Heresy Called Out

Heresy Called Out

^{Romans 829 “}For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.³⁰ Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”

^{Ephesians 1:11 “}In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:”

^{Exodus 7:3 “}And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.”

Romans 9

Heresy: adherence to a religious opinion contrary to church dogma

     The heretical teaching of predestination as it is known today was never the teaching of the orthodox Christian church.  The teaching of predestination, as it has morphed now into the twenty first century, states that God being all sovereign with respect to Man’s activities divinely chooses some to Heaven.  The rest suffer fire.  His choice is independent of the person’s will.  In other words, salvation as in the forever resting place of the soul is not by choice of the bearer.  Again, God takes it upon Himself to rescue some and condemn others not according to faith.  The individual person’s path is predetermined by God.  It is God solely who is responsible for the direction a man may take.

     The problem with this is God’s character of being a just God.  He acts in morally right or fair manner.  Morally means the awareness of right and wrong.  So our God as we know Him, the One revealed in scripture, is bound by His Word.  He is a God who cannot lie.  Furthermore, He is a God of righteousness being just in His decisions.  All these words we throw about the Christian court, but in essence they describe God’s decision to cleave to what is right and abhor what is wrong.  God abhors bad doctrine.

     Those who promote the teaching of predestination use the above verses to support their claim.  Sadley, when talking with them, this understanding rears its head and becomes their claim to fame.  As if to rally behind this axiom, it overshadows all other truths and becomes a point of contention worth fighting for.

     Again, we are not discussing the deity of Christ, nor His raising from the dead.  Many other truths of scripture we agree upon.  So why is this teaching heretical?  Because the fruit it produces.

     The teaching of predestination warps one’s view of scripture.  Twisting the responsibly of man and his sin before God who judges.  According to Calvin, some are born reprobate.  They are not elect and damned to hell.  God’s election is the golden rule here for it is God alone who chooses.  He takes full responsibility of picking individuals out of the fire so to say.  So God, where is Your just character?

     If You are the judge, how could You ever hold a man’s actions against him if he never had a chance to do right?  It is only by Your spirit, do we accomplish the works worthy of Your kingdom.  Yet, by predestination, You are the one who withholds the Gift.  You are the one responsible in the end not the individual’s choice.

     And that is what this argument comes down to.  Does a man have free will?  Can he, in his own sovereignty, choose or reject God?  Is God’s grace, when offered man, irresistible?  When God displays His love to man, is he drawn in like a moth to a flame?  Is God’s magnetism so great that the chosen, those predetermined for salvation, cannot resist His will?

     Can we spit God in the face?  Maybe that would be a more direct question.  What if God, according to His nature, created a being who could fly away at will.  Then that same being could fly back by choice.  Could this God grant freedom and constrain Himself from manipulating?  Could God tie His own hands, so to say.  If God cannot lie, has He also drawn up personal boundaries that He will not cross?

     For God so loved the world that He gave His Son that no man may perish.  And indeed, it is the will of God that no man suffer damnation.  As a Father to all Mankind, His compassion reaches out to all.  The offer of salvation through Christ is to all not to a select few predestinated before the beginnings of this world.

     So we choose.  Not according to salvation, but what kind of God do we profess to know.  Those of predestination know another god.  It is another gospel.