Let's start with a definition that I found online: Unconditional Election is God's free choice before creation, not based on foreseen faith, to which traitors He will grant faith and repentance, pardoning them, and adopting them into His everlasting family of joy.
This point of the 5 points is really very important...and yet it is going to be touched in the other 3 as well, so this will be a short post.
This is the doctrine of pre-destination. To put it in layman's terms, God decided, before time began, who would be saved from eternal damnation. This has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with what you will or could ever do. It is 100% God who chooses who will be saved and who will be left in their condemnation and sent to Hell.
...and there you have one of my problems with predestination as the Calvinists believe. They will argue (and I have had this discussion many times) that this is NOT double predestination (that God chooses who will be saved AND who will be condemned) but it really is. While they are right that a just God could do this, a loving God wouldn't. Now, don't hate me for that one if you disagree. I'll touch on it more in the next post.
The other problem is that you really have no eternal salvation. Be honest. If God has elected those who will be saved, and you can't do a thing about it, then can you REALLY know that you are one of the elect? Now, I will touch this more in point 5, but let me share this quote from DesiringGod.com (John Piper's website): "There were no qualifications for being chosen. "When then should I do?" he asks. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31. That's how you begin to "confirm your calling and election" (2 Pet 1:10). If you will embrace the Savior, you will confirm that you are elect, and you will be saved.
Again, I love hearing John Piper's sermons. He has had a great ministry and I have learned a lot from his teachings. However, what if, later in life, I backslide. What if I truly believed....but now I don't know if I was elect or not....oh. Sorry. That's point 5. I'll get there.
Just one more note. DO NOT hear me as diminishing the sovereignty of God in any of this. To be honest, I think the Calvinist limits the sovereignty of God...but that's another conversation for another time.
Again, I have several issues with this doctrine, but they will come out more clearly as we discuss the last 3 points. Limited Atonement, irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints.
To GOD be the glory!!! Great things He has done!
This point of the 5 points is really very important...and yet it is going to be touched in the other 3 as well, so this will be a short post.
This is the doctrine of pre-destination. To put it in layman's terms, God decided, before time began, who would be saved from eternal damnation. This has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with what you will or could ever do. It is 100% God who chooses who will be saved and who will be left in their condemnation and sent to Hell.
...and there you have one of my problems with predestination as the Calvinists believe. They will argue (and I have had this discussion many times) that this is NOT double predestination (that God chooses who will be saved AND who will be condemned) but it really is. While they are right that a just God could do this, a loving God wouldn't. Now, don't hate me for that one if you disagree. I'll touch on it more in the next post.
The other problem is that you really have no eternal salvation. Be honest. If God has elected those who will be saved, and you can't do a thing about it, then can you REALLY know that you are one of the elect? Now, I will touch this more in point 5, but let me share this quote from DesiringGod.com (John Piper's website): "There were no qualifications for being chosen. "When then should I do?" he asks. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31. That's how you begin to "confirm your calling and election" (2 Pet 1:10). If you will embrace the Savior, you will confirm that you are elect, and you will be saved.
Again, I love hearing John Piper's sermons. He has had a great ministry and I have learned a lot from his teachings. However, what if, later in life, I backslide. What if I truly believed....but now I don't know if I was elect or not....oh. Sorry. That's point 5. I'll get there.
Just one more note. DO NOT hear me as diminishing the sovereignty of God in any of this. To be honest, I think the Calvinist limits the sovereignty of God...but that's another conversation for another time.
Again, I have several issues with this doctrine, but they will come out more clearly as we discuss the last 3 points. Limited Atonement, irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints.
To GOD be the glory!!! Great things He has done!
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