Conditional vs. Unconditional Calvinism!

Hello Guys and Gals!

I know many of you are not aware of what a 5 point Calvinist is! Here is a brief description: TULIP!

1. Total Depravity (also known as Total Inability and Original Sin)

2. Unconditional Election

3. Limited Atonement (also known as Particular Atonement)

4. Irresistible Grace

5. Perseverance of the Saints (also known as Once Saved Always Saved)

These points and their definitions can be found here:

http://calvinistcorner.com/tulip

But I want to focus on the 2nd point here! I used to believe in something called Conditional Calvinist! I used to believe that I was one!

A Conditional Calvinist is one who believes that God, Who exists outside of time, looked into a Believer's future and saw that point at which he would accept Jesus Christ into his life! God then supports and guides that Believer to be able to reach the point of decision where he will make his Free Will choice to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior!

That is what I used to believe I was! I no longer believe that! I now believe fully and completely in the second point of Calvinism that my 'Election' to become a Believer is totally Unconditional and that even my Free Will choice was something given to me by God so that I even had the power to accept the Grace of God to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ!

Take a look at Ephesians 1:3-6!

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

It states that we were chosen by God before the foundations of the Earth existed so that we would be able to receive His gracious gift of Salvation which he freely gave to us through His Son, Jesus Christ! And He did all this simply for the 'good pleasure of His will.

"But that's not fair!" you might say. What does fair have to do with any of it? Have you never made something and destroyed it or thrown it away simply because you can do what you want with your creations?

Let's take a look at Romans 9:20-24!

20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,
24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

This passage is a clear view of God's rights as the omnipotent Creator! He does have the right to make vessels to fill with His mercy as well as vessels to fill with His wrath and vessels for every other thing which He decides to pour into them! It is His right and His right alone to do this!

"But that means that we do not have Free Will!" you might say. I would argue that we do still have Free Will.

Take a look at John 3:18-20!

18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

In this passage of scripture it is evident that all Unbelievers are judged because of their unbelief in Jesus Christ and that they loved darkness rather than the Light!

Now take a look at Acts 18:9-10!

9 And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent;
10 for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city."

This passage shows that God had people in that city who have not yet come to Him and He was sending Paul to preach in that city so that they would come to Him!

Look at Ezekiel 33:11!

11 "Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’

This is where God declares to all wicked His desire for them to turn away from their evil ways so that He does not have to put them to death as He takes no pleasure in it!

Look at Romans 9:16!

16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

Again, we see here that it is solely on God's judgment with each and every one of us, believers and unbelievers alike, that He may have mercy on those who He chooses and judgment on those who He chooses!

In conclusion, I now believe fully and completely in Unconditional Election! Simply that God chose us believers to be elected into His grace for the simple reason of He simply chose us and not someone else!

All the good that comes out of me can only come out of me because God has poured it into me in the first place!

May God bless each and every one of you this day!