Then why did Jesus give The Great Commission. If people are already chosen, it doesnt matter whether we "go forth" or not.
If you say we still have to witness because we dont know who the elect are... then are you saying that even if someone is "chosen" or one of the "elect", they will only accept Christ if someone witnesses to them...and if someone doesnt witness to them they wont go to heaven, even if they are one of the "elect"?
If that's true...if they aren't going to heaven whether I witness to them or not, then they really werent predestined to go to heaven were they?
I posted this earlier in this thread
in cased you missed it or didn't really "read".
God is a sovereign God and we have to understand that somehow, mysteriously, within the framework of predestination and within the framework of His sovereignty and the framework of election, which I believe in, there is a place for human freewill which is whether they respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 6:63
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Death is universal spiritually and also by nature. Physically we are born alive however spiritually dead. A spiritually dead person cannot will himself to live anymore than a physically dead person can will himself to come back to life. If the dead person (spiritually or physically) is to come back to life he/she will have to be resurrected by God. In the spiritual realm this means he/she must be born from above. A spiritually dead person is without the Holy Spirit, therefore we do not have the "ability" to get saved on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to prick and quicken us to be alive. Without the Holy Spirit is TOTAL DEPRAVITY". The Holy Spirit is the only person that can quicken people to be saved.
While I cannot ignore Romans 9 and Ephesians 1 which focuses on Predestination because we cannot selectively choose the verses that pleases us. Also, we cannot choose to twist the scriptures to to avoid the upsetting of knowing God's concept of election.
1 Thessalonians 1:5
"because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake."
Jesus said in John 6:29
"The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent."
The Bible clearly teaches that God knows beforehand what everyone will need and He will provide beforehand according to His will. Wisdom sees everything in focus and be able to trust God no matter what happens. All God's acts are done in perfect wisdom for His own glory.
Finally, I want to add that
Calvinism believe in the Great Commission. We don't know who are elected to be saved. We just preach the Gospel to ALL and allow God handle the election part. Even though God is in control and He KNOWS who will accept and reject before the earth was even created. Jesus did die for ALL but the atonement is only for the elected (in other words, those who are convicted by the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, repented and etc).
In my position, God will not hold me responsible for my lack of understanding in the mysteries of election, predestination, and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these is to look to God in deepest respect say, "0 Lord, You know all."
So, with an attitude of "If people are already chosen, it doesnt matter whether we "go forth" or not." zPeople are missing the point of God's Sovereign and His plans. We need to understand God's Sovereign of His plan according to His will. God governs the world (Isa. 40:22-24), the nations (Isa. 40:15-17), and us (Proverbs 16:9).
Proverbs 20:24 A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?
Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
Jeremiah 10:23 [ Jeremiah's Prayer ] I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.
Dr. Luke explains God's providence PERFECTLY........
God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with mens hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and mans devising. Acts 17:24-29 (NKJV)
