Calvinism is Gospel !

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right. after all, I am only a 5 year old non-elect. perhaps I am one of those foolish things that God has chosen to shame the wise (in their own eyes). you know....just one of the weak things of the world to shame the strong.


“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them”Isaiah 11:6, ESV.
Beautiful little girl and puppy.

Unfortunately,you choose to mock and insult God in one post.

How is it you and others are blind to just 1Corinthians 2?

You're unable to the understand. And so many of you show that in rude ways. As if such posts escape notice of that.
 
Beautiful little girl and puppy.

Unfortunately,you choose to mock and insult God in one post.

How is it you and others are blind to just 1Corinthians 2?

You're unable to the understand. And so many of you show that in rude ways. As if such posts escape notice of that.

Isn't it interesting that some here will be receiving approval and great rewards at the evaluation of believers.
While others here are equally convinced, will not?

Why is that?
Is God fair?
 
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Isn't it interesting that some here will be receiving approval and great rewards at the evaluation of believers.
Believers cannot issue rewards. We can stand for the truth of what God says. We can defend what to us is clear cut and obvious by God's own choice to reveal it to us.

And we owe it to that revelation Jesus,Immanuel ("God with us"),died to seal as the Good News, eternal Gospel of his irrevocable Salvation.

Those who presume to inject their ideal,human primacy, over God's Dominion and Sovereignty regarding his Elect in that process,by his will alone,as he tells us,are required to receive rebuke.

False pride filled teachings do not save. Flesh does not choose to save itself.
And God never said it did.
While others here are equally convinced, will not?
Convinced because God teaches there are those made for grace and those made for the day of wrath.

Omniscient Sovereign God created Hell.

Why is that?
Is God fair?
Oh,what does he tell you of himself? Being Omniscient,Omnipresent, sovereign,having dominion over all that exists, when all that exists is of and from him?

 
Is unbelief a sin? Yes or no?


Unbelief is normally a sin when it pertains to a believer disobeying Scripture.

But, we were all at one time unbelievers.

Some believe in Jesus Christ.

Those who do not believe are condemned not because they refused to believe. For it says in John 3:18, that they are condemned already, even before being given the Gospel.

Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe
has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of
God’s one and only Son.

They reject the drawing of God.
They do not believe the Gospel because they dropped out of God drawing them which would have arranged for their crossing over into regeneration.

When God is drawing a person? God's power of grace throttles a man's sin nature, so his soul can be totally objective in the privacy of his own thoughts. With the sin nature abated while the drawing is going on? It takes personal desire to not know God. Not sin.

With the sin nature not being the issue in that case? It will be out of his own personal decision to not want to know God.
That is not sin. It is evil.

Jesus could not die for evil. To do so? He would have had to reject himself.
 
"...but whoever does not believe
has been condemned already, "
That's because they were first ,as with us all, unable to understand the things of God.

Therefore,they can't consciously reject God. Because they are first unable to understand the things of God in order to make an informed choice. Reject or accept God.
Which is why that unbelief cannot be a sin.
 
You just wrote an entire paragraph lecturing me about AI because you are completely incapable of answering the Word of God. This is an open theological surrender. You realized your Arminian framework cannot survive the scriptural math I laid out, so you chose to attack the delivery mechanism rather than face the text.

It has been a knee-jerk reaction from Calvinists to see those who oppose to them as being Arminian
I would oppose Arminianism as well.
Both sides are wrong.
And, you both spend too much time opposing the seen wrong of each other.
 
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"...but whoever does not believe
has been condemned already, "
That's because they were first ,as with us all, unable to understand the things of God.

Therefore,they can't consciously reject God. Because they are first unable to understand the things of God in order to make an informed choice. Reject or accept God.
Which is why that unbelief cannot be a sin.

Thinking in retrospect...

When I was being drawn by God, I was shown things in dreams and private thoughts that I could not understand the reason for them being, but knew I would want them if they were real.

The drawing phase is God's time of evaluating souls to see whether God will choose to give them to Christ, or not. The ones He will not give to Jesus have been condemned already. Because while drawing them they had an evil attitude towards the things of God's drawing them.

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." John 3:19

........
 
If God did not initially love the unbelievers He would not have died for their sins.
God's love (agape) is an impersonal love.
God is love, and simply presents Himself loving the one making his choice concerning God.

Yes, God is love/good, which prompts the question: Can God be evil/unloving?
Is God the Father able to change His will, is God the Son free to sin, and could God the Holy Spirit become demonic or tricky?

If God cannot do what He has decreed to be evil, then He would not be as free as volitional creatures, and there would be no basis for praising His holiness. Paul (in Rom. 9:16-21) upholds the freedom of God to love or hate as He chooses. Just as God created physical laws such as gravity, so He created moral laws such as “love everyone” and determined a plan of salvation involving the atoning death of Messiah to win the redemption of sinners from hell. Thou shalt love (Matt. 22:37-40).

The cliche “might makes right” is true; it is because God is almighty that only He can determine what is right ultimately. There is no super-divine authority that determines God; God is self-determined. The only basis humans have for evaluating whether God is just is understanding how God’s acts and judgments are consistent with the moral principles He has ordained for those created in His image (Rom. 3:22-26).

God’s decision to be all-loving is free because God could have chosen to anoint Satan to embody evil logic/lies rather than Jesus to manifest love and truth (John 1:14, Phil. 2:9-11), and this earthly existence would be hell (Rev. 19:11-13, 20:7-10 & 21:6-8). If God were ever to change His mind, it would mean that God is tricky and that morality is ultimately arbitrary. Thus, ultimate reality would indeed be a farce (although we are unable to imagine an alternative moral reality in detail, cf. Kant).

This is why we should not take God and divine love for granted. Instead, we should be eternally grateful that God has decreed loving to be right, and He promises never to change (Mal. 3:6). Let us praise God in the spirit of Psa. 66:1: “Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing to the glory of his name; Offer him glory and praise!”
 
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The word God is not in the Bible. Do you suppose the authors of scripture called God, God? or Jesus, Jesus?

It is us lovely 21st C 'Christians' who mutilate names and do not understand what is written because we unabashedly assume everyone was writing to people over 2000 years in the future. I am surprised they don't mention cars and apartment buildings.

Here. Learn something instead of condemming what you have not heard of and assume no one else has either

Writing "G-d" instead of God is a fairly recent custom in America. Many believe this to be a sign of respect, and the custom comes from an interpretation of the commandment in Deuteronomy 12:3-4 regarding the destruction of pagan altars. According to the medieval commentator, Rashi, we should not erase or destroy God’s name and should avoid writing it. The custom grew for some Jews to replace God with G-d, so as to avoid writing "God." Similarly, you may also sometimes see "L-rd" in place of "Lord," Elokaynu (Our God) in place of "Elohaynu," and "Elokim" in place of "Elohim." source

The Word IS God!
 
He does not need to.

A five year old can know he has done bad things at times.
Know that he is a sinner.

Then be told that Jesus died for his sins.
The born again stuff will take care of itself sometime after he believes.

You do not need to know that you are born again if you are born again.
God leads us into all needed knowledge at the right time, for when we would be ready for it.

If he believes in Jesus he becomes born again.
Understanding what born again means is not required to be born again.

I speak from personal experience...

Yes, loving God/Jesus may precede understanding that reflecting divine love is God's requirement for salvation/being reborn.
That was also true in my case, being raised by Christian parents to love the Lord from infancy and never rebelling regarding that.
 
Launching into emotional rants about God being 'unfair' or 'arbitrary' will not rescue your system from its internal contradictions. You are attempting to paint the non-elect as innocent victims who are being dragged into the lake of fire kicking and screaming while wanting to be saved. This completely ignores the biblical reality of human depravity and God's absolute justice.


Let's look at the strict legal facts of God's courtroom: God does not cast anyone into the lake of fire because they lacked election; He casts them into the lake of fire because they are guilty, lawless sinners who broke His holy law. If a judge sentences a guilty criminal to prison, that sentence is not 'arbitrary'—it is the execution of pure justice. Because the entire human race fell in Adam and is born dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), every single human being justly deserves eternal damnation. Salvation is completely unmerited mercy; hell is strict, earned justice. God owes salvation to absolutely no one. If God sent the entire human race to hell, He would be perfectly just. The wonder of the Gospel is not that God judges some, but that He sovereignly chooses to rescue any.


Furthermore, your claim that the lost 'have no say in the matter' is a total caricature of human nature. Sinners make choices every single day, and they have exactly what they want. John 3:19 tells us the exact ground of condemnation: 'light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.' The unregenerate reject Christ gladly, voluntarily, and willingly because they love their sin and hate the holiness of God. No one will stand at the Great White Throne judgment as an innocent victim claiming they wanted to repent but were denied. They will stand condemned for their own active, unyielding hatred of the Savior.

Finally, your philosophical objection about fairness is the exact complaint Paul anticipated and crushed in Romans 9:19. When an opponent of sovereignty asks, 'Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?', Paul does not step back and try to defend human free will. He issues a devastating sovereign rebuke in verses 20–21: 'Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?'


Your argument is a direct assault on the potter's right over the clay. God's purpose in election is not a loose, helpless wish waiting on the autonomous choices of dead men. He is the Sovereign Lord who has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and hardens whom He will. God's justice is magnified when He punishes the wicked for their voluntary rebellion, and His grace is glorified when He sovereignly quickens His elect out of the exact same lump of ruin.



Again, harmonize Rom. 9 with the rest of Romans, John 3:16, 1John 4, 1Tim. 2:3-4 and Matt. 23:37.
Do not proof-text or ignore context, especially when doing so demeans divine omnilove and justness,
which is blasphemous, heretical--and dangerous to your destiny per Gal. 1:6-9.
 
Yes, we are called. We know this as it's in the Bible and the Bible is true.

We then have to believe on the Lord, putting our faith in Him. We know this as it's in the Bible and the Bible is true.
Anyone who denies any part of the word of Bible calls God wrong. It's all true! youtube music vs sportify
Yes, the gospel call is meant for everyone in the sense of a general external offer, but it's only made alive and successful for God’s chosen elect.

The message of Jesus is preached out loud to all people everywhere without holding back. It genuinely tells every person to turn away from sin and trust in Christ. It shows everyone their duty to God, meaning no one can claim on judgment day that they never had a chance to hear.


The effectual gospel call is the secret, powerful work of the Holy Spirit that changes a person's heart from the inside. Because humans are dead in sin, only the people chosen by God before the world was made will actually listen and respond with faith.

Unlike the general call, which some people reject, the inward call always changes the sinner's heart so they want to come to Jesus.


Your suggestion that "We then have to believe on the Lord, putting our faith in Him", doesn't make sense because the Bible reveals that it's a foolish suggestion to those who are perishing (those who God did not elect for salvation).

1 Corinthians 1:18 says: "For the gospel message is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
 
I agree with you generally. But sometimes in threads like this we forget to land the plane. I note that behavior is not listed among the chain of salvation. And as a description of salvation, I fully appreciate the chain that you described. However, in a thread that claims Calvinism is the Gospel, it falls short of the Gospel in a profound and significant way.

The chain you described, which is true for the most part, is static rather than dynamic. When we claim that our deeds are not meritorious, which is true, we must not at the same time claim that they are unnecessary. Let me give you an example from one of Paul's epistles. Romans 2:5-8

BTW here is my AI prompt. I give this for educational purposes. The following was my AI prompt.




Here is the result.

Paul’s argument in Romans 2 doesn’t teach salvation by works, but it does insist that certain observable markers inevitably accompany those who will receive eternal life. In Romans 2:5–8, Paul contrasts two kinds of people: those who “by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality,” and those who are “self‑seeking and do not obey the truth.” He is not saying that deeds cause salvation; he is saying that deeds reveal the kind of person one is. These markers—perseverance, a God‑ward orientation, obedience to truth—are the fruit of a life touched by the Spirit. And Paul’s warning is pastoral: if someone claims to be among the elect yet these markers are absent, ignored, or resisted, then they should soberly reconsider their condition. The gospel produces a transformed life, and Romans 2 insists that the absence of transformation is not a small theological glitch but a sign that something is deeply amiss.

My AI generated the paragraph above at my prompt. I hope this clarifies how I use the AI feature of my Bing browser -- Copilot.
Romans 2:5-8 describes the standard of God's perfect justice and the reality that good works serve as the necessary fruit and evidence of true faith, rather than the ground for justification.

Paul is setting up the baseline principle of the Covenant of Works—that perfect obedience brings life and disobedience brings wrath. He uses this to prove that anyone trying to stand on their own merit is condemned, leading up to Romans 3:20 that "no flesh will be justified" by works.

At the final judgment, God repays everyone according to their deeds. While salvation is strictly by grace alone through faith alone, a genuinely regenerate life will always produce the "well-doing" Paul mentions. Works validate the existence of faith.

Believers pass the judgment not because their imperfect works measure up, but because they are united to Christ, whose perfect obedience and penalty-paying death are credited to them by faith alone.
 
Salvation is a gift which can be received by anyone who trust's in Christ Jesus for it, it is a gift to be received because of His completed work on behalf of all mankind.

It is through Him and in Him alone, that is the narrow gate NOT unconditional election nowhere taught is scripture.
God desires faith and trust in Him and His TRUTH.

"Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Luke 7:50.


NOT your gifted faith.
NOT my unconditional election.


The End
Your view that "salvation is a gift which can be received by anyone who trusts in Christ Jesus for it, is a gift to be received because of His completed work on behalf of all mankind", is not true.
Not everyone receives or can simply choose to receive the gift of salvation on their own. Instead, salvation is limited to those whom God has unconditionally chosen (elected) from eternity past.

Due to the total depravity of human nature, no person naturally seeks God or can choose faith without God acting first. God decides independently who will receive the gift of mercy.
Christ’s death on the cross was specifically intended to secure the salvation of the elect (often called "limited atonement" or "particular redemption") rather than making salvation available for "all of mankind" as you suggest.

While the outward invitation goes to all, the Holy Spirit inwardly changes the hearts of only the elect, granting them the mandatory gift of faith to respond.

In Luke 7:50 "your faith has saved you" is not referring to some special faith that she was born with. The Bible reveals that faith is a gift, which God only gives to His elect.
 
He does not need to.

A five year old can know he has done bad things at times.
Know that he is a sinner.

Then be told that Jesus died for his sins.
The born again stuff will take care of itself sometime after he believes.

You do not need to know that you are born again if you are born again.
God leads us into all needed knowledge at the right time, for when we would be ready for it.

If he believes in Jesus he becomes born again.
Understanding what born again means is not required to be born again.

I speak from personal experience...
After some consideration and reading the Bible to see what it has to say about the matter, I have come to the realisation that being "born again" is a work of God alone.

Spiritual life is given to a dead soul before that person can even exercise faith. Because the Holy Spirit "blows where it wishes" (John 3:8), He is not restricted by a child’s age, intellectual capacity, or vocabulary. Scripture even notes instances of sanctification and joy in the womb, such as John the Baptist (Luke 1:15, 44).
The "new birth" (regeneration) is entirely a sovereign, miraculous act of the Holy Spirit rather than an act of human willpower, God can save a person at any age—including in early childhood. A child of five, if properly instructed, can be regenerated.

Many modern denominations teach that children are innocent until they reach an "age of accountability" (usually around 8 or 12 years old). But the Bible reveals that all humans inherit original sin from conception and are accountable to God from birth. Therefore, an infant child is not "automatically safe" because of their age; rather, they need the saving grace of Christ just as much as an adult.

Before the Church can accept a child's profession of faith, the child must understand basic truths: such as, they have disobeyed God (sin), God is holy, and Jesus died on the cross and rose again. The child must sincerely believe that these historical and theological facts are entirely true.
The child needs to move beyond just knowing these facts, to personally "receive and rest" upon Jesus alone to forgive them and save them.

I never considered this matter before and my Pastor hasn't preached any messages on the subject. We don't baptise infants, so I assumed it was unbiblical to claim that you became a born again believer at he age of 5, I no longer hold to that view, and I thank you for sharing your testimony.
 
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