Update

Well, I'm sorry I've not been posting in a while, there isn't a whole lot to update on. I had an e-mail back from Carolyn (the young Mennonite girl) but it basically said "well, we just define things differently than you do" and reaffirmed a belief in free-will with not a sign of a Bible verse anywhere, or any kind of answer to any of my questions, sadly. I read through John Owen's book "A Display of Arminianism" and I highly recommend it, apparently it was his first publication and one of his best as far as beauty of literature goes, he is also very vehement against this "idol" of free will that the Arminians had set up in his day. Anyway, the issue was on my heart so I wrote down what I think is a short summary and sent it to her. I just thought I'd share it for whoever would want to read and comment upon it. I've also been reviewing a book that the pastor here is writing on Revelation. He told me (from my e-mails) that I write very well (though I beg to differ on that point, especially in comparison with some!) and wanted me to review and correct what he had written so far. I think it's very good so far, a very good overview, gets to the main point of each passage so far, and is clean and easy to understand and I've enjoyed reading it. Aside from that though, not a whole lot has been happening aside from what I would call "ordinary."

Oh, aside from the happy fact that I got a letter today informing me that I was awarded a $2000 scholarship, for which I was VERY grateful! This is the one that I asked Mr. N to write a recommendation for, as well as an instructor of mine, I'm grateful to them as well and will thank them when I have the opportunity.

Here is the letter I wrote this last evening.

This is an issue that has been on my mind much as of late and I just wanted to try to quickly sum up what it is that I am trying to convey, and that is: that it is ALL of God and not of ourselves!

And thank God for that because though he makes salvation available to all, there are none who would accept it, "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." Rom 3:11. We cannot change ourselves. "Free-will," which term cannot be found in the Bible, is something that I do believe that men have, in a sense as they make choices. We know the difference between right and wrong (Gen 3:22) yet, as Gen 6:5 says "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." And we can't change that! Jer 13:23 says "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." Those are pretty strong terms. Inasmuch as we are sinners, we can choose between this or that evil, only after we have been free from sin can we do what is pleasing unto God.

That it is of God that we believe is easily gathered from such verses as Mat 11:26,26 "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." It cannot be said that the wise and prudent (which are both commended in Proverbs interestingly) were too wise in their worldly wisdom to look at the foolishness of the Gospel, Jesus plainly thanks the Father for hiding it from them, and revealing the truth to babes. Joh 6:29 plainly tells us "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."

Is it up to God to choose who will come unto him? Indeed! "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." Joh 5:21. John 17 has Jesus' prayer for those whom the Father has given to him.

This is NECESSARY, because "we were dead in sins," Eph 2:5 as is said often of us, as being in bondage, spiritually dead to God, otherwise Eph 1:19,20 would make absolutely no sense "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places," The very same power that raised Jesus from the dead, is wrought also in us, that we may be saved. Did Jesus tell Lazarus to come forth if he chose to? No, but by mighty power brought the dead man forth. Interestingly, afterwards Jesus tells them to loose Lazarus, he couldn't have walked out himself because of the way they bound bodies in the Middle East, with the legs wrapped tightly together. But I'm getting off the subject.

Joh 12:38-40 "That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them."

Those are very strong words: "Could not so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. As has been the belief of nearly every Christian for the past 2000 years, men have no power to believe in themselves, it is merely of God's mere love and mercy that works in us to bring or draw us to himself. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day." Joh 6:44 That these are believers is made clear from the promise that he will raise him up at the last day.

Or how about Act 16:14 "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." Clearly God opened her heart so that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. If it was all up to her to hear and to choose, then why would God's work in her heart be necessary?

"And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." Or "appointed" in other translations. They didn't believe first and were then appointed, they believed BECAUSE they were appointed, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world" Eph 1:4. Those are very strong words and I honestly don't see how they can be ignored or circumvented.

God's Word is what must bind our consciences and mold our beliefs. If I can be shown that there some gross injustice I am doing to the words themselves, then I will gladly listen and learn. Until then however, I must go with what is the clearest in Scripture, and that is that men are unable to believe of themselves "John answered, 'A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.'" and all are equally deserving of death because they should believe in the Son of God and yet do not. "And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil."

We are sinners and cannot change our behaviour, we shun the light and love the darkness. Thanks be to God that we "were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:13, because such only believed in his name as the previous verse states. Had God not done so, we would have remained even as the rest of the world, in sin and wickedness, hating God. "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom 8:7,8

People often quote Rom 8:31 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" but for some reason neglect the preceeding verses which caused Paul the Apostle to burst out with this exclamation: "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

Those whom he predestined, or chose, he called to himself, justified them, and will glorify them (though so certain as to be spoken of as already accomplished, as when, at times, spoken of our sanctification).

Rom 8:38,39 "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Christ loves us because we love him? "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1Jo 4:10

Rom 5:8,9 "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God." Clearly the "we" are Christians, since they have been justified, or declared to be righteous. As a "redeemer" Christ died for those he was to redeem, or else he was only a potential saviour and it could have been that no one had believed. The word redeemed means to buy back, ransomed, delivered from bondage (in this case, Satan). Christ is only a true saviour and a true redeemer if he actually did purchase his people, if he actually did die to save his chosen ones. A ransom denotes a very specific object, not that he put up a fund that people can dip into whenever they want. I agree that the worth of Christ's sacrifice is sufficient to cover the sins of a thousand worlds, yet this obviously doesn't happen because all do not believe. We have a saviour, not a potential saviour. Look up the instances of "ransom" in the Old Testament and it always deals with a specific person. Why then, when it is said that Jesus became a ransom for "many" that it is said that it is only a pool that people may dip into, like a scholarship fund?

Over 100 references in the New Testament alone calling us (believers) "chosen." Is this without significance? And does not God have a right to do so when all, by their own rejection, deserve the punishment of hell forever? Does not a man have a right to choose a wife and a woman to choose a husband? Would that be unjust to every other man or woman out there? Then why cannot God choose a bride for his Son, Christ? And most certainly it is to show his wonderful grace, "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 1Co 1:26-29

Instead of making me proud and boastful as some accuse, it makes me all the more to praise God and to realize that since he chooses what is considered poor in the eyes of the world, that I am nothing, I am (or was) worse than most people, yet because of his mercy, he chose me and brought me to himself. There is no cause to boast that I was more spiritual than anyone else, or that I chose Christ (Joh 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you") but that he chose me, that I might bear fruit.

It's not merely a contention about words. If we cannot believe the plain sense of these words of Scripture then neither can we believe something such as Rom 3:24 "and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," as meaning that we are actually justified without works! I strongly believe that works cannot save anyone because "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with evil intent." Pro 21:27 And we are clearly born wicked: "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psa 51:5

There is a multitude of other verses and the whole redemptive cloth is woven so tightly with this that if you take it out, the entirety of it falls and you wind up believing in salvation by works, a universal salvation, or some other untruth, if you take it to its natural consequences. If we cannot believe the Scripture upon this matter, then what can we believe? Surely this is not something that men would have conceived on their own, it is repugnant to men's belief in their own autonomy, yet may the Lord teach us and not we ourselves. May he humble us. I pray for humbleness too as I try to firmly but gently try to show what the Scriptures do indeed teach. If I am wrong, then please show me were I have failed. Please study the Scriptures and ask God to reveal what is true and what is false. And please know that this is meant out of respect and love and a desire to see a fellow sister to grow and to praise God for the glory due to him, all of it and not just a part, and I pray for that in myself as well for I come so short in so many ways. I'm not simply willing to share, but I am willing to listen and to be instructed as well, if your pastor, parents, or anyone you know has something which might show that I am incorrect, then by all means, I beg you to show it to me, that I might be able to walk in a way that is pleasing unto the Lord, and not merely to myself or to other men. Though I think that I could hardly be accused of trying to please people by supporting such a doctrine. "And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. John 6:65,66 Many of the people following Christ turned away from him saying "this is a hard thing" because what he said. I expect nothing else. It is a hard thing, but oh how glorifying to God once you realize! All the more reason to ask God to use you as a tool to witness to others that he might use you to be the means to draw another one to himself! Those who say it depends on the will of men (and not of God like John 1:13 says) would have to say that when you witness, it is up to you to be persuasive and if you are not and turn them farther away, it is your fault. If you are the one who persuades people to come to Christ, then you have to take the blame for chasing people away, and that is a horrible burden to live with, knowing that by your incompetance you could damn someone forever. This is not the case though, for whom he foreknew, he predestined, and whom he predestined, he calls, and whom he calls, he justifies, and God's end will be accomplished, though it does not excuse us from preparing or preaching God's Word, may we pray to be used though!

It is largely because of this that the modern "cheap grace" movement has begun, we need to be persuasive as possible, play the music, play on emotions, get people to come forward and make a decision "NOW" before it is too late, to make them say the prayer. If it is up to men, then that's the way to go, but that's not what the Apostles did. "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." Act 2:47
Why pray for relatives and friends, asking God to save their souls if we don't believe that he actually works in them? If we believe it is all of their own will that they choose or don't choose him? No, but I believe the Scriptures clearly teach that he must work in men, to regenerate them and make them sensitive to the things of God and make them so that they see the horribleness of their sin and desire to turn away from it and to believe on Christ. As natural man, we love those things and will not turn away, as God's new creations, we abhor those things and seek him. We may plant, water, and plough, but God ALONE gives the increase. I feel that this is brief, but I believe it to be true, Scriptural, and what is pleasing to God, if I be wrong then I ask please, to be shown, that I may correct myself, but you cannot correct or bend the Scriptures, every man who tries is broken upon them. Rather they must bend and correct us.

For His Kingdom,
L.