[email]

You have a great website and I appreciate your content and thoughtful approach to God's Word. I read your "Why I'm not a Calvinist?" and I have a question for you. How do you deal with what God told Moses "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious..." in Ex 33:19?

Thanks
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[m273p15c]

Thanks for the commendations, and thanks for the very good question.

I agree with the Calvinist that God is ultimately sovereign, and He defines the rules. However, I disagree with the Calvinist's conclusion regarding the extent of God's exercise of His Sovereignty. (I understand Scriptures to teach that God chooses to provide some microcosm of free will within His greater sphere of will. He has chosen to not fully exercise His sovereignty in all choices, although all choices ultimately fall under His judgment and scrutiny.) Plus, I also disagree which rules have been established. (I understand Scriptures to teach that God has exemplified His justice and righteousness in the plan of salvation - not made it an unsolvable mystery - Romans 3:24-26, "to demonstrate His righteousness".)

For example, please consider the given passage these two ways:

1. God picks out which individuals receive mercy, independent of their actions. Did He decide to whom He would be gracious? Yes!
   
   
2. God picks out the type of individuals to receive mercy - now, partially dependent upon their actions (for example, humble - I Peter 5:5b). Did God still decide to whom He would be gracious? Yes! He could have chosen to save pretty people, fat people, greedy people, etc. But, He chose to save humble people, among other characteristics.

This verse (and the rest of Romans 9, where this passage is quoted) fit comfortably in both in theologies. However, I must confess that I believe Calvinism shows greater difficulty, when one presses the details.

This illustrates the difficulty in resolving the true theology, as taught by Scriptures. What assumptions do we bring to the table, whenever we interpret the "proof texts"? Does Exodus 33:19 specify the basis of God's decision? No. Therefore, neither party should assume that the choice coincides with their theology. We must move to other so-called "proof texts" to find our "silver bullet".

Frankly, this passage, as well as most of the other Calvinistic proof texts, are ambiguous - if you do not assume the Calvinist prejudices. Under the weight of a charismatic Calvinist's influence, they can seem quite convincing. The trick is to back up, spend some quiet time in prayer and meditation, and identify the assumptions - then challenge them. This is the key to resolving this immense issue, I believe: At the detail view, identify the assumptions in the proof texts. At the 10,000 foot view, identify the ultimate implications regarding God's nature, as produced by each theology.

Both theologies present a very self-consistent view of God and system of deliverance. However, which one is taught by Scripture? If someone follows each theology to their ultimate conclusion, he will find that each theology paints starkly different views of "God". The last article is intended to highlight and contrast these differences. You see these differences emphasized a lot during the closing exchanges with Calvinists on our forums.

BTW, the article you read is a personal summary of the matter. Just in case you did not know, we have several other articles dealing with the various sub-points, listed here:

http://www.insearchoftruth.org/articles/index.html#calvinism

Plus, we have several exchanges recorded in our forums:

http://forums.insearchoftruth.org/forum-13.html

There are some audio links in this forum that I have recently enjoyed, if you access to an MP3 player.

I pray this helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions, about my response or anything else.
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May God help us to love truth sincerely and supremely (II Thessalonians 2:11-12)

[email]

Thank you for your very thoughtful response. I take comfort in knowing that even if we don't figure out some of these "debatable" theologies until the last day, that God is still God. Thanks again for your response...it and your website helped me to see things from the "other side." Have a great day!
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