Thank you for your honesty. It's rare and valuable that someone is humble enough to admit really what their thought processes are in this regard.remade wrote:As I studied today in my personal readings, the fall from grace in Saul's life... perhaps setting up in I Samuel 13:8-14 in which Saul assumes the responsibilities of a priest... (Jesus assuredly can be and is prophet, priest and King)... and culminated in the tearing of Samuel's robe found in I Samuel 15.. I guess a sadness hit me all the more.dizerner wrote: Yes. What we can't assume is that giving someone a new heart removes their ability to make it bad again. It's like God giving you a second chance—doesn't assure you will use it.
If I am honest, a Calvinistic view has appealed to me for many reasons, but all the reasons are because I feel less responsible for my response to God (Which I would admit, aren't the best reasons).
(1) If I am assuredly elect, then there is NOTHING I can do to lose my salvation which brings profound relief.
(2) If I am assuredly elect, then I no longer need to perform. This presupposes that any orthodox soteriological view suggests that performance is due on part of the Christian. What I mean by "perform," and the assurance and relief that comes from a Calvinist view, is that whether I'm a "good" or "bad" Christian, whether I am devout, always-church attending, good at reading my Bible, and good at confessing and repenting of sin or not, the Calvinist view brings assurance that says, "Even if you do 'fail', you're saved."
(3) If I am assuredly elect, then even the biggest of sins, and the longest of rebellions will always, utterly, and assuredly be met with an eventual repentance and return to grace; that brings profound relief.
Yet, these three truths may not be truths. And furthermore, the antitheses for the reprobate are chilling, disturbing, and devoid of any blessed assurance that apparently the Calvinist says that exists for the elect and the reprobate at the same time.
Just thinking out loud here. If it starts more conversation, I'll tune in.
All Calvinists will claim these motives don't enter in at all, but when virtually every Calvinist that has shown any humility in a moment of candor admits to these motivations, it's hard not to project it onto the majority of them—that they are just not being entirely honest with themselves.