Some references on the true evangelical view of mankind. Strange that only Calvin was quoted, what about Wesley?
It is an acronym for the ideas of Calvinism. Predestination, God's election of who he will and won't save and our inability to do anything about it.
Total depravity
We are all just downright horrible sinners and deprved fallen creatures.
"Or to clarify the point further, we may say that sin and evil always have the character of a caricature - that is, of a distorted image that nevertheless embodies certain recognizable features.
A human being after the fall, though a travesty of humanity, is stil a human being, not an animal. A humanistic school is still a school
(the criticism of secular humanism from this book's POV I don't agree with 100%). A broken relationship is still a relationship. Muddled thinking is still thinking. In each case, what something in fallen creation "still is" points to the
enduring goodness of creation"
-Creation Regained, Second Edition Albert M. Wolters, p. 58
Gee, what horrific evangelistic thinking. Good news that we are inherently good! Flying in the face of those who need to portray all of evengelical christianity as right-wing, conservative, fundamentalist garbage.
Unconditional Election
God picked already whom he will save and whom he will send to Hell.
Can I ask who knows the mind of God? If predestination is true, then my lazy, adulterous father is in heaven...but wait a minute, the "vision" that I had (dream, whatever) had him telling me that he was allowed to "fix his mistakes", and that I was no longer to worry about him. Sorry to do this to you Jason, but many LDS jumped on this when I first related the story as "proof" of the validity of their faith. Well, I believe heaven is far more complex than we realize.
Limited atonement
The atonement only cover those who God already elected.
Again I have to ask who exactly knows the mind of God. Calvin and his followers were part of a fear-based faith that is still alive today, though many people are waking up. Some still need leaders to tell them what to think and how to walk in their own spirituality. But for those who don't, we can reject such an idea.
Irresistable grace
If you are one of the elect you cannot resist it. God will draw you to Him and you will be saved even if you think you do not want it.
This is so laughable. Let me quote one of my favorite authors, Joyce Meyer.
"We have to motivate ourselves to do what God tells us to do,
when He tells us to do it... If we want to enjoy God's best for our lives, we must stop making excuses, stop blaming others, and stop being too busy to do what God says to do. He may tell us to give, help, pray, forgive, apologize, or something else. But whatever it may be, we need to learn to be "now people" who hear God and act quickly when He speaks to us."
Beauty For Ashes, p. 82
There are some here who eschew all organized religion who may find the above distasteful. Forgive me, but I am trying to make a point that not all evangelical teachers (and Joyce's followers number in the millions) teach that God takes you and holds you in "holy prison" to him. You have choices, no one is being pulled back to healthy relationship with God, they usually stay there if this is what they want. Unhealthy, fear based relationship with God, guilt-tripping a la Passion of the Christ might cause some Calvanistic like hostage taking, but that is the ignorance of the person who locked themselves in that prison, not Christianity as a whole. Mel Gibson is a freak.
severance of the saints.
Those elected who are saved will always stay saved. They cannot fall from grace.
Hmmm...
"There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew then for the Gentile" Romans 2:9
Seems God is punishing his "chosen" first. But what happened to once, saved, always saved?
For what's below, replace "Jew" with "Christian", and " the Gentiles" with "mankind"
"17Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; 18if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
How would a person who could never sin again beacuse he or she was saved forever dishonor God?
People throughout history have taken the Bible, both Christian and Hebrew and put their own agendas on it. Calvin, Luther, Smith, Lee, Dylks, the list goes on and on. If you were duped, that is your problem. The various interpretaitons out there is the sole reason why I look to my own, and fine tune my BS meter with regards to Christianity as needed. I'm not seeking any followers, but I am not about to fall under the tattered umbrella/label of someone who has been burned by those who were duped just like they were, only in a different way.
I don't view the Bible as the only truth out there. I think there's truth in it, but if you don't know how to interperet it, you're asking for trouble. And you will be susceptible to the Calvins in the world. Unable to see that Calvanism is not the whole, but a mere approach...that doesn't speak for every conservative Christian out there. Some of us, unlike those who dwell in the faith with all the answers are strong enough to say "I don't know".