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My position is the default position to Bible based theology is Calvinism. Bottom line: God created the world knowing that man would sin (he's sovereign right?), that being said, just by virtue of creation the wheels were set in motion for some to go to hell, some to heaven. If he's all knowing then he knew who would go to Hell or Heaven before the foundation of the world . In other words, election by virtue of creation. Is it God's desire for many to go to Hell? Absoloutely not, but he knew everything beforehand and created us anyway. Is God unfair, no because he's God. He can do whatever he wants, I'm just glad he loves me. God Bless.

Sorry for the condensed version without Scriptural references, this was written off the cuff :)
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[m273p15c]

I appreciate your position. It has certainly been around for a while - Augustine, Calvin, Sproul, and many more have professed this theology. However, the Bible ultimately denies the Calvinist theology. In fact, I would consider the doctrine to be blasphemous, even though I am sure its adherents are largely unaware of their doctrine's final implications. What do you think about Calvinism's reflection on God's love and justice?

Yes, God can do whatever He wants, but that is not the question. The question is "What did He actually do, according to revelation?" Polishing a mostly self-consistent theology is of trivial significance, especially if granted a few hundred years for refinement. The real issue is testing its consistency with Scripture.

I would encourage you to read our article series on Calvinism:

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

Each of the tenets you mentioned are addressed in these articles. Also, we have a forums, where several people have discussed this topic in the past:

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

Some exchanges are more meaty than others, but if this is important to you, I am sure it will not take you long to find the better ones.

If you have a specific questions, please let me know. I would be happy to hear it and study the Bible with you.

BTW, your belief that foreknowledge preceded foreordination is interesting. If God foreknew that which we were to do, does that not imply that we are in control of our actions, God being merely the observer?

May God help us to have a sincere love of truth.
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May God help us to love truth sincerely and supremely (II Thessalonians 2:11-12)