Response:
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I do not accept Calvinism, because there are too many verses of Scripture that refute it. Yes, there are verses that could be used as support as well, but Calvinism as defined by Augustine and Calvin simply does not fit the Biblical model. Incidentally, all five "points" of Calvinism go together, so there really is no such things as a 4 point or 3 point Calvinist. It's all or nothing.

Calvin said,

"We call predestination God's eternal decree by which he contracted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others. Therefore, as man has been created to one or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestinated to life or death."

Please note the following points.

1. Calvin believed in reprobation: that God chose for certain people to go to Hell.
2. God created people to either go to Heaven of Hell.

Thus, all unsaved people were created by God simply so that He could send them to Hell. Is this really the God of the Bible?

Let's look at the 5 points.

• Total Depravity/Inability. Yes, man is depraved and can not save himself, but God commands men to choose salvation, which means that they can not be unable to do so (Acts 17:30, II Peter 3:9, Rev 22:17, John 7:37, John 5:40, Matt 11:28-29, Luke 8:12, Acts 2:40, Joshua 24:15)

• Unconditional Election. God's predestination of some to salvation demands that those who have not been chosen to be saved have thus been chosen to eternal condemnation. If unconditional election exists, then
  1. all calls for the world to repent are ridiculous,
  2. man can not choose whether or not to receive Christ, and
  3. God does not and can not desire for the world to be saved.
  However, all these ideas are found in Scripture (Matt 23:37, John 5:40, John 3:16, John 12:32, Acts 10:34, 43, Rom 10:13, II Peter 3:9, I Tim 2:4, Titus 2:11, Luke 14:15-24)

• Limited Atonement. Did Christ die for everyone? The Bible says that He did. (Isaiah 53:6, Luke 19:10, John 1:29, John 6:51, Rom 5:6, II Cor 5:14, 19, I Tim 1:15, Heb 2:9, Heb 10:10, II Peter 2:1, I John 2:2. 4:14)

• Irresistible grace. Can God's grace be refused? The Bible says that it can. (John 5:40, Acts 7:51, Prov 1:24-26, II Tim 3:8, Matt 9:13 - Christ calls sinners, but all sinners do not get saved).

• Perseverance of the saints. This is not the doctrine of eternal security, but rather the belief that all saved people will persevere in their faith, and if they do fall away, they will return before death. If they do not return, then they were never saved. Noted Calvinist author Arthur Pink said,

  "If there is a reserve in your obedience, then you are on your way to Hell",

  and

  "Holiness in this life is absolutely necessary to salvation."

  Thus, a Calvinist can never really know whether or not he is saved, because he hasn't reached the end of his life yet, and the possibility still exists that he might fall away. Since the Bible contains exhortations for believers to "persevere" in their endeavors for the Lord, it must be possible for believers to not always persevere and still be saved. (I Cor 15:58, Phil 2:12, Jude 1:21, Matt 26:41, Rom 7:18, Titus 3:8)

We do believe in eternal security, and the Bible clearly teaches it. Calvinists also believe in eternal security, but they can't know if they have it until they're dead. I have it, not because I know that I am elect (for no one can really know this, for who knows the mind of God), but because I know that I have repented and received Christ as Savior. Loraine Boettner, a famous Calvinist theologian, wrote,

"A person is not saved because he believes in Christ. He believes in Christ because he is saved."

Eddie Garrett, a Primitive (Calvinist) Baptist said,

"God has an elect people and Christ died for them and they all will be born again and will live in Heaven all due to His sovereign grace. Many of them have never heard the Gospel."

Thus, no one really knows if they are saved or not until death. I'm glad that the Bible tells me that I can know (I John 5:13).

You yourself said that you strongly believed that God was not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance. This verse itself contradicts most of the TULIP principles. If a man is depraved, he can not come to repentance. If election is unconditional, then God is only willing for some people, whom He chose in eternity past, to repent, and He is very willing for all that He did not choose (since He could have chosen all of them) to not repent and go to the Lake of Fire. If the atonement is limited, then Christ did not die for all men, so it would be foolish for God to desire for all men to repent, since Christ, by God's decree, didn't die for them. If grace is irresistible, then those who have been elected will come whether they want to or not, and once again this verse makes no sense.

By Pastor Dr. Mark Montgomery Email: Ask the Pastor Ambassador Baptist Church 1926 Babcock Blvd Pittsburgh, PA 15209 (412)477-3210