A letter in the Jan. 7 edition of The Alabama Baptist about reformed theology mentioned “giving up one’s traditions” then told where to hear sermons like Spurgeon and Knox preached.
While not mentioned in the letter, “The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination” by Loraine Boettner is regarded by many as the bible on predestination. In it Boettner writes, “Some have declared — and rightly we believe — that there is no consistent middle ground between Calvinism and atheism.”
It’s comforting to know that if a loved one dies without accepting Christ that it wasn’t his fault because he was created to be an eternal Dura-Log. I don’t need the gospel that is first filtered through Calvin and others, as important as they were. The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short, Calvinists and non-Calvinists alike. We all have the same choice to freely make.
Reformed theologists say those who believe in free will limit God’s sovereignty. It is those who say that God can only exercise His will by predetermining who will end up in heaven that limits God’s sovereignty.
The truth is God can ensure His plan is fulfilled and allow man free will, just as Jesus was fully God and fully human. If God was going to predestine some to be saved and not others then why set up a scenario where Jesus had to die on the cross?
Genesis says, “God created man in His image.” God did not cause man to disobey Him, otherwise man wouldn’t have been created in God’s image. Part of being “in His image” is having free will. Did God create rape and murder or are they a consequence of free will? Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, “This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.”
Repentance implies a choice and consequences based on choices. If we were predestined to repent, it is not repentance but a preprogrammed action. Calvinists fear that if you accept the idea that individuals “accept” God’s gift, then they have done something to “earn” salvation. “Accepting” is not “earning.”
Ezekiel 33:11, “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!’” Sounds like a choice to me.
David Bennett
Madison, Ala.
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