Only.me80 #3: All/world = Some

In the previous post of this series, I noted that Only.me80 said (as all Calvinists do) that "in mercy God must choose to save some."

Some?  

Calvi-god predestines only some people to heaven because he wants to save only some people.  Calvi-god draws only some people to him, allowing only some people to hear, understand, respond to the Calvi-gospel.  Calvi-god has real love, grace, mercy for only some people. Calvi-Jesus died for only some people, paying for only some people's sins.

But let's see what the Bible says:

John 1:29: “… 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the whole world.'”

Luke 2:10: "But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.'"

John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  

1 John 2:2: "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

Romans 11:32: "For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all."  

John 12:32: “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”  

John 16:8: "When [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment."  

Acts 17:27: “God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each of us,"  

God loves us all and wants us all saved.  Jesus died for us all.  He draws us all - through His Word at the highest level (for those with Bibles), and through nature and our hearts at the most basic level (for everyone, even those without access to Bibles, Romans 1:20, Ecc. 3:11, Romans 2:14-15).  He has made salvation possible for all and available to all - a gift that none of us deserve but that we all can accept.  But He allows us - requires us - to decide for ourselves whether we will seek Him or ignore/resist Him, whether we will accept His gift of eternal life or reject it.  And He will give us what we chose.  

It's just that simple. 

[And - unlike in Calvinism - there's no need to manipulate people into accepting this by saying things like "it's a mystery that you can't understand but must simply accept" or "who are you to talk back to God" or "you're just being prideful; having an emotional reaction; refusing to believe things you don't like; putting your feelings above God's Word, etc."  Tactics like these aren't needed when it makes sense, when it isn't contradictory, when it affirms God's plain and commonsense Word, and when it upholds His good, honest, loving, righteous, trustworthy character.  Unlike Calvinism.] 

But as I pointed out in the previous post in this series: 

When Calvinists need it to fit their Calvinist framework, they will define "all men/the world" as "mankind in general" or "all types of people" or "the Calv-elect from all nations."  Anything but all individual people.  This allows them to apply those "all men/the world" verses to only some people, claiming that Calvi-god intends to save only the Calv-elect.  

Calvinists have to twist an awful lot of verses and definitions to try to make all those all-people verses fit their some-people theology.  

For example, here's an excerpt from John MacArthur's sermon "God, the Savior of Men" where he tries to squeeze the "all men" verses into Calvinism's "some men" theology by claiming that when the Bible says that God is the Savior of all men, it means that He "saves" in different ways: Calvi-god saves the Calv-elect from eternal hell and the non-Calv-elect from immediate hell (letting them live a little while on earth, "saving" them from immediate damnation).  

See?  So Calvi-god truly is the "Savior" of "all men"! (😖)   

"God is a Savior by nature...because it's His nature to deliver temporally and physically from the immediate and just consequences of sin, which would be instant death and hell.  But His nature is not to give sinners what sinners deserve, even in this life.  And that's still true... The world is predominantly populated by non-Christians, is that true?  Massively populated by non-Christians who flourish to one degree or another in this life; they enjoy life.  They smell the flowers. They see the sunrise and the sunset.  They drink the cool water.  They eat a good meal.  They fall in love.  They kiss a baby.  They see a mountain.  They enjoy the richness and the fullness of life.  They breathe the air.  Why?  Because God by nature delivers them from the immediate consequence, the just and immediate consequence of what they deserve.  That's why 1 Timothy 4:10, Paul says, 'God, the living God who is the Savior of all men.'  The whole world of people today exist because God is a saving God.  He has delivered them from what they deserve, is that not true?  [So because Calvi-god didn't instantly destroy the non-Calv-elect for their sin, it's "salvation" for them, even though he predestined them to hell!?!  And MacArthur celebrates that Calvi-god "delivered them from what they deserve" (Calvi-god didn't give people immediate death and damnation for their sins) ... but he seems to forget that Calvi-god is also the very one who predestined, orchestrated, caused the people's sins that led to the consequences he "delivered them from"?😕  Calvi-god is the fireman and the arsonist.  Is that praiseworthy?  Trustworthy?  Merciful?  Good?  Is that the God of the Bible?]

People ask me this a lot.  Why do bad things happen to good people?  Are you ready for this?  They don't - because there are no good people.  The question is: Why do good things happen to bad people?  Now that's a book that I need to write.  [Oh, aren't you clever!😒]  They happen because God is by nature what?  A Savior, He's a deliverer, He's a rescuer.

... That's what really matters, isn't it? [Does it matter more than, say, everyone being given a true offer of salvation they can accept so that they can be saved from eternal hell!?!]... God is by nature a Savior.  That is why Jesus is a Savior - because Jesus is God... God shows His goodness, His kindness to all.  He restrains evil in the world.  He provides families.  He maintains social order by government, provides beauty and joy, shows compassion.  [And Calvi-god also preplans, causes, orchestrates all the evil that happens, and when families are destroyed through sin or tragedy, and when government goes bad, when rulers do wicked things, when society breaks down into chaos and violence, when his laws are broken and his truth is rejected, when beauty and joy are destroyed, when there is nothing but heartlessness, hatred, and injustice instead of love, compassion, and justice.  That's all "provided" by Calvi-god, too - preplanned, caused, orchestrated by him - so what's your point?]  

He calls sinners to repent.  He offers the gospel, salvation in Christ is offered to all sinners (but Calvi-god prevents the non-Calv-elect from being able to accept it, making sure they are unable to repent, but then he holds them accountable for it).  He is by nature a saving God.  (And a reprobating God, in Calvinism, even more so than being a saving God.)"

[Remember that whenever Calvinism sounds good, it's because Calvinists are sharing only the good side of it or the side that relates to the Calv-elect, but they are hiding the bad side and the parts that relate to the non-Calv-elect.  Calvinists will often only share a small part of the Calvi-truth at a time because they know we'd resist it if they were fully honest and forthright.  But if you dig deep enough, you'll find the horrifying parts which completely alter, negate, or contradict the good parts they previously said.  So never take what a Calvinist says at face-value or as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  Always looks for what they're hiding, what they're not saying.]

Calvinists praise Calvi-god for the eternal salvation he bestows on the Calv-elect... and they praise him for giving the non-Calv-elect food and water while they are alive on earth before he sends them to their predestined eternal damnation, calling it wonderful, gracious, merciful, "salvation."  

What a joke!  What a booby-prize for the non-Calv-elect!  (Oh my goodness, Calvinism boils my blood!)  

MacArthur (and all Calvinists like him) is like a man being rescued from the Titanic, from certain death, who looks back and says to those left behind to die, "Yeah, well, at least you got to nibble some crackers and listen to the band playing music on your way down.  And look at all that water Calvi-god provided for you!  See, he's your 'savior,' too.  Merciful and gracious to you, too, just like he is to me," as he sails away in his rescue boat in a nice warm blanket with a hot bowl of beef stew.

Along similar lines is this from Terrance Tiessen (from an article called "God's great grace to the non-elect" which has been recently removed) "... since by definition no grace is 'deserved,' no one has ground to complain about how God treats them... how very gracious God is to everyone, including the non-elect.  Admittedly, all God's grace serves to increase the guilt of those who reject it or who take it for granted, but this does not diminish the intrinsic goodness of the kindness God shows to all undeserving sinners." 

"So all that Calvi-god's grace is really meant to do for the non-Calv-elect is to increase their guilt when they reject it... but he's still so good, kind, and gracious to them, isn't he!?!"

This is what Calvinists mean when they disingenuously say that Calvi-Jesus is the "Savior of all men": 

Not that Calvi-Jesus died for all men and that Calvi-god extends a genuine offer of salvation to all men that can be accepted by anyone, but merely that he didn't immediately destroy all the non-Calv-elect.  

[But 2 Peter 3:9, KJV, says: "[God is] not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."  

And 1 Timothy 2:3-5 says: "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of truth.  For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men..."]

This is what Calvinists mean when they say that he is "kind" to the non-elect: 

Not that he wants to save their souls, but that he merely wants to give them some food and water while they're alive, a little temporary love-ish.  

[But Romans 2:4 says this to wicked, resistant, depraved people: "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?"] 

This is what Calvinists mean when they say that Calvi-god shows "great grace" to the non-Calv-elect: 

Not that it was meant to save them, but that it was merely meant to bring them a little happiness while they were alive and, ultimately, to make them more guilty when they reject the gospel, more damnable.  Calvinists rejoice and consider it "successful evangelism" when the Calv-elect believe the gospel and are saved... and they rejoice and consider it successful evangelism when the non-Calv-elect reject it and are sealed in their predestined damnation.  (See "Troublemaker #4 (Calvangelism)")  

[But Titus 2:11 says "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men."  

And Ezekiel 33:11 says: "Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live..."  

And Luke 15:10: "... I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" ]  

Okay, Calvinists, now see if you can find even one verse that clearly, plainly, commonsensely says that God loves only some people enough to save them; that Jesus died for only some people; that God has two types of love and grace (a saving one for the Calv-elect and a give-you-food-and-water-but-not-save-your-soul one for the non-Calv-elect); that He predestined the "non-elect" to hell and preplanned/caused their sin and unbelief because He hates them and wants them to perish for His glory; that His kindness and grace is not meant to save the "non-elect" but to increase their damnation, etc.

Surely you must be able to find verses that clearly say all that - at least as clear as the verses which say that God loves all and wants all to be saved, that Jesus died for all, that His saving grace appears to all, that He has mercy on all, that His kindness is meant to lead resistant sinners to repentance, etc. - because why else would you interpret all those "all-men/the world" verses as "some men" unless you found explicitly-clear "some men" verses to filter them through?     

I'm just gonna say it: Calvinism is sick and twisted.  And it's "some people" theology contradicts a plain, commonsense, face-value understanding of the "all men" verses... leading to a very different Jesus, a very different God, a very different gospel!  (See "A Tale of Two Gospels"... "Calvinism: False Gospel or True (but warped) Gospel"... or the shorter "Warped Enough?")  

As I said, Calvinists do not take the Bible at face-value (the parts that can be and should be taken at face-value).  They have been brainwashed into twisting clear truths that uphold God's character into "mysteries" that destroy God's character, that say something totally different from what it plainly says.  (And then they shame, manipulate, and gaslight people into accepting their twisted version, just like what happened to them.)  

This is an attack on God's Truth and on God Himself, turning Him into a deceptive, two-faced god who doesn't say what he means or mean what he says, a god who has the same agendas Satan does (causing people to sin, to do evil, to deny the truth, to reject God, to end up in hell), and a god who acts like Satan by lying, deceiving, sugarcoating, manipulating, presenting half-truths, twisting the Word, etc.... "Did God really say...?" 

And if we don't have a God who says what He means and means what He says, who speaks clearly, whose truth can be understood by us, who has clear dividing-lines between good and evil and clear distinctions between Himself and Satan, then we've got nothing!  No reason for faith.  No reason for hope.  No reason to trust His Word.  No reason to believe He's truly good and trustworthy.  No reason to think that He will really save believers like He said He would.  

(And yet Calvinists accuse non-Calvinists of rejecting Calvinism because we "love free-will" and "want to be in control" and "worship man"!  Ha!  They see no problem at all with Calvi-god's character, and so they can't understand why we resist it.)

Sidenote: I bet Calvinists wouldn't be so quick to call Calvi-god so great, gracious, merciful, kind, and loving to the non-Calv-elect if they thought that they themselves might be one of the non-Calv-elect.  

And, who knows, but they might be.  Because, once again: Evanescent grace!

John Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 3, ch. 2, section 11 (emphasis added):

"... for though none are enlightened into faith, and truly feel the efficacy of the Gospel, with the exception of those who are fore-ordained to salvation, yet experience shows that the reprobate are sometimes affected in a way so similar to the elect, that even in their own judgment there is no difference between them... by Christ himself a temporary faith, is ascribed to them... the Lord, the better to convict them, and leave them without excuse, instills into their minds such a sense of his goodness as can be felt without the Spirit of adoption... When he shows himself propitious to them, it is not as if he had truly rescued them from death, and taken them under his protection.  He only gives them a manifestation of his present mercy.  In the elect alone he implants the living root of faith, so that they persevere even to the end.  Thus we dispose of the objection, that if God truly displays his grace, it must endure for ever.  There is nothing inconsistent in this with the fact of his enlightening some with a present sense of grace, which afterwards proves evanescent."

And from book 3, ch. 24, section 8: "... for there is an universal call, by which God, through the external preaching of the word, invites all men alike, even those for whom he designs the call to be a savor of death, and the ground of a severer condemnation.  Besides this there is a special call which, for the most part, God bestows on believers only, when by the internal illumination of the Spirit he causes the word preached to take deep root in their hearts. Sometimes, however, he communicates it also to those whom he enlightens only for a time, and whom afterwards, in just punishment for their ingratitude, he abandons and smites with greater blindness."

Calvin is saying that the non-Calv-elect are sometimes given, by Jesus Himself, a temporary faith/grace that makes them truly feel saved (and they themselves can't discern any difference between themselves and the true "elect")... but then this temporary faith (evanescent grace) eventually fades, proving that they were never really one of the "elect" to begin with, never saved at all.  

Can you not see how sick, twisted, deceptive, and untrustworthy Calvi-god is!?!  (So tell me again, MacArthur, about how Calvinists can supposedly have a real "assurance of salvation", about how they can trust the word of a god like that!?!😟😖)  

So it's not enough for Calvi-god to predestine the non-elect to hell just because he wanted to, because he hated them before he even made them, and because he wants praise and glory when he shows off his wrath and "justice" by punishing their sins and unbelief (that he ordained).

But now he needs to trick them into thinking they're saved when they're not (possibly until the end of their lives) because he needed a reason to punish them even stronger, to make them more blind, more damnable!?!  

That's sick and demented.

But, biblically, God does not want just some people saved.  He does not intend for anyone to go to hell.  He has not predestined anyone to hell.  He doesn't trick anyone into thinking they're saved when they're not.  (We might trick ourselves, but He doesn't trick us.)  He doesn't say one thing ("I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live") but mean another ("I really want most people to reject me so that they go to hell for my glory and pleasure, and so I made sure they can never believe, never be saved").  

Biblically, God wants all people to be saved.  He intends for His kindness, His grace, His love, to lead all people to Him, to repentance and salvation (Romans 2:4), even stubborn, unrepentant, storing-up-wrath-against-themselves sinners (Romans 2:5)... because He loves all people and wants all people to live, none to perish.  And He has put enough of Himself in nature and in our hearts to point the way to Him, intending for all people to see evidence of Him and, consequently, to turn to Him, repent, believe in Him, and be saved (Romans 1:20).  (But He lets us decide, Joshua 24:15.)  This is His intention for all sinners, even unrepentant people.

And this is so very different from Calvi-god who predestined most people to burn in hell for all of eternity for his glory because he loved only some people - the Calv-elect - enough to save them.  

"But, hey, let's praise him anyway for his great love and grace to 'all men' - for giving real saving-grace to us Calv-elect and giving delayed-damnation-grace to the non-Calv-elect whom he predestined to hell and whose unbelief he ordained for his glory and for our benefit!" (😕)

Greg Morse ("What does hell say about God?", Desiring God): "Hell, like all of creation, tells of the glory of God... The Almighty is not embarrassed by it... He shows his wrath and makes known his power.  Why?  In order to communicate the full riches of his glory to his children..."

Robert Murray M'cheyne, Monergism ("Vessels of wrath fitted to destruction", from a sermon preached in 1843): "All will not be saved... Some of you, I think, are going to hell, and some, I trust, are going to heaven; and doubtless it is best it should be so... Every one of you will be to the glory of God.  You will be made to glorify him in one way or another... either a beacon of wrath or a monument of mercy... the destruction of the vessels of wrath will be no grief to the vessels of mercy... The redeemed will have no tears to shed; and here is the reason - the very destruction of the wicked makes known the riches of divine grace [to the elect]..." 

Jonathan Edwards ("The End of the Wicked Contemplated by the Righteous", section 2): "... the just damnation of the wicked will be an occasion of rejoicing to the saints in glory... [they will] rejoice in seeing the justice of God executed, and in seeing his love to them in executing it on his enemies... the sufferings of the damned will be no occasion of grief to the heavenly inhabitant, as they will have no love nor pity to the damned as such.... the heavenly inhabitants will know that it is not fit that they should love them, because they will know then, that God has no love to them, nor pity for them; but that they are the objects of God’s eternal hatred... To see the majesty, and greatness, and terribleness of God, appearing in the destruction of his enemies, will cause the saints to rejoice; and when they shall see how great and terrible a being God is, how will they prize his favour! how will they rejoice that they are the objects of his love! how will they praise him the more joyfully, that, he should choose them to be his children, and to live in the enjoyment of him!"  

[Delighting a little much in the destruction of others!?!😦😖]  

Does this really sound like the heart of God to you?  A god worth loving, praising, trusting? 

Oh, does Calvinism make me angry!!!

And can you imagine how horrified and righteously angry Jesus must be to have made the ultimate sacrifice to pay for all people's sins, to offer salvation to everyone because He loves them all... and then along comes Calvinists who minimize His love and His sacrificial death by teaching that it was meant to save only some people, that He only really loved some people enough to die for them, that He is actually pleased with and glorified by ordaining sin, evil, and the unbelief/damnation of most people - ultimately destroying God's character, His Truth, and His trustworthiness, blurring the lines between good and evil, between God and Satan!?!  

(Can you imagine standing before God on Judgment Day trying to defend that!?!)

But, horrifically, this is the gospel that's taken over the Church in the past centuries: The Calv-gospel, a "good news for only some people but let's rejoice that everyone else goes to hell" gospel!

Ugh. 

[And if you think I'm harsh in the way I call out the false gospel of Calvinism, you should see what the apostle Paul says against the Christians in Galatia who fell for and taught a false gospel: 

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all.  Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!" (Galatians 1:6-9)  

Yikes!  Maybe I'm not so harsh after all.  

Maybe the problem isn't that I'm harsh, but maybe it's that others in the church haven't been harsh enough as Calvinism has infiltrated and supplanted the true gospel.  Maybe that's how the Church got to be the mess it is, to the point that most good Christians can't even see anything wrong with a god like Calvi-god or with a theology as twisted and destructive as Calvinism.  

Of course, we should be respectful of people, of Calvinists - we're trying to rescue them from a bad, destructive theology - but we should be very harsh with the bad, destructive theology, with Calvinism!  Because tolerating, equivocating, compromising with, and using kid gloves on twisted and unbiblical doctrines only serves to confuse people about what the truth is, helping those lies go deeper in the Church.  

Shame on us.]