I've been reading with enjoyment the various threads touching on different petals of the TULIP.
While I fall somewhere in the middle of everything, I have recently been asking myself this question: Does it matter at all to my salvation/relationship with God if I either believe or don't believe in one or any of the points of Calvinism?
And to follow up, if it doesn't matter, why is there such contention whenever the subject is brought up? Shouldn't we be more interested and affirming in the things we have in unity than to tear each other down over non essential things that don't matter in the long run?
Thanks in advance!
In the OP, we have some specific questions that deserve an answer. It may not be all covered here in one post, but some of this is very straight-forward from my perspective. The problem with acceptance of any short list of points or adherence to ONE VERSE of scripture as containing ALL the testimony of God is that it makes erroneous assumptions, and leaves out the bulk of God revealed and preserved truth.
The Calvinist may have a sincere love for THE WHOLE TESTIMONY OF GOD, and see certain realities in the points made by Calvinists to answer the published points made by the Arminians. The scriptures point to, and highlight, certain scriptural truth (even some passages support of what was stated by the Arminians,) but that does not mean that the LORD does not show us anything that is outside those few points.
The hyper-calvinist compares EVERY verse of the scripture with these statements, and builds a doctrine to suit. It is clearly the practice of similar zealots on the other side as well. Some of those are not able carry-on a useful conversation about the scriptures without responding to every use of scripture with, " ...but John 3:16 says..."
The hyper-calvinist may read the following verse, see it supports one of those "Petals," and extracts from it that God does NOTHING for people He will not save by His Predestination and Election. (I've talked to people who think this way, and they think I'm in error for not following them over the cliff...)
John 6
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Now it is true that God does all the saving, and man cannot come to God for salvation at his own convenience, because the principle exists and is shown in the following verses as well. God's call is personified as Wisdom's call in this passage.
Proverbs 1
20 ¶ Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
The error of the hyper-calvinist is to extend that to a meaning not found in the Bible. In fact, the truth is that NONE of us have even the very breath in our nostrils without the power of God given that we may inhale it! We are walking upon an Earth that cries to God because of our wickedness, and would willingly open her mouth, and drop us into Hell, but for the mercy and longsuffering of the Father. The Earth is cursed of God because of the sin of man.
Romans 8
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Genesis 4
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
Numbers 16
29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.
30 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.
31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
33 They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.
This is just one small example, and it should be the endeavor of every person interested in the truth of God to seek out these instances throughout the scriptures. Instead, most people only would look for something that supports the doctrine they like the best.
.
