When I was a Calvinist… 

Left Calvinism a while ago and I feel liberated and now I have more compassion and appreciation towards other Protestant denominations that I didn’t have before. Have you ever felt this way when you left Calvinism, Alana ?

Alana you are on fire lately!❤ I was catching up on you last couple of videos and just wanted to let you know how grateful I am to have found you. I didn't know about Calvinism actually when I first stumbled upon your channel (cradle Catholic here), but I was intrigued by your first viral Calvinism video and voila here we are and I continue to be blessed by your marriage and homemaking videos as well as theology videos. You have a beautiful passion and zeal for the Lord and it shines through, thank you for pushing yourself through any tough moments you had and sticking around to share your thoughts and wisdom with us ❤ Bless you on this Good Friday

Yes sweet sister !!!!! This is beautifully said !!!!! This really really helped me to understand further on this topic

God wants everyone to be saved by faith in Christ. But everyone has to make a decision. Salvation is by faith (in Christ), not by works or religion. That is why we believers are sent to preach the message of reconciliation as ambassadors of Christ, our Lord, and Savior.

One argument against Calvinism that always seemed simple to me is related to what you were saying at the end: if the God of Calvinism is true, what is the point of the Bible? What is the point of every call throughout the Bible to repent? If we can't repent and the Bible calling us to repent has no part in repentance but only a supernatural intervention, why was it written?

I love Jerry Walls. I had him as a professor at Asbury Seminary. Great person and fun, solid teacher.

So clearly expressed, and rooted in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation…thank you!

A needed video. Thanks again for making the Gospel attractive and also making us think deeply about our theology. You are important here in this conversation about Determinism.

I love listening to your videos. I was never a Calvinist, but when the church I had belonged to for 20 years got a new pastor who slowly “came out” as a 5 pointer, his sermons jarred me so much. I first thought maybe he was right and wondered how I had missed or misunderstood in all my years of bible study. If he was right, and God really, on purpose, created a subset of humans with the express intent of tossing them into eternal torment for his glory, did I even want to worship such a god. I had a crisis of faith. I dove into studying all of the proof texts and found Calvinism to be unsupported by scripture, (and we have subsequently left after 3 years), however, I am left with what I guess is PTSD and your videos are helping me heal. Thank you.

Love this perspective! Thank you for sharing 🤍

Compatibilism is just lipstick on the pig of determinism.

Yes! I've been binging on Daily Dose of Wisdom too!

Amen! Please please keep making videos like this !!

Thank you for helping me understand so much. This video was awesome.

Good video. You have opened my eyes on some things.

Thanks for another wonderfully honest video, Alana. Blessed Easter to you & your family. 🙏

Love your videos. You keep adding common sense Biblical nuances. Keep up the good work .❤

I like the channel ‘daily dose of wisdom’, too!

Have a blessed Good Friday.

This is so good!

There's a reason why MacArthur, Piper, Washer, Bauchum, et al, dilute their poison with true biblical text; the pews would be empty, and book sales non-existent.

Thanks for this video! How encouraging! We serve a sovereign and loving God Who is genuine and truthful. When He says something… He means it!! Period. And we don’t have question it. I am reminded of this especially today on Good Friday. He came to die for all.. so that if we believe we can be saved. And that promise is for you, me, and everyone in the world. Because we can trust Him. Why? Because He said so! The plain simple Gospel. His goodness overwhelms me. God bless you, sister!

This is so good Alana. I wholeheartedly agree. In my church context, the word Sovereignty gets thrown around a lot. Sometimes it is used as rule and reign and sometime it is used that God is ordaining all things. It can be very confusing. I came away from my previously Calvinistic beliefs a year ago. It is so hard to disentangle all that I had been steeped in for so long. Pertaining to what you speak to here- I was looking back in the Wayne Grudem systematic theology book we have (which our pastor takes men through in our church). In Chpt. 16 on God’s Providence, it says on page 343: “In response to the claim that choices ordained by God cannot be real choices, it must be said that this is simply an assumption based once again on human experience and intuition, not on specific texts of Scripture. Yet Scripture does not indicate that we can from our human experience when dealing with God’s providential control of his creatures, especially human beings.” Seriously??!!!? And then he goes on to critique the Arminian view and say a bunch of confusing things about God’s choices and our choices and reality. 😢 I guess our “human intuition and experience “ are not valid in anyway. Later in the chapter, it all gets explained by “God logic”.

Yes, facts, thank you 🙏

The interactions I’ve had with Calvinist has led me to believe that they just ignore the idea of choice all together. It’s almost like pretending, we will just pretend our lives matter but under determinism your choices aren’t real and you really don’t matter but we will pretend things & people matter. Reminds me that if God has determined all evil, how is He not evil? Well we will just pretend He isn’t evil and somehow He is still good. I find it hard to believe that anyone would come to these conclusions reading just scripture and not using our God given logic.

Thanks, Alana; great post. Regarding Compatibilism: hopefully, this very brief description of Compatibilism will be helpful to a few. The term "Compatibilism" is deceptive, I believe, as it is STILL determinism. Compatibilism is also known as soft determinism. In this view, humans are said to be "free" if they are not physically bound or confined to a room. They are said to be "free to do as they choose" because their bodies are not bound or confined. But they are determined because they can ONLY CHOOSE to do those things that are compatible with their desires, inclinations, predispositions, interests, training, etc. It is this set of psychological factors that determine ALL human behavior. Here, with soft determinism, one is controlled by psychological factors. With "hard determinism" one is controlled by his material body, particularly by what occurs in the brain. According to hard determinism, everything the body does and everything the mind thinks is determined by what occurs in the brain; and what occurs in the brain is totally controlled by a complex set of natural laws - natural laws over which humans have NO control.

We're going to see Jordan!!!! - Rachel d

Thank you very much for your content. I’ve been really burdened by the possibility of Calvinism and determinism being true.

Thank you for glorifying God with your channel.

He predetermines (causes) evil, making Him an evil God and destroying His character. A very serious charge.

So maybe we should not say, "I believe A, B, and C, because it makes sense to me." We should consider a belief, look at how we would live given A or B, and then say, "Based on how I live I believe B, but does that make sense, and if not, how would I live in order to believe A?" And yes, reading the plain words of Scripture does paint a very different picture of God and reality than determinists and compatibilists would have us think.

“but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭4‬:‭5‬-‭7‬a

Consistently in these criticisms of Calvinism (and of Christianity, generally), people leave Adam out of the conversation altogether, when it is Adam who is truly the most significant piece of this conversation. It is the history beginning with Adam that explains why we need to be saved in the first place!

True, Calvinism doctrine removed men's responsibility for sin, accusing God is the author of all sins. 😌

Truth Time Radio

Dear Alana, what are you feelings on these verse's, considering your very into this topic maybe you already covered& i just missed it? I'm so perplexed, I'm definitely not a Calvinist; but was listening to Ray Comfort read audio bible in the back ground the other evening.. it was the book of romans and for some reason this was standing out. i know i've heard these passages before but what if calvinism and arminianism, are both wrong individually but together right? i mean what if somehow they fit together and we aren't able to fully comprehend how right now.. I don't know what the answer is because i see how each side can suggest they are right, maybe we don't have have it all figured out; maybe there is a third option? "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Corinthians 13:12 "So then, it does not depend on man’s desire* or effort*, but on God’s* mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. 19One of you will say to me, “Then why* does God still* find fault? For who*** can resist His* will?” 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” 21Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special* occasions and another for common* use? (is this speaking possibly about making one King vs a slave? perhaps but then 22What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction? 23What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory- 24including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? 25As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”i 26and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”j 27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 28For the Lord will carry out His sentence on the earth thoroughly and decisively.” 29It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.” 30What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” _______________________________________ I often think of Cain when God said plainly choose* sin is at your door and its desire is for you... looking up different translations ~ Aramaic Bible in Plain English Behold, if you do right, I accept it, and if you will not do right, sin lies in wait before the door; you are going to be converted to it and it will have authority over you.” New King James Version If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” ~ seems like a choice clearly here at least “Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but* you* must master it.” Three times Yahweh declares that he will harden Pharaoh’s heart (Ex. 4:21; 7:3; 14:4). Six times Yahweh actually hardens Pharaoh’s heart (Ex. 9:12; 10:1; 10:20; 10:27; 11:10; 14:8). Seven times the hardening is expressed as a divine passive with Yahweh as the implied subject, i.e., Pharaoh’s heart “was hardened” by Yahweh (Ex. 7:13; 7:14; 7:22; 8:19; 9:7; 9:35; 14:5). And three* times we are told that Pharaoh* hardened his own heart (Ex. 8:15; 8:32; 9:34). Divine-hardening and self-hardening are interwoven... this passage on hell is interesting because it points to more for free will and free will is integral to true* love hence* ~ "The reason the Father loves* Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My* own* accord*."John 10:18 ~ And* JESUS is contrasting those who actually went thru life caring for the things of God perhaps even unaware of how much this matters to God in the end.. As He compares others who profess Him also but never walk in His will... for their life was suggesting they truly* never really knew* ie loved* Him or heard His voice... ("And the King*** will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did* for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you* did* for*** Me*.’ 41Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are* cursed, into the eternal fire prepared* for* the devil* and his* angels*. 42For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,…) strangely, i've noticed both Arminians & Calvinists are so dogmatic and passionate surely hence all the debates; however, what if they funneled that precious beautiful energy into just sharing the gospel* ~ rather than getting so... really kinda lost in the weeds of who is right? meaning no unkindness by suggesting this, i don't know who is right, but GOD ~ "Let God be TRUE and every man a liar." And of Arminians & Calvinists somehow i wonder if they both are true like one side of a coin ie. was//is Jesus God or man? the answer is yes!!! One thing i know for sure... people are dying right* now & dropping into hell and sincerely sharing Jesus Christ is* more paramount than who wins the Arminian & Calvinists doctrinal debate, with all my heart i hope the day comes when the body of Christ will be not so enthralled with all the debates that perhaps are taking our hearts and attention truly away from the things of God; Jesus hung dying and even then a soul was being saved in His final breaths. i truly believe one-day when the children of God reach the other side they may feel deep sadness over all the division and lost time, lost souls not reached.. we are after all His* hands and feet to reach the world* and if we can't ever be united as one* body than are we not truly dismembered, yes, sadly then weak and broken truly* dismembered unable to function... Paul directs us “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love" (Ephesians 4:1-2 The Lord of the Harvest "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. 36When He saw the crowds, He was moved* with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest* is plentiful, but* the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His* harvest.”

I have heard Christians say, "I'm going to eat how I want because God has already decided the date I will die." This is a complicated theological topic because God created time, but, also knows past, present, future. Everything that will ever happen on earth is already known to God. So, he already knows whose names are written in his book, but we get to choose whether to follow Christ or not?? I get the confusion. There are many issues that we will not fully understand until we go to Heaven. Our minds are limited. I'm at peace with that. The most important thing is to understand the foundations of Christianity and to worship God only and always, to seek to glorify Him, to follow Christ's ways, to yearn to dwell in his holiness, to know that Jesus was both fully God & fully man & that he died for our sins. To love others as Christ loves us.♥️🇨🇦

Thanks for this! I feel better equiped to explain my belief and a really good biblical story to back this up about free will and spiritual forces is 1 Samuel 23:1-14 where God said what would happen and David made a decision and what Gods said would happen, didn’t happen.

Sister, they not only make a doctrine out of God’s sovereignty, they make idolatry out of it.

Remember the word ..” Sovereign…” is also their catch word that they hide behind when put in a position to explain their warped theology…. Listen to guys like Johnny Mac, they, re always yelling salvation is by faith alone in Christ… alone… but the don’t ever believe it…” ya can’t tell folks God loves them… unconditionally… why…. bc it takes the terror out of the… gospel… “….Behold i bring you glad tidings of great joy… which shall be to all people ….” that sound anything like…” TERROR…” to you….???? for God so loved the world…. TERRORIZES….. folks…???? i think i need a compass for this discussion….❤❤

I have some faithful Calvinist friends. True believers in Calvinism. They live it and breathe it. Their bookcases are filled with volumes and volumes of books on Calvinism. They love MacArthur, Piper, Sproul and the whole gang. Every opportunity the husband got to preach in the pulpit, he would. Shockingly, as it turns out, the husband is a child molester with a long history. He molested his daughters, and then started in on his granddaughters. Truly a sick and tragic situation. I don't know what in the world was going on in this man's mind and soul or in his wife's heart to believe this was ok with a holy God, but I believe the Calvinist view of Sovereignty gave this man a pass in his conscience. If God causes everything to happen, then he caused the man to exploit his own children and grandchildren to meet his perverted sexual desires. So God was responsible. Not him. It is all repugnant and totally incomprehensible to me. But it logically follows from such a deterministic belief system where even sin is a fulfillment of God's will.

Thank you for this. Defining Sovereignty of God as a doctrine of Calvinism is helpful for me because who can disagree that He is sovereign? So when Calvinists use it as a "trump card" against any argument makes it difficult to have meaningful discussion. The term must be defined.

Alana, I THINK THIS VIDEO IS PERFECT AT EASTER! It underscores God's love for all his creation as his fundamental motivation for everything. The Empty Tomb symbolizes it best. If Calvin is right, God is lying to Cain in Gen.4. Calvinists are constantly speaking in casual conversation "as if" they have free will. If you pay attention, it seems to never fail. BUT, to violate a core belief like that always puzzles me. It is something I would never do. I would never say "accidentally" that I thought abortion was OK and be forced to correct myself as if I'd misspoken.🤔 Yet, on the issue of man's freedom to make actual choices that matter, many, if not most, Calvinists do this quite often.... and HATE it when you point this out. 🤷🏻‍♂ When forced, they will admit the irony of their belief and try to find refuge, as Calvin himself did, in 'mystery'. But there is no refuge to be found. Most seem to constantly struggle to maintain balance within the 'tension' they've become so fond of regarding their view of man's responsibility and God's sovereignty. It seems that Calvinists are impervious to cognitive dissonance.... It's their Super Power. Properly understood and defined.... there is no 'tension' God is free to do as he pleases and not required to control anything simply because he could if he wanted to. And, God has bestowed man with the freedom to choose to do 'well'...or not. As he instructed Cain in Gen.4. Doing 'well' is pleasing to God, but it is not "salvific". God is merciful and gracious to save whosoever will believe. Total Inability "from birth" is an Augustinian myth unsupported by any verse in scripture. Scripture says the God made man in his own image. THAT matters. But Determinism ultimately teaches that man does NOT matter. However, man cannot live daily as if he does not matter. It is emotionally, mentally, and even physically destructive to one's own well-being, it's very unhealthy. In an effort to maintain some semblance of sanity Calvinists must live and speak "as if" they do matter while still struggling to maintain a level of 'false' humility that they do not. The way they frame their favorite statement: "It's ALL about God", or "It's all about Jesus", is only a pious misdirection. ... A 'double-minded' man is unstable in all his ways. God's eternal, perfect, love for all of his creation IS the reason that Christ came to earth, especially his love for man, his greatest creation, made in his own image. Would you give your best for something worthless? Something which does not matter to you? No!

Biblical freedom is defined NOT as the freedom to make choices but as the freedom from bondage to sin!

What is such word , and what happened I am confused.

The problem with the Calvinist position is not that it is compatibilist, but 1) that it is monergistic and 2) its specific understanding of predestination which entails limited atonement. I recommend looking into the Thomistic/Banezian position, it is more consistent with the theological tradition and avoids a lot of the thought traps that Molinism and Reformer era theology set up. These ways of thinking about the freedom of God and Man are also arguably the cultural origins of secular political and economic concepts that molded the world into what it is today (see, for instance, Max Weber's work on the Protestant Work Ethic).

Love your channel and all you do, Alana! ❤ “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live? Ezekiel 18:21-23 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. Ezekiel 33:8 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! Ezekiel 33:11 God clearly speaks man's choice to choose between good and evil!

It is taking me a minute to process that such a pretty lady is discussing these theological issues. Anyway, it certainly sounds like God is guiding your journey and theology. I encourage pointed prayers over your personal theology, asking God to sanctify and wash your doctrine and theology by His living Word (Jesus) and His written Word (the Scripture). May He bring it to a place that pleases Him, as we make it our ambition to please Him. Sounds like you may have already prayed in such a manner, in which case, carry on. Thank you for sharing.

In Genesis I feel God determined at least the given names of the firstborns before the flood, because if you look at the meaning they tell the gospel .

Phenomenal video! The Calvinist have stolen the sovereignty of God and hijacked it to make it into determinism. God is ruling no question. BUT he is so Sovereign his dacrees (that are always good) will always come to pass in the face of the free choice of man. THAT is amazing the sovereignty of Yawhee. Not the determinism of Calvinist.

Calvinists who struggle to answer the simple question: “When was Cornelius saved?” Their theology forces them to argue that Cornelius is a saved, regenerate man when first mentioned in Acts 10. But Peter’s subsequent visit and his words in Acts 11:13-14 say otherwise. The believer must either accept Acts 11:13-14 and reject Calvinism, or they will have to ignore or try to explain away the passage.

Brandon McGuire is his name.

I think the core point of your message is that all of this trouble was caused by philosophy, not by the simple straightforward message of the Gospel, which Jesus often used simple daily life analogies to make it easy for the simple illiterate follower as well as for the more knowledgeable ones to get the message. Although I do believe in determinism and respectfully disagree with you on whether compatibilism makes sense, I reject calvinism/monergism, and I think they trouble believers with unnecessary questions that cause confusion and the byproduct of that is contends and a doctrine that distorts the character, Love and Justice of God in the name of Sovereignty, as if His Glory was something abstract and unrelated to His Virtues, He has Glory because of His virtues, for example being Loving, not just for the sake of having power and forcing people into submission as some muslims seem to think of Allah, for example. Peace and Blessings.

Are the words "adoption as sons" in Ephesians 1:5 referring to justification or glorification? ‭Ephesians 1:5 NKJV‬ [5] having predestined us to👉 adoption as sons 👈by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

I always find it rude to say "I don't even know his name"

Johnny Mac's was

Thank God for determining every inch of my life. Through all the suffering and the beating and the destitution, I see who I believe. And everything I give thanks for it is the will of God.

The word "sovereignty" has a range of uses (as do many words), so when it comes to this topic, I simply prefer to talk about it in ways that scripture does, that God is the ultimate cause of all things in heaven and on earth. In Ephesians 1:11, we see that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will.” This “all things,” according to verse 10 includes all things in the heavens and all things on the earth. And according to Colossians 1:16, this “all things” both in the heavens and on earth includes all things “visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,” so it isn't just physical things, but also actions, circumstances, and even the thoughts and wills of men (Cf. Psalm 105:25, Revelation 17:17). The word translated into English as “work” is the transitive verb “ἐνεργέω” (energeo), which, as a transitive verb, it has a direct object (“all things”) and it means “to effect” that direct object. Since all “effects” must have a sufficient cause, this passage quite literally makes God the ultimate cause of all things in heaven and on earth. The same transitive verb construction is seen in Ephesians 1:19, 1 Corinthians 12:6, 11, Galatians 3:5, Philippians 2:13; see Thayer’s, pg. 215. God’s ordination of whatsoever comes to pass often goes by the term “Sovereignty of God,” but also by some as “Exhaustive Divine Determinism.” Note that the definition of “Determine” is “cause something to occur in a particular way;” something that Paul explains that God does for all things in heaven and on earth (Cf. Romans 11:36). The notion of “free will” (self-determination) did not have its genesis in scripture, but in Stoic philosophy, and it entered into Christian thinking through the teachings of Irenaeus, Clement, and finally, Origen (“A Free Will: Origins of the Notion in Ancient Thought,” by Michael Frede). God brought me out of free will American Churchianity a long time ago and into Bible-believing Christianity, and I have never looked back.

Sister, was Charles Spurgeon a false preacher? Was he a Calvinist? Please let me know.

Sorry, but "freedom" to choose evil is NOT true freedom. But whoever the Son sets free is free indeed!!

A basic fault in the deterministic view is a false philosophical notion that because God does not change that must mean that He has always, as long as He has been God, from all eternity have known every detail of what His creatures would do in exercising their agency, and beyond that, they affirm that God doesn't know everything because He aobserves it, but that He knows it because He determines it. Totally false ideas imposed upon the reading of Scripture. Scripture nowhere says that God knew everything people would do and think before anyone was created. Rather, Scripture tells us that God observes people during their lives, seeing into their minds and hearts to know what they are going to say and do. God does not change and it is wrong to say that God observing what we are thinking and doing involves a change in Him.God gives us agency and waits to see how we will use it. That does not mean an imperfection in God, because in giving us agency, ability to choose, He does not know every future detail.People should put aside their preconceived philosophical speculations about God's knowledge and read the Scriptures.

Election is not God determining every single thing that happens, both good and evil. It is his saving grace and new spirit given to his children, who he chose before the foundations of the world. With nothing they would do that would earn it. Also, if our salvation is just up to us excersing our will, then our righteousness would have come through obedience to the law, which makes the sacrifice of Chris meaningless. When in fact we are dead in our sins, separated from God in a nature that hates him. Our will is a slave to our nature, which is selfish and sinful. Without election the whole human race would have been lost. Praise God for his merciful election!! The first chapter of Ephesians lays this out well.

“I feel like…” “I feel like…”

At 4:25, you said, "somehow that's compatible?" While God is properly said to ordain, and thus be the ultimate cause of all things (Ephesians 1:11, Romans 11:36, James 4:13-15) -even the evil acts of men- (cf. Revelation 17:17, 2 Samuel 12:11-12, 1 Kings 22:19-23 / 2 Chronicles 18:18-22) He is never the proximate, or efficient cause of evil, and scripture regards only the proximate or efficient cause of evil as the chargeable or blameworthy party. For example, when wicked men steal Job’s goods, Job recognizes that *“Yahweh gave and Yahweh has taken away, blessed be the name of Yahweh”* (Job 1:21). The thieves, being the efficient cause of the evil since they were the ones who carried out the deed, are brought on by Satan, the proximate cause of the evil since he was the one into whose power Job was placed by God, and who incited the thieves; they are both guilty of committing evil, but Job doesn’t question the motives of Yahweh, who admitted that He was the one who ruined Job (Job 2:3), and was therefore the ultimate cause of the evils that Job experienced (cf. Job 1:8, 12, 2:3). Job restated his understanding of God’s meticulous providence over even the evil in life in Job 2:10 where he asks his wife, “shall we accept good from God and not accept calamity?” Even Job’s brothers and sisters and all who had known him from before any of this had occurred recognized God as the ultimate cause of all of what Job had suffered (Job 42:11), and it is no sin to ascribe to God ultimate causality over even the evil in one’s life - Job 1:22. This concept is further substantiated by examining God’s role in sending Joseph into slavery (Genesis 45:5-8, 50:20), in sending Assyria to destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Isaiah 10:1-8), in sending the Chaldeans (Babylonians) to destroy the Southern Kingdom of Judah (Habakkuk 1:6, 11), in raising up evil in David’s household (2 Samuel 12:11-12), and in inciting David to take the census of Israel (2 Samuel 24:1, 10, 15, cf. 1 Chronicles 21:1). In the case of David, we see that (a) God is the ultimate cause of this act, ultimately decreeing that it should be; (b) Satan is a proximate cause, the instrument Yahweh uses to stir up this evil in the heart of David; and (c) David is the efficient cause, having carried it out according to his own sinful inclination, and thus is culpable for the action, even though he could not have done otherwise.

What do you do with Romans 9? Why don’t you want God to be sovereign to the uttermost?

Today what is called Calvinism is NOT what Calvinism is. Read the works of Martin Luther or John Calvin. Not someone else commentary on them or interpretation of what they say. I learned along time ago you must read for yourself and read the Bible for yourself. Not have it explain to you. This channel is good and hold to true Calvinism. Red beetle on RU-vid. .

I believe what David believed about God in Psalm 135:6 “The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.” He is sovereign the way the Bible describes. Here’s another: “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” Psalm 115:3 And another: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139‬:‭16‬ ‭ …and another: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬ ‭and yes, of course I affirm working out our salvation with fear and trembling but it doesn’t take away the fact that God does as He pleases through me. …and another: “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬ ‭ Provisionists can explain away the countless verses in the Bible that describe God having the free will to do as He pleases all they want but theses verses will never go away nor will they ever cease to say what they say where the average Christian can read them without the ramblings of a man with Calvinist-derangement-syndrome.

Calvinism is all about John Calvin and nothing about Jesus Christ.

@alanaL3 "If you are a Calvinist do you live like everything you do is set in stone, nothing you do is going to change anything. If you pray for your children today, or not, maybe they will believe, maybe they wont."... And "To say that God offers choice and really doesn't mean it." We do not live like everything is set in stone, that nothing we do is going to change. And these objections you have are of Hyper Calvinism and not Calvinism. As a Calvinist, I'll gladly join you in your rejection of Hyper Calvinism, but you need to understand the difference before you throw the baby out with the bath water. Here is the big picture I think you need to decide. Are you going to hold to Covenant Theology or New Covenant Theology? From there you will make decisions concerning whether to hold to the Regulative Principles of Worship or Normative Principles of Worship. Will you just sings hymns (which are lovely) or will you also learn to sing the Psalms? Hopefully you stay away from much of modern Christian music 80). Also, Reformed believers, who hold to CT, view the Scriptures through a Covenantal lens. That is why, for example, we baptize babies of Christian parents (see Article 17 below). Article 17: The Salvation of Deceased Infants of Believers Since we must make judgments about God’s will from his Word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature but by virtue of the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents are included, godly parents ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom God calls out of this life in infancy.

Why would you say there’s no possibilities? All things are possible with God. Maybe you’re a good person but I’m not . I need God to forcefully save me from myself. That is what’s possible with God. Definitely not possible with me.

Alana is Self Determinists female Flowers. Hand in hand, the Only Autonmous Dominion of the Sovereighn LORD God has decreed them to be the "lovers of self" 2 Tim 3:1, who worship the Golden Calf Idol of every once born person believes they have an autonomous free will. If you are a Self Determinist, Alana will be your voice in justfying your own "love of self," and as decreed you'll continhe worshiping your triune god of "me, myself, and I." Hit the like, and suscribe, to continue receiving more ways in which you can justify your Self Determinism. Don't worry about God gifting you you His effectial grace, you don't need it, you have effectual free will and can do all things through Self which strengthens you. Continue on, as decreed.

Do you actually know what reformed theology is? You actually think we believe in doing nothing because we believe God’s sovereignty ? That is very odd!

If you were truly a “former Calvinist” you’d know we believe God ordains the ends and the MEANS. He has told us how to raise our children aka the means he often uses to bring them to faith. We obey God’s word. Every system has problems because God is God and we are not. Is God subject to our will? Does he adapt and change as we freely make choices that he’s not previously aware of? God is outside of time and trying to understand how he’s working out his will with our finite minds is foolishness. Did God ordain the crucifixion in eternity past? Did he hope that people would act certain ways (ie Judas) or did he ordain their actions? ”this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.“ ‭‭Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬ ‭ 👉🏻 ordained by God 👉🏻 YOU crucified and killed God decreed, man freely acted. Do I completely comprehend? No. Does the scripture teach it? Yes. God is sovereign, not man.

You keep saying " I feel... I feel...I feel .. " Do you think how you feel is a reason for believing a particular view? Any view that is synergistic is false no matter how it makes you feel. Are you listening to what you are saying? 14:25 "God is trying to help him " I am so glad you have a God who is trying. Yeah , read through Genesis and learn from the story of Joseph. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wQ5cclvdWjo.html

Are you seriously posting a video of Jordan Peterson to support your anti-Calvinism diatribe? Really? Please go and read your Bible instead of spending time being Leighton Flowers Lite.