Y Not I

If you are looking for answers about the doctrine of election here, you came to the wrong place. I have nothing but questions. I am having trouble understanding why it is a big deal. I was reading a series called Why I am a Calvinist. . . and why every Christian is a Calvinist of sorts and it amde me think about the whole thing and go, why does it matter? I mean if we are saved by G-d’s election alone, or if we are saved by our own faith, we are still coming to a saving knowledge of G-d and of our Messiah. It seems more important to decide on how we should live our lives, and what choices we make, then how we got to the place we are at. Maybe I am missing something. So I started searching the web to see if anyone else could explain it to me.

Joe posted back in November of 2006:

Anyhow, back to that question of free will and predestination. Some might ask: why does it matter? I could give many reasons, but I believe the central reason why such a huge question matters is because the tough answers to that huge question serve to reveal our Huge G-d. In particular the doctrine of election serves such an end. Indeed, it serves the end of love, but revealing more of the One we ought to love with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. When we begin to see and revere the G-d who holds every human destiny in His hand, our hearts should enlarge to the farthest reaches of the earth and break for all who do not know and love and enjoy Him through Jesus Christ. To miss out on the pleasure of admiring the free, sovereign, gracious, infinitely full G-d as revealed in the doctrine of election is to miss out on the power that comes from admiring such a One. Indeed, it is to miss out on the Source of all true love. For love to others apart from love to G-d is empty and shallow. True love does what is best for others. And if what is best for others is Jesus Christ, there must be an accurate knowledge and admiration for His Person. Such knowledge comes through sound doctrine.

So Joe seems to be telling me it is important to know that G-d chooses us (being a Calvinist) because it reveals more of who G-d is because He holds our fate in His hands. Joe seems to indicate it shows the source of all true love. However does not the awesomeness of G-d’s manifest itself in other ways. Is there Scriptural references that indicate that not understanding how we are saved is somehow bad, inferior, or otherwise not the ultimate that Joe makes it out to be?

I think basically I have a problem with the doctrine of Election, however, I think neither side is really that on, and more importantly it seems like a waste of a great deal of time and energy. It seems infinitely more important in what we should do as believer, rather than endlessly discussing how we got here. I suppose questions about telling others about what G-d has done for you, or praying for the salvation of others come into question however I don’t see an answer through this. First of all, in the series that started this discussion, the author, Phil Johnson speaks about his early days as a believer and as one that was an Arminian at that. He goes on:

One of the things that first got me thinking seriously about the sovereignty of God was an incident in a college Sunday School class, in a Southern Baptist Church, in Durant, OK, where I had a Sunday school teacher who hated Calvinism with a passion and wasted no opportunity to make an argument against the sovereignty of God. And his continual emphasis on the subject got me thinking about it a lot.

Then one Sunday, while this guy was taking prayer requests, a girl in the class raised her hand and asked, “Should we really be praying for our lost relatives? It seems like it’s a wasted effort to pray to God for their salvation if He can’t do any more than He has already done to save them.”

I vividly remember the look on the face of this Sunday School teacher. This was clearly a question that had never occurred to him. So he thought about it for a moment, and you could see the wheels in his head turning while he tried to think of a good reason to pray for the salvation of the lost. And finally, he said, “Well, yeah, I guess you’re right.” From that Sunday on, he never accepted any more prayer requests for people’s lost loved-ones.

To him this was a reason to reject Arminian doctrine, however to me the same could be said. If G-d has pre-elected who will be believer, why pray for their salvation. They have either already been elected or not. For if we can change the election, made since the dawn of time, then do we not have the sovereignty that seems to be so important in this discussion?

This post, speaks of evangelism in much the same way, and I come up with the same question. If G-d already choose who is saved, then why the urgency in evangelizing? It seems to be more of an exercise than a need. To me there is something more than what either side puts up here, but still the thought is, is this so important, and if so why?

Maybe it is that different things matter more to different people, however when I read of the arguments between Calvinism and Arminianism, to me it seems like they are putting a great deal of importance on this discussion, for the often refer to the danger of the other way of thinking, indicating something bad happens when one believes that way.

So, if there are any thoughts from any theologians out there, feel free to educate me as to why this is THAT important. Any non-theologians can chime in as well with thoughts either way. I am interested in your thoughts.