Paper On Predestination

To fulfill His mission to reconcile all things to Himself, God sends you and me, the church, into the world to spread the gospel, to evangelize, to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, and to embody in its corporate life the message of reconciliation. Lofty words indeed. God is God. He will achieve His ends. We can either be part of His plans or we can hide in the shadows. Jesus did not shrink back from giving us instructions. He was blunt, direct, and authoritative. No room for discussion, shades of meaning, different interpretations. As they say, “Which part of ‘go’ don’t you understand?” Just “go.” Not a call, but a command. The “go” may be a walk across the street to help and witness to a neighbor, it may be picking up

We go into the nations because Christ, out of his love, came into the world to die as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). In the same way, people are called to make disciples of all nations, and our prayer should not be whether to go; instead, it should be if we should stay. What I love about the conclusion of this book is that Seller shows that everyone is called to go to the nations. God did not come into the world so that we could have an easy life, sitting back and enjoying the temporary pleasures that will ultimately not fulfill us. Christ came so that we might go to the hard places and minister to the unlovable that they too might see the vast riches of God, and understand the magnitude of the love that God has for His people. We must send people and commit to that sending, and as a result God will be magnified among all people, and great will be the reward be for those who live out the Great

Calvin responds that God indeed predestines some to salvation and others to reprobation. God does this according to His good pleasure and without the council of human beings. This predestination is just and its justice is hidden in the secret council of God and to question this is arrogant and foolishness.

God has a plan to reconcile His relationship with man after sin entered the world. This plan revolves around making His name known throughout all tribes and nations. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, the Bible presents God’s missionary purpose for humanity. For this reason, Christians involved in missions will travel to dangerous places to proclaim God’s name and saving power.

A thing that is omnipotent (all powerful) has complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding, and perceives all things, past and present. Free Will gives a person the ability to think and act voluntarily. They are allowed to be the authors of their own life and are able to reject that a human’s actions that is determined by external conditions or fate. That being said if we don’t have free will all actions by every person would be a direct expression of God’s will. The question is whether we life by God’s fate that has been created for us or if we live by free will. However, the life we are living is governed solely by free will. We are all given the option to make our own decisions. Our fate, or the way our life turns out is the outcome of which ones we make.

Ever since the beginning of time one of the biggest debates of time was Free Will or Determinism. With Determinism people are looking from the outside in, and with Free Will people are looking inside out. Is the world based on everyone and everything having Free Will, or is everything that happen determined to happen? I am a determinist, I believe that everything that happens, happens for a reason, caused by events that have happen in the past. I am going to give you three examples of historical events that show Determinism is present in society, and always has been present. Major court cases in the U.S. like Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, and Brown v. Board of Education 2 caused the Civil Rights Movement. WW2 Caused The Cold War. The great depression caused The New Deal, and FDR.

To ignore or overlook the call of God in an individual believer, the church as a whole, or the community in which God has placed them, would be missing the opportunity to transform lives to the glory of God. There is no small or big call to where God calls and places the believer; it’s just His call.

Jesus preached that we should walk with the sinner, invite them to eat at our table, love them unconditionally, because we all sin, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.” - John 8:7. Christians live in a dichotomy of shunning what we view as unacceptable and participating in it, and no one wants to discuss what that means in relation to Jesus, or God. The time has come to invite everyone to our table with a humble heart, to show the world the love of the Lord and acceptance of the adulterated. As one begins to project acceptance and truly embrace this practice they possess the ability to begin to change the lives around them with love, light, and a heart that radiates the truth of God (Brinton).

A person also receives salvation through the steps outlined in Romans 10:9, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” While individual’s from both Calvinist and Arminian backgrounds hold the restrictive view to be the most accurate in regards to the destiny of the unevangelized, this viewpoint is most commonly supported by the Calvinist viewpoint regarding the elect, “REA (Restrictive-access exclusivism) is held mainly by strict Calvinists, but also by non-Calvinist evangelicals.” The Restrictive view, in regards to those who have never been evangelized to or have never encountered the gospel, holds that those particular individuals cannot receive salvation. This is due to the viewpoint that an individual must “respond to the preaching of the gospel in this life” in order to be

The complete salvific message is often misinterpreted or misunderstood as being the only way to “receive” Christ. The basic model of the sinner’s prayer is simple, though some have either more or less content. But what does praying this prayer accomplish other than propping up man’s pride and “getting numbers” if the one praying it really does not understand the gospel? As outlined previously, Scripture says that only the elect will be saved. Once a member of the elect comes to know who Christ is and his role in his continuing kingdom, then someone must baptize and disciple the new follower of Christ. This, however, usually does not occur at evangelical meetings. Gary North argues

Any study on predestination as it pertains to salvation would be incomplete without the mention of John Calvin. Calvin was born in 1509 and died in 1564. He is well known for his book titled Institutes of the Christian Religion, in which he explained his views on the church and other subjects like the sacraments, justification, Christian liberty and the sovereignty of God. Norman Geisler of the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics described him as, “a pioneer Protestant exegete of the Bible.” Nevertheless, his theories on predestination, foreordination, and election have had a tremendous influence on the study of theology and helped to shape the theological landscape during his time as well as the current theological landscape. His influence is so predominate regarding the predestination doctrine that it is often also referred to as Calvinism. Some scholars would even point to the doctrine’s origins as being developed by Calvin. Calvinism’s main focus is on God’s sovereignty, but a portion of Calvinism directly addresses predestination, election, and foreordination.

Although we were not saved by works, we are called to respond to God by doing the works he prepared for

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The Scriptures are clear that there is no other name by which man can be saved but by Christ alone (Acts 4:12). One can only be delivered by the power of sin through the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” The same exclusive statement is made in John 10:7-8 when Jesus said, “Truly, Truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers.”

This means that along with the leaders of the church being required to minister, but all believers in Christ as well. This is seen clearly in Mathew 28:19-20, as Jesus is addressing His followers instructing them to go out into the world and make disciples of Him. This command was not just in regard’s to the original twelve disciples but a command for all believers to come. Ministry has no perfect formula or model that all churches or believers should follow. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 in short says, that their is one true God who has given everyone different abilities, gifts, and purposes. These things allow each person to minister in different ways and spread His Word. So in essence not only is everyone called to minister and share the gospel, but also everyone will share biblical truth in the way God intend them to. Believers must allow God to work through them and take hold of the unique traits He has gifted to each individual, so that His Word may be spread.

The mission of God is to reach all nation. God uses chosen people to spread the Good News, to the nation. As He called Abraham (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22: 18; 26:4; 28:14). Jesus taught that we must preach repentance to all nation ( Matthew 28:19 ; John 20:12; (Act 1:8). Jesus was sent by God to teach all nation about Him and His return (John 20:21). Christian should accept all people of all walks of life. The church should continue to teach the word of God as it is in the Bible and to show love to all ethnic diversity. To equip people to participate in multicultural ministry is to embrace the love of God to all. The biblical base of philosophy is “Love covers over a multitude of sins” ( 1Peter 4:8). To get the saints and un-believers to join in unity with Christ. Cultural influence biblical interpretation, thus as we teach or preach we must remember whom our audience are and be able to get the message across so they can understand, by keeping the social also cultural of the Scriptures in mind.