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Greg lund's avatar

BRAVO! Thank you for being a true biblical voice in the midst of the religious cacophony everywhere around us

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Redd Muldoone's avatar

Correction, 1 Corinthians 15 v1-4

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Redd Muldoone's avatar

The Gospel: 1 Corinthians vs 1-4

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burkhard Lehmann's avatar

False dichotomy...

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Thad M Brown's avatar

This is like someone shouting ‘Checkmate!’ in a game of hopscotch.

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burkhard Lehmann's avatar

More like the game you want people to play is rigged in your favor... I have yet to hear a non Calvinist propose that their free will saved them. So they don't make that claim, you should not say that they do and then make an argument against that claim - that no one made.

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Thad M Brown's avatar

I appreciate your pushback, and you're right that most believers wouldn't say "my free will saved me" in those exact words. That would sound presumptuous, even to them!

The Real Issue

What they do say is: "I chose to accept Jesus" or "I decided to follow Christ" or "I made Jesus my Lord and Savior." The question isn't the terminology; it's the theology behind it.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

When pressed, most non-Calvinists will affirm that:

God made salvation possible through Christ

But humans must choose to activate that salvation

This choice is what ultimately determines their eternal destiny

That's functionally the same as saying their decision was the decisive factor. Not their free will alone, but their free will exercise of faith.

The Game Isn't Rigged

You suggest the game is rigged in my favor, but here's the thing: I didn't design the game rules. Scripture did.

Ephesians 1:4 states: "even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him."

Romans 9:16 declares: "So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy."

If the game seems rigged toward sovereign grace, take it up with the Author, not the messenger.

Your Turn

You asked what I have to support sovereign selection. I've got Paul, Jesus, and about 2,000 years of church history.

What passages support human-initiated salvation? I'm genuinely curious where Scripture teaches that God's eternal choice depends on human decision.

Thanks for keeping me sharp!

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