“I believe nothing merely because Calvin taught it, but because I have found his teaching in the Word of God.” – Charles Spurgeon

This should probably be addressed sooner rather than later, as it will come out later all throughout my posts and it will come to light directly eventually. I believe the Bible in its entirety. I believe the original manuscripts penned by man were inspired by God. I believe God has preserved His word as He said he would (Matthew 24:35, Matthew 5:17-18, Revelation 22:18-19, etc.). From my in depth studies and understanding of the history of the Bible and the manuscripts we have (e.g. Masoretic Text, Aleppo codex, Leningrad Codex, Codex Cairensis, Dead Sea Scrolls, Tanakh, so on) I believe God has kept His word/preserved His word as He always does and always has.

That all being said, I believe in predestination, election, limited atonement, effectual calling, perseverance of the saints, and total depravity. Not because John Calvin taught them, but because they are taught all throughout the Bible, what I have personally experienced, what I have seen in others, and what logically makes sense. I don’t follow John Calvin, I follow God, and I believe John Calvin did as well. I am not a Calvinist, I am a Christian, and I believe John Calvin was as well.

These words, as well as concepts are taught all throughout the Bible. From Genesis all the way to Revelation. I hope that I can convey that.

“Men are brought to God by the effectual power of grace, but grace never violates, though it subdues, the human will. They make a great mistake who think that God treats men as if they were logs: God knows they are not logs, and never treats them so. He has made them in his own image, to be free, intelligent agents, and he acts upon them as free agents. It is difficult for some men to understand how grace can be effectual and almighty, and yet man can still be a free agent. Now, if persons do not see this, we are not bound to give them understandings, but the two things are consistent enough: prejudice creates the difficulty, there is none really. A man may be free enough, and yet he may be so overwhelmingly persuaded to a certain course, that he cannot do otherwise; such moral power does not at all interfere with true liberty. If we taught that men were saved against their wills, and that physical force was put upon them to make them Christians, we should deserve to be denounced as talking nonsense, or worse; but the power which we speak of is moral, spiritual, persuasive, and operates in strict accordance with the usual laws of mind. The grace of God does no violence to the will, but sweetly overcomes its obstinacy, making it a willing captive.” – Charles Spurgeon

Sin affects every aspect of man-kind.  Man is inherently evil, selfish, and hateful. Apart from God, there is nothing to love in man. Man’s heart is evil (Mark 7:21-23; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 15:19). A person without Christ a slave of sin (John 8:34; Romans 6; 2 Peter 2:19). I know that for me as a former addict, I didn’t seek anything good. I was lost in my sin; it was my master. I crawled in my bottle and didn’t care what happened outside of it. I knew it was wrong, and I wasn’t happy, but I didn’t seek resolve. He does not seek for God (Romans 3:10-12; Psalm 10:4; ). He cannot understand spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14, Matthew 13:13, Romans 1:28-31, Ephesians 4:17-18, Romans 8:7). He is hostile toward God (Ephesians 2:3-15, Romans 8:7)

We are helpless until God saves us from ourselves. It is God’s will that we be saved, not our own. We are living in our sin and for the most part enjoying our sin. Our nature, our will is to sin, and be content in that sin (John 1:12-13); God grants us to believe (Philippians 1:29; Acts 11:18; Ephesians 2:8, 1 Corinthians 1:30); faith is a gift from God (John 6:28-29; Acts 13:48; John 6)

Most people get hung up on this. In their humanity and what they have been taught, they can’t accept the fact that Jesus died only for the elect. Though Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all, it was not efficacious for all. Jesus only bore the sins of the elect. See Matt. 26:28 where Jesus died for ‘many’; John 10:11, 15, Matt. 25:32-3, John 17:9 where Jesus’ prayer was for the ones given Him, not those of the entire world, Isaiah 53:12 which is a prophecy of Jesus’ crucifixion where he would bear the sins of many (not all), John 10 “ I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me; But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; on and on and on. People will use John 3:16 to save that He died for all, but don’t read the next verse. John 3:16-21 –  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

If he died for all, then all would be saved. All would come to Him, but they don’t. We see it every day. People reject Christ and are hostile toward Him daily. Many atheist groups are trying to force God out of our schools, out of or jobs, out of the government, off our money, the mention of His name alone. Not all want to live righteous, selfless, pure lives. They enjoy their sin. Christians aren’t perfect, but we should strive toward that goal. We should hate our sin and continually strive after righteousness. A Christian should not and cannot love sin if the Spirit of God lives in them. It would go against the nature of God. It will continually be a battle. Our flesh will battle the spirit (Romans 7), but with the power of Christ in us, we will prevail.

The human will is different than Gods will. Our time is different than God’s time. He is infinite. We are finite. He is perfect. We are imperfect. We can’t question or even understand His will, but we can accept it and be patient, which is what we should strive for. We should hunger for that type of faith, wisdom, and patience. If we ask, God will give it (James 1).

The words predestination as well as the concept is taught all throughout the word of God (Romans 8, 9, Ephesians 1). Unfortunately this doctrine has been poorly taught and highly misunderstood. Growing up it was poorly taught and explained to me, but through my studies in God’s Word, the Spirit has guided my studies and showed me the truth. When God chooses someone to go to heaven, he will sanctify that person in this life. If God chose that person to go to heaven, they will live a righteous life on this earth. They will be worthy of heaven before they die. He won’t choose someone to go to heaven, save them, and then allow them to live whatever type of sinful life they want. That would be against His nature (which we will cover later). Also, He didn’t look into the future and choose us based on our actions, based on the “good works” we would do. He chose us because He wanted to (Psalm 115). Even our “righteous deeds are filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) when compared to the righteousness of God.

Ephesians 1:4-5 – ..just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

Romans 8:28-30 –  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

To sum it all up, man alone is hopeless, but with Christ there is hope (Philippians 4:13). God saves us because it is His will. None of us deserve His mercy. For one person to go to heaven is more than the human race deserves. If one person goes to heaven, that is more than we deserve. Every day we sin against God. Our sin separates us from God. OUR SIN! (Isaiah 59:2, Psalm 37-43). God chooses some and not others. Jacob instead of Esau, Peter instead of Judas, David instead of Saul, Isaac instead of Ishmael. The list goes on. God doesn’t make mistakes and everything that happens is for a reason. We may not understand it but God intends it for good for those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28, Genesis 50:20). The more you study, the more sense it makes. The more you understand about God’s nature, His will instead of ours. The reason behind it all. This is important to understand so we can understand how to better please God through our lives and how to better understand other people and the choices they make.