Why I Believe

Why do I believe what I believe (on the topic of Reformed theology)? Many will claim that I'm listening to the teachings of men (a primary reason that I despise the "Calvinism" label). Many will claim that I'm ignoring the Bible. So let me lay out as briefly as I can what it is I believe with the briefest of reasoning behind it and you can decide if I get it from Calvin (or Luther or Augustine or whomever you wish to name) and if I'm ignoring the Bible.

I believe that human beings in their natural condition are dead in sin (Eph 2:1), inclined only to evil (Gen 8:21), hostile to God (Rom 8:5-8), and unable to comprehend the things of God (1 Cor 2:14). At the same time, the Creator has required them to submit to Him, an impossible task for a person in that condition. In light of this, I find that there is nothing about human beings in their natural condition that commends them to God. None are "special" or "worthy" or merit God's grace or mercy. However, God, based on His good pleasure (Rom 9:11) (as opposed to anything valuable in the individual), chooses to dramatically intervene in the lives of some. Keep in mind that all have earned death (Rom 6:28), and God would be fully just in letting them receive what they have earned. However, "in order that God's purpose of election might continue," He has chosen to intervene in some of the lives of "vessels of wrath prepared for destruction" (Rom 9:22) in order to demonstrate His astounding mercy and grace. These "vessels for honorable use" (Rom 9:21) do not arrive at this by means of their choices or actions (John 1:12-13; Rom 9:16), but simply by God's mercy. These few, deemed special only because God chooses to make them so and not because of anything within them, are forgiven their sins and made alive (Col 2:13), come to Him in faith (Rom 10:9), and are adopted in to the family of God (John 1:12). These are kept by God to the end by His working within them (Phil 2:12-13) so that they are changed in how they live and do not perish. As carefully tended love-gifts from Father to Son, these are given as a Bride to Christ, not on the basis of anything they have done, but on the basis of Christ's atoning work applied by God to these whom He chooses and makes alive.

Now, maybe someone sees "John Calvin" in something I wrote. Maybe someone thinks I pulled this out of a book somewhere rather than from my Bible. If either of these are true, I missed it. Someone once asked about me, "How can Stan believe that?" The explanation offered was "Well, if you read what he read, you would, too." We'll see if that's so.