Here are my favorite questions:
Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
Q: Why didn’t Jesus gather up those in Jerusalem, when he longed to?
- A. Because they were not willing.
- B. This is a mystery.
- C. Hello pea brain. Jesus was speaking of general chicks, not effectual chicks
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Q: God loves what?
- A. The world
- B. The elect.
- C. His glory.
Q: Who will not perish?
- A. Whoever believes in God’s only son.
- B. Let me get back to you on that, I need to look up the answer in “Desiring God”.
- C. Francis Schaeffer won’t perish, but his kid Franky was decreed to go off the deep end.
Acts 16:30,31 [The jailer] then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Q: What must I do to be saved?
- A. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.
- B. Win the divine lottery.
- C. The jailer was a Pelagian.
Romans 11:32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Q: Who does “all” refer to in this verse?
- A. All
- B. The elect
- C. An unbiased reading of the text shows that the first all refers to everyone and the second all refers to only the elect.
1 Timothy 1:18,19 Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
Q: Paul says that some people have done what with their faith?
- A. Some have shipwrecked their faith.
- B. This is a hypothetical analogy with no real world application. It is merely used by God to ensure the perseverance of the elect.
- C. Nice try. Obviously the ship was never floating in the first place.
1 Timothy 2:4 [God] wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Q: Who does God want to be saved?
- A. All men
- B. All men, but no women.
- C. God really wants all men to be saved, but only in such a way that he damns most in order to maximize his glory.
I just found out recently that Calvinist scholar Alvin Plantinga believes in middle knowledge as the best way to reconcile divine sovereignty and free will. So it is possible for Calvinists to adopt middle knowledge as the mechanism for resolving the problem.
Related posts
- William Lane Craig discusses Calvinism and the problem of evil
- What are the differences between Wesleyan Arminianism and Calvinism?
- First debate on Calvinism/Molinism between James White and Michael Brown
- James White debates Michael Brown on Calvinism vs Foreknowledge (1 of 2)
- Michael Brown debates James White on Foreknowledge vs Calvinism (2 of 2)
- What about those who have never heard of Jesus?
WINTERY KNIGHT 