Friday, September 11, 2009

CALVINISM, MISSIONS, AND INCONSISTENCY by William Birch

A recommended article from the Classical Arminian blog


CALVINISM, MISSIONS, AND INCONSISTENCY by William Birch

Recently, I have heard comments from Calvinists from pulpits making statements that, in my opinion, are entirely inconsistent with their theory of Unconditional Election. For instance (and I will not mention any names), I heard some ministers promote the notion that "if more Christians do not go out to the mission field, then those people will die without Jesus Christ." That much is true, and it is certainly more than a mere sincere motivating factor for Christians to consider. In New Testament Scripture, it is a given that followers of Jesus Christ will share their faith with others (cf. Acts 1:8).

Recently, however, I have also heard Calvinist preachers make this comment: "If more Christians do not go out to the mission field, then those people will die without Jesus Christ. And they will stand at the Judgment Throne of God and ask us, 'Why did you not come and witness to us? We will now spend eternity in hell because you refused to bring us the gospel.'" Nothing could be farther from the truth, according to Calvinism, my friends! Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Complete article here:
CALVINISM, MISSIONS, AND INCONSISTENCY

3 comments:

Paul G said...

Onesimus;
A true statement!
You can kick a dead horse as long as you want, it will never do any work.

But if the horse is resurrected and brought back to life, then it can do nothing else but work.

The same it is with a man who is born again from the dead, he can do nothing else but to bear witness and testimony of his wonderful savior Jesus Christ.
Paul

Daniel (Da Pilgrim) said...

Interesting thought Tim.

(Talking about extreme Calvinism)
How can a God who chooses who will get saved, then turn around and allow the people who go to hell blame little christians for not saving them, who technically cannot save anyone because God elects and chooses who will be saved.

Hope that sentence wasn't too long.

We are responsible.
To whom much is given, much is expected.

Onesimus said...

DaBomb asked:
"How can a God who chooses who will get saved, then turn around and allow the people who go to hell blame little christians for not saving them..."

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Because the Calvinist god is a being who does not take reponsibility for his own actions. Instead he puts the blame on his creation.
He brings mankind into this world with a totally depraved nature and then punishes them for having the very nature he brought them into the world with. Not only does he punish them - he also says it was their own fault for having that nature.