Who has God elected or chosen to save?

This is a link to the second part of a series examining the foundational doctrines of Calvinism from an Arminian point of view.
Its author, William Birch, is a former Calvinist.


AN EXAMINATION OF TULIP THEOLOGY: "U" FOR UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

An excerpt from the article.

Who has God elected or chosen to save? It is explicitly and overwhelmingly clear from Scripture that God has chosen to save anyone who will believe in His Son Jesus Christ (Mk. 1:15; John 1:7, 12; 4:42; 6:29; 11:27; 12:42; 14:1; 16:30-31; 17:20; Acts 8:37; 15:11; 16:31; Rom. 3:22; 4:11; 10:9; 1 Cor. 1:21; Gal. 3:22; Eph. 1:19; 1 Tim. 4:10) -- the most explicit passage being, "God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" (1 Cor. 1:21 NASB).

This being the truth of Scripture then election must be viewed as conditional: it is conditioned upon faith in Christ. Thus Arminians believe in the doctrine of Conditional Election; but only in the sense that sinners become elect upon faith in and union with Christ Jesus, and not beforehand. We believe it is erroneous to say that God has unconditionally elected to save or unconditionally saves anyone, since faith is the condition to being justified, regenerated and thus saved.


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The first part of the series can be found here:
Examination of tulip

AUGUSTINE. An article by William Birch

Here is an link to a recommended article AUGUSTINE: THE INTRODUCTION OF AUGUSTINIANISM (AND LATER CALVINISM) INTO THE CHURCH
By William Birch (excerpt below).

When one considers the amount of false, and at times heretical, views to which he held, it is truly a wonder how he became such an authority or cherished figure in the Protestant Church. In some circles, to quote Augustine is tantamount to quoting Scripture.

But for the purpose of this post, one thing stands out above his other errors. It is more than merely interesting that Augustine was the first one to introduce the idea that God had unconditionally elected some unto faith and salvation by decree and not others. And this he did not attribute to God's foreknowledge of forseen faith or rejection of Christ, as did his predecessors, but to God's sole prior decision and delight.

Even more shocking, however, in light of his novelty of unconditional election, was his statement, that, "It is, indeed, to be wondered at, and greatly to be wondered at, that to some of His own children ~ whom He has regenerated in Christ ~ to whom He has given faith, hope, and love, God does not give perseverance also." One seldom hears the Calvinist quoting this statement from Augustine.

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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

GOD IN THE HANDS OF ANGRY CALVINISTS by William Watson Birch

The article linked below would be worthwhile just for the title alone. But don’t stop there, read the whole lot!

GOD IN HANDS OF ANGRY CALVINISTS


This part at the beginning immediately stood out:

“According to John Piper, typically, certain types of people are prone to accepting Calvinism. "What types of people are these?" you ask. These, according to Piper, are the intellectual types…”

After reading some of the Calvinist arguments I’ve seen lately, that statement does not surprise me. The arguments have paid little regard for scripture but have been centred on “reasoning” the “truth”. For example, if God really wanted all to be saved, then all WOULD be saved. All are not saved, therefore the atonement is limited. This application of reason results in an outcome that is totally contrary to clear scriptural statements.

I have also found that the Calvinist obsession with election and predestination is based on particular interpretations being projected into various texts. However a clear leap in logic needs to be taken when references to predestination and election are assumed to be referring to “unconditionally elected for salvation”.
That leap of logic is not warranted, and in reality it leads to an entirely false conclusion that contradicts many CLEAR and CATEGORICAL scriptural statements.

(See 1 Corinthians 1: 17-29 regarding man’s wisdom and intellect.)