Irresistible Grace - Forced to love God?

In this video I try to clear up some of the misconceptions of Irresistible Grace. Please keep the arguments to a minimum.

:)

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• calvinism
• irresitible
• grace
• predestination

[SilenceDogood1720]

The point I'm getting to is parts of the Bible don't always have a universal interpretation. Furthermore, you should never allow someone to convince you that their interpretation is absolute truth. Read the Scripture for what it is. I didn't want to get in such a useless debate, because I think the Bible is something that shouldn't be debated. It should be read with the heart, and it should read the heart.

[JoelTheCalvinist]

Strange... that's how I arrived at these conclusions.

[SilenceDogood1720]

"We resist God constantly so we need something irresistible to be saved."

We can resist God's love but we can't resist His grace (which is still love)? We can either resist God fully, or we can't. God gave us wonderful minds with the ability to choose. God offers his grace to us persistently, and we choose to resist it. I find that the most irresistible things are sinful things. We wage war against our bodies constantly, because sin is so enticing.

[JoelTheCalvinist]

We resist God before regeneration constantly.(Romans 3:9-18, Romans 8:7, Acts 7:51)

God overcomes that resistance with a single, powerful, effective work of grace that results in regeneration.

(1 Peter 1:3, John 6:44,1 Corinthians 1:22-24)

After this, as Christians, we have the ability to resist God, and not resist God.

(Romans 7:19, 1 Corinthians 11:1)

I am not saying that we don't resist God. I'm saying he must overcome us at least once for our salvation, to free us from sin (John 8:34).

[SilenceDogood1720]

Yes, I am summing it up to choice. I'm CHOOSING to have this meaningless debate. If I were convinced that everything in life is predestined, I would just go live under a rock, because everything action I took would be useless. I'm familiar with these verses, and I have never gathered the same meaning from them as you have. Read them in context with the chapter, or even the entire book. We are never free from sin. We choose not to indulge in the sinful desires of the flesh. We choose to obey God.

[JoelTheCalvinist]

You: "We choose to obey God."

The Bible: "...no one seeks for 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."

"The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

"Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool..."

I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.

[adamfelder]

@JoelTheCalvinist May I offer another way to show it? Disagree or not, I think the way to look at it is this, and I think the Bible shows it this way. The man offers the homeless man the $100, but he will refuse it because he hates the man trying to give him the money. What must be changed in regeneration is the heart of the homeless man towards God. Its not a problem with the money, it is the issue the homeless man has with the person offering money.

[garethchambers11]

sorry to butt in, but in my humble opinion, we are not Gods, God is God, the same yesterday, today and forever, the author and finisher of the faith. There are things believers will never understand until heaven, let God be God because he alone can. He alone is able to make this choice, not us. he alone is perfectly just and perfectly holy and still perfectly loving.

[SilenceDogood1720]

Nevertheless, we still disobey, which makes us all sinners... I've always believed the Bible should be read for what it is. Don't make claims before reading a scripture, and then prove that claim with a scripture you've read. That's exactly what John Calvin did. I could claim that we should feed baby sheep, because Jesus said "feed my lambs", but to read it in context, we know this isn't what Jesus is meaning.

[JoelTheCalvinist]

"that would mean that God chooses to save some and not save others."

Isn't that what happens? People go to hell everyday. Or are you summing it up to choice?

In any case as a Christian, as I said before, we have this problem of evil, of hell, and of an all-powerful, all-loving God.

You're saying he can save all, but chooses not to so that creation can make their own decisions. I'm saying that he doesn't save all for a bigger purpose (Genesis 50:20, Romans 9:22-23).