Salvation is actually completely out of your hands.If you're saved, you'll just know what God needs you to do.If you're not, you literally can't.Simple as.
>hey champ, God told me to tell you to fuck off and figure it out yourself, unless He's already chosen you and you can't know that kekUnironically the most based Theological take imaginable
To make this a bit more serious, how do you reconcile free will and predestination.
>>18131371There is no free will, only the bondage of the will to sin without divine intervention even Martin Luther knew that
>>18131371without free will there can be no evil, without evil there can be no punishment. either everyone gets saved, or no one
>>18131371>reconcile free will and predestinationThey are reconciled in the trinity.
Ephesians 2:8-9>For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.The Calvinists are the only ones who appreciate just how deterministic the New Testament actually is.
>>18131273https://christoverall.com/article/concise/andrew-fuller-and-the-gospel-worthy-of-all-acceptation/
>>18131371Free will doesn't exist.
>>18131595So we're all just God's playthings then? The elect being the toys he likes and the reprobate those whom he hates?
>>18131393>either everyone gets saved, or no oneEveryone goes to the place they're destined for
>>18131371Just because God knows what you'll do, doesn't mean you don't make the choice to do it.
>>18131371Without free will, there can be no love
>>18132080it means exactly that.
>>18132080Does this mean God knowingly created something that was doomed to eternal suffering?
>>18133081but of course. in before potter and pottery.
>>18131273You don't "just know". Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God
>>18131616
>>18131616>>18132080I want to point out you guys understand neither what free will nor what predestination meansIn theological usage, "predestination" is a doctrine of soteriology, it is about salvation. God's control of everything that comes to pass is called sovereignty or providence, and was uncontroversial between the reformers and the Romanists. Predestination means not that God controls everything but that it is entirely because of God's gracious decree of election that anyone is saved, and in no way the operation of their own will. This the Romanists deny, and we affirm. Likewise, free will in theological use does not refer to the possession of agency. William Perkins noted several different senses of free will, and acknowledged disagreement with the church of Rome on but one. Free will in this context properly refers to the natural ability of man to will moral good without the resurrecting intervention of God. This the Romanists affirm, and we deny.
>>18133991I don't get it.If God is just a puppet matter and dishes out grace like a pez machine, then why create humans in the first place?Where is the test?
>>18133991>the natural ability of man to will moral good without the resurrecting intervention of God>This the Romanists affirm, and we deny.I'm pretty sure most people that have never heard of Christianity, and even most who hate it, will what you'd consider "moral good" atleast some of the time.
>>18134297>If God is just a puppet matter and dishes out grace like a pez machineI found the problem, that's a caricature.>then why create humans in the first place?The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. God in His wisdom has ordained everything which occurs in time to the greatest possible end, which is His maximal glorification. And God will be glorified by justice against the reprobate, and mercy to the elect. So the purpose of creation is to glorify God through the fulfillment of His will.>Where is the test?The last thing you want is to be tested, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every sinner who would be subjected to such a test to see whether he was worthy would immediately fail to an incomprehensible degree that the only outcome would be the universal damnation of each and every man. Praise God that He is so gracious to ignore our failures and faults and save a few sinners who deserved only hellfire, and would march gleefully into it if not for Him.>>18134457They may perform civil good, but their righteousness is as filthy rags. They do good deeds, inasmuch as they are not constantly murdering each other, but every single thing they do is sin no matter how externally good, because while there may be external conformity to the law it is all done without faith, without a good conscience, and whatever is not of faith is sin. "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." If even a saint cannot do a good deed without staining it in sin, how much worse is the seed of the serpent.
>>18134663Is this a LARP or an actual Calvinist response?
>>18134663>because while there may be external conformity to the law it is all done without faith, without a good conscienceWhy do people who don't believe in God donate to charity even though they don't need to? Why do people who don't believe in God die for the sake of other people? To be sure christians (the catholics you hate in particular) donate more to charity than atheists do, but that doesn't really change anything.I'm not necessarily saying humans are good (I'm not even sure that is a coherent concept) but the idea that people only ever do good because of a belief in God seems dubious at best. I also find the Calvinist view of evil to be totally incoherent, if humans are so inherently evil, then what is wrong with commiting bad acts against other humans anyways?
>>18131335kek when you put it that way it does sound basedmaybe I've been too harsh on calvinbros
>>18131454also based and a very high IQ take There may be a way to reconcile Lutheranism and Calvinism with Catholicism The results would be tremendous
>>18134744Never, we must never join with false religion, it is war to the end with Rome for Christ's sake. The church of Rome would have to repent, and that is inconceivable. I hate every false way.>>18134722>Why do people who don't believe in God donate to charity even though they don't need to? Why do people who don't believe in God die for the sake of other people? They do so not because of good in their hearts but for reasons which of themselves are ungodly. This is the distinction between civil and moral good, on the outside they may look the same, but when an unbeliever does something which is "good" it is more so by happenstance, as a coincidence and in appearance, than as a fact. They had no intent to do what is pleasing to God, therefore they didn't.>the catholics you hateI do not hate them and I do not hate you. I hate the false religions, but I speak out of Christian love in the hopes any may repent and be saved.>the idea that people only ever do good because of a belief in God seems dubious at bestI'm telling you it's a truth by definition. Good is not good unless it is done for good, and it is impossible for those who are in the flesh to do what is pleasing to God, they cannot even desire to do so.>if humans are so inherently evil, then what is wrong with commiting bad acts against other humans anyways?I don't understand the question, are you asking me why it's immoral to do immoral things?
>>18134744I am to whom you responded and it is simply explained. The light of God will never die in Christ.
>>18134781now you went back to being a cringe neo-pharisee
>>18134791I think this image was made by a dummyhard to take it seriously
>>18134799Lovers of the dark are far from salvation in Christ.
>>18134799
>>18134821what does this zionist have to do with the Trinity?care to explain simply?
>>18134817>inane reply kk keep me posted
>>18134781Given how evil you think humanity is, would a definite disproof of your religion (say a global flood happening or a conditional prophecy in the bible being made impossible by whatever means) lead you to ask for humanity's eradication?
