread majesty comes to mind, we cannot but tremble and be driven far away by the recognition of our own unworthiness, until Christ comes forward as intermediary to change the throne of dreadful glory into the throne of grace." So, as the biblical author tells us, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace" (Heb. 4:16).
 
Mar 23, 2016
7,021
1,673
113
Are we to do that with this?

Titus 3:10

Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time.
After that, have nothing to do with him
."
2 Timothy 3:

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
.
 
Dec 18, 2023
6,402
406
83
Scripture teaches us to turn from idols to serve the living and true God:

1 Thessalonians 1:

5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:

7 So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.

8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.

9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God
.
nice scripture thanks .who's an idol 🤔
 
Dec 18, 2023
6,402
406
83
Well, again. My Bible says the opposite. It says the world will descend into all our depravity and war, then Jesus will return to completely destroy the world and create a new world and a new heavens.

Just a question, are you under the care of a Shephard or are you on your own
Jesus will come to bring peace when he comes back.

His sword is here now,..its the sword that circumcises the heart of the unbeliever, his new seed to resow his existing life in all mankind.

For those who are willing his sword is the word, his new seed his new light. To switch the lights back on in all mankind.

His life that defeated death for us.

As it stands for a lot of mankind the lights are of in his life, that is in all mankind, it has been switched of by the power of death that he holds in his life, and people don't recognise him.

As when we go back in John 1 he was in the world already in you and me and we did not recognise him.

Furthermore Jesus came to defeat death for all mankind.

As his life that is in in all man is under the sentence of the power of death that exists in his life, that is in all men


Furthermore all of mankind fell with Adam. Which means when Jesus defeated death it was for all mankind.

This is paramount. 😊
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
2,746
400
83
actually it is impossible to understand all the ways of God.
As long as a Christian remains ignorant of sound doctrinal teachings on a steady basis?

That will hold true.

Sound doctrine will quite often show you things you would never guess....
 
Mar 7, 2024
837
63
28
Someone who is a 'neutral casual observer' would see gaping holes.

For it takes a Spirit filled believer who is concentrating to see it.

.....................
Good point, but the question remains how do we know who the true Spirit filled believers are. There are plenty of fake imposters around, but they look like the real McCoy
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
2,746
400
83
Good point, but the question remains how do we know who the true Spirit filled believers are. There are plenty of fake imposters around, but they look like the real McCoy

The Lord knows. All the others think they know.....

The Lord lets those who are arrogant about what they believe to be alone after trying to correct us....
And? In the end? We will find out?

Only a few found it.

All the others took the broad and wide way that led to the destruction of their spiritual lives.

Who ever those few are? They will know. Everyone else simply thinks they know.

Keeping it that way keeps the few free..
 
Mar 7, 2024
837
63
28
:rolleyes: ... well, I'm sure you've read 1 Cor 12:12 – 26 where we are told about the one body in Christ (1 Cor 12:12-13) in which there are many members (1 Cor 12:14) and that God has set every member in the body as it has pleased Him (1 Cor 12:18) ... that no member of the body can say to another member of the body "I have no need of you" (1 Cor 12:21) ... that there should be no schism in the body and the members should have the same care one for another (1 Cor 12:25) ...

Here are verses where we are told to love one another ...

John 13:34
John 13:35
John 15:12
John 15:17
Romans 12:10
Romans 13:8
Galatians 5:13
Ephesians 4:2
1 Thessalonians 3:12
1 Thessalonians 4:9
Hebrews 10:24
1 Peter 1:22
1 Peter 3:8
1 John 3:11
1 John 3:23
1 John 4:7
1 John 4:11
1 John 4:12
2 John 1:5


you have read these verses seeing as how you've "read the bible a few times over", yes?


1 Corinthians 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
.
That's fine but the problem remains, who or what is the Church. How do you define the Church and do you define a member of the Church.
We have over 2 billion people claiming to be Christians - Members of the Body. Of those we have child rapists, murderers and all kinds of weird and wonderful people, are you suggesting that everyone who says Lord Lord is a member???
 
Mar 7, 2024
837
63
28
Oh really??? You just want to cut these verses out of your Bible?

Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ
Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Please allow me to keep those verses in my Bible and remind you of them if and when you claim to know all there is to know concerning God's Word. As I stated, we can live a lifetime and never come to the end of just knowing the beginning of Who God is.





yes, Jesus did say that. And sadly, some folks do that and go no further in growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which is why we have believers treating other members of the body of Christ as if they are not needful to the body so that the whole body is fully functioning without any schism.





I do not believe @Genez was trashing the Word of God. I believe Genez was trying to teach you something that you completely rejected without any consideration.

There are truths hidden in Old Testament writings which are gloriously revealed in the New Testament writings.

That is why I say we can live a lifetime and never come to the end of knowing even the beginning of Who God is. He is that magnificent ... He is that glorious ... is there anything better in this world? ... can anything this world offers be better than knowing and glorifying God?
.
You won't gain Gods respect by boasting about your gift of intelligence and how you're smarter than other Christians. God is no respecter of persons, your wisdom is foolishness to Him and your best works are just filthy stinking rags in His sight.

God doesn't save people based on how smart they think they are, nobody know who Go has chosen to save or why. That's His business, but I believe He is more pleased with dumb slow people than the wise guys who beat their chest while they look down on others.

I don't believe you can impress God with your high IQ and your ability to correctly interpret the bible. God is not impressed by wise guys, He doesn't judge according to ones IQ level. There are saved people who have never read a word of the Bible, Jesus never said "believe in me and get diploma in theology from the Seminary and you shall be saved"

God elected to save a certain number of souls for His glory, before He created the world. He already knew them before He created them. He didn't place any conditions on them, He just said that nobody would pluck them out of His hand.
 
Mar 7, 2024
837
63
28
Saul became saved because he listened to Jesus on the way to Damascus, He believed he had met Jesus,. And Jesus said I will tell you what you need to do.

So after that he listened.

Before Jesus met Saul he was on his way to be chief executioner of Christians commissioned by the Israelites,

How on earth could he have been elected to be saved before the world was created.
Wow man, I can't believe you reject what God said and claim to be a believer.

What are you talking about saying "before Jesus met Saul" have you forgotten the fact that Jesus never meet Saul. He created silly Saul, He knew Saul before time began. I would urge you to buy a proper bible and liberate yourself from confusion
 
Mar 7, 2024
837
63
28
Jesus will come to bring peace when he comes back.

His sword is here now,..its the sword that circumcises the heart of the unbeliever, his new seed to resow his existing life in all mankind.

For those who are willing his sword is the word, his new seed his new light. To switch the lights back on in all mankind.

His life that defeated death for us.

As it stands for a lot of mankind the lights are of in his life, that is in all mankind, it has been switched of by the power of death that he holds in his life, and people don't recognise him.

As when we go back in John 1 he was in the world already in you and me and we did not recognise him.

Furthermore Jesus came to defeat death for all mankind.

As his life that is in in all man is under the sentence of the power of death that exists in his life, that is in all men


Furthermore all of mankind fell with Adam. Which means when Jesus defeated death it was for all mankind.

This is paramount. 😊
All of that sounds like Eastern Mysticism, it's just human philosophy and none of it is supported by the bible. You don't get to superimpose your private interpretation of the bible. In fact you re commanded to live by every Word that proceeds from Gods mouth, and never ever ever ever, question anything or try to change anything.

Just trust and obey, but don't you ever question or reject anything He said. If you simply trust and obey you won't get lost in all of this philosophical unbiblical nonsense
 
Mar 7, 2024
837
63
28
The Lord knows. All the others think they know.....

The Lord lets those who are arrogant about what they believe to be alone after trying to correct us....
And? In the end? We will find out?

Only a few found it.

All the others took the broad and wide way that led to the destruction of their spiritual lives.

Who ever those few are? They will know. Everyone else simply thinks they know.

Keeping it that way keeps the few free..
All the above is pure Reformed theology, I would have sworn you were a member of the Reformed Church judging by this comment.

I must agree with everything you stated above, as it perfectly lines up with what the Bible says.

I'm actually pleasantly surprised to find that you also believe that only God and the individual know if one is truly saved. Most believe that they are saved by belonging to a good Church or good religious denomination or they walked down the isle and repeated the sinners prayer and received salvation.

The Church doesn't know who might suddenly fall away, we have the example of Judas Iscariot. When Christ told the Disciples that one would betray Him, none of them had a clue who it was. Judas never showed any sign that he was the son of perdition, everyone thought he was the real deal.

The Church members should never assume anything, we give everyone the benefit of the doubt but we can never know if they are genuinely converted for sure.

One of the Deacons in our Church left his wife and three young children, to run off with a much younger lady. He just sent his wife a message saying that he fell in love with another woman and he couldn't resist her. We excommunicated him, because he didn't repent or return to his family. Now we consider him to be an infidel, but we thought he was a brother for many years.
 

maxamir

Active member
Mar 8, 2024
696
86
28
Yes... There are many dumb Christians in this world.
But, they are saved dumb Christians....
You seem to think the saved are all wise?
there are many who think they are Christians who will miss Heaven by 18 inches which is the distance between their head and their heart.
 

maxamir

Active member
Mar 8, 2024
696
86
28
You still don't seem to get what I'm saying. I am not saved because I believe. I am saved because the benchmark God set was to save believers. I could sit here and believe God's word is true till the cows come home, but if it was not His will to save those who are believing, then I would sit here forever unsaved.

So you can stop putting me to the test as if you have some right to evaluate my salvation, because you don't.
unless you are humbled by God's grace to submit to Him as being the source for faith and not yourself then you are still under the curse no matter how holy you may claim to be.

Heb_12:2a looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
 

maxamir

Active member
Mar 8, 2024
696
86
28
Because that is the benchmark God set. "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved".
belief in God is the fruit of salvation and not a condition to it. The demons believed Christ but are condemned. True faith is a gift of God to the humble who look to Him to grant to them what is impossible for them to do. Such faith makes a person willing to die to themselves and live, suffer and die for Christ who did so for them. If someone put a gun to your head right now and said deny Christ to live, what would you do?