Index When it comes to the elect, God does not factor in any of their self-determinism - it's just unconditional election unto salvation. So God has a single desire to manifest His glory to a chosen people and He counsels to fulfill this desire and begins work on this. This root desire or purpose is…Read more The Fallacy of Piper’s Two Wills teaching
Christianity
Desire and Counsel of God
Index The English translations of Scriptures do not convey with consistency the original words. The greek words thelēma (desire - eg. Luke 10:24) and boulē (counsel - eg. Acts 2:23) are both translated as the same English word, "will" (Luke 22:42). To avoid confusion and be precise, let us use the greek words or for simplicity,…Read more Desire and Counsel of God
Two Wills of God
Index John Piper does an amazing, earnest job at attempting to explain the calvinist paradox of holding God's predestining the condemnation of the non-elect before any good or evil simultaneously with God's desire for these very non-elect to be saved. You can read it here - https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/are-there-two-wills-in-god Piper begins illustrating the theory with the betrayal…Read more Two Wills of God
God’s sovereignty in human freewill
Index The calvinist might even concede that Romans 9 lends itself to the interpretation presented thus far, but in totality of all other Scriptures, why must this new interpretation even be entertained... Isn't God sovereign? Can't He choose to save some alone from the fall while leaving the rest there from before the foundation of…Read more God’s sovereignty in human freewill
God hardens whom He wills
Index Understanding how God hardens hearts would help resolve issues raised in the previous topics. For one, it would help clarify how the Gospel is used. And secondly, it would help sequence Romans 9 in the second time-shot of God fulfilling His promise after factoring in human acts of evil - instead of the first…Read more God hardens whom He wills
The Gospel and the non-elect
Index The calvinist agrees that the non-elect are condemned specifically only for their acts of evil after they're committed, but what was predestined was that they be left in their natural state in which they inevitably will end up doing acts of evil, for which they will eventually be condemned. Whereas the elect are regenerated…Read more The Gospel and the non-elect
Key Observations – Promise of Future Hope
Index Observation 1 It is important to preserve the exact language - that the elect are promised an inheritance in Christ ie Salvation in Christ. Now it is true, that since God's promises reflect His immutable counsel, every promise of His is as good as received. So to be promised something by God equals having…Read more Key Observations – Promise of Future Hope
Romans 9 – Parallelism?
Index But if we are not to read salvation and condemnation as applicable in parallel to the elect and non-elect respectively from before the foundation of the world, why does Romans 9 make use of such language? Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,…Read more Romans 9 – Parallelism?
To the Calvinist..
Index Calvinism has always been the system of beliefs that upholds God's sovereignty over every other belief. This is of great value to the Christian - for in seeing more of God's glory, man is edified. But when it comes to seemingly competing revelations of God's nature Himself, picking one to the denying of the…Read more To the Calvinist..
The logical fallacy of parallelism
Index The proposed reconciliation meshes together both calvinist and arminian systems as independently applicable to the Elect and Non-elect groups respectively. But what are the grounds for such a proposal - and is it even logically consistent? Noting earlier, the whole protestant divide arose because of the strict parallelism in applying the same principles equally…Read more The logical fallacy of parallelism