“BOASTFUL BEACH” – CAN HUMAN FREE WILL BE PRESENT IN BIBLICAL SALVATION? – Kerrigan Skelly

BoastfulBeach

One objection Calvinists often pose to non-Calvinists regarding salvation is the involvement of free will in sinners being converted/made right with God. Calvinists would have you believe that the free will of man has absolutely nothing to do with salvation and that if it did, that the man would automatically be prideful or that salvation would automatically be “works salvation,” instead of “salvation by grace.”

In meditating upon this through the years, I have come up with a parable/analogy to show how silly these objections are.  Man choosing to be saved does not mean that he is being prideful, nor does it mean that his salvation is now a “works salvation.”  In my opinion, these silly objections simply consist in Calvinists engaging in the redefining of Biblical words.  They define the terms in light of their theological system, instead of allowing the true definitions of Biblical words to define their theological system.

BOASTFUL BEACH PARABLE/ANALOGY

Two men were at Boastful Beach one day.  They loved the beach, because it fulfilled the “lust of their eyes” as they looked at all the bikini clad women.  They were enjoying their day basking in the heat of the sun and getting a tan in order to fuel their own “pride of life.”  They both knew that in order to get a “hot girl,” they had to have a tan.  One of them began to get a little too warm, so he decided to take a swim in the Sea of Sin.

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10 Things Consistent Calvinists SHOULD Say (But Usually Don’t) – Refuting Calvinism | Kerrigan Skelly

Calvinism-TrueGospel

This post is in the same theme as my last “10 Things” post (SEE HERE FOR ON THAT POST), except that this one is the EXACT OPPOSITE of the last one.  Sometimes Calvinists remind me of Mormons.  Now, I know that sounds insulting, but please let me explain.  Mormons, often times, try to “hide” some of their more “hard to believe” doctrines from new converts or people they are trying to convert.  They won’t talk about polygamy, the blood atonement doctrine, that Joseph Smith said that the “rest of Christianity” was apostate, that you could have your own planet someday, that God used to be a human being or that Jesus and Satan are brothers.

I see the same thing happening with Calvinists, a lot of the time.  They rarely ever mention their “hard to believe” doctrines while witnessing to the lost, while preaching in the open air or in their prayers.  They rarely ever talk about Unconditional Election or Unconditional Reprobation, on the streets.  They rarely ever talk about Limited/Definite Atonement, while they are witnessing to someone.  They rarely ever mention Irresistible Grace, while they pray.

Why is that?  Are they ashamed of such doctrines?  Do they not think that such doctrines are important?  Do they really believe in them?  In light of these experiences of mine, I have made a list of 10 things that consistent Calvinists SHOULD say, but usually don’t say.  As with the last list, this list doesn’t include all Calvinists.  There may be some Calvinists who would and do say these things.  I couldn’t possibly include all Calvinists, since I don’t know all Calvinists and haven’t had an experience with all Calvinists.  I am simply going by my extended experience with Calvinists, over the last 8 years or so.

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What Is “Works Salvation”? | Refuting Calvinists, Antinomians & Judaizers | Kerrigan Skelly

WorkSalvation

Quite often, I get accused of believing in “works salvation”.  This is not to be unexpected, in this age of apostasy.  False doctrine and false teachers are abounding all around us.  Much of this is happening under the guise of being “true Christianity”.  Because of all of this, many people don’t even understand what the writers of the Scripture mean, when they use the term, “works salvation”.  Usually, people believe one of the following four definitions, for “works salvation”:

1) “Works salvation” is saying that you have any part in your salvation at all.  In other words, if you believe in free will, then you believe in “works salvation”.  If you believe that YOU did the repenting and YOU did the trusting in Jesus Christ, then that is “works salvation”.  If you believe in “synergism”, then you believe in “works salvation”.  This is the position of the Monergist or the Calvinist (at least, most of the ones that I have talked to).  They’ll often quote John 6, Romans 9 & Ephesians 1, giving their Calvinistic interpretation of them.

2) “Works salvation” is saying that you must repent of your sins, in order to be saved.  All you need to do to be saved, is “believe in Jesus” (they’ll quote Romans 10:14-15 for you).  Saying that you must turn from your sins to be saved, is “works salvation”, even though they believe that you must turn from at least one sin (unbelief), in order to be saved.  This is the position of antinomian or typically the King James Only Fundamental Independent Baptist (I have absolutely nothing against the KJV Bible).

3) “Works salvation” is saying that you are responsible for “maintaining your salvation” or “staying saved”.  In other words, if you say that you can “lose your salvation”, “depart from the faith”, “be cut off”, etc., then you believe in “works salvation”.  If you believe that you must live a holy life to be a true Christian, then you believe in “works salvation”. This is the position of anyone who believes in any form of unconditional eternal security, once saved always saved or perseverance of the saints. Some Calvinists may say that you “need to live holy” to be a Christian, but that is just double talk, since they say that we “all sin everyday, in though, word and deed”.

4) “Works salvation” is saying that committing sin can cause you to “lose your salvation”.  Only “completely rejecting Jesus” can cause you to “lose your salvation”, but “sin” can’t.  This is the position of SOME people who call themselves Arminians (NOT all of them).

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Were the “Early Church Fathers” Calvinistic, In Their Soteriology? Part 1 (Conditional Security)

Ante-Nicene-Fathers

As I have dealt with Calvinists and Calvinism over the past 7-8 years, they always seem to want to present their soteriology (doctrine of salvation) as “The Historical Christian Faith”.  When a Calvinist says such a thing, it makes me laugh (at least on the inside).  It shows that they are either ignorant of what the Early Church Fathers believed and are just parroting what their favorite “theologian” has said or they are just outright lying.

Either way, such a statement couldn’t be further from the truth.  And just to be clear, when I say, “Early Church Fathers” (ECF’s) I am referring to the Ante-Nicene Fathers.  In other words, I am referring to the Church leaders who wrote extensively, prior to the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.).

With all of that in mind, I want to give you some quotes from the ECF’s regarding one tenant of Calvinism – “Perseverance of the Saints”.  This is also know as the “P” from the acronym “T.U.L.I.P.”, which is used to represent the Calvinistic doctrine of soteriology. “Perseverance” of the Saints is more rightly called “Preservation of the Saints” or “Unconditional Eternal Security”, since God “preserves them” and since there is nothing they can do to “lose their salvation”.

No matter what you choose to call it, it was not what the Early Church believed in.  The only group of people who believed such doctrines during this period of time, were the Gnostics, who were heretics.  Jude 3 says, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”  If this verse it to have any meaning at all, we should be able to see some form of Calvinistic soteriology in the Early Church Father’s writings.  Unfortunately, for the Calvinists, we don’t.

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