The first and primary danger if republicans retake control of Congress after the 2022 elections is that we lose our democracy such as it is. If the voters don’t get to choose their government, then everything else seems to fade in comparison because you can’t change policy if the outcome of the vote is meaningless. Still, there is a danger to our friends and our country beyond losing our democracy. The vast majority of republicans are fundamentalists and their beliefs and views are dangerous to both our friends and to the country as a whole.
White evangelicals have electoral strength .
Size, demographics and voting habits of white evangelicals
About one in four American adults belongs to an evangelical Christian denomination according to a Pew Research Center 2014 study, making evangelicals the most common religious group just ahead of those without a religious affiliation. This percentage is down very slightly from a prior study in 2007. The National Election Pool exit polls found 26% of voters self-identified as white evangelical Christians in 2016. Beyond their total numbers, 64% of Evangelicals reported church attendance at least weekly compared to 35% of other Christians, suggesting a potential for a higher frequency of politically relevant messaging.White evangelicals were less likely in the sample to report income over $150,000 and bachelor degree or higher education levels. They also tended to be older. Among registered voters under 40 in the survey, 8% were white evangelicals compared to 19% among those over 40,...The aforementioned 2018 AP/NORC survey found white Evangelical voters were roughly twice as likely to approve of Donald Trump’s job as president as other voters …
The impact of white evangelicals on party preferences in a swing state However, evangelical identity has an even more important role among voters outside of the Republican partisan base. Evangelical identity has its largest and most electorally relevant impact by encouraging issue alignment between unaffiliated voters and the Republican Party orthodoxy. Even among white registered Democrats, being an evangelical moves the needle at the margins for the Republican Party, at least enough to secure a small percentage of votes with potential to change the outcome of close elections.
Given the number of white evangelicals in the electorate (according to CNN exit polls, they composed 38% of the North Carolina electorate in 2016), the slim historical margins of victory in swing states, and the impact associated with being an evangelical on partisan preferences, Republicans are reliant on the group’s support and mobilization in order to accumulate 270 Electoral College votes.
.
.
Evangelicals unsurprisingly believe the big lie and other conspiracies
White evangelical Republicans are far more inclined to believe in claims about the Deep State, QAnon, and that antifa was responsible for the violence at the US Capitol.
Fraud in the 2020 Election
The assertion that the 2020 presidential election was rife with voter fraud—a claim Trump has repeated consistently without evidence—is common among white evangelical Christian Republicans.[i] But is less widely held among other Republicans. Seventy-four percent of white evangelical Republicans say the claim that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election is either mostly or completely accurate. In contrast, Republicans who are not evangelical are far less likely to believe this claim is accurate—54 percent say it is mostly or completely accurate.
Given how widely accepted the belief in voter fraud is among white evangelical Republicans, it is not surprising that they express far greater skepticism about the fairness of the 2020 election than their co-partisans. Only 27 percent of white evangelical Republicans say that Joe Biden’s election win was legitimate, compared to more than half (56 percent) of nonevangelical Republicans. Three-quarters (75 percent) of white evangelical Christian Republicans say Biden was not legitimately elected. Yet, there is a considerable divide in the GOP with white evangelical Christian Republicans being much more receptive to conspiracy theories than non-evangelical Republicans. More than six in 10 (67 percent) white evangelical Christian Republicans say the claim that an unelected group of government officials, known as the “Deep State,” were working against the interests of the Trump administration is mostly or completely accurate.
.
These people surround themselves with others like them who hold similar beliefs and avoid those unlike them and who hold different beliefs. They likely influence each other’s choices for sources of information.
Fifty-nine percent of white evangelical Republicans say they trust Trump “a lot” to do what is right for the country, while only 36 percent of nonevangelical Republicans say the same.
Another reason may have to do with the drastic differences in the social environment between white evangelical Republicans and other Republicans. Seventy-three percent of white evangelical Republicans say that a lot of their friends voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. In contrast, only 49 percent of nonevangelical Republicans report that a lot of their friends supported Trump.
Party affiliation and religion
.37% of adults identify as republican 18% are unaffiliated and 44% identify as democrats
56 % of evangelical protestants identify as republican. About ¾ of republicans describe themselves as absolutely certain of the existence of God. Over three fifths of republicans say that their faith is very important to their life. About half of republicans believe that there are clear standards for right and wrong. Nearly ¾ of republicans believe in Hell.
.
.Below I make a questionable identification. My recent political readings identified White Christians as evangelicals / fundamentalists. So, due to that, I made that same identification here. However, I remember when I was a fundamentalist (about sixteen years ago) that I was stunned that many people seemed to identify as Christian who rejected the authority of the book from which the name of their religious group was derived and who rejected the central message of the book from which the name of their religious group was derived. It stood out to me because it appears so illogical. If their faith is based upon a book whose central message is wrong and which is full of errors, then why would they identify as Christian and how would they know what part of the Bible is true and what part is false ? Why would they believe any of it if it has errors ? In any event, since there could possibly be a large number of people who however illogical it may be identify as Christian while rejecting the central message of their book and the accuracy of their book, I apologize for the error.
Again, ¾ of republicans are fundamentalist Christians.
White Christians are no longer a majority in America, but they still make up nearly three-quarters of the Republican Party, according to a sweeping new study of faith in America being released Wednesday.
White Christians accounted for 80% of the U.S. population when Jimmy Carter was president; that number had dropped to 54% by 2006, and white Christians now make up only 43% of the U.S. population, as the number of people unaffiliated with any religion has swelled.
But the GOP remains about 73% white Christian — down slightly from 10 years ago — and 35% evangelical, despite the fact that white evangelical protestants now make up only 17% of the U.S. population, according to the yearlong survey of more than 100,000 people by PRRI, a public policy research firm that specializes in issues of faith. As race and religion become strong predictors of party affiliation, Jones said, “this looks more and more like a tribal identity than a political affiliation.” And the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life reported in January that the 115th Congress is a little over 90% Christian, a number that has remained largely unchanged for decades.
“As evidenced by President Trump’s election, Republican policies and candidates are resonating in a way that Democrats’ simply are not,” said Republican National Committee Press Secretary Cassie Smedile. “This is why Americans continue to elect Republicans across all levels of government, and why the RNC will continue to engage with them and share our message at every possible opportunity.”
2020 Faith Vote Reflects 2016 Patterns
A notable fact in 2016 was that exit polls showed about 80% of white evangelical Christians supported Trump in spite of his unfamiliarity with the Bible, his divorces, his vulgar rhetoric and his association with porn stars.
Surveys of early voters and exit polls this year showed between 76 and 81% of white evangelical and "born again" voters supporting Trump, according to the National Election Pool and AP/Votecast.
"We essentially have White evangelicals, somewhere around 8 in 10, supporting the president, standing by their candidate, standing by their man," says Jones.
"I think the 'God Gap' is more and more the narrative when we think about the parties," Burge says. "Half of white liberals today identify as religiously unaffiliated, while the Right is staying very Christian."
I am going to show the views of fundamentalism expressed in their literature. I am doing this to show the danger that they present to our friends in the LGBTQ community and for the country and for everybody.
.
.
.
..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I would hope that the danger from these people to our friends in the LGBTQ community and for children and teens and the country and everybody who lives in the United States is clear. As republicans gain political power, then their voters views are more likely to be made into law. This leads to discrimination that is legal. Their denial that global warming is primarily caused by humans discourages people from taking actions to slow down the warming of the planet. These positions are not simply ignorant; they are dangerous.
For evangelicals / fundamentalists, they are logically driven to certain positions.
When I entered graduate school in 2005, I left the republican party and fundamentalism. I started lurking at Daily Kos and then shortly thereafter joined. I grew as a person and became increasingly progressive. However, after a complex childhood, I was vulnerable to fundamentalism. I was in a great deal of emotional pain and I had a very positive experience at first within the fundamental community. I immersed myself in the Bible and Christianity and served in many ways. I memorized three books of the Bible word for word and hundreds of others. If you read a verse in any translation, I could tell you within five verses where you were reading from. I became an expert theologian as well reading the reformed giants (Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Machen, Spurgeon, AA Hodge, Charles Hodge, BB Warfield, John Owen, RC Sproul and many others). I accumulated an incredible reformed library. I worked for over 3 years at a fundamentalist Christian bookstore. I read a large amount of apologetics works and they included what you are thinking of when you read those words.
There are reasons why fundamentalists are logically driven to accept Genesis 1-3 as historically and scientifically true. So, what I am saying is that if you are a fundamentalist, then you are logically driven to that position. If you are some other sort of Christian, then this does not apply to you. This is strictly if you are a fundamentalist. I am not passing judgment on anybody who is a fundamentalist per se. I am saying that if you are a fundamentalist and thus, hold to the “fundamentals of the faith”, then you are logically obligated to believe Genesis 1-3 as historically and scientifically true and the “day = age” dodge isn’t one you can accept. Fundamentalists have a certain approach to hermeneutics that they are obligated to utilize as well. I taught hermeneutics . A fundamentalist cannot abandon the fundamentalist hermeneutic. Why do I say that fundamentalists are obligated to believe Genesis 1-3 are historically and scientifically accurate and that the days referred to are 24 hour days. ?
Here we go:
1. Yom normally means a solar day when it is used elsewhere. Unless there is strong contextual reason, then you adopt a “literal interpretation” and you take a word in its first and usual sense.
2. Yom with a numerical adjective (ie first, second, third...) always without exception in the Old Testament means a solar day. Yet, we read first day , second day, .. in Genesis 1-3 and thus these are solar 24 hour days.
3. The phrase morning and evening which repeatedly occurs after “first day” or “second day” … normally refers to a solar day. I’m not even sure what morning and evening of an age even means.
4. Plants cannot survive an age without light.
5. The end of time should resemble the beginning of time and that cannot include sin, suffering, and death.
Six. We have real trouble here. If the flood was local, then why take 120 years to build an ark. Just move. If the flood was local, then it was not meant to punish the evil, but rather those who lived in the wrong area. All the high mountains everywhere were covered for a year. Doesn’t sound local. at all. The references in the New Testament (we will return to this) to the flood as a time of universal judgment are implied as there will be universal judgment when Christ returns. “All of the thoughts of man were only evil continually. “ All of humanity is presented as evil and thus the flood which is to punish all of evil humanity must be universal. The rainbow was a promise that God would never bring another similar flood. If it was only a local flood, then God has broken this promise many times.
Okay, you convinced me that the flood was universal. How does affect the day = 24 hour thing ? The flood was a year long universal catastrophic flood then from a fundamentalist point of view. The odds of it having no impact and not producing the vast majority of fossils found are zero. At this point, the fundamentalist is bound to “flood geology”. Trouble. Fossils are now interpreted in light of the flood. This doesn’t work with evolution which is actually a fact but we are in the world of and mind of the fundamentalist. Fossils are actually evidence of evolution and not “flood geology”
If you adopt “flood geology” which you have to as a fundamentalist, then where are the fossils from the ages as life evolved ?
7. Was there suffering and death without the Fall ? Evolution is a record of the survival of the fittest and suffering and death appear before humans (fossils are evidence of death and many organisms and plants and animals died before humans came on the scene). If there was suffering and death prior to humans, then the Fall is false and everything was NOT “very good”.
8. Jesus said, “In the beginning, God created them male and female.” (Matthew 19:4) . If evolution is true, then “near the end, God created them male and female.” and it is certainly NOT true that “in the beginning, God created them male and female.”
9. If there is no gospel, there is no fundamentalism. If the days are ages, then the Fall did not really actually happen. If the Fall did not happen, then humankind is not fallen. If humankind is not fallen, then humankind does not need a Savior. In such a case, Jesus is not the Savior of anybody.
10. How do mythical beings beget actual humans ? The genealogy that leads to Noah and that includes Abraham and the rest begins with Adam and Eve. When does the myth stuff end and the real stuff begin ? Was Abraham real ? How about his father ? How about his grandfather ? Eventually you have a problem. Was Isaac real ? Was Jacob ? And so on.
11. If the New Testament treats Genesis 1-3 as literally true once, it does it hundreds of times. Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 are only individual examples. Fundamentalists are troubled by an allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament. They are terrified of doing that to the New Testament.
12. If the Bible is wrong about history and science and things that I can test, then why would I ever believe it is true about things that I cannot test ?
13. Many if not most major doctrines which are found in the New Testament are based upon and have their roots in Genesis (sin, total depravity, unconditional election, sovereignty of God, marriage, eschatology, sanctification, ...)
This is a reasonable start. If you are a fundamentalist, then you are logically obligated to believe that the days of Genesis 1-3 are 24 hour days, the Fall was an actual historical event,
So, these people are logically obligated to take Genesis 1-3 as historically and scientifically true and the days are 24 hour solar days. From there, they go on to very damaging and harmful conclusions. Some are so harmful to my friends, I find it difficult to mention them. It is painful to even write the words that are believed: women are to submit to their husbands, only men are to lead the church and to teach, there is the fate of the unevangelized, their view of the LGBTQ community, scientific creationism, predestination and the sovereignty of God and so many more.
.
What follows only applies to the fundamentalist and what they are obligated to believe. There are many great people here on Daily Kos who are Christians and who are progressive and who don’t interpret the Bible from a fundamentalist point of view because they are not fundamentalists. This says nothing at all about their beliefs. Since they are not fundamentalists, they are free to interpret the Bible in any way that seems helpful and likely to do good from their point of view. The remarks below say nothing at all about their beliefs. Again, since they are not fundamentalists, then they don’t have to interpret verses literally and they can freely choose how they interpret the verses that they accept without any logical conflicts. This only applies to our fundamentalist Christian republicans .
The fundamentalist is also absolutely obligated to believe that God predestined every event in human history including whom God will save. I can show this doctrine in every single book of the New Testament and the New Testament authors got this doctrine from the Old Testament, especially Genesis.
Our God is in Heaven. He does whatever He pleases. Psalm 115:3
It doesn’t say that He is able to do what He wants. It says that He actually does do whatever He pleases.
The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever He pleases. Proverbs 21:1
Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.’
11 From the east I summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that I will bring about;
what I have planned, that I will do.
Isaiah 46:9-11
“My purpose will stand.” Not I will allow humans to do what they want. My purpose will stand. There is no possibility of God’s will not happening. “I will do all that I please.” God does everything He wants. “From the East I summon a bird of prey .” — Likely a reference to a nation. However, the point is that God is active in human events. God does not simply watch what humans want to do. The next part of the verse is explicit about this. “From a far off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.” There is nothing outside of God’s will. Distance is not a factor. “a far off land”. The human will “fulfill my (his) purpose.” Prophecy in the Bible is not God simply looking into the future and seeing what humans will do. I know what I will do (in my case I could be wrong) because I am going to do it. I am going to make it happen. God knows what will happen in the future because He will make it happen. God’s predictions of future events “What I have said” is based upon Him doing what He wants “that I will bring about “ The next verse again is crystal clear. “What I have planned, that I will do. “
34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
35 All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?”
Daniel 4:34-35. Earlier we read that the king’s heart is like channels of water; He turns it where He wishes. It is like being in a bathtub full of water and pushing the water in some direction. Here is an example of a king who is a puppet in the hand of God. A king is very powerful. Babylon was the greatest kingdom of the time. Yet that king of the greatest empire of the time was a puppet in the hand of God. “My sanity was restored.” This is after God had made the king eat grass in a field like a goat. God’s dominion is eternal . “His dominion is an eternal dominion.” God is sovereign over all humans who are utterly unable to oppose His will (Romans 9 will latch onto this idea: how can humans be held accountable for their actions if God is truly sovereign and has predestined all future events. ). “All the peoples of the Earth are regarded as nothing. “ Nothing. Humans cannot thwart the will of God. “He does as He pleases with the powers of Heaven and the peoples of the Earth.” It doesn’t say that He simply can do what He pleases. It says that He actually does do whatever He wants. It doesn’t say that He does whatever He wishes only in Heaven. No, He does whatever He wants in the events of human history. “No one can hold back his hand or say to him what have you done?”
The Old Testament presents the events and history of humans as God making events happen as he wished.
All who were appointed to eternal life believed.
Acts 13:48
God appointed a certain group of people to obtain eternal life and those whom he predestined to eternal life, he predestined to believe.
The Lord opened the heart of Lydia to receive the things spoken of by Paul.
Acts 16:14
The Lord caused Lydia to believe the gospel.
Nobody can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws (Greek helkuo — drags) him and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:44 The only people who believe in Jesus are the ones God the Father dragged and all those the Father dragged to Jesus will be raised up. If you never end up believing in Jesus, then God the Father never dragged you to Jesus. If you aren’t raised up on the last day, then God the Father did not drag you. The verse says that nobody is able to come to Jesus without being dragged.
37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
If a person never comes to Jesus, then God the Father never gave that person to Jesus. Putting this with John 6:44 , if somebody never comes to Jesus, then God the Father didn’t choose to drag them to Jesus.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Humans are spiritually dead. What can a dead person do ? How much can a dead person contribute to anything ? I’m spotting as a dead person is on the bench and I lift the weight so that it can be lifted up (bench press) , how much of the work do I have to do to make sure the weight doesn’t go straight down ? Can I split it up with the dead person ? They do a little and I do a little ? Sure it’s not actually them bench pressing the weight, but could that happen ? No. The dead person can do nothing. That’s what John chapter six verse 44 said :44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
So, no human is able to believe in Jesus unless they are dragged by God the Father to Jesus. This is what God has to give a new heart to the elect (Ezekiel 36 ) or regenerate a person so that they can and will believe in Jesus (Ephesians 2) since they can’t otherwise believe. This is the logical order (order saludis) for salvation.
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
God hides truth from the wise and the learned. There are those whom God has chosen (the called, the chosen, the elect as the New Testament repeatedly calls them) and those whom God has not chosen. Now, God knows that they cannot (John chapter six verse forty four) come to Jesus unless he drags them and so by deciding not to choose them and not to drag them, then he is sealing their fate, they will be damned. As Ephesians 1 we will shortly see teaches, before the foundation of the world, God chose the elect. This can only mean that he decided not to choose the others. (the rest of the clay as Romans 9 will call us) before the foundation of the world. He chose to accept and save Peter and damn Judas before the foundation of the world.
Here we go.
God’s Sovereign Choice
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”b]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[b] 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”c]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[c]
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”d]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[d] 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”e]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[e]
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”f]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[f]
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”g]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”h]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[h] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?
Paul has been talking about the gospel of grace and salvation by grace through faith in Christ. He anticipates an objection from his audience: What about the Jewish people ? Did not God obligate himself to save them ? If faith in Christ is necessary for salvation, then has not God broken his promise to Israel ? Paul’s answer is that God didn’t promise to save every Jewish person. He only promised to save the Jewish person whom he chose. He says look at the example of Isaac and Ishmael, they are both children of Abraham. However, God only saved Isaac. Paul realizes the coming retort: But God had to save through Isaac because he would save through Abraham and Sarah. Ishmael is the offspring of Abraham and Hagar. So Paul thinks, hmm can I come up with an example where God chose one of two twins , both of whom had the same parents and both were descendants of Abraham ? He says I got it. Jacob and Esau. The whole point is that there is no difference between Jacob and Esau. That’s the reason Paul says that the choice was made before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad. If the choice was made in anticipation of what they each would do later in life, then saying that they were chosen before either had done anything good or bad would be unnecessary and misleading. Eternal life does not, verse sixteen, depend upon human’s will or effort. That would not be true if God’s choice was made because of his foreknowledge of what the two twins would do. Paul’s whole point is that there was no difference because Paul was saying that God had only promised to save the Jewish person whom He chose. If God’s choice was made because of differences between the twins, then this new example Paul is using doesn’t solve the retort Paul is answering.
Read the objection Paul considered in verse 19: One of you will say to me: ‘Then why does God still blame us ? For who resists His will ?’ This objection is exactly the objection that comes to mind if you understand Paul to be teaching that God unconditionally chose to bring the elect to faith in Christ and thereby obtain eternal life before the foundation of the world and decided to not choose the rest. This confirms that we have understood Paul correctly here. This is consistent with the teaching that humans are born spiritually dead (Psalm 51) , they are born totally depraved (Romans 3:9-19) meaning every aspect of humans is fallen, and thus they cannot believe in Jesus unless God causes them to, opens their heart to receive the things spoken of by Paul so that all who were appointed to eternal life believed. God didn’t choose those whom he foresaw would of their own accord choose him because the Bible asserts that this is impossible . If Paul was really saying that God chose those whom he knew would choose him, then the answer to the question, “Then why does God still blame us ? For who resists his will ? “ is obvious. The obvious answer is God still blames those who did not choose him because they of their own free will did not accept him. In fact, the question would never arise if the contrary view were what Paul was teaching.
Thus, God raised up Pharaoh for his own purposes, essentially to crush Pharaoh for God’s own glory. Thus, it says that God has mercy upon whom he wishes to have mercy and he hardens whom he wishes to harden. Yet before the twins were born, before they had done anything good or evil, it was said to her, ‘the older will serve the younger’ just as it is written, ‘Jacob I loved , but Esau I hated. ‘ God chose to save Jacob before the foundation of the world. God chose to damn Esau before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1:3-5
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 hea]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[a] predestined us for adoption to sonshipb]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[b] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
Verse five, God predestined his people to be adopted. As Paul repeats only a few verses later:
11 In him we were also chosen,d]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[d] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
‘having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will’
God doesn’t work a few things in conformity with the purpose of his will , nor some things, nor even most things, but rather everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. This isn’t ambiguous or confusing. Everything here is all too clear. We are inert dirty clay raised up for this very purpose that God might display his power in us .
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
There is a difference in Spanish between the words conocer and saber. Saber is to know a fact. Conocer is to personally know another person or possibly a place. The object of God’s foreknowledge is not a fact, but rather people. ‘For those ‘ . Clearly, beyond any dispute, those refers to people, not to some fact of some event. Of course, it would be impossible to interpret this to mean that God foreknow who of their own accord would choose him since other Bible passages make it clear that this is impossible as humans are totally depraved and are spiritually dead and unable to choose to come to Jesus. We start off seeing that those who love God were summoned, called, not according to their will but rather according to the purpose of God. Foreknew means like Amos 3:2 that God set his love upon his elect before they were even born. Those whom he loved before the foundation of the world, he predestined them to be conformed to the image of his Son.
The next verse is exceptionally clear. The group of people in mind must be the same people throughout the entire verse. some of those God predestined, he also called, and some of those whom he called, he also justified makes zero sense. It’s the same exact group of people in mind the entire verse. If God predestined 124,123, 321 people to salvation, then he called those same 124,123,321 people and those same 124,123,321 people he called, he also justified, and the same 124,123,321 people he justified, he also glorified. Their glorification is so certain that it is as if it has already happened in the mind of God.
This teaching is taught in every book of the New Testament which could be easily demonstrated at any second. It is explicitly taught in either every or almost every book in the Old Testament as well depending upon how one interprets some books (Esther never mentions the name of God but the events as laid out seem fairly clearly to have been orchestrated by God and Song of Solomon can be interpreted as an illustration of Jesus and the church …. ) .
Why take all this time and space on this concept ? To make it clear where being a fundamentalist leads . The verses are clear. God chose to save some number of people before the foundation of the world. He chose to bring them to put their faith in Christ alone for eternal life and they will put their faith in Christ alone for eternal life and will retain that faith until death and they will go to Heaven. God chose to damn the rest of humanity whether they were unevangelized or died as children Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me ‘ . He could have chosen to bring them to faith in Christ and eternal life. He chose not to. Every event of human history was predestined by God. Every. Single. One.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
This from a certain perspective makes sense. The thoughts of humans are only evil continually Genesis chapter six verse 17 says. We were all born in sin and conceived in iniquity (Psalm 51). We are born spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1-5). We were born totally depraved meaning every aspect of humans (will, heart, mind, ...) . The wages of sin is death Romans chapter six verse 23 says. And Romans 1 and Psalm 19 mean from the point of view of the fundamentalist that every human is aware of God through what has been made and that they have been given enough revelation to condemn them and they don’t respond to this general revelation because of their fallen nature. Otherwise, the Great Commission of Matthew 28 would be , ‘Shh, don’t tell anybody about Jesus because then they will become accountable for not believing in Him if they hear about Him. ‘ The belief is that if they did respond to the light given by God in nature and conscience, then God is able to and will bring a missionary and the gospel to them. They use Acts 11 and Cornelius as an example.
I would hope that the dangerous nature of this teaching which to my mind the fundamentalist is absolutely obligated to hold onto is clear. The unevangelized and children who die before believing the gospel were chosen to be damned to Hell before the foundation of the Earth. Hitler and Stalin and Mussolini and their evil acts were also predestined to act as they did before the foundation of the world. Nothing happens in human history except that which God determined before the foundation of the world.
Sunday, May 30, 2021 · 7:37:39 PM +00:00 · Dem
I incorrectly identified white Christians as fundamentalism. I think this error creeped in because I found it difficult to understand attachment to a belief given in a book even though the content of that belief differed from what the book actually says. My political reading in the very recent past generally identified white Christians as fundamentalists. However, when I was a fundamentalist, I found many people identified as Christian without believing the fundamentals of the faith (ie the central message of the book from which they get their name ‘Christian’) . My time as a fundamentalist ended about fifteen to sixteen years ago. When I saw my recent political reading, I am speaking of my political reading within the last six months. I can’t provide specifics because of memory loss.
The evangelical = fundamentalist identification still makes sense. The white Christian = fundamentalist identification is a mistake even if it (claiming to be a white Christian while not being a fundamentalist) seems illogical. This is because those who identify as evangelical are almost all fundamentalists (there are exceptions but not a great many) . On the other hand, there are a great many people who identify as a Christian while not being a fundamentalist. The difference between the two groups there could be large.
I am truly sorry for the error . I will point this out in the diary as well. Thank you for helping me correct my mistake !