Did the Early Church Fathers teach "Calvinism?"

BABerean2

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Dr. Ken Wilson reveals how Augustine's doctrine of "election" is the true source of what has come to be known as "Calvinism".

Augustine was attempting to explain how infants could become the "elect" through water baptism.

Since the child had not come to faith, it must be based on the will of another.
It must be determined by God, instead of the infant.



.
 
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Sam91

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If Augustine was born after 300 AD why do people trust his ideas? People were already teaching other gospels in the Apostle Paul's time.

If the early Church (60AD) warned against that how can we trust Augustine where he says things contrary to the bible?
 
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Dave L

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If Augustine was born after 300 AD why do people trust his ideas? People were already teaching other gospels in the Apostle Paul's time.
Paul was Augustine's influence. You can see this in Romans 9. Also Augustine was Luther's and Calvin's influence.
 
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timothyu

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Augustine was attempting to explain how infants could become the "elect" through water baptism.
Since the child had not come to faith, it must be based on the will of another.
It must be determined by God, instead of the infant.
Sounds like using God to self justify tenets of a religion rather than the Kingdom, and draw in the crowds with a theological slight of hand. There was no Madison Avenue back then. Jesus didn't come to create a religion but man has always struggled to do so to make God fit our image of Him..
 
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sdowney717

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Since those of the world Hate Christ, and then His people, how can they turn to Christ in faith and believe unless God makes a change in them. A Calvinist would say, God makes them born again first so they can respond positively in faith towards Christ. Becoming born of God changes the heart, and then the heart believes unto righteousness, and then the mouth speaks from the heart confessing Christ as Lord.
We are totally unable to come to Christ on our own as Jesus teaches in John 5 and John 6, that is what total depravity is, our allegiance is to the prince of the power of the air, and we followed the devil and were dead in sin until He made us alive who were dead, as Ephesians 2 says.
I would say a Satan Worshiper is pretty fully depraved and then locked in as Satan's slave to do his bidding and often times the slave enjoys that for a season of time.

John 5:40
But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

John 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.

John 15:18 [ The World’s Hatred ] “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

1 John 3:13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.
 
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sdowney717

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You have a lot of already transformed born again people feeling real good about themselves and their choices who fail to realize just how awful they were, that they were cleansed from old sins. So they say they free in body and spirit to come to Christ on their own. They do not know all that the Lord has done for them, salvation is of the Lord and we are not our own, we were bought with a great price.
 
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Sam91

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So reading on wikipedia about Augustine and getting to 11minutes into the video fills me with horror. It's beginning to sound like there isn't a Church which actually follows the Bible. I've not wasted my time much by researching theologians yet. I read a book written by Piper explaining Calvinism and that was enough to see it's unbiblical.

Given that all the Churches I know of are rooted one way or another on Augustine (it says Calvin and Luther drew heavily on him) how does one find a Church that isn't?
 
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timothyu

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We are totally unable to come to Christ on our own as Jesus teaches in John 5 and John 6, that is what total depravity is, our allegiance is to the prince of the power of the air, and we followed the devil and were dead in sin until He made us alive who were dead, as Ephesians 2 says.
Yet when people are given a clear choice of two opposing systems, the world of man and the Kingdom, common sense should give light as to which is the better system. Jesus taught the Gospel (good news) of the Kingdom presenting an alternative counter-culture to what mankind was familiar with, that being the traditional ways of man built upon the ways of the Adversary.. Jesus' early followers had no problem grasping the distinction between oppressed and oppressors as they were slaves, servants, women, etc. It was a simple matter of common sense picking the better option of the two.
 
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timothyu

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It's beginning to sound like there isn't a Church which actually follows the Bible.
Bingo.
Once Christianity joined with the State, all following that time were corrupted by abandoning the Kingdom to accept the Tempter's offer of the world (that Jesus Himself rejected). Having rejected the Kingdom for the world of man (as the Jews did in seeking a world Messiah and rejecting Jesus), so it follows no one denomination could claim authourity over the others regarding the Kingdom at least..
 
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redleghunter

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Dr. Ken Wilson reveals how Augustine's doctrine of "election" is the true source of what has come to be known as "Calvinism".

Augustine was attempting to explain how infants could become the "elect" through water baptism.

Since the child had not come to faith, it must be based on the will of another.
It must be determined by God, instead of the infant.



.
Frankly, why does it matter? The doctrines of Grace are Biblical.
 
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renniks

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Dr. Ken Wilson reveals how Augustine's doctrine of "election" is the true source of what has come to be known as "Calvinism".

Augustine was attempting to explain how infants could become the "elect" through water baptism.

Since the child had not come to faith, it must be based on the will of another.
It must be determined by God, instead of the infant.



.
Which almost no Christians believe today, yet we still have lot of Calvinism. Funny how a wrong doctrine is so hard to eradicate.
 
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redleghunter

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Which almost no Christians believe today, yet we still have lot of Calvinism. Funny how a wrong doctrine is so hard to eradicate.
What do you think the doctrines of "Calvinism" entail? Meaning what is your learned understanding?
 
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renniks

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What does that mean? Do you know the Scriptural doctrines behind the letters?
I have studied it intensely and am still not a Calvinist. In fact the more I studied it, the more I realized how illogical the whole system was.
 
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