Persuasion

     What does it take to become a Christian? Some say that God "elected" at the beginning of time who would be saved. There was no metric of whom would be saved but the elect was chosen by grace. Of course, since God is omniscient, he does know who will be saved and who will not be! Few disagree with that but foreknowledge does not support election. Let's examine one of the many passages where elect or election is used:

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Pet 1:10-11)

    Strong's Lexicon is very Calvinistic. "Election", in their opinion, are those persons chosen to be Christians by God's own free will by His grace. Thus, Christians are the chosen few of whom Matthew 7:14 speaks. If salvation is by election only, then God would have no grace for those not chosen. Calvinists believe in the concept of sola gratia (by grace alone). With that notion, God's grace is sufficient for salvation without any activity or thinking (work) on the part of individuals.

    Sola gratia is fatalistic even for those chosen because how would they know if they are chosen or not? Attending a Calvinistic church would not be enough evidence. What test would they use to determine if Christians are chosen or not? Believing in election? Believing is a work, and would not be grace in the minds of Calvinists. Mark 16:15 explicitly says that salvation is dependent on belief. Jesus said, "You must be born again," (John 3:7) then went on to compare what one must do to be born again. That is to elevate Jesus just as Moses did on the pole. That is hard work and takes convincing!

     Moses did something - he lifted the pole. The Hebrew people who were saved did something - they looked up at the lifeless serpent on the pole. Being born again requires effort just as the unborn baby must assist in the first birth. Either way, birth is a gift of God but something needs to be done to receive the gift. For the unborn baby it is squeezing through the birth canal. For rebirth it is the same struggle - belief.

     Doing something such as believing is "work" in the doctrine of Calvinists. Election is by grace alone. I believe they get around that doublethink by claiming that God picks who will believe. In other words, the believer has no choice to believe. They call that "irresistible grace". Christians would have to love God out of force. Rather than being released from bondage of the Law ,they would be put in chains to grace.

     Even if God elected just a few to be saved, doubt would stress Christians badly. How would they be sure they are saved? Everyone would be sure if they truly believed that doctrine or would they? Since the path is narrow, most people would conclude that they are not elected. The odds are against them because they were either elected by some type of random lottery or God knew that they would believe. The former is true election, but the latter is foreknowledge and still leaves open the idea that the Christian must do something, and that something is to believe (trust) God for salvation which is by the grace of God.

     You can easily see that Calvinistic doctrine is in conflict with its basic tenet of sola gratia. Calvinism should and must be completely discarded because it is not the truth - the Doctrine of Christ. For instance, the Hebrews were God's chosen people:

For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. (Deut 7:6).

     If God chose them, and He did, why did Paul turn away from them unto the Gentiles? Because although the Jews were chosen, only "peculiar" people were persuaded (1 Pet 2:9). What determines peculiar people? Those who depend on wisdom (1 Cor 1:22). Peculiar people are those who are wise enough to trust Jesus. The Jews, although chosen (elected), did not. On the other hand, God wanted the Jews to be saved but they weren't. After the elect denied Jesus, the apostles turned to the Gentiles who were merely peculiar, not chosen, people.

     The mystery of God is that it was never only the elect (Jews) for whom Christ would die but for everyone. John 3:16 testifies to that with "whosoever believeth in him should not perish." The same mystery would then be that neither were you chosen any more than the next person, and that all were chosen! What then separates the chosen from the unchosen (sic)? The decision to diminish oneself and elevate Jesus! For that to happen, everyone must consider Jesus. Those who fail to consider Jesus are damned by default. The second part of John 3:16 is that whosoever believes. That entails that "whosoever" do something!

     It is God's will that all will hear the Word and choose wisely. In fact, the end will not come until everyone has heard about Jesus and the resurrection (Mark 13:10). Why everyone? Because everyone by grace should have the opportunity to make a choice - they must be persuaded to lift up Jesus and follow his Way! How can we know that? Because it's in Holy Scripture:

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. (Acts 26:28)

    To be a Christian is not by a divine lottery. Anyone and everyone are to have an opportunity to decide for themselves. That is using their free will to evaluate the evidence and either deny Christ or trust him. Even those who have not heard of Jesus should seek him out because the proof is in the complexity of the creation (Rom 1:20). That is the primary reason the Creation story is so imperative to Christianity. It should help doubters to have evidence of God!

     Christians must be persuaded to be Christians. Children are more easily persuaded than adults because they have less baggage, that being false knowledge. How can one be persuaded when evolutionists teach that the universe was not created? That claim diminishes God as it elevates them! We are to be as the little children (Mat 18:3), and reject that false hunch for that is what it really is! 

     Some just won't be persuaded. They are not damned by divine decree but because they just cannot be convinced to trust the Word:

And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:31)

     Scripture tells Christians what to do with those who cannot be persuaded:

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. (Mat 10:14). 

     Why would Calvinists even go to them if they are already chosen?  If people are already elected why would Christians even waste time with the Great Commission? The answer is that hyper-Calvinists do not. The proof for them is that the elect are those who come to their particular church; thusly they are called Particular Baptists.  (All reformed churches are particular in that salvation is not available to all but only to the elect, and is not a general atonement.)

     If people are already elected, why would other Christians be able to reject their election? We see "whosoever" again in Matthew 10:14. Christians are expected to take the gospel to whosoever; that is everyone. Christians would then (under Calvinism) determine who the elect are and who are not. That is arrogant!

     Paul and Barnabas were able to persuade converts to be converted. Conversion is born again. It took logic and reasoning for them to be converted. The converts did something - they changed their false knowledge for truth, and by the truth, they were set free (John 8:32). What must anyone do to become a Christian? Accept the truth! What is truth? Pilate asked that (John 18:38). The answer is that there is one and only one Way to salvation and that is by the Name of Jesus (Acts 4:12). Christians must believe that to be saved. They must be persuaded of that:

Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. (Acts 13:43)

     Like it or not, persuasion is hard work. The job of all Christians is to go unto the world and persuade people to follow Christ. 
     If they are already elected, why would they need persuasion? Because all are elected to hear but few receive the truth (Mat 11:15)! Believing the truth is hard work. People don't want to be persuaded because if they do, they lose their stature. They must crucify themselves, in a spiritual sense, and they don't want to do that. They want to keep their self-governance and resent God's Law as an encumbrance on their own laws, which by the way, is the law of sin.

    Paul was a murderer. He persecuted and had Christians killed. With that said, there was no one more unconvinced of Jesus's Deity than Paul. Jesus struck Paul blind and he was convinced:

For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. (2 Tim 1:12)

     Paul was a Jew. God knew that he could not be convinced unless he was struck blind. To persuade Paul, Jesus made him see the truth through blindness. That was God's way as making him as a child and more easily persuaded. If Paul was merely chosen, why blind him? To make him see the truth. 

     I guarantee anyone, if Jesus struck you blind and spoke with you, no doubt you would be persuaded! I am persuaded, for one of the many reasons, because Paul was. I don't need to be struck blind because Paul was. I am persuaded by what Jesus can do, and with that, I trust that his promises will be kept. What is it that I did? I accepted the evidence presented and have been persuaded! That was hard work but by grace I was given the opportunity!