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Well it’s faith in hoping you were picked, faith in Christ becomes irrelevant.
I don't think I subscribe to all the beliefs of Calvinism, as I've never actually studied it, or been exposed to them/it, etc. But I do not believe in true free will, and I believe in God's absolute sovereignty over free will, and I believe God has already chosen the fate/destination of all already, and fully did this already from before the foundations of the world, and before anything or any of us was ever even thought of or was made, etc.
You don't have to be a "Calvinist" to know that.
Doctrine is the content of saving faith, while Jesus is the object of saving faith.
Titus 3:5 says not by works. And of course we all know 1 Peter 1:1-2 “who are chosen according to His foreknowledge.” And I know your circular logic regarding that verse, that He chose us according to His foreknowledge of what He would do, not what we would do but that just creates a circular fallacy. Let me explain, let’s say before creation God says should I write Steve’s name in the book of life? We’ll let Me look into the future and see what I’m going to do with Steve. That’s not predestination, that’s actually God looking into the future to see what He’s going to choose to do with Steve later on. So then His choice of what He’s going to do with Steve before creation is based on Him looking into the future to see what He is going to choose to do with Steve later on which means that it actually isn’t based on His foreknowledge at all, because it’s based on what He was going to do with Steve after creation, not before. So…
Are you suggesting that He might change what He was going to do with Steve later on maybe? Because if so, then you might maybe have to try and explain to just as to how or "why" He would do that? Or why He would change His decision as to what to do with Steve later on when He had already made up His mind about that decision from long, long ago before that already, etc?
Good job. . .this is where the problem lies.
Those two are the exact same thing, and the only difference is the wording that is used by us, etc, but to God, they are the exact same thing, etc. They both happened at the exact same time and before this world or universe was made, and when God was very first considering how to make all of us, which was before all of the determinism of this universe/reality was very first set in motion, and/or was created/made.
The decree is to salvation, the choosing is to salvation, they are the same thing.
Ok I just wanted to make sure because if the decree came before His choosing of who would be in the book of life, that’s not foreknowledge. That’s just knowledge of the decree He made in the past. See, foreknowledge is seeing something in the future, not the past.
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”
I hope she's trying to say some things that are similar to what I am trying to say, but maybe you can give me a specific question or two but toward me as to what you think she's trying to say, and maybe where you might be taking some issues with some of it maybe?
Well we’re talking about whether God was influenced in any way in His decision of whose names will be written in the book of life. My answer is that God wrote the names in the book of life according to His foreknowledge of those who would abide in Christ and endure to the end. Unfortunately I can’t quite say what she believes because I don’t understand it.
