1st John 5:1

1st John 5:1-15 states: "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"

Have Calvinists taken a passage on the characteristic of a Christian, and rendered it the causation of becoming a Christian?

There is no question that the Holy Spirit gives the new creature in Christ (2Cor 5:17), gifts, among which includes a measure of faith. (Romans 12:3) In fact, it is through the Holy Spirit that Christians are able to confess Christ as Lord: "No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit." (1st Corinthians 12:3)

In order to understand Calvinism, you must know that one of its most central teachings is that unless a man is made Born Again, he cannot believe in the Gospel. In this way, Calvinism teaches that a man must be made preemptively Born Again in Christ, in order to repent, believe and be saved. Arminianism, in contrast, teaches that a person is not made Born Again in Christ until after he has been sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit, as per Ephesians 1:13. So here you see the divergence. Also realize that a contrast among Calvinism and Arminianism is NOT whether man is depraved, but the solution to man's depravity. Is the solution a preemptive new birth in Christ, as per Calvinism, or is it the supernatural power of the living and active, faith-producing Gospel (Romans 10:17), as per Arminianism? Arminians often ask of Calvinists: Do you believe that the Gospel is powerful enough to persuade any unregenerate sinner to confess his sins and repent? The Arminian feels that the Calvinist answer is "Yes," only if it's accompanied by a preemptive new birth in Christ, which the Arminian ultimately takes as a "No" answer.

So it's here at 1st John 5:1 that the Calvinist attempts to prove that one must be made born of God in order to believe in God and become saved. However, the Arminian protests that such is not the point of the apostle John, who is merely identifying the marks of true Christians, from false pretenders. So is the Arminian protest, a valid one?

http://www.examiningcalvinism.com/files/NT/1Jn5_1.html

What is the origin of sin?

Adrian Rogers answers: “Did you know that there are many people who are not believing, and their problem is not a scientific problem. They’re not wrestling with ideas like evolution or creation. Their problem is a problem of history. They say, ‘If there is a God, and that God is a good God, then look at all of the suffering. Why, if God is good, why do we have sin? Why do we have suffering?’ And they have a little argument, a little syllogism, and here’s the way the syllogism goes: If there be a God, He would be the author of everything. Evil is something, so God is the author of evil. What kind of a God is it that has created evil? And so they say, ‘I can’t believe in a God who made everything and made it like He did, and so therefore He must not be a good God, if He is a God at all.’ But that’s not straight thinking. Let me tell you the way it truly is. God is the author of everything. God made everything perfect, and when God made man, God made His creature perfectly free. Free Will, then, man’s perfect free will, is the origin of evil. God created perfection, and God made man perfectly free, and freedom, therefore, gave rise to this evil. You see, this is what makes us moral creatures. Somebody says, ‘Why didn’t God just make us where we couldn’t sin?’ Well, if God had made us where we couldn’t sin, He could have no more fellowship with me that I could have with that pulpit or that speaker. ... Love is highest good, and God wants us to love Him. This is the first and great commandment: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind.’ Love is the highest good, but forced love is a contradiction in terms. Forced love is not love at all. In order to love, we must be free to love, to choose to love, and in order to choose to love, we have to be able to choose not to love. And so God gave us perfect choice. Adam chose in the Garden of Eden, and the sons of Adam after him, to sin, and that’s where the heart-break, and the pain, and the groan, and the moan come from.” (Turning Hurts into Hallelujahs: Romans 8:8-11)

Here is a link to an article examining the Calvinistic perspective on the origin of sin:
http://www.examiningcalvinism.com/files/Complaints/ac_sin.html

Why do Calvinists believe the way they do?

It's the glasses. While I assure you that this is not my picture, this photo does serve to make the point that our own Presuppositions are a kind of rose-colored glasses that we put on whenever we read the Bible. Presuppositions are the foundational things that we presume to be true, which frames our understanding of the Bible. For the Catholic, their main presupposition is that the Holy Catholic Church is God's true Church on earth, whose Popes carry apostolic authority and whose teachings and traditions never contradict Scripture. The Catholic puts on this type of rose colored glasses whenever they read the Bible. For the Jehovah's Witness, their rose colored glasses is the presupposition that the Watch Tower Society is God's sole channel of truth to mankind, and that Jesus is invisibly reigning from the Watchtower headquarters in New York.

Having said this, what are the presuppositions of the Calvinist and the Arminian?

The presupposition of the Calvinist is that God has an eternal decree whereby he has decreed all that will ever come to pass.

Calvinist, James White, explains: "The conjunction of God's absolute freedom and His Creatorship results in the doctrine of God's decrees: the soul-comforting truth that God has wisely and perfectly decreed whatsoever comes to pass in this universe." (The Potter's Freedom, p.45, emphasis mine)

This is the primary presupposition of the Calvinist who puts on these glasses, so to speak, whenever they attempt to interpret Scripture. As an example, with these glasses, the Calvinist will turn to Ephesians 1:11 and read "works all things after the counsel of His will," but because of the Calvinistic glasses of Determinism, see causes all things.

On the other hand, the Calvinist accuses the Arminian of possessing the presupposition that Free Will must be preserved at all costs, which is absurd. The true presupposition of the Arminian, that is, the rose colored glasses of the Arminian, is the wild belief that God's word is not the charade of contradictions that Calvinism makes it out to be.

In terms of contradictions, take note of what Calvinist, John McArthur, explains: "That's one of the reasons I know the Bible is written by God, because men would fix it. If I wrote a book that had those contradictions, Phil [Johnson] would edit them all out. One of the bench marks of divine inspiration is the fact that you're dealing with transcendence." (http://www.gty.org/resources.php?section=articles&aid=231301, emphasis mine)

The presupposition of the Arminian makes no allowance for any alleged contradiction in the Bible, and cannot accept a Calvinistic "Secret Will" theory which flatly contradicts Scripture, such as at Matthew 23:37. The primary complaint of the Arminian is that Calvinism makes the Bible into a charade. For more on this point, refer to the book, Debating Calvinism, p.309, in which Dave Hunt argues that Calvinism turns the Bible into a "charade." That's where the Arminian is coming from.

Depravity, Judgment and Prevenient Grace

Classical Arminianism affirms that unregenerate man is morally depraved, and cannot meet the perfect standard of a holy God, and man therefore faces the judicial penalty of God's wrath against sin.

Jesus states: "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:18)

"Judged already." Therefore, if any man is going to be saved, God must intervene. Man is not left to himself. Jesus states: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10)

Question: How is man, who is morally depraved, able to voluntarily repent, believe and be saved, when Jesus comes seeking after him? According to Calvinism, the answer is that man (that is, only those of the alleged, eternal flock of the Father), voluntarily accept Christ because they are preemptively made Born Again, through being preemptively placed in Christ, before he hears and believes in the Gospel and is sealed in Christ, as per Ephesians 1:13. In contrast, the Arminian answer is that man is NOT in Christ until he is first sealed in Christ, and that a man is not sealed in Christ until AFTER he first hears and believes in the Gospel. On that basis, the Arminian dismisses the Calvinist explanation of preemptive placement in Christ.

The Arminian next asks whether God is powerful enough to save an unregenerate man through man's own morally depraved will? The answer is Yes, and Adrian Rogers explains how God does this:

Adrian Rogers explains: “Spiritual blindness makes beggars of us all. ... The blind need more than light in order to see. ... I used to think, as a young preacher, that what you had to do to get people saved is just to tell them how to be saved. Just turn on the light. But it doesn’t matter how much light there is, or the person is blind because he cannot see it. It takes more than light, it takes sight. And a person who is blind cannot see the light, no matter how strong the light is or how pure the light is. It takes more than preaching to get people saved. That’s the reason I frequently say to you, I can preach truth, but only the Holy Spirit can impart truth. That is the reason why we must be a praying church. That’s the reason you must be a spirit filled soul winner. That is the reason that we must have the anointing, because we are dependent upon God to open blinded eyes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It takes more than light, it takes takes sight. We need to understand that nobody can be argued into the kingdom of heaven. Nobody can be educated into the kingdom of heaven. I’m not against letting the light shine. You must let the let shine. You must preach. But remember, there is another dimension.” (Jesus is God’s Answer to Man’s Darkness: John 20:30, emphasis mine)

In order for a man to receive the light of the Gospel, he must receive sight from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of its sin (John 16:8), pricks the heart of the lost (Acts 26:14), pierces the heart of the lost (Acts 2:37) and opens the heart of the lost so that they can respond to the Gospel. (Acts 16:14) This is not what God does to the regenerate heart, but the unregenerate heart. It’s not the new birth either, which new birth is solely reserved for the redeemed in Christ. Rather, the Holy Spirit's Illumination of the unregenerate, who are condemned and already judged, is the spiritual sight given to the lost in order that the lost may see, and receive Jesus into their heart. Supernatural Sight is the working of the Holy Spirit, through the supernatural Light of the faith-producing Gospel (Romans 10:17), that enables a man to repent, believe and be saved. Adrian Rogers explains that this is why Christians need to pray for the lost, that God may touch their hearts in order to receive sight, that they might respond to the light. Though it is not irresistible, God, for His part, is willing that you become in Christ, and share in all that which God the Father has sovereignly bestowed in His Son, who stands knocking on the door of your heart. (Revelation 3:20)

Ezekiel 36:26

Jesus states: "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." (John 15:3)

1st Corinthians 3:16 states: "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"

2nd Corinthians 5:17 states: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

Having read these things, how do you feel that they compare with the promise of Ezekiel 36:26?

Ezekiel 36:22-32: "Therefore say to the house of Israel, `Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. "I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. "For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. "You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. "Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. "I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. "Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. "I am not doing this for your sake," declares the Lord GOD, "let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!"

The new creature that is reborn in Christ through the new birth, is given a new heart and a new spirit that they may be renewed in the image of Christ. This is the promise of the New Covenant.

Dialogue on John 17

John 17:6-8 “‘I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.’”

One person explains: "Jesus said that there were a specific group of people out of the whole race of humanity that were given to him from the father from all eternity! he goes on to say that he only prays for them and makes a point to say that he is not praying for the world. how much more clear does the point have to be made?"

Question: Where in John 17 does it say that those who were given to Jesus, were given to Him from all eternity? How does the statement, “they were Yours,” imply that they were eternally His? How do we know whether or not that this simply refers to those of Jesus' day who were "blameless" like the parents of John the Baptist (Luke 1:6), and also "true Israelites" like Nathaniel (John 1:47), and that it is these faithful of the Father that He gave and drew to His Son?

Calvinist, James White, writes: “If this giving does not involve sovereign predestination, what does it involve? Jesus Himself says it results in eternal life. If that is not election unto salvation, what is?” (Debating Calvinism, p.137, emphasis mine)

White concludes: “I just also believe the undisputed and unrefuted fact that I come to Christ daily because the Father, on the sole basis of His mercy and grace, gave me to the Son in eternity past.” (Debating Calvinism, p.306, emphasis mine)

If God the Father gave you to the Son from eternity past, then does that mean that you eternally resided in the Father? (Compare 1st John 2:24) Jesus said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”" (John 14:6) Yet, Calvinism seems to suggest that certain people were already, eternally plugged in with the Father before they ever came to Christ. So does Calvinism nullify what Jesus just said?

Consider the comments of John Hagee on this matter: “Jesus called a Gentile woman, a dog. He never called the Gentiles His brethren. Let me remind you of something. We did not get plugged in until the cross. We had no basis of standing with God until the cross. There’s where we were in Galatians 3 when Paul said you were outside the covenance of Israel, without hope and without God. That’s very important. Then at the cross, we were plugged in, and we received the riches of Abraham, and we received healing, and we received adoption, and we received all the cornucopia of the blessings of God. But before the cross, we were castoffs. You need to understand that.” (emphasis mine)

So is the essense of Calvinism, that Calvinists were plugged in with the Father from all eternity, and if so, does Jesus mediate in vain, for those who were already eternally mediated to the Father in His eternal secret counsel?

Sealed in Christ

Question: Does Calvinism teach that those of the alleged, eternal flock of the Father, somehow become in Christ, before they are sealed in Christ?

Consider Ephesians 1:13 which states: "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise."

Listened to the Gospel, believed in the Gospel, sealed in Christ. That is the order of operations.

So what is in Christ? In Him, there is Redemption (Romans 8:1) and Regeneration (Titus 3:5), that is, the washing of regeneration, through which the old creature in Adam passes away, and is crucified with Christ, and a new creature in Christ now lives, and is born again in its place. 2nd Corinthians 5:17 states: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." However, just as Calvinism teaches at Ephesians 1:4, that "the elect" are chosen in Christ, similarly, at Ephesians 1:13, Calvinism teaches that "the elect" are sealed in Christ. Calvinists often put Calvinism into a verse, in order to get Calvinism out of a verse.

What Calvinism teaches about Regeneration is that those of the alleged, eternal flock of the Father, are preemptively placed in Christ and thus given access to what is in Christ, namely, regeneration to becoming the new creature, so that by the new heart received in the new birth, they might irresistibly believe in the Gospel, as in Irresistible Grace. It is extremely important to remember that Calvinistic Preemptive placement in Christ, is not about opening hearts (Acts 16:14), but about changing hearts, so that by the new heart and new spirit received in Christ, those of the alleged, eternal flock of the Father, may irresistibly repent.

Calvinist, James White, who states: “When the time comes in God’s sovereign providence to bring to spiritual life each of those for whom Christ died, the Spirit of God will not only effectively accomplish that work of regeneration but that new creature in Christ will, unfailingly, believe in Jesus Christ (‘all that the Father gives Me will come to Me’).” (Debating Calvinism, p.191, emphasis mine)

So you can clearly see that Calvinism teaches that a person is preemptively placed in Christ, and is made a new creature, in order to irresistibly believe. This is exactly what I've been alleging about Calvinistic, preemptive placement in Christ. Yet, can an unbeliever, who is condemned (John 3:18), be preemptively placed in Christ where there is no condemnation? Romans 8:1 states: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Thus, you cannot, in any way, be in Christ among the redeemed, while being an unbeliever, condemned in Adam. The two are mutually exclusive, and hence, a cardinal teaching of Calvinism appears to implode.

The Arminian alternative is that a person becomes in Christ, only upon becoming sealed in Christ, and thus receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, through which the believer receives regeneration, new birth, sanctification, ect.

Arminianism:

Step 1) Hears Gospel

Step 2) Believes Gospel

Step 3) Sealed in Christ

Step 4) Born Again, New Creature, Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, one spirit with God.

The Holy Spirit takes believers and seals them in Christ. Close the envelope, attach the seal, they’re now in Christ, and you can count them as Redeemed.

Calvinism:

Step 1) Born again in Christ

Step 2) Hears GospelStep

3) Believes GospelStep

4) Sealed in Christ

Step 1 and 4 shows just how dysfunctional Calvinism truly is, by placing unbelievers preemptively in Christ, in order to access what is IN Christ, namely a new heart, via regeneration, prior to being sealed in Christ.

Calvinism: a sweet treat, but with a rotten core

I liken Calvinism to a candy apple, but made from rotten fruit. Before passing judgment, consider what I have to say.

On the surface, the Calvinist tastes the caramel sweetness of eternal favor with the Father, having been chosen into an eternal flock of the Father, giving the Calvinist an overwhelming sense of confidence and joy in knowing that his destiny was eternally predetermined, and that at no time was he ever truly on the path to Hell. To the Calvinist, what could be sweeter than that? Thus, you have what I believe is the most attractive element of Calvinism. However, upon sinking one's teeth into Calvinism, he discovers the bitter theology that he wasn't saved by the Cross, but for the Cross. What does that mean?

One Calvinist explains: “Do Calvinists secretly believe that God chose them for some reason other than their need for salvation? Would I, as a Christian, believe that God chose me for some other reason than my need for salvation? Yes, I do. God chose me for His glory, for His pleasure, for His purposes. Sure I had a need for salvation. But that is not why He saved me primarily.”

The Calvinist answers: “In the Bible, God does not say He chose us because of our desperate need. He chose us before our need ever arose.”

If you had an eternal favor with God the Father, apart from the basis of the Cross, and apart from your hope in His Son, then your alleged, eternal favor with God has circumvented Christ, who instead says: "No one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6) The reality is that your favor with God the Father stems from your faith in His Son, and that apart from your faith in His Son, you have no favor with God. Your favor with God the Father begins at the very moment that you trust in His Son. Apart from trusting in Christ, you are a dog.

John Hagee states: “Jesus called a Gentile woman, a dog. He never called the Gentiles His brethren. Let me remind you of something. We did not get plugged in until the cross. We had no basis of standing with God until the cross. There’s where we were in Galatians 3 when Paul said you were outside the covenance of Israel, without hope and without God. That’s very important. Then at the cross, we were plugged in, and we received the riches of Abraham, and we received healing, and we received adoption, and we received all the cornucopia of the blessings of God. But before the cross, we were castoffs. You need to understand that.”

Thus the question: Does Calvinism inevitably teach that those of the alleged, eternal flock of the Father, are eternally plugged in with the Father, apart from the basis of the Cross?

In the Father?

Ephesians 1:3-4: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him."

Arminian Question #1: Do you believe that Eph 1:4 is saying that [the chosen] were chosen [to become] in Christ? If so, in whom were they chosen, whereupon God has chosen them [to be] in Christ?

Calvinist Answer: "Yes."
http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=36818&page=4

Arminian Question #1 restated, because I only received half of an answer: If you are saying "yes" that Ephesians 1:4 means that "the chosen" are chosen "to be" in Christ, then in whom were they chosen to become chosen in Christ? My point is that it sets up a case for another election, namely, an election in the Father. In other words, Calvinism seesm to suggest: God has chosen us in Himself, and having chosen us in Himself, He has chosen us to become in Christ. Would you agree to that? James White writes: “I just also believe the undisputed and unrefuted fact that I come to Christ daily because the Father, on the sole basis of His mercy and grace, gave me to the Son in eternity past.” (Debating Calvinism, p.306, emphasis mine) What I'm seeing is the making of an eternal "in the Father" election whereby God the Father has an eternal flock of sheep, and that He gives these to His Son in order to belong to Him. Calvin describes these as having been hidden in Him from all eternity. I'm trying to see if you are willing to confess to an eternal "in the Father" relationship.

Calvinist Answer: "The full Godhead is in salvation. The Father does the choosing. The Holy Spirit does the drawing. The Son does the saving. Yet...Christ choose you before you choose Him, No one can come to the Son unless the Father draws him and we are saved by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost."
http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=36818&page=4

Arminian Question #1 restated: Do you believe that God the Father chose you in Himself from before the foundation of the world, in an eternal flock of the Father, in order that you may be given and chosen to be in His Son? (Yes/No)

Calvinist Answer: "I would word it this way..God elected me. You want to push your idea of "in Christ" and "in the Father". How about "in the spirit"? Is this 3 elections? I think you need to spend some time thinking about this."
http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=36818&page=17

Arminian Question #1 restated again, because it still wasn't answered: "If Ephesians 1:4 meant that God the Father chose "the elect" to be in Christ, then in whom were these elect chosen in order to be qualified for election in the Son? The purpose of this question is to determine whether Calvinism truly does teach a primary election in the Father, with a resulting secondary election in the Son.

Calvinist Answer: "In Christ means we are saved. It means we are not of this world. All of these blessings come to us, by the work of God. These are applied to only the elect of God. Notice God loves the saints."
http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=36818&page=17

Arminian Question #1 never answered. So I asked someone else:

Calvinist Answer: "Is there a difference in being chosen IN the Father and BY the Father? I would argue that we are chosen BY God to be IN Christ at the time the Fathers draws us to Christ and we accept Him as our Savior."

Arminian Question #1 restated: If they are given BY the Father, doesn't it naturally follow that it is because they were His own to give, that is, IN Him, in order to give them away like the father of the bride gives his daughter away to the groom? The daughter was IN her Father's family in order to be given BY Him. If you say that they are given BY God, doesn't it follow that they had to be HIS in order to GIVE? Therefore, at Eph 1:4, if you say that "the elect" were given to be in Christ, then it seems inevitable to me that these would have to be IN the Father in order to be given away to the Son. Now let me ask you a very candid question. Why would you be opposed to accept that these would then be eternally elect IN the Father?

Calvinist Answer: none

Ephesians 1:13-14: "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory

Arminian Question #2: If being made Born Again as the "new creature" with the "new heart" is a facet of the new birth in Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:17), and if we are not sealed in Christ until after we believe in the Gospel, as per Ephesians 1:13, then how is that Calvinism teaches that people are made Born Again in Christ before they are sealed in Christ?

Calvinist Answer: Yes...Only the elect are sealed...holy/saint...and changed into His image.
http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=36818&page=7

Arminian Summary: According to Calvinists, "the elect" are chosen to become in Christ, and they are elect apart from the basis of being sealed in Christ. Calvinists therefore have claimed for themselves, an elect status with the Father, independent of Christ, which demotes Christ and promotes Calvinists. However, Jesus stated: “No one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6) Thus, the “to be” Election of Calvinism which logically speaking, inevitably places one in the Father from all eternity, is reduced to dust by John 14:6. For the Calvinists who fancy themselves as being eternally plugged in with the Father, before their need for salvation ever arose, have ultimately negated Jesus' role as Mediator, since they would have you believe that they were already, eterally mediated to the Father in His eternal counsels. To that, I say that Calvinism is hogwash.

Either I am predestined TO BECOME in Christ, or.... I am predestined in Christ, meaning that I have a predestined inheritance once I become sealed "in Christ."

Either I am chosen TO BECOME in Christ, or.... I am chosen in Christ, speaking of what blessings of Adoption that I can look forward to once I become sealed in Christ.

Adrian Rogers on Prevenient Grace

Adrian Rogers explains: “Spiritual blindness makes beggars of us all. ... The blind need more than light in order to see. ... I used to think, as a young preacher, that what you had to do to get people saved is just to tell them how to be saved. Just turn on the light. But it doesn’t matter how much light there is, or the person is blind because he cannot see it. It takes more than light, it takes sight. And a person who is blind cannot see the light, no matter how strong the light is or how pure the light is. It takes more than preaching to get people saved. That’s the reason I frequently say to you, I can preach truth, but only the Holy Spirit can impart truth. That is the reason why we must be a praying church. That’s the reason you must be a spirit filled soul winner. That is the reason that we must have the anointing, because we are dependent upon God to open blinded eyes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It takes more than light, it takes takes sight. We need to understand that nobody can be argued into the kingdom of heaven. Nobody can be educated into the kingdom of heaven. I’m not against letting the light shine. You must let the let shine. You must preach. But remember, there is another dimension.” (Jesus is God’s Answer to Man’s Darkness: John 20:30, emphasis mine)

Fallen man is spiritually blind, and therefore he needs sight. No one seeks God, so God must seek man, and Jesus does this very thing when He seeks (Luke 19:10), draws (John 12:32) and knocks upon the heart's door of the lost. (Revelation 3:20) Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit convicts the heart (John 16:8), pricks the heart (Acts 26:14), pierces the heart (Acts 2:37) and even opens the heart to respond to the Gospel. (Acts 16:14) This is Illumination of Prevenient Grace, but that is not to be confused with Regeneration. Illumination deals with the old heart. Regeneration deals with the new heart. John 1:9 states: “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” The Gospel is the Light through which the Holy Spirit gives Sight. (Romans 10:17) A man is illuminated in order to receive the Gospel. A man is regenerated after he has been sealed in Christ. (Ephesians 1:13) Regeneration is when we are washed and renewed by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5), in having become a "new creature" in Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:17), born again with a "new heart" and a "new spirit." (Ezekiel 36:26) Calvinism, in contrast, overrides Ephesians 1:13 by erroneously teaching that men are preemptively placed in Christ in order to gain access to the "new heart" in regeneration, in order that the decision of the elect be made irresistible, as in Irresistible Grace. Hence, you have the clear difference between the Prevenient Grace of Arminianism and the Irresistible Grace of Calvinism.