Arikereba said:
I'm sorry if this doesn't directly relate--I am still at a point where I'm trying to work out my own theology. This metaphysical crisis is lasting longer than my previous ones have.
So I tend to ramble a lot.
No religion means anything unless it accounts for the real world--or there is no basis at all for choosing between Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. When I was still unsure about Christianity and found that it was something I wanted to believe, I was haunted by the idea that it doesn't mean anything unless it's true. And it is true, I think.
A Christianity that depends on a literal interpretation of the Bible above all else does not, I think, account for the real world in an objective sense (cf. the Deuteronomy passage that talks about finding proof of a bride's virginity--when a number of women are born without hymens). But that's tangential to the main point; my 'real world' doesn't only consist of those things that are scientifically provable. It also includes my subjective reality--and within my subjective reality, a God who arbitrarily elects some while letting others go to Hell is not a God of love--and therefore not the God I believe in. That's why "the Bible said it, that settles it" can't be enough for me. I cannot believe in exclusivist Calvinism any more than I can believe in Buddhism; it doesn't match what I know and experience of the world.
That must be because you believe that man is good and deserves to go to heaven.
This is sort of long, but do me a favor and read it
The second thought is that all objections to predestination proceed from the wisdom of the flesh, Hence, whoever does not deny himself and does not learn to keep his thoughts in subjection to the divine will, never will find an answer to his questions. And that rightly so, for the foolish wisdom of the flesh exalts itself above God and judges His will, just as though this were of little importance. It should rather let itself be judged by God. For this reason the Apostle refutes all objections with two brief statements. First, he checks our arrogance by asking: "O man, who art thou that thou repliest against God?" (Romans 9:20) Then he defends the divine election by asking: "Hath not the potter power over the clay?" (v. 21)
The first and most flimsy objection against divine election is this, that man has been given a free will by which he can earn for himself either merit or demerit. To this I reply: Man's free will without divine grace has not the least ability to secure righteousness, but is totally corrupt.
The second objection is this: "Who will have all men to be saved" (I Tim. 2:4); that is, God gave His Son into death for us, as He has created us for life eternal. Again: All things exist on account of man; but he himself exists for God's sake to enjoy God. But these and other objections are just as vain as is the first; for all these statements are realized properly in the elect, as the Apostle writes in II Timothy 2:10: "I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory."
A third objection reads: Where there is no sin, there God does not condemn. But whoever is a sinner of necessity is condemned unjustly. To this I reply: We all are sinners of necessity and so under condemnation, but no one is a sinner by coercion, or against his will.
A fourth objection is this: God hardens the will of man so that he desires to transgress the divine Law all the more. Hence, God is the cause why men sin and are condemned. But the Apostle meets it by saying that so it is God's will, and that if God so wills He does not act unjustly, for all things belong to Him as the clay belongs to the potter. He thus establishes His law in order that the elect may obey it, but the reprobates may be caught in it, and so He may show both His wrath and His mercy. Here indeed the wisdom of flesh objects saying: "It is cruel and regrettable that God seeks His glorification in my misery." Ah, it is the voice of the flesh that says: "My, my!" Strike out this "my, my" and say instead: "Glory be to Thee, O Lord!" Then you will be saved. The wisdom of the flesh seeks its own glory and is more afriad of suffering than of desecrating God. Hence it follows its own will rather than the divine will. We must think differently of God than we do of men; for He owes us nothing. That is what the Apostle teaches at the close of the eleventh chapter: "Who hath first given to him, and it shall be the recompensed unto him again?" (Romans 11:35)
-Martin Luther in his commentary on the 8th chapter of Romans
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