The caricatures you raise about Calvinism couldn't be further from the truth. Scriptures states that people would stumble and think that the Gospel of Christ is foolish; that sinners are saved through Faith in Christ Alone! Which is why Saul the Greatest Pharisee, punished, executed, persecuted Christian believers who turned from the Law and to ran to Christ for Mercy and Salvation!
No. You are taking what Paul says out of context. Paul says he establishes the Law.
"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." (Romans 3:31).
Paul says that law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh (sin), but after the Spirit.
"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:4).
Paul says love is the fulfilling of the Law.
"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." (Romans 13:10).
Paul does not describe this kind of love as butter flies in the stomach or kissing others on the cheek, and giving them fist bumps, etc. Paul describes this kind of love as this:
8 "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. " (Romans 13:8-9).
You said:
I will address the caricatures you make about Calvinism here.
1)Calvinists deny 'FREE-WILL'. Again you confuse Classic-Calvinism with Hyper-Calvinism. Here's is John Calvin on Free-Will:
"...we allow that man has choice and that it is self-determined, so that if he does anything evil, it should be imputed to him and to his own voluntary choosing. We do away with coercion and force, because this contradicts the nature of the will and cannot coexist with it. We deny that choice is free, because through man's innate wickedness it is of necessity driven to what is evil and cannot seek anything but evil. And from this it is possible to deduce what a great difference there is between necessity and coercion. For we do not say that man is dragged unwillingly into sinning, but that because his will is corrupt he is held captive under the yoke of sin and therefore of necessity will in an evil way. For where there is bondage, there is necessity. But it makes a great difference whether the bondage is voluntary or coerced. We locate the necessity to sin precisely in corruption of the will, from which follows that it is self-determined.
- John Calvin from Bondage and Liberation of the Will, pg. 69-70
I know you will disagree with this. So, I challenge you to research the sin of man in Scripture. Search for every passages you can find and studying it. Please do not let you paradigm bias get in the way, if truth is what you seek?
*Sigh* When I talk about a denial of "Free Will" I am not talking about "Free Will Choices" in general, but I am talking about a "Free Will Choice" in regards to accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior. I believe the Biblical doctrine of "Prevenient Grace" resolves this issue. God draws man and illuminates him to see the truth of the gospel at determined time by God so as to accept or reject the gospel of their own free will. In essence, God gives a person a time when they can freely choose or reject the gospel, but it is in God's timing and not our own timing.
You said:
2) Regeneration of the dead: Here you possess a problem. Why? Because I believed I read somewhere that everyone needs Prevenient Grace. Why do people need Prevenient Grace? Are people given a choose to accept or reject this prevenient? And if one does accept this prevenient grace, what happens to them? Are they made partially alive to understand? And why would anyone want to reject it in the first place? Who in their right mind want to go to hell? And what is your position on Prevenient Grace; is it the Arminian position?
Prevenient Grace or Enabling Grace is rooted in Arminian Theology.
See this article by Wikipedia here:
Prevenient grace - Wikipedia
The Calvinistic position on Regeneration is this:
Regeneration is a sovereign work of God
Well, I have argued with Calvinists for many years. So you are not telling me anything new (that I have not refuted before with Scripture many times over).
Calvinism is saying that God chooses some to be saved and others not to be saved based on NO conditions whatsoever (Hence, why it is called "Unconditional Election").
But imagine if you are your family were lost at sea with a bunch of other people. The coast guard comes and he saves everyone except you and your family. As the coast guard starts to drive away in the boat with the other people, you ask him, "Why are you not saving us?" The coast guard replies, "No reason, I am just choosing to save some today and not all."
Now, if you are honest with yourself, you would see that if you were in that situation, you would be mad at the coast guard for not saving you and your family. Why? Because he had the power to save you and he simply just chose not to save you for no good reason. Basically, he did not care about you or love you. Do you honestly think God is like that?
1 Thessalonians 4:3 says that God's will is for us to be holy or it is our Sanctification.
God's will and desire would be for nobody to be in sin ever! If God could make a sinful person saved, then WHY does He not do that?!!
Why Judge the wicked at a Judgment if they are forced against their will to be damned?
It makes no sense!
That would be like creating a robot to kill people and then placing that robot on trial for something you programmed it do. If something is not beyond the programming to do anymore than how can one judge the robot? You can't judge it if it's programming was only to kill and it could do nothing more.
You said:
(Jn. 1:12-13; 3:3-8; Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:3) a radical work or total transformation (Ezek. 36:26-27; 1 Jn. 3:9) not just an addition...The SOURCE of regeneration is Christ (1 Pet 1:3; Eph 1:3, 2:4, 4:24; 2 Cor 5:17) The AGENT of regeneration is the Holy Spirit (Jn. 3:3-8; Titus 3:5) The INSTRUMENT of regeneration is the Word of God (Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23, 25) which precedes and causes faith (Jn 6:63-65, 1 jn 5:1, Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13)
Nope. The Bible says you are to first "repent" and then you will be converted.
"
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;" (Acts of the Apostles 3:19).
A person can see with their eyes, and hear with their ears and understand with their heart before they are converted.
"For this people's heart is waxed gross, and
their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with
their eyes, and hear with
their ears, and should understand with
their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Matthew 13:15).
Regeneration is expressly denied to be of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man (John 1:13), and is ascribed to God himself. Not all men have faith in Christ; and those who do have it, have it not of themselves; it is the gift of God, worked out through the Redemption which is in Christ through the mighty operation of his Spirit, which is the fruit and effect of His invincible grace. This is because the natural man is wholly captive under the power and dominion of sin, and a slave unto it, and has neither a power nor will to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
Non-sequitur. It's God's will for believers to live holy (1 Thessalonians 4:3), but does every believer live holy? No. So just because something is a part of God's will does not mean somebody does not need to cooperate with God's will. Obviously God's commandments in the Bible are a part of God's will. Yet, many men did not obey these commandments and thwarted the will of God.
Synergists teach that 'salvation depends on human will', but the Bible teaches (and I quote) 'it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy."- Rom 9:16
You are ripping that verse out of it's context. Paul is talking to unbelieving Jews who were trying to remain in the Pharisee religion that was works based (that ignored God's true grace and mercy through Jesus Christ).
You said:
"And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live...Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD."
- Ezekiel 37:14
This is talking about the valley of the dry bones coming to life again. This is the bodily resurrection of the faithful Jews to the Lord. They will live again in the Millennium (With Christ reigning) and God will put His Spirit within them to cause them to walk in His ways. But this is not against their own will. They already devoted themselves to the Lord as a part of their faith willingly of their own free will choice upon their Earthly life. So it would be in accordance with what they desire.
You said:
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive [quickened us] with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:4-5
There are commands given to us in Ephesians (Which means that this is not a forced regeneration against our own free will).
- We should be holy and without blame before him in love (Ephesians 1:4).
- We should be living to the praise of his glory, like when we first trusted in Christ (Ephesians 1:12).
- We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).
- Walk worthy of the vocation by which you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the binding power of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3).
- Walk not as other Gentiles walk who have vain thoughts (Ephesians 4:17).
Commands do not make any sense in the Calvinistic universe. What does a command serve if it is God who makes things to happen? A command is something God wants you to do. A command would be totally unnecessary if God just force regenerates us to do what He desires for us in our life.
“It is the Spirit who gives life [quickens]; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”...And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
John 6:63, 65
We see a similar statement in John 6:44. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:" (John 6:44). But if you were to read verse 45, it says this:
"...And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." (John 6:45).
So you are ignoring verse 45.
It says they shall all be taught of God. Every man who has heard, and learned of the Father, comes unto Jesus. God draws those who draw near to Him.
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse
your hands,
ye sinners; and purify
your hearts,
ye double minded." (James 4:8).
"And ye shall seek me, and find
me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13).
You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God..."
1 Peter 1:23-25
We are born again by hearing the Scriptures. For faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
You have to hear God's Word.
God holds out his hands to a disobedient people.
"I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way
that was not good, after their own thoughts;" (Isaiah 65:2).
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.
1 John 5:1
You would think that everyone born of God would have the same understanding on the basics, no? I also believe in Jesus Christ, too. I also reject Calvinism because it is unbiblical and immoral and attempts to attack the good character of our GOD (as described in the Bible).
Also, you left out important parts of 1 John 5 as a part of the qualifications of being born again, too.
Here is the rest of it.
1 "...and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." (1 John 5:1-3).
"In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." (1 John 3:10).
You said:
Faith comes by hearing the word of God, and these words are alive, which the Holy Spirit bear witness to it, and apply it to God's elect.
Actually, Colossians 3:12 commands us to take on certain qualities that are part of the Elect of God.
"
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;" (Colossians 3:12).
Why are we told to do certain things (Behavior wise) as the elect of God if it is something that is just a part of being elect?
You said:
Obedience and Good Works: I noticed that you stated, "They are not perfectly living holy." Nobody can live a Perfect Holy Life now, its impossible.
Nope. Not true. You ignored the verses I posted before on how a believer can overcome grievous sin in this life (Please hover your cursor over the following verses: 1 Corinthians 10:13, Romans 13:14, Galatians 5:16, Galatians 5:24, 1 Peter 2:12, 1 Peter 4:1-2, 1 Corinthians 15:34, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Philippians 2:15, Romans 6:6-8, Romans 6:16, Hebrews 13:20-21, 1 John 2:5, 1 John 5:19, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, 1 Thessalonians 5:23. It is really odd that Peter describes how there are false prophets who cannot cease from sin (See: 2 Peter 2:1, 2 Peter 2:14), yet this is strangely a belief that you are arguing for.
You said:
As I have mentioned Paul in Romans 7 for example. But I am not saying we should not perform them. Understanding why, how, when, and what good works of the believer are. We can live to God who freed us in Christ!
No. I already gave you 8 reasons why Paul is referring to the Old Law and not the serving in newness of the Spirit under the New Covenant. The New Covenant (or New Testament) is chocked with many commands. The New Testament was not even in a completed written form yet at the time Paul was writing. So Paul is not talking about the commands that come from Jesus and His followers but He is referring to the Law as the Torah or the oldness of the letter. Paul's struggle with sin was when he was a part of the false Pharisee religion before he became a Christian. The false pharisee religion made it all about the Law with no grace (Which was not even something that applied in the Old Covenant).