Why I'm Not a Calvinist (Ben Witherington)

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Study The Gospel of John with Ben Witherington's Bible study here:

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Get the book, Prevenient Grace: God's Provision for Fallen Humanity by W. Brian Shelton here:

In this video, Ben Witherington III here shares his reasons why he's not a Calvinist.

[seektruth]

Thank u Dr Ben.
I've been a Nazarene all my life, and the more I study 5-point Calvinism as a mature adult, and Christian, is the more I see how its doctrines are an affront to the character of God.

[Corneisha]

I think we as humans dig too deeply. We will never fully understand God. All these different theologies causes unnecessary debates.

We should be spreading the Good News, witnessing and testifying about Jesus. We should be living righteous & acceptable lives, keeping God first out of the love and respect we have for Him.

We all will be held accountable for ourselves on that Day. The Bible clearly tells us what we should and should not do. And if there is ever a lack of understanding he advises us to come to Him for wisdom and understanding- not man. We shouldn't lean on our own knowledge which is why we need the Holy Spirit, who will lead & guide us into all truth.

The concern should be am I truly walking with Jesus? Have I been born again? Am I doing God's will?

[robertsullivan]

As a Catholic I liked his presentation. I could sit with this man and find common ground.

[lisalmenard]

I love this! I’m not Methodist, but very much agree.

[hiddenname]

After struggling with a lot of frustrating experiences with churches, this video is helping me to better understand why I struggled so much. I didn’t realize all of this pain I experienced was based in Calvinism.

[steveempire]

You would think the entire Bible whereby God is constantly interacting with humanity beseeching them to do what is right, to repent, and come back to Him would be a sign that God didn't choose beforehand for people to go to heaven or hell from the beginning of time. It really amazes me how people cherry-pick select verses and then completely miss the entire theme of the book.

[wouldnt_you_like_to_know]

Nobody taught me calvinism and arminianism.
But the arminian view is the logical and natural response to what you read in the Bible.

With calvinism you have to twist your mind and make a mockery of logic and reason that God gave us (God is a logical being, we are created in his image) in order to be able to see tulips everywhere.

[KathyDeckef-py]

Thank you Dr Witherington! Calvinism has crept into my Baptist Church via our senior pastor, most of our associate pastors & elders. When I joined this church in the early 90`s, there was no Calvinism preached but only the good news of Gods love for everyone and how anyone could believe in Christ`s death & resurrection and receive Gods gift of forgiveness of heaven of a new heart & a personal relationship with God, our Creator. You helped me realize why I am not a Calvinist. Yes, God is love. That what drew me to Him.

[johnrose]

It doesn’t matter if I understand every bit of Gods Word(the matters is that I BELIEVE every single word of the Bible is

If the Bible says “he died for “whosoever I believe it

If it says that “your name on the Lambs Book of Life before the foundations of the that the Father has given unto me ....I will lose not that “the Elect of God shall not be deceived “....then I believe it

It doesn’t matter what I think or any other human thinks only matter what He if it’s in His Holy Word then it true you can’t seem to make the “pieces of the puzzle fit it seems contradictory....just leave it in Gods to Him in prayer Him by faith for a clearer understanding and in his own time of choosing ...He will reveal it to you

But to take one scripture and toss another one away just because it “doesn’t make probably one of the worst things you can do as a Christian

[JoshWashington]

prevenient grace means "God gives everyone the opportunity to respond to the grace of God"

[Theolife]

Best Seven Minute Seminary thus far. Way to go Dr Witherington.

[pbrent]

Grew up Anglican, so even with all its dismal shortcomings now, at least the groundwork for basing all learning, belief, understanding on scripture was there. I attended many types of calvinistic churches but always found something cold and 'off' with their culture, so digging deeper now, I can see where it might, in reality probably emanates from. Thank you Seedbed and Ben Witherington for this channel and your teaching. It's great to see short concise summaries of these topics also - some are hours too long :)

[AdamAllenPhotography]

Rock on! I don't understand how this isn't more commonly understood.

[ewallt]

Our core beliefs shape our reality. There’s no such thing as interpreting Scripture in an unbiased way. We need some guiding principle or principles to guide us, and “What does this tell us about the character of God?” is an excellent one.

[mapfield]

"now I know why God predestined me to be a Methodist" nice zinger!

[AuthorNathanJohnson]

Because your commitment to theistic teaching is more important than a careful analysis of the mechanics of the will. I totally understand it, because I was in Seminary before I drummed up the courage to think in those terms, and it was extremely difficult to do, and I didn't come out a Calvinist, I came out independent and on my first real search for truth.

[franciscoramirez]

The doctrine of the elect is severely misunderstood. If God is not sovereign then God is unjust. Who am I to question God's motives. Man is totally and utterly depraved. God chooses man responds, but our response is not free but comes at a price, the blood of Christ. I have heard people say, "I accepted Christ or I decided to choose God." Really, how arrogant and presumptuous. God. Do you not know how God has chosen vessels for honor and dishonor, how can the clay instruct the Potter. We should humbly bend the knee and thank God He had chosen us as His elect. Praise and glory to Christ.

[kersi-sandiego]

Excellent post. Thank you. I'm saving this.

[davidasholesjr]

Thank you. Agreed. However, I would not have used the word "inefficient" in connection with arguing against Calvinism that Jesus died for all. They use that word to argue that God was very efficient in limiting to he died for so he didn't waste his blood. Obviously, God's not about cold mechanical efficiency. He's about providing for all of his creation, whether or not they respond to receive his love

[upt]

I love this video, I visit it periodically. I've had some professors who've tried to ease those 5 points into student's psyches. I'm not omitting the scholarship of Calvin or Luther, but a line of demarcation must be inserted on certain doctrinal perspectives ... now I know why God predestined me to be "non-conformed."