hmm

@Bashj7 @sola_chad You aren't a puppet being forced; you are a prisoner who has finally been given the eyes to see that the cell door is open

@Bashj7 @sola_chad 'Gnosticism' or 'puppetry' misses the beauty of monergism. God doesn’t pull your strings or whisper secret codes; He performs a heart transplant. He changes your fundamental desires so that you freely and willingly run to the Gospel.

“The only ones who believe are those whom God has chosen … Why? So that no man may boast.” -John MacArthur

@Bashj7 @sola_chad @Bashj7 I don’t remember scripture saying “you were drowning in your sins looking for a life raft” what I recall is that we are “dead in our sins & trespasses.” “By nature children of wrath” Eph 2:3 “slaves of sin” rom 6:17

@Bashj7 @sola_chad So the answer to my question (not a statement) is a "no" A dead man is unaware of his drowning. And unlike the gnostics, it's not as simple as receiving a hidden knowledge. It is a spiritual heart transplant by the work of God, which everything else begins to heal from.

@Bashj7 @sola_chad And I don’t believe God ignores anyone Everyone has their purpose Prov 16:4 the wicked for the day of evil Rom 9:22 vessels of wrath prepared for destruction

Actually, recognizing a gift doesn’t make the recipient good or better, it just makes them a beggar who accepted bread. If a drowning man reaches for a life-preserver, does he brag about his strength for grabbing it? Of course not. The glory goes to the one who threw the rope. I don't have a goodness apart from God. I just believe God’s grace is a genuine offer, not a forced gnostic determination which a lot of Calvinists seem to gravitate towards. Ephesians 1:3-6, I believe that verse completely. But just because I object and reject your interpretation doesn't mean I don't embrace those verses. You have a gnostic interpretation so I'm going to of course reject it. Notice it says He chose us in Him. That’s the the difference between you and I, I believe Jesus is the chosen one you actually believe you are. And if you are in the Chosen one, who was chosen before eternity began then you're one of His. The caste system comes in when you claim God ignores the many to drag the few. It seems to me you brag in your position instead of being like Paul from Romans chapter 9: 2 who would be willing to give up his choseness (your pet doctrine) to save his lost Brothers. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, behind your piety and moral outrage your calvinistic system is the most man-centered system pretending to be humble.

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Nope. No one has since the Apostolic age.

@Bashj7 @sola_chad “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.“ I have nothing in myself to boast in. “so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Cor 1:31

No that's weird. Nobody thinks like that. When everybody's on an equal playing field (all the humanity). Then nobody can brag, but since you believe you were chosen before the foundation of the world of course you can brag. The cognitive dissonance in the calvinist is astounding to me.

@Bashj7 @sola_chad And then of course to your point, I guess another difference between you and I, is that I do believe Eph. 1:3-6

@Bashj7 @sola_chad Well, and since you apparently have more humility, aren’t you also able to brag ? The difference is I recognize there’s nothing in myself apart from God that’s good. You apparently have a goodness apart from God that has given you “humility”

@Bashj7 @sola_chad It would actually appear that you’ve created a caste system in your ideology; you’ve received faith because you’ve practiced more humility than the next guy, therefore you’re better and good enough to receive justification. Glory to you

If God drags you but doesn't drag the person next to you, then by definition, you have been made special by that choice. If God passes over most of humanity but hand-picks a few, it creates a spiritual caste system established before the world began. The beauty of the Gospel isn't that God forces a few to believe, but that He provides the Way for anyone to come to Him.... Thank you Jesus. The humility comes from knowing I'm lost without the ship, not from being a special passenger God forced on board while others were left behind. Also, I need to respond to your use of the drag terminology from John 6:44, but if we apply that same interpretive logic to John 12:32, you have a problem. In that verse, Jesus says when He is lifted up, He will draw (drag) all men to Himself. So I guess you must be a universalist.

@Bashj7 @sola_chad I’ll follow ur analogy: The only reason u would recognize your being lost is because God grants u the ability to know that. Lost people don’t know they’re lost nor do they care. Lost people don’t read the Bible & have an immediate reaction. God alone grants these changes in man

@Disciple4Lif @sola_chad Guess we’re reading different bibles

@3liNemo @sola_chad No

@Disciple4Lif @sola_chad Did Jesus say this: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” -John 15:16 ?

@Bashj7 @sola_chad Drag is what the Greek says All must not mean a literal all

@stranger9824 @sola_chad I’ve never met a Calvinist that boasted in the fact they were elected. Instead, it’s always “why in the world would God elect me?” I don’t think you understand the theology you’re attempting to critique, friend. Or perhaps you’ve met poor examples

@sola_chad "God picked me" is definitely a boast. I can't boast because salvation is based on nothing I have or could do.