The Beauty of Free Will

The Calvinist says:

• God chooses only some to go to heaven.

• God chooses others to go the hell.

• Man is totally depraved and has no choice but to sin

• Those that God has chosen for hell will never be called or drawn to God by the Holy Spirit, and this is not a result of their rejection of the mercy of God, but God's choice to not save them

• Even though God chooses not to call or save them, and they have no choice but to sin, He will still hold them eternally accountable and punish them in the lake of fire.

Therefore the ones whom God chooses for hell are doomed. The cross of Christ has no hope for them at all. The atonement is limited only to save those who God have chosen for salvation. Parents with 6 children will have to come to grips with the possibility that only some of their children may be in heaven. They will be faced with the thought that some of these they have loved and nurtured all these years are not chosen by God and therefore are destined to suffer agony in the lake of fire for all eternity. No amount of prayer, Bible teaching, or character training is ever going to change that.

WOW! How awful. This would be like a parent telling a 6 mo old baby to complete an algebra problem or they will beat him. That baby has no ability to do the math problem. For a parent to punish a child for what he has no ability to do would cause us all to call for jail time for those parents. 

The Bible teaches that man is lost in sin and that only through the power of the Holy Spirit can he know of God, come to God, and serve God.  But the scriptures also teaches that the mercy of God has been extended to all men.   The all damning sin that leaves man with no hope is to reject the work of Christ on the cross.  God makes a way to escape the penalty of sin - AND EXTENDS THE INVITATION TO ALL!  

I'm so thankful that the Biblical picture of God is not the God of Calvinism. Too often we see wording such as ,the whole world, or all men, or once for all, when God talks about His plan of redemption through Jesus shed blood.

Joh 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

2Pe 3:9 ¶ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Tit 2:11 ¶ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

The beauty of the Gospel is intimately connected to the concept of free will. The offer of mercy is extended to everyone. The Holy Spirit brings light to all.

Joh 8:12 ¶ Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Those that freely choose to follow the light, God gives more. He does not want robots who have no choice but to obey because it is in their programing. This doesn't bring glory to God except to say He is stronger and more powerful that all of His creation and can make them do anything He wants. For a time a parent can do the same. He can control everything in his child's life. But the blessing of parenthood is not the control of a child. The blessing is when they look into your eyes and say I love you daddy and they order their life is a way that says I don't want to disappoint my daddy. Not just because you told them to or made them, or threatened them if they didn't, but because they want to. The blessing is when they choose to snuggle up close to you. They do this because they have come to know who you are and they love being close to you.

When God put Adam and Eve in the garden and said don't eat of this one tree He gave them an opportunity to choose to love and obey God. What God was looking for then and now is not robots who are programed to love Him, but those who if given an opportunity will choose to respond to God's great act of love through the cross and freely look God in the eye and say I love you daddy and I want to please you. That is the beauty of free will.