Calvinism: God's Choice or My Choice?

Is free will just a fantasy? If God is in control of all things, how can we even begin to play a role in our own salvation? In this clip, Frank unpacks this difficult theological dilemma.

📚 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀

🤝 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗖𝗥𝗢𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗫𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗗 (𝗧𝗔𝗫-𝗗𝗘𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗕𝗟𝗘) 🤝

👥 𝗦𝗢𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗔 👥

🗄️ 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗖𝗘𝗦 🗄️

🎙️ 𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗦𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗕𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗗𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗧 🎙️

#freewill #calvinism #theology

[msing]

"I think God is so sovereign that he can get His will done through our free will."

This was the quote I never knew I needed.

[enjoliturner]

Frank turek makes it so simple for my pea size brain to get it. I'm thankful for him.

[annemorency]

Dr. Turek was born for this! Such a blessed gift to us 🙏🏾

[kraffty]

I like Leighton Flowers on Calvinism. He often points out, how could a good God hold people responsible, while withholding their ability to respond?

[stephanieray]

Thanks for so clearly communicating this!

[Adam_A_Christian]

I was predestined to reject Calvinism and Calvinists were predestined toward arguing why I'm wrong for doing so and also toward not seeing the inherent contradiction. And toward parroting the line:
"You don't understand Calvinism."

[cr]

I love Frank Turek because he’s an apologist who is easy to understand and who speaks in very simple terms.

[j.era]

“I will mercy who I desire and I will harden who I desire”-God

[joshuavisser]

‘So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”’
‭‭Romans‬ ‭9‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

[jettruth]

I’ve use a lot of his points when I evangelize. Just started putting them on my channel to the surprise of my current subscribers.

[savedbygrace]

yes we have free will but we wont choose God in our natural state...unless God regenerates our heart. We didn't choose Him, He chose us.

"as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12

"just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love"
Ephesians 1:4

[felicityacosta]

Hey that’s me!! I’m glad that my question led to the production of this video. I’m still a calvinist though🥰🥰

[craighoekema]

As a Calvinist myself, I think we often use the term "free will" incorrectly in this conversation...or at least we talk past each other because we're not clear about what we mean by that term. Turek rightly points out that Calvinism teaches that we will never choose to be saved unless the Holy Spirit chooses to give us the gift of faith. But if our "will" is the part of us that desires things, the issue is not that our "wills" are unfree, the issue is that our wills are corrupt. Our wills are perfectly free to desire whatever they desire. The issue is that, by nature, our wills do not and will not desire Christ. On Calvinism, our wills aren't forced or coerced into rejecting Christ; they do so freely of their own accord. So again, the issue is one of corruption, not freedom.
As far as the contradiction Turek mentions, I think he significantly oversimplifies the teachings of scripture. It's true that certain passages (like God wanting all to be saved), on their own, seem like a challenge to Calvinism. But there are many more texts in scripture that challenge the idea that God chooses us because we chose him.

[Eben_Haezer]

God's choice is that we should have a choice.

[barryallen]

It is well to notice, too, that Scripture never speaks of election or predestination to a place, heaven or hell. Scripture does not speak of the believer as having been “crucified, buried, and raised with Christ back in the eternal ages.” Election in the Scriptures is to holiness, and to Christ-likeness. C. F. Hogg

[festushaggen]

Of course we have freewill. We've all done things we wanted to do, have not done things we didn't want to do and refused to do things were tempted to do. That's as free as it gets.

[stephenskyful]

Thank you for your willingness to share these valuable insights!
Yes we are BOTH Chosen & Free!!!

[sidwhiting]

Predestination is a tough topic for sure, because we bring human suppositions to it. Rather than endlessly argue about what is meant by "accepting" God (did I or didn't I have the choice to freely accept or reject?), I prefer to examine what actually happen: Do I accept or not? The benefit is mine as a Christian regardless of whether or not the choice was mine or was made for me or some mixture of the two that I cannot explain in human terms.
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Does the Holy Spirit enable us to believe and trust in Jesus? Yes.
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Do I believe in and trust in Jesus Christ: his existence from eternity, his virgin birth, his personhood in the Triune God, his humanity and divinity that are united in the Godhead, his sinless life, his perfect death, his physical resurrection, his return on the Last Day to judge the Earth, and that by God's grace and Christ's atoning sacrifice I am declared righteous for Jesus' sake and not for any merit or works I have done, purely by God's grace? Yes.
.
That's enough for me to know and be comforted.
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Did I have any role in that? *shrugs Does it really matter precisely how that works in a theologians' seminar? Probably not.
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Paul says We are saved by grace through faith. He does not say we are saved by being able to thoroughly explain every doctrine perfectly to where everyone else who hears us will "amen" the verbiage we use.

[GhostBearCommander]

“I think God is so Sovereign that He can get His Will done through our free will.”

Spot on.

The thing that Calvinists seem to miss is that, in fact, it is THEY who hold a lower view of Sovereignty.

To a Calvinist, God isn’t Sovereign enough to be in control if creatures have free will.

To a non-Calvinist, God is Sovereign regardless of how free the will is.

[MarkMattingly]

Is you and I knowing that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow truly comparable to God's foreknowledge?