I appreciate your teaching on this even though I've come to believe more towards the Calvanistic side. I know this gets thrown out way more than it should into the world of the lost, falsely teaching God is an unloving, unjust Father. I do think our witness should always be to the Soverignty of Almighty God, which is the core of the change of my belief from Armenianism. I came to see the the grave error in believing I had to cooperate with God for Him to save me, instead of Him redeeming me, changing my heart to be able to recognize my sin & repent. Yes, we do take earthly actions that we call "free will," but the error is in not recognizing Scripture after Scripture that verifies no one comes to the Son except the Father gives them to Him. We just think it's our will but if it's true repentance, God the Father has touched you miraculously & given you that new heart. The teaching of predestination of being chosen from the foundations of the earth is really for true believers, certainly given to us in Scripture & typology with the 12 tribes in the Bible. The picture of them was God telling us He always has had His people, His elect, His remnant, chosen from the foundations of the earth. We have no idea who these are so we follow the Great Commission & spread the Gospel, not telling unsaved people God's already judged them. He is King of Kings & very well may have, but that's not our call or business; only to witness & be a lighthouse to a lost & dying world. Once someone is saved, having had that rejuvenating, life-changing encounter with Christ, it is then we, as the church, instill in them the security that comes with the doctrine of predestination. Once one realizes Christ never loses even one of His sheep and they are one of His from before creation it brings perfect peace, not to sin willfully, but to love & worship Jesus Christ more. To realize He chose you out of complete grace & mercy, totally undeserving, having revealed Himself to you, and has sealed you to His Return by His Holy Spirit coming to live inside you gives the greatest peace & security there is. God will NEVER lose one of His true children and they can have perfect peace in that.
The major problem in churches, along with the "free will " theology, is the fact of how this false doctrine has brought in droves of false converts who really don't have the Holy Spirit. They may know everything about Christ, but not truly His in that they've never really met Him. Until their dying day, they may, so again we must gently correct the ship, careful not to portray God wrongly to the unsaved. Nonbelievers were never supposed to be a part of the ecclesia, but used only to instruct & edify each other in the faith. Mission work was suppose to be done outside the church/ecclesia & their interaction with the world, but all that got distorted in first few hundred years.
You are right in that there is a fine line in how we must teach this to the world because God never intends His Gospel to be prideful or boastful, which is how I see many online come across. This is very wrong because not one of us are worthy, but have been given the most precious gift that could be given, specially to us, from our Heavenly Father and we should only be thankful & worshipful for it. Hope this helps someone out there...
I appreciate your teaching on this even though I've come to believe more towards the Calvanistic side. I know this gets thrown out way more than it should into the world of the lost, falsely teaching God is an unloving, unjust Father. I do think our witness should always be to the Soverignty of Almighty God, which is the core of the change of my belief from Armenianism. I came to see the the grave error in believing I had to cooperate with God for Him to save me, instead of Him redeeming me, changing my heart to be able to recognize my sin & repent. Yes, we do take earthly actions that we call "free will," but the error is in not recognizing Scripture after Scripture that verifies no one comes to the Son except the Father gives them to Him. We just think it's our will but if it's true repentance, God the Father has touched you miraculously & given you that new heart. The teaching of predestination of being chosen from the foundations of the earth is really for true believers, certainly given to us in Scripture & typology with the 12 tribes in the Bible. The picture of them was God telling us He always has had His people, His elect, His remnant, chosen from the foundations of the earth. We have no idea who these are so we follow the Great Commission & spread the Gospel, not telling unsaved people God's already judged them. He is King of Kings & very well may have, but that's not our call or business; only to witness & be a lighthouse to a lost & dying world. Once someone is saved, having had that rejuvenating, life-changing encounter with Christ, it is then we, as the church, instill in them the security that comes with the doctrine of predestination. Once one realizes Christ never loses even one of His sheep and they are one of His from before creation it brings perfect peace, not to sin willfully, but to love & worship Jesus Christ more. To realize He chose you out of complete grace & mercy, totally undeserving, having revealed Himself to you, and has sealed you to His Return by His Holy Spirit coming to live inside you gives the greatest peace & security there is. God will NEVER lose one of His true children and they can have perfect peace in that.
The major problem in churches, along with the "free will " theology, is the fact of how this false doctrine has brought in droves of false converts who really don't have the Holy Spirit. They may know everything about Christ, but not truly His in that they've never really met Him. Until their dying day, they may, so again we must gently correct the ship, careful not to portray God wrongly to the unsaved. Nonbelievers were never supposed to be a part of the ecclesia, but used only to instruct & edify each other in the faith. Mission work was suppose to be done outside the church/ecclesia & their interaction with the world, but all that got distorted in first few hundred years.
You are right in that there is a fine line in how we must teach this to the world because God never intends His Gospel to be prideful or boastful, which is how I see many online come across. This is very wrong because not one of us are worthy, but have been given the most precious gift that could be given, specially to us, from our Heavenly Father and we should only be thankful & worshipful for it. Hope this helps someone out there...