Why I am not a Arminianist or a Calvinist.
Calvinism theology is the belief that those who get to go to heaven are pre-ordained by God and chosen ahead of time to spend eternity enjoying the bliss of the chosen few. Basically they believe that no person God has pre-chosen will miss out on a free pass by hell ticket, even if they are not witnessed to about the Gospel by another get-out-of-hell ticket holder. God will ensure that those few He has chosen will hear the Gospel and receive their get-out-of-hell ticket before they die.
Armenian theology is the school of thought that I previously supported...It is the belief that a person's “free will” determines if heaven or hell is their eternal abode. This theology elevates the will-of-man to be more powerful than the will-of-God, who "wills that ALL people be saved". The question begging to be asked is: How can people who have never heard the gospel or never heard about Jesus exercise a “free will” to accept a salvation they know nothing of?
There is a school of thought that believe those who have never heard the gospel will be given a “fair” chance to believe later in the life here-after. If that’s the case and those people will have a chance later to profess Jesus while being dangled over the lake of fire by God, it is a situation that requires no faith at all. Would it not make sense to keep people in the dark regarding hell. Should we be sending people to hell by giving them a choice in the here-and-now, where they have to choose by faith. Then again, how would that be fair to the people who did encounter the responsibility of hearing now and who had say the "sinner's prayer" or potentially be doomed forever because they didn't.
I question how could either of those two theologies be the "Good News" Gospel? The word “gospel” itself, means “good news.” The question following that one is...for whom is it good news? In Luke 2:10 the angel says, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for ALL the people...”, The next question is...how can the Gospel can be “good news” for ALL people if ALL people will not benefit from it? If most of the people who have ever lived are going to hell, wouldn’t the “Good New" be really "bad news" for the vast majority of God's crowned creation of man? If hell is real, should the angel not have said, “I bring you good news of great joy for only the people who receive the "Good News.
The “Good News" message the Gospel is not used in the scripture in same context with hell or everlasting torment like the way it is use in hell-fire preaching. In other words, the pre-covenant or post-covenant writers didn’t share the "turn or burn" in hell gospel as part and parcel of the “the good news" gospel!
Acts records believers sharing the Good News with Jews and non-Jews alike. The lengthy message in Acts 2:14–3:26 was the perfect opportunity for Peter to tell the unbelieving men of Israel that if they don’t shape up and accept the message, they’re going straight to hell for eternity. Yet Peter fails to seize such an opportunity...I wonder why? “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time” (Acts 3:19–20).
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, also blows his opportunity in Acts 17:30–31 when he delivers a gracious and inclusive message to the learned men of Athens, who were non-believing, idol-worshiping, pagan Greeks: “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to all people that everyone everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He is about to be judging the inhabited world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed "FURNISHING BELIEF" to ALL by raising Him from the dead...(MLT). MLT stands for “More Literal Translation.”
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa now...is this verse saying that God has set a day to judge the world in justice where BELIEF will be furnished to ALL humanity?
The Good News is that God’s judgments do not inherently indicate an everlasting hell sentence according to Isaiah 26:9...to which Paul very well could have been referring...explains the purpose of God’s judgments: “For when the earth experiences Your judgments the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.”
"Well Mr. Regular, tell me if you can...if hell is left out of gospel preaching...what is left to preach...what do we tell people they are being saved from"
If fear-mongering of hell-fire and brimstone is the way to get people into the Kingdom...what does that say about "the good news" gospel? What does it say about our loving Father God? If hell is the most powerful motivating factor for getting people saved, then people are being manipulated into salvation out of fear of hell, not out of love for God. This is the very kind of “faith” Jesus criticized when He quoted Isaiah, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matt. 15:8).
I’ve had people respond to me, "I wish the Love and Grace Gospel were true and there was no hell, then I would be able to go out and sin all I want, I would go and support ISIS in killing Christians and end up with seven virgins when I die." This kind of thinking shows complete ignorance of the Gospel purpose and indicates that such thinkers are not in a relationship of love with God...they just don't want to go to hell.
The purpose of the Good News of the Grace Gospel is relationship with our Father through Christ, not fear of Him. Receiving the Good News brings abundant life now to people who are suffering in purposelessness, and lovelessness. The true Gospel brings about healing and reconciliation right now between God and His Community of the redeemed, and ultimately among ALL His children in the Community of Humanity. It’s not about being saved from hell, but about every person who ever lived being saved from the gloom and despair of all forms of death...the curse of Adam...and made ready for a very Kingdom living where all enemies of the Father will ultimately be overcome by His Mercy, Love and Grace, and brought to joyful agreement under the Headship of Jesus our King.
Perhaps that is why we are told in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
If God is love, and if there is no fear in love, how did the doctrine of fearing hell become the fear-factor it is? How could such a diabolical, dreadful place as hell truly exist?
If a place like hell exists, would not God be the most unfair and unloving “deity” that people could ever encounter.
Both the Calvinist and the Armenianists believe that the vast majority of God's loved people are going to spend eternity suffering in the torture chamber of hell fire...that makes God out to be the worse terrorist that ever lived...NO, a thousand times NO, I do not believe such theology no matter how orthodox it is, or how many believers believe and teach it.
God is LOVE and LOVE wins!
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