THE ELECT: DID GOD CHOOSE YOU TO SPEND ETERNTIY WITHOUT HIM?

Ah, double predestination. And like any doctrine you might make up on a bored Sunday afternoon, you can find proof-texts to support it.But it sits with great difficulty with John saying that that "...whosoever might believe in Him might have eternal life". Whosoever. Not a predetermined list, but whoever. Indeed Jesus' parables might imply that anyone who thinks they're in because they're on a predetermined list (in Jesus' time this meant being a descendant of Abraham) could be in for a nasty shock.God predestined His Church to be yadda yadda (you know the verses). But membership of that group called "His Church"? That's up to you. Election in the OT (which the early church knew very well as it was the only Scripture they had) is about being set aside to do a particular job - Cyrus was elected to free Israel from Babylon for example (IIRC). But it was the freed Jews who obtained the salvation, not Cyrus! So Paul was elected to be the apostle to the Gentiles, but it was the Gentiles who obtained salvation from that election, not Paul (Paul's own salvation came from the Damascus road experience, not his own ministry).So there you have it. A doctrine based on a lack of understanding of the OT concept of election, which makes God look like a right git.

quote:

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In sum then, I now believe I am elected to:
1) remember how that Christ died for my sins according to the scriptures,
2) and that he was buried,
3) and that he rose again from the dead according to the scriptures (lest I have dogmatically-speculated/believed in vain).

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As the Scotsman said to the man who said he would always be an Englishman - "Hoots, mon, have ye nae ambition?"Surely you think God has something better up His sleeve than a small list of propositions to believe in?

It's simple enough. You seem to think (from your post) that all God has for you are a few propositions to believe in. Surely there's more to it? Conscious communion with the Almighty? Some kind of spiritual quickening? What's it all really about?