Quote from vhehn:
this statement is considered BLASPHEMY by all mainstream christian denominations today. it teaches that only some men have their names written down in the book (elected)of life and there is nothing those that are not elect do can change their fate. of course all calvinists believe their name is written in the book.
the one basic tenant of true christianity is that ALL men can come to god if they repent, believe and sin no more.
here is some information on the twisted beliefs of the calvinists.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/calvinism.htm
Belief systems within Christianity:
CALVINISM
Quotation:
"God preordained...a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation. " John Calvin
What is Calvinism:
It is a series of theological beliefs first promoted by John Calvin (1509-1564), one of the leaders of the Protestant reformation. They were affirmed by the Synod of Dordt (1618-1619 CE) as being the doctrine of salvation which is contained in the Bible. It laid the foundation for Reformed Theology.
Calvinism is often summarized by The Five Points of Calvinism, which are easy to recall by using the acrostic "TULIP:"
T: This usually stands for "Total depravity:" This is often mistaken to mean that humans are all hopelessly, intensely sinful. Actually, it means something quite different: as a result of Adam and Eve's disobedience to God -- the Fall of Man -- sin has extended to all parts of every person's being: "his thinking, his emotions and his will." 1
Sometimes, this has been called "Total inability." This is the concept that it is impossible for the ordinary "natural" human to understand the Gospel's message. They are spiritually helpless. First, God must first decide to intervene in the form of the third personality within the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, the person is lost forever.
See: Romans 5:12: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (KJV)
Mark 4:11: "And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables."
U: This stands for "Unconditional Election." This is the concept of predestination: that God has divided humanity into two groups. One group is "the elected." It includes all those whom God has chosen to make knowledgeable about himself. The rest will remain ignorant of God, and the Gospel. They are damned and will spend eternity in Hell without any hope of mercy or cessation of the extreme tortures. God made this selection before the universe was created, and thus before any humans existed. The ground or grounds that God uses to select the lucky few is unknown. What is known is that it is not through any good works on the part of the individual. It is not that he extends knowledge to some in order to find out who will accept salvation and who will not.
(more)
http://www.christiantrumpetsounding.com/predes.htm
Calvinism is blasphemy. It blasphemes Godâs holy name His character. Calvin is well known for teaching the predestination of a few to eternal life and the foreordained damnation of billions. How appalling! The tenets buttressing Calvinâs predestination are not common knowledge. These Five Points of Calvinism are more than appalling. They are absolutely abominable.
(more)
http://www.geocities.com/calvinismheresy/calvinismmain.html
Calvinism -
A Blasphemous Heresy
Question
Arminian theology? Is it biblical? And, if a church embraces that theology, are they saved? [Can somebody who holds an Arminian view be a Christian?â]
Answer
Yes, if youâre talking about Arminian theology. We always want to make the distinction between Armenians and Arminians. Armenians [are] a people; Arminian is a theology from Arminius. Let me just say this. This debate comes up all the time, and I like to answer the thing by saying I really donât land, necessarily, with labels very comfortably. You know, you can be called a Calvinist or a Hyper-Calvinist or a Four-point Calvinist orâ¦Iâve been called a Four-and-a-half-point Calvinist⦠One guy called me a One-point Calvinist--I donât know how he came up with that. And people can be labeled Arminian.
I understand what they mean by that, but I, personally, try to resist those labels because those labels are loaded with different content for different people. And people love to slap a label on you and then everybody defines that label in a different way. So, I really run from those labels.
At the same time, to put it simply, the debate of Calvinism and Arminianism falls along five simple lines that we all know about called T.U.L.I.P.: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and the Perseverance of the saints--T.U.L.I.P.
John Calvin rightly interpreted the Bible to teach that man is totally depraved. What that means, is that, not every human being is as sinful as he could be or she could be, but that every human being is sinful to the point that theyâre incapable of altering their condition. That is to say, total depravity means you canât do anything to save yourself. You canât even make a right choice. You canât awaken your spiritual deadness. You canât give life where there is death. You canât come to a right conclusion on your own. Total depravity means that everyone, is by virtue of their own will and their own power and their own choices, incapable of redemption. Thatâs total depravity.
Arminius would say--Arminian theology, Palagian theology, as itâs also called--would say âman is capable.â That while man is, in the general sense, a sinner, he has capacities within himself to choose to be saved. That is the debate. I donât think thatâs biblical. I think we are dead in trespasses and sin, and dead people donât make choices. Dead people canât make themselves alive. So, I think there is a clear distinction there.
In the case of unconditional election, you have the view in the Scripture that the people who are saved are saved because they were chosen by God apart from any merit of their own, apart from any condition. Whereas, typically, the person who holds Arminian theology would say that we are saved by acts of our own will. We have still the power to believe on our own, and therefore, when we choose to believe, we become elect. It isnât something that God determined in eternity past; itâs something that occurs sort of âde factoâ or âipso facto,â--âafter the fact.â
And then you have limited atonement; in the typical reformed view, means that the atonement, in its actual work, the actual efficacy of the atonement, was only for the elect. That is, itâs limited to those who believe and were chosen by God, whereas the Arminian side of it would say that everybodyâs sins have been paid for, all across the world, whether people believe or not. So that, in the end, Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of people who donât believe. Thatâs a problem because if your sins are paid for already by Jesus and you go to hell, then thatâs double jeopardy.
And then you have irresistible grace, which is the idea that when the spirit of God works on the heart of a sinner, the sinner canât resist. Arminian theology would say the sinner can resist.
And perseverance of the saints, the last in the five points, is the idea that if youâre saved, youâre going to persevere to glory. Arminian theology says you might not--you could lose your salvation along the way.
So, they are diametrically opposed. The question comes, âCan somebody who holds an Arminian view be a Christian?â And I would hate to say they couldnât be. I really believe that it is possible to be Arminian and to be a Christianâ¦to misunderstand your human capability, to misunderstand the election, to misunderstand the extent of the atonement, even to misunderstand the irresistible nature of Godâs saving grace, and even to think you could lose your salvation. But, at the same time--while being confused or ignorant of those things--to know that youâre a sinner and know that the only way of salvation is through Jesus Christ. I guess you could say that someone could be an Arminian and push those points far enough, where they could jeopardize my confidence that they really are a Christian. You could push the point of not being totally depraved far enough where youâre actually being saved by your own works, by your own belief, by your own ingenuity, by your own self-induced faith. And you could get to the point where you could really wonder whether someone understands that itâs all a work of God.
But, I think it would be going too far to say someone who holds an Arminian view, or anyone who holds an Arminian view, is, by virtue of that view, not a Christian. I think there are people who just donât understand rightly those things, but who know theyâre sinners and who cry out in their sin for the Lord to save them. They donât understand how what theyâre doing works together with the great purposes and power of God, and consequently canât give God fully the glory He deserves for all of that, but they could be genuinely saved, by hoping in Christ and Christ alone.
