Ron Nelson
Executive producer
The No Agenda Show #1500, Christ follower, convinced that God loves all people 1st Corinthians 13, married 38 years, 5 kids
15 reasons why I am not a Calvinist:
1. ✝️ I read the Bible in context and I am not afraid to ask hard questions. I test everything and hold fast to what is biblically proven to be true.
2. 🔍 When apparent inconsistencies arise, I dig for biblical answers rather than appealing to “mystery.” God does not contradict Himself, and the simplicity that is in Christ has no hidden or secret will.
3. ✝️ I interpret difficult passages in light of God’s revealed character, fully and finally revealed in Jesus Christ. God’s character does not need to be redefined to protect a theological system. God’s character interprets His actions (not the other way around)
4. 👶 I accept wholeheartedly what God says about infants, that they are innocent and belong to Him. If anyone knows who the unborn belong to, it is God Himself. Jesus perfectly represents the Father, and He never portrayed God as condemning infants to eternal punishment. In fact, He did the opposite.
5. 🎯 I want only what God clearly says in His Word, not what I want Him to say. It is difficult to hear God when you have already decided what you want Him to say.
6. ✝️ I allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, not creeds, confessions, or systematic frameworks imposed upon the text. The Bible doesn’t need a theological filter to make sense; it only gets distorted when one is imposed on it.
7. ⚖️ I do not feel compelled to follow the teachings of long-dead Calvinist theologians. My trust is in the living Word of God, not in the interpretations of men no matter how revered they may be.
8. ⚖️ I reject any interpretation of Scripture that presents God as the author of confusion, deception, or selective mercy. I take God at face value as He reveals Himself plainly.
9. 📢 God’s commands to repent, believe, seek, and respond assume genuine human response. Scripture does not portray God as commanding what He has secretly rendered impossible.
10. ❤️ I accept God’s revelation that faith precedes regeneration and that sinners are consistently called to believe so that they may have life. Scripture does not allow us to reverse this order, since regeneration occurs in Christ, and no unbeliever is ever given eternal life outside of Him.
11. ✝️ The apostles proclaimed a clear and universal gospel call. They did not preach with hidden categories of elect and non-elect hearers, nor did they qualify the gospel based on undisclosed decrees.
12. 👑 Scripture presents Jesus as the LORD of hosts and the coming King who invites us to trust Him in order to have life,. Those who respond in faith will one day share His reign over the earth. He is not portrayed as a deterministic controller of every action, but as the wise, relational Creator-King who desires fellowship with those He made.
13. 🌍 I accept the gospel testimony that Jesus died for all, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life which is good news for all people (Luke 2:10). I reject the notion that Christ died only for some while rejecting the rest of the world in advance. That is not good news.
14. 🌳 Jesus taught us to judge teaching by its fruit. Calvinism often produces unnecessary division in the Church and fosters spiritual pride among those who see themselves as the “truly elect,” while treating other Christians as lesser.
15. ⚠️ Having personally witnessed Calvinist pastors remove believers from non-Calvinist churches simply for affirming that Jesus died for all, I recognized fruit I had no desire to eat.
Calvinism does not reflect the way God has revealed Himself in Scripture. God is portrayed as the Good Samaritan who bends down to help the dying, not as the priest or the Levite who passes by on the other side.
Jesus does not “pass by” those in need, He comes near and shows mercy.
Well okay so I was wrong about James White. You respond similar that's why I made the connection.
I'm not an apologist for Pelagius I believe that truth needs prevail. If anything I'm against Augustine he is the one who's poisoned The well of Christianity for the last 1500 years.
Also, tell me that I'm wrong that you actually did read Dr Ken's Wilson's Cliff note version of his doctoral thesis?
I don't understand why you people are so afraid. You haven't read his book so you have no idea what you're talking about you are completely ignorant. By the way his credentials are impeccable and he has not been discredited as you so flippantly say.
Even your beloved apostle James White refuses to debate him because he knows he will humiliated.
https://t.co/HcRywqxC45
Don't be a weak or afraid look at what your opponents present then you would be able to speak with some sort of authority but until then you're a troll.
https://t.co/Sd05l5UDHv
You obviously haven't read the historical evidence. My guess is you won't read the book, but how about a notebook LM review of it?
I know it's a trigger for Augustinians to have their worldview challenged but until you actually know what the opposition believes you will not have a complete picture.
You might think you have discovered an "Achilles heel" here, but such a position only exposes your lack of historical knowledge. Mathematically, Pelagius was only 1/28th "Pelagian". He fiercely denied the other 13.5 points, leading the council of bishops to fully acquit him of heresy at the Synod of Diospolis in December of 415 AD.
But you on the other hand are probably 1/5 or more gnostic.
https://t.co/07mtWabPLy
Hour long Notebook LM discussion of Dr. Ken Wilson's book: "The Foundation of Augustinian-Calvinism." I think it is phenomenal overview that reformed/Calvinist types need to hear. #calvinism, #reformed, #augustine, #gnostics
@_jonbowlin@rootcausesleuth It's not a lie it's what your team believes in.
Unfortunately you don't understand Calvinism, the philosophy you've embraced.
@Soteriology101 Obviously, Tozer has the correct biblical mindset. Steve Lawson gravitated toward a philosophy that allowed him to do whatever he wanted without consequences. Everything is predetermined in his world by God.... even his adultery.
It's so weird, it was the opposite for me.
I have been opposed to Augustinianism for 30 years or more long before https://t.co/gNC07kUGsb came on the scene.
When Dave Hunt's book "What Love is this?" came out it was a game changer and lit a spark in the Calvary chapel movement.
To be honest i don't understand what you're saying. When you isolate 6:44 you can come up your Augustinian pre-supposition. However, in context people hear and learn from the Father through the scriptures. So the reason they didn’t come to Jesus is because they weren’t listening to what God was telling them through the scriptures.
To add a little spice to the conversation you're doing the very thing that the early church fought against.
https://t.co/qyLjNISwdT
John Chrysostom (349 – 407) documented that the Gnostics (Manichæans) had been quoting some of the same proof-texts as Calvinists of today. In his commentary on John 6:44, he states the following:
“The Manichæans spring upon these words, saying, ‘that nothing lies in our own power’; yet the expression shows that we are masters of our will. ‘For if a man comes to Him,’ saith some one, ‘what need is there of drawing?’ But the words do not take away our free will, but show that we greatly need assistance. And He implies not an unwilling comer, but one enjoying much succor (assistance).” [1]
If we break down all the causes of Uriah's murder, I'll bet the Calvinists would conclude Uriah was more at fault than God was.
Causes of death for Uriah;
Primary cause: sword
Secondary cause: enemy army using swords
Tertiary cause: David's army General Joab who sent Uriah to the front lines
Quaternary cause: letter to Joab to place Uriah at the front lines
Quinary cause: Uriah delivering letter to Joab
Senary cause: David writing letter
Septenary cause: Bathsheba telling
David she got pregnant
Octonary cause: David who slept with Bathsheba
Nonary cause: Messengers who found Bathsheba and brought her to David in the first place
Denary cause: God who imagined, designed, ordained, decreed, willed, and brought to pass the whole series of unfortunate events and sovereignly chose NOT to grant David the self-control which He allegedly granted to Joseph when Potiphar's wife made herself available to him. Because it brought God maximal glory to orchestrate David's adultery, and Uriah's murder and the death of Bathsheba's child.
And that's why God isn't responsible... somehow 🙆🤦
Isn't that presumptuous and man-centered? I would presume so, since he's a Calvinist who believes there are only a few that are chosen and the rest are passed over.
I'll help him out.
Since the scripture declares that God so love theworld that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. So, since he's part of the world just like all of us, then he too can be saved! Praise the Lord!
@OwnYourWrldview@CherylSchatz So let me see if I understand you.
If God doesn't cause the cancer or doesn't plan the little girls gr@pe or ordain the 73 million abortions that happen every year worldwide, then these events have no meaning?
Sounds like you worship Moleck