Christs sacrifice made salvation possible. In the Calvinist view, Christs sacrifice is nearly useless for anyone other than the "elect," too bad for everyone else who can't be saved because it isn't possible for them to do anything other than sin...
Leevo, you avoided the point I was making. You quoted 1 John 2.2 which reads, "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
I'm not trying to be rude or sarcastic but do you know what propitiation means?
"Propitiation (from
Latin propitiāre, "to appease;" from
propitius, "gracious") is the act of appeasing or making well-disposed a
deity, thus incurring divine favor or avoiding
divine retribution."
If you use 1 John 2.2 to mean every single person who has ever lived than you are saying you are a universalist. That is the only conclusion one can make. Are you a universalist?
Christs sacrifice made salvation possible.
This is a very unscriptural idea. Christ is called Christ, "for he shall save his people
from their sins." Not to mention that Christ is praying for all those the Father gives Him and He will lose none. "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine." John 17
You would have to deny the unity of the Most Holy Trinity if you believe the Father does not hear the prayers of the Son.
In the Calvinist view, Christs sacrifice is nearly useless for anyone other than the "elect," too bad for everyone else who can't be saved because it isn't possible for them to do anything other than sin...
This is very, very sad for it calls into question the sinfulness of sin. It's not "too bad" sinners are punished. That idea calls into questions God's righteous judgement against sin. You have the wrong idea about man, you must presuppose mankind is essentially
good or at the very least
neutral but scripture disagrees with you. We are natural born sinners, sinners by nature and choice and we always choose to sin. God doesn't have to choose anyone but He doesn't.
You say that isn't fair? You demand God bends His will to yours? Here is what Paul wrote to that argument,
"But
who are you, O (
Leevo) man, to answer back to God?
Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory" Romans 9
That is Paul's warning to all the freewill works religionists...who are YOU to answer back to God!
God has spoken, "What shall we say then?
Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills." Romans 9
Yours in the Lord,
jm
