Understanding God’s election

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rogerg

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2021
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Rog, don’t you see how wrong it is to say that God hates most of humanity?! The solution is to meditate on the truth that accepting grace by faith is “non-meritorious” until it sinks into your heart.
You are trying to change the words and intent of the verse - in God's eyes a very bad thing to do
"Accepting grace" by a man-made faith is accepting man's work, not God's.
 

Rufus

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2024
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Rog, don’t you see how wrong it is to say that God hates most of humanity?! The solution is to meditate on the truth that accepting grace by faith is “non-meritorious” until it sinks into your heart.
John Gill once wrote:

All men are not the objects of God's love, only a special people, whom he has chosen in Christ; for whom he has given his Son, when they were sinners and enemies; whom he quickens and calls by his grace, justifies, pardons, and accepts in Christ; and whom he causes to love him; these he loves with an everlasting and unchangeable love, and in a free and sovereign way, without any regard to any motive or condition in them.

And he was right! He had more than a few scriptures to support his commentary on how both God and his saints hate the wicked:

Lev 26:30
30 'I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols;
for My soul shall abhor you.
NASB

Deut 25:16
16 For the LORD your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.
NIV

Job 12:21-22
21 "He pours contempt on nobles,
And loosens the belt of the strong.
22 "He reveals mysteries from the darkness,
And brings the deep darkness into light.

NASB

Ps 5:5-6
5 The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes;

Thou dost hate all who do iniquity.
6 Thou dost destroy those who speak falsehood;
The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.
NASB

Ps 11:5
5 The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
And the one who loves violence
His soul hates.
NASB

Ps 31:6
6 I hate those who regard vain idols;
But I trust in the Lord.

NASB


Ps 73:18-20
18 Surely Thou dost set them in slippery places;
Thou dost cast them down to destruction.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment!
They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused,

Thou wilt despise their form.
NASB

Ps 95:10-11
10 "For forty years I loathed that generation,
And said they are a people who err in their heart,
And they do not know My ways.
11 "Therefore I swore in My anger,
Truly they shall not enter into My rest."

NASB

Ps 106:40
40 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people,

And He abhorred His inheritance.
NASB

Ps 107:40
40 He pours contempt upon princes,
And makes them wander in a pathless waste.
NASB

Ps 119:113
113 I hate those who are double-minded,
But I love Thy law.
NASB

Ps 119:158
158 I behold the treacherous and loathe them,
Because they do not keep Thy word.
NASB

Ps 139:21-22
21 Do I not hate those who hate Thee, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against Thee?
22 I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.
NASB

Prov 3:32
32 For the crooked man is an abomination to the Lord;
But He is intimate with the upright.
NASB

Prov 6:16-19
6 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

NIV

2 Chron 19:2
2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord and so bring wrath on yourself from the Lord?
NASB

Jer 12:8
8 My inheritance has become to me
like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;

therefore I hate her.
NIV

Jer 16:5
5 For this is what the LORD says: "Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy,
because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people," declares the LORD
NIV

Lam 2:6-7
6 And He has violently treated His tabernacle like a garden booth;
He has destroyed His appointed meeting place;
The Lord has caused to be forgotten
The appointed feast and sabbath in Zion,

And He has despised king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.

7 The Lord has rejected His altar,
NASB


Hos 9:15
5 All their evil is at Gilgal;

Indeed, I came to hate them there!
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of My house!
I will love them no more;
All their princes are rebels.

NASB

Dan 12:2
2 "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life
, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
NASB

Rom 9:13
13 Just as it is written, "Jacob I loved
, but Esau I hated."
NASB


Nah 1:14
4 The Lord has issued a command concerning you:
"Your name will no longer be perpetuated.
I will cut off idol and image
From the house of your gods.
I will prepare your grave,

For you are contemptible."
NASB

Rev 2:2
2 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance,
and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;
NASB

All the above is bad news for unrepentant sinners. But the really, really good news is that God infinitely loves the remnant (which no man can number) he has chosen in eternity to adopt and reconcile unto himself.
 

Rufus

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2024
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Ephesians 2:11-12
Therefore remember that previously you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision”
by the so-called “Circumcision” which is performed in the flesh by human hands remember that you
were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants
of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world
.

Your saying the polar opposite of what Paul is saying.

Paul said you did not have the Holy Spirit (the seal), you had no hope and without God in the world.

Your saying you were in Christ when you were born and Paul is saying you were separate from Christ.

Why is it that you contradict Paul at every step of THE WAY?
You're wrong! I never said that! I said that all God's elect were predestined in eternity to come to faith and repentance in temporal reality. I did not come into this world born in the Last Adam! I came into it born in Adam!

Also, to be in a state of regeneration is precisely to be alive in the Spirit of Christ. Just like natural birth is a process, likewise the spiritual birth of any saint is also a process
 

Jimbone

Senior Member
Aug 22, 2014
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There you go again barring the door to a salvation that is free for the asking.

The truth is that this woman could care less about your Calvinite gnosticism. And she is better off for it.

And do you know what I think? I think that Calvinites intentionally set themselves up the modern day Pharisaical gatekeepers.
They bar the way to salvation, and deny entry to anybody that does not submit to their superior spiritual insight and authority and gnostic superpowers of discernment.

Luk 11:52
“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
I find it SO Funny/Sad that you can say " I think that Calvinites intentionally set themselves up the modern day Pharisaical gatekeepers."

Without realizing that you are here gatekeeping them. You're doing EXACTLY what you're condemning in the same sentence. Funny.
You're a very self centered thinker. Someone else share's their beliefs they are self righteous, yet when you share yours it's just fine and you escape that label, although you can't tell us why.
Now you point your finger and accuse "all them" of being gatekeepers while explaining why the group you hate won't make it through the Gate.
You guys are ONLY about self, yet all you do is throw projection like a Democrat.
 

cv5

Well-known member
Nov 20, 2018
23,801
8,618
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I find it SO Funny/Sad that you can say " I think that Calvinites intentionally set themselves up the modern day Pharisaical gatekeepers."

Without realizing that you are here gatekeeping them. You're doing EXACTLY what you're condemning in the same sentence. Funny.
You're a very self centered thinker. Someone else share's their beliefs they are self righteous, yet when you share yours it's just fine and you escape that label, although you can't tell us why.
Now you point your finger and accuse "all them" of being gatekeepers while explaining why the group you hate won't make it through the Gate.
You guys are ONLY about self, yet all you do is throw projection like a Democrat.
Do you have any actually useful Biblical exegetical treatments on offer?
I don't see any. I never see any.

I do see a lot of useless trolling though.

And BTW, your accusation won't stick on me.
I espouse a truly free and available salvation to ANYONE who asks for it.
No gates, no bars, no dungeons, no prerequisite special gnostic discernment.

Just freely available to absolutely anybody.
 

Rufus

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2024
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Believing is fallible, so we need to believe whatever harmonizes with whole of GW, beginning with God's all-lovingness, but you do not even affirm that truth! Instead, you say that 1TM 2:3-4 teaches God loves only those the Father gives to Jesus in direct contradiction to it saying that God loves and wants to save ALL people!!! You rant about God hating most of humanity, because God's love even for His enemies must not be in your heart. Sad, making being indwelled and sealed by the HS problematic. Beware the one who can appear as an angel of light.
See my 2474 which debunks your poor interpretation of 1Tim 2!

Context really does matter!
 

Rufus

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2024
3,059
415
83
I find it SO Funny/Sad that you can say " I think that Calvinites intentionally set themselves up the modern day Pharisaical gatekeepers."

Without realizing that you are here gatekeeping them. You're doing EXACTLY what you're condemning in the same sentence. Funny.
You're a very self centered thinker. Someone else share's their beliefs they are self righteous, yet when you share yours it's just fine and you escape that label, although you can't tell us why.
Now you point your finger and accuse "all them" of being gatekeepers while explaining why the group you hate won't make it through the Gate.
You guys are ONLY about self, yet all you do is throw projection like a Democrat.
Well...at least the non-reformed excel at something, even though their gift was given to them by the same spiritual father the Pharisees had.
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
3,448
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Everyone is saved the same way.
Calvinists do not see the 'same way' in the same way...

They like to argue and stay stuck on that level. Never growing much beyond that.
And, it's so easy to argue about what they do not understand... But, think they do.

God sovereignly had me say that.
 

Rufus

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2024
3,059
415
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Do you have any actually useful Biblical exegetical treatments on offer?
I don't see any. I never see any.

I do see a lot of useless trolling though.

And BTW, your accusation won't stick on me.
I espouse a truly free and available salvation to ANYONE who asks for it.
No gates, no bars, no dungeons, no prerequisite special gnostic discernment.

Just freely available to absolutely anybody.
"Freely available", yes; but freely accepted by God-haters? NO! Don't you know that all the unregenerate come into this world also FREE FROM the control of righteousness (Rom 6:20)? So, explain to us how rotten, putrid trees have the ability to bear good fruit? How can those who are only FREE TO sin and to love darkness, and love themselves, and love money, and love pleasures and LOVE DEATH (Prov 8: 36) can make good, righteous spiritual choices?
 

Jimbone

Senior Member
Aug 22, 2014
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Well...at least the non-reformed excel at something, even though their gift was given to them by the same spiritual father the Pharisees had.
It honestly sucks. You can't discuss anything with people like this. It's just not possible. They'll tell you what you believe and then set their version of your beliefs on fire. Then dance around popping their collars as if they just glorified God with complete pointless nonsense. It not any kind of behavior I haven't seen before, but it's almost textbook cult like behavior. We are right, we have the answer, everyone else is wrong and the enemy, and we don't ever listen to ANYTHING anyone else ever says. Ever. It's so opposite of what the Spirit leads me to do, so it honestly leaves me at a loss as far as what to do. I'm leaning towards completely ignoring them. I already do to a HUGE degree, but sometimes read something so outrageous and completely hypocritical I have to ask them about it, or say something to others that see what I'm talking about.
 

Rufus

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2024
3,059
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Calvinists do not see the 'same way' in the same way...

They like to argue and stay stuck on that level. Never growing much beyond that.
And, it's so easy to argue about what they do not understand... But, think they do.

God sovereignly had me say that.
You mock God, do you? Even the demons are spiritually more astute than you are; for they won't tread where you walk.
 

rogerg

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2021
3,889
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May I take five giant steps forward?

;) It's fun being a kid acting like an adult.
I'm the one who says it is a completely free gift, from God's mercy and grace, remember? You guys believe that you have to do something to get it/earn it.
 

Pilgrimshope

Well-known member
Sep 2, 2020
14,661
5,908
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Well you are fundamentally wrong, but you can call it whatever you want. If you are suggesting we are born saved and only fall away the first time we sin, then I'd have to say you're adding to scripture and can not show me where His word says that. You're just wrong on this matter, fundamentally.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭32:33‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,

And not be written with the righteous.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭69:28‬ ‭KJV‬‬

notice they have to be in the book first in order to be blotted out because of the sins they commited ?

the gospel offered this

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭3:19‬ ‭

We arent born condemned we are condemned by sin.
 

Cranberry

Active member
Dec 7, 2024
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The doctrine of election can be harmonized with the doctrine of an all-loving God by understanding the meaning of “in Christ” in Ephesians 1:3-14.

1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all thins in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”

In the EPH passage we can see that what the all-loving God predestined was NOT that some souls would be damned, but rather the plan of salvation to elect potentially all humanity, whom He loves and atoned for (1TM 2:3-5), if they exercise their God-given grace of volition to accept His offer of grace IN Christ (2THS 2:10).
I don't think harmony as you referred to it can proceed uninterrupted if there is omission.
 

Pilgrimshope

Well-known member
Sep 2, 2020
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We are not born saved, but we are born separated from God (spiritually dead) but with the ability to morally respond positively to the truth and power of the Gospel.
This is God's provision to all humanity, the ability to respond positively and willingly!!!
Our spirit isn’t dead our flesh is corrupt

“to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭5:5‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, Searching all the inward parts of the belly.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭20:27‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?

even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭2:11‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.”
‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭12:1‬ ‭

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; But a wounded spirit who can bear?”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18:14‬ ‭KJV‬‬

redemption from the wrong knowledge to the truth the word of lasting life
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
1,871
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You are trying to change the words and intent of the verse - in God's eyes a very bad thing to do
"Accepting grace" by a man-made faith is accepting man's work, not God's.
Well, I bet you a million dollars-worth of heavenly riches that the interpretation harmonizing with God's all-lovingness is correct and the view that God hates most of humanity is wrong.
 

rogerg

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2021
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There you go again barring the door to a salvation that is free for the asking.
If an individual is among God's elect, they will be saved regardless of their actions; conversely, if they are not among God's elect, they cannot obtain salvation regardless of their actions. In both scenarios, one's deeds have no influence on outcome.
 

Rufus

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2024
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They all knew they were coming. She knew the outcome. Why would she believe that they could even take Jericho? No one else could. The Israelites didn't even possess the requisite armaments to take the city apart from God's intervention. How did she know God would intervene?
God sent the bluebird of happiness to whisper in her ears. :LOL: