matthewd2013
Puritan Board Freshman
I have a friend that moved into my house with me and he and I are both follow reformed teaching. Although convinced that Calvinism is the only tenable position, my friend is always angry at God because of Calvinism. My friend's though process goes from 'God elected a certain people and sent Jesus to die for them' to 'it is possible that God could have elected more people' to 'it is then possible for God to have elected all people' to 'I am mad at God because he seems not good for not electing all people.'
My response tends to be that he is holding God to human standards of goodness and that, just as Arminians presuppose free-will to be such and such and then interpret the bible, he presupposes goodness to be such and such and then judges God accordingly.
Maybe it is true that it takes a divine understanding given by the HS in order to feel/understand that God is good for not electing all people but since God works through secondary causes, other than praying for him, does anyone have any advise on good ways to deal with someone that confesses reformed doctrine (depravity of man, election, limited atonement etc) and yet is in danger of hating God and rejecting him?
Thanks,
Matt
My response tends to be that he is holding God to human standards of goodness and that, just as Arminians presuppose free-will to be such and such and then interpret the bible, he presupposes goodness to be such and such and then judges God accordingly.
Maybe it is true that it takes a divine understanding given by the HS in order to feel/understand that God is good for not electing all people but since God works through secondary causes, other than praying for him, does anyone have any advise on good ways to deal with someone that confesses reformed doctrine (depravity of man, election, limited atonement etc) and yet is in danger of hating God and rejecting him?
Thanks,
Matt