T.U.L.I.P

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: : Hi, Elder Yong. i went to 'www.fivesolas.com', reading room and read the article regarding T.U.L.I.P : that is: : 1) Total Depravity of mankind, in that man's spiritual and moral value are totally dead as a result of the Fall of Adam. We have inherited Adam's spiritual nature of death. We do not desire to even want to know the true God, are at war with Him, and can only be so. : : 2) Unconditional election: HE predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--" (Eph 1:5) : : 3) Limited atonement: And so Jesus came, not to offer salvation to everyone, but to accomplish salvation for the elect. : : 4) Irresistible Grace: At some point in time the individual who hears will have his heart changed from stone to flesh; from death to life. That person will gladly trust in the person and work of Christ Jesus because God's grace will accomplish it. : : 5) Perseverance of the Saints: Since God has chosen, and God has provided, and God has irresistibly changed our hearts, then it only follows that God will keep us. He has promised to bring us home to glory : ----------------------------------------------------------- : I can understand the T and P part, but regarding the U, L and I, i do have some observations and some questions that would seek your valuable opinion: : I feel there is a linkage between these three portions of the arguement with respect to the free will of man. : If were to say that God did not value the free will of man, that would be not true as we saw that when God instructed Adam that he must not eat the fruit from the Tree of good and evil, this itself is a choice given to man, hence the free will of man can be said. : However, the Unconditional election stands that HE predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--" (Eph 1:5) Yes, it's unconditional as we do not need to have any special condition for God to choose us (And we indeed have none as pointed out in the 'T' portion) : It says according to His pleasure and will. In other words, it's election by God himself and the Salvation is limited (according to 'L') : If God's Grace is Irresistable as in 'I', would it be accepted by all? If all were to be saved, then, 'L' part would not have been correct.. : After some thoughts, i came out with some conclusion. Do correct me if i am wrong: : 1) God loves each one of us and i strongly believe that He delight everyone of us to be saved, as Christ came to the world to redeem ALL and NOT some from damnation and the wrath of God. There is also a part in the Bible that says the whole heaven will rejoice over repentance of one sinner. Therefore, i cannot accept that God choose some to go heaven while others go hell. There must be some problem behind the 'L' arguement that obstruct this. : 2) 'Elect'.. So and so can be elect to be a president of a certain country. Under normal conditions when he/she is not being disqualified, during the process, he/ she can choose to be out of this election.. ( surely, i think all would not choose to be out of this election as the post is so honoured and power, but yet, i can't understand that there are many people who have not yet accepted Christ) So, herein lies my observations: God is speaking through us in our everyday life via His Creation, his WORD when a non-believer attends a sermon or an evangelistic event.. Only if a person is 1)awaken to 2)His call can then be Salvation brought to him/ her and the person can said to be elected? : : 3) But then, i remembered Dr Tong's example of the house on fire and if God did not call the asleep to wake up, then they would not as they would be ignorant of the hazard. This did not mentioned about the free will issue.. : : Hmm.. i think i am a bit confused now.. Do enlighten me. : Though have not fully understand this yet, i strongly held onto two points that did not discourage me from evangelise the Gospel to others: : : i) We all live in the domain of time, hence not All-Knowing as God do. Therefore, since we do not know who and who will be save till the day he died w/o accepting Christ, we ought not to play God as All-knowing and be irresponsible towards the Gospel. : : ii) If God elects me to be His children, which i am indeed grateful and with a thanksgiving heart, then i would treat my election as a start off point that God wants me to pass on to the Gospel to another and another passes on to another, sowing the seeds of Gospel for the LORD. : : Thanks for patience in reading. Need guidance from you. : Take care. : God Bless, : zhiqiang

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