Praying for the Salvation of the Lost

[msortwell]

Do you pray for the salvation of others?

If you answered yes and you are a Calvinist - In what way does that reconcile with the docrine of the decree, election, and predestination?

If you answered yes and you are an Arminian - Precisely, what is it that you are praying for God to do? Can God answer your prayer?



I have my own answer. I may provide it as this thread progresses.

Blessings,

Mike

 

[Reformationist]

Do you pray for the salvation of others?

Yes, but not as often as I should. I've been quite lazy in my prayers.

If you answered yes and you are a Calvinist - In what way does that reconcile with the docrine of the decree, election, and predestination?

Well, I would say that through Jesus Christ God has given us a great honor in that we have been granted the right to come into His holy presence through prayer and petition Him for the desires of our heart. Those faithful, non-selfish times when I do consider the eternal destiny of others I am bound to pray that the Lord gather His flock as He will and that if it please Him to make me a vessel through which His greatness should shine. I have no problem whatsoever with the seemingly contradictory nature of predestination and evangelization because they are not, in fact, contradictory. In fact, the fullness of the latter can only be found in God's sovereign decree of the first. Without His divine intercedence we'd be forced to rely on our own ability to persuade those who are dead in their trespasses and sins of the saving work of our Lord and the salvitic influence of His atonement and, as such, would never successfully illuminate the mind of another with the Word of God.

Blessings,

Mike

The blessings of the Lord to you too my brother,
Don

 

[msortwell]

My original post . . .

Do you pray for the salvation of others?

If you answered yes and you are a Calvinist - In what way does that reconcile with the docrine of the decree, election, and predestination?

If you answered yes and you are an Arminian - Precisely, what is it that you are praying for God to do? Can God answer your prayer?



I have my own answer. I may provide it as this thread progresses.

Blessings,

Mike

O.K. so nobody (but Reformationist) wants to play.

Has this been an issue at this forum already? I believe our responses the these questions are important. As a Calvinist I see some potential tension between the desire to pray for the salvation of the unsaved and the knowledge that God did decree, before creation, all that would come to faith in Christ. However, I find comfort in Isaiah 65:24.

Isa 65:24
24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.(KJV)

More challenging (as I see it) is the apparent inconsistency between the doctrine that holds that God either WILL not or CAN not save anyone, and the practice of praying for the redemption of the unsaved. Those of you who hold to a "man's free will" doctrine of salvation, do you pray for God to "try extra hard" to save those that are a burden upon your heart? Do you not pray for them? Does an Arminian that is faithful to the doctrine of free will simply not pray for the lost? No, I'm sorry. That would be . . . the Hyper-Calvinists?

Clear this up for me. What am I missing?

By God's Grace,

Mike

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[reformedfan]

Why pray for/ evangelize the lost?
Cuz such things are commanded.
It is not a twisting of God's arm to pray for the lost. Either they are the elect & they convert, & I am thrilled by answered prayer (which I just happened to pray in line with God's will), or they die & go to hell, & God's sovereignty, mercy in election & and justice in condemnation give me pause.

 

[reformedfan]

I forgot!! Good catch, contradictory Arminian theology.

Van Til said somewhere in "Christian Apologetics" that all doctrines (besides Calvinism, Biblical Christianity) are derivatives, or lesser forms of Calvinism.
Since they are derivatives, they are choked with contradictions, besides just praying for the unsaved. Arminians that believe in eternal security, for instance. Eternal security is true, of course, but man helping God secure his own salvation isn't, and those two necessarily don't line up. Either faith is authored by & brought to fruition by the Trinity, & 'unlosable' because it's entirely the work of the Godhead or man does some of the work, and could lose it eternally, since he's part author.
There's a million more inherent in Arminian doctrine.

That oughta get some Arminian responses for ya

 

[Bulldog]

That oughta get some Arminian responses for ya

Give 'em the truth, and their bound to disagree with you.