December 19, 2008

God Predestines No One To Go To Hell

Adrian Rogers was a cruel author when he wrote this little booklet, "Predestined for Hell? Absolutely not!" He had to have intentionally misrepresented the Calvinist when he accused them of believing that God arbitrarily sends a little baby to hell. By now we all know that he was constructing a straw man argument to turn around and destroy it thus disarming the Calvinist argument.


But what about his belief? Does he believe that God does not predestine people to hell? According to Rogers who goes to hell? Why, all who do not accept Christ as their personal savior.

Those who are capable of moral action can make a decision with the enablement of God for themselves to go to heaven.


What about children who have not reached this capability? Oops! They created a clause that excludes these children. It has been a historic tradition that has been in existence for as long as there were fundamentalist in Britain and America. What about those who are incapacitated intellectually to make a decision. I think they have included them in this as well.

Where did this belief that God does not predestine anyone to hell come from? In the fifth century a man named Pelagius held that a man by the natural power of free will, without the use of God's enablement, could lead a good life. For him Adam's sin was merely bad example. Augustine refuted this and the Catholic Church convened a council, Orange II, 529 AD. Pelagianism was ruled a heresy and the Church firmed up a position on the transmission of original sin.

One of the practical aspects of this was infant baptism, which was a practice of the early church fathers. The Catechism of the Catholic church states: "Because of this (death of the soul) certainty of faith, the Church baptizes for the remission of sins even tiny infants who have not committed personal sin." CCC 403 Original sin is a "certainty of faith" "closely connected with that of redemption by Christ." 407

Pelagius believed that the problem with sin was surmountable. In the sixteenth century the Protestant Reformers were perceived by the Catholic Church as denying original sin, though Luther affirmed it. They were believing that the reformation was heading toward a Pelagian view and thus the Council of Trent was formed to combat that in 1546 AD. 406 The Church's teaching on the transmission of original sin was articulated more precisely in the fifth century, especially under the impulse of St. Augustine's reflections against Pelagianism, and in the sixteenth century, in opposition to the Protestant Reformation. Pelagius held that man could, by the natural power of free will and without the necessary help of God's grace, lead a morally good life; he thus reduced the influence of Adam's fault to bad example. The first Protestant reformers, on the contrary, taught that original sin has radically perverted man and destroyed his freedom; they identified the sin inherited by each man with the tendency to evil (concupiscentia), which would be insurmountable. The Church pronounced on the meaning of the data of Revelation on original sin especially at the second Council of Orange (529)296 and at the Council of Trent (1546).297

The Catholics correctly identified the Pelagian views as surmountable sin not affecting human choice and semi-Pelagian view of sin as insurmountable destroying free choice. All this in spite of the fact that they were practicing a semi-Pelagian gospel themselves. Now doesn't this happen all the time. We see the wrong in others while not seeing it in ourselves.

My guess is that the Catholics saw this as a defection from infant baptism. Their belief in OS affirmed the need to care for the less capable among themselves, particularly infants. This belief in baptismal regeneration was erroneous. But what seems to be important to me is a warning to not abandon the less capable among us. The argument over freedom of choice leads to abandonment of those not capable of a moral choice. Though themselves practicing baptismal regeneration they saw the problems in decisional regeneration!

They also saw the problem with Pelagian corruption of God's character. 1037 God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want "any to perish, but all to come to repentance": Father, accept this offering from your whole family. Grant us your peace in this life, save us from final damnation, and count us among those you have chosen.

Pelagianism leads to attempts to adjust the sovereignty and character of God to fit in the scheme of human choice. The Catholics affirm emphatically, God destines no one to hell! They also affirm that God does not send someone to hell for rejecting his own Son's offer of salvation! People clearly go to hell for willfully turning away from God (a mortal sin) persistently to the end. Who go to hell? Those who inherit Adam's sin! Who go to heaven according to the Catholic lip service to doctrine? Those He has chosen! God destines no one to hell and all who go to heaven are destined by his choice to go to heaven! What a definite clear presentation of grace!

The Catholics saw the error in Adrian Rogers' theology hundreds of years ago! They failed to see the truth in the Protestant Reformers in the sixteenth century.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I usually don't respond to these but, I feel compelled to comment on these false statements. I want other believers and non-believers to know that the statements I am responding to are teaching a heresy, and for the young new Christians the scripture says that the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. These false doctrines that are on this web site may keep non-believers who read these statements from surrendering their lives to Jesus Christ, and lead new converts the wrong way. We are to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You have the word of men and not the Word of God to stand on. I believe what God says, not men who are just that, men. Open Gods word and read what it says. That is the FINAL AUTHORITY. Give scripture not what someone wrote in 500 AD. God will hold accountable those who let others believe false doctrine and standby and do nothing and let them be led like lambs into hell.
Adrian Rogers is not the only pastor or preacher that believed or preached that we are NOT predestined to hell. His authority come from the Word of God and the Bible teaches, which is the WORD OF GOD that "Jesus Saves" and "Whosoever Believeth".
Here are just a few preachers and pastors that teach and taught the same doctrine: Dr. Billy Graham, Dr. Lee Roberson, Dr. Allen Domially, DR. D. James Kennedy, Dr. Lester Roloff, Dr. Carl Hatch, Dr. R. G. Lee, Dr. Jerry Fawell, Dr. Jack Hyles, Dr. Jeff Owens and yes, Dr. Adrian Rogers. I could go on, but there is no need. These mighty preachers for God have reached and are still reaching through their ministries untold millions for the Lord Jesus Christ. Only heaven knows how many lives have been changed forever by the preaching of the Gospel. They preached and are preaching the same Gospel that Jesus Christ taught His disciples to teach in the Bible. For those who READ their Bibles and believe what THE WORD OF GOD says, the Bible teaches that WHOSOEVER is saved. Well I am a WHOSOEVER. God can not lie. Your statements indicate a belief that God will only save those who are predestined to be saved. Well the Bible teaches something totally different. NONE OF US DESERVE TO GO TO HEAVEN, we ALL deserve judgement and hell. Eph 2:8-9 says "For by grace are ye saved through FAITH and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast." All our good works will never be enough to get us into heaven only by the mercy and grace of our Great and Mighty God. It is our choice whether or not we will accept the free gift that the Lord Jesus Christ gave for us. God wants us to love Him because He first loved us. Forced love is not love. It causes resentment of heart. God does not make us love and worship Him. We should want to love, worship, and honor God for ever and so should you if you are truly saved. God says that He wants none to perish. God says that you would rather believe a lie, II Thes 2:10 says "and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perishing because they received not the love the TRUTH, THAT THEY MIGHT BE SAVED. It goes on to say that God sent strong delusion to them that did not believe the TRUTH. Then read the rest of the chapter if you are interested in the truth, the scripture says that God wants you saved, but you believe not the truth but, that which is false. "Black print on white paper." a quote from Dr. Rogers. Your statements are misleading and speaks of a god that does not save, but predestines certain people to heaven and hell. Rom 2:4 says "The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." Why repent if God has already chosen those who are going to heaven? We repent because God commands it. We repent because we love God and want His forgiveness, just like we want forgiveness from our parents when we have diobeyed them. W etell them we are sorry for what we have done. Our God, the one TRUE Living God saves all those that ask. God wanted all the Israelites to prosper and live. Those who were disobedient and TURNED from God and did not repent perished. God says that if we repent of our sins that He is just to forgive our sins. God is the one that is just not anyone else. I am unclear as to what is so ambiguous about the scripture. As for the statement that Dr. Rogers believes that only those who are able to confess there sin is saved is not what Dr. Rogers says, but what the scripture says. In our church we have MANY mentally challenged folks who have asked Christ into there heart. They may have the mind of a five year old, but many five year old children in our church give there hearts to Christ every Sunday, Sunday night and Wednesday night as well. It is not uncommon for those who HEAR the Word of God preached to respond to the preaching. Remember that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance not the wrath of God, but the goodness of God. People respond to those who are kind to them and love them. Jesus says to Preach the Gospel. Well, what is the Gospel? The Gospel is that Jesus saves, I don’t see anywhere in the Gospels that Jesus says only some will be saved or only the predestined, He says that “whosoever”, John 3:16 says For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever lasting life. 3:17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. 3:18 He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. There is nothing about water baptism saving anyone either. You can be baptized until you are friends with the fish and that will not save you. Only the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses and saves. Why did Jesus die on the cross if there were another way to be saved, and only those who are predestined to go to heaven would be able to go, then Jesus would have died in vein. I don’t believe that was Gods plan, and the scripture teaches that Jesus is the only way to heaven, not your predestination. I pray that this gets into the hearts of those who are teaching that God does not want you saved and there are only a chosen few already predestined to go to heaven. There is no one who is perfect enough to get into heaven and deserves to go except Jesus Christ and He would be the ONLY ONE PREDESTINED TO HEAVEN, NOT US. God does want you saved, because He loves you. God is Love and there is no greater love than Gods love for us. God sent His Son down from heaven to live among us and save us from our sins. It is not those who can not understand intellectually the true meaninig of the Gospel or have a problem with what the Gospel says, because they except it by faith, it is those who try to pick apart and question God’s sovereignty. Once you are saved no one can take you out of His hand. How can you trust God to save you and take only you that have been predestined to heaven. ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE THE PREDESTINED? AND HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE PREDESTINED? Remember it is not by your good works so what is it that gets the PREDESTINED TO HEAVEN? How can you trust God to save you, but you can’t trust God to keep you. You need Jesus to help keep you, no one can do it on there own, thats why WE NEED JESUS. I trust God and believe that He has forgiven me, not because of what I have done, but because of what the Word says, and the word says that if I confess my sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ I shall be saved. NOT MAYBE, BUT I SHALL BE SAVED!!!!! the Gospel of says in John 1-1 In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the Word was God. The FINAL AUTHORITY IS THE WORD.
I have one final plea from Gods heart: If you are not saved then I pray God you will be saved." you need to be saved radically and dramatically", another quote from Dr. Rogers.

WatchingHISstory said...

Anon

You are right! God does not predestine anyone to hell. The Catholic Church determined this truth at the council of Trent. God predestines people to heaven!

Anon, Dr Rogers has tricked you into believing that Calvinist believe that God predestinates men to hell. I have his filthy little booklet in front of me right now. He is using sanctified deception to make you believe a lie! You believe that I am saying God predestinates men to hell. You have Adrian Rogers to thank for that! Anon, absolutely not! Even the Catholic church doesn't believe it!

God predestinates men to heaven by his grace and not by any work of righteousness on our part.

God does send sinners to hell along with the devil and his angles. He authorizes the casting into hell of sinners. Why? Adam sinned! This is the original sin and we are all sinners by nature.
So we have not God but Adam to blame.

If we go to heaven we have not Adam or ourselves to thank but God alone through the second Adam, Christ.

Yes, absolutely, God predestinates men to heaven! Well, the Bible tells me so. And you say this is heresy!

Well, anon, unlike AR who uses cunning devices to deceive you as well as most of the men you listed, I am giving you the truth.

May thoes who have read these contradictory comments have ears to hear what the Spirit says and heed the truth.

Dr James Kennedy is a Calvinist and quite reliable. The rest are questionable as to reliability.

Anonymous said...

At the time of creation, God already knew every thought that every person would ever think, and everything they would ever do. He knew who would wind up going from the start -- or do you argue that God is not omniscient. He went ahead with his plan nevertheless. You agree that God is omnipotent, don't you?

Given that, people are predetermined to either go to heaven, where everything is made of gold (nice for all you lovers of mammon), or to hell (where they'll burn in molten sulfur for eternity, while the folks in heaven smugly look on).

"Free will" means nothing when God already knows how everything will turn out.

-- E.B.

Anonymous said...

It always amazes me how Calvinist instead of using scripture to refute a non-calvinist, they start quoting some other source instead of the Bible to make their point. If you are going to refute Dr. Rogers or any other non-calvinist, why don't use scripture to make your rebuttal? The scripture is the final authority, not John Calvin or Martin Luther. Paul warned the Corinthians when they were saying some were of Apollos and some were of Paul to follow Jesus. Then again in Acts we read how the Bereans checked out the scriptures to see if these were so. "Study to show they self approved".

WatchingHISstory said...

Scripture is so plain on the reason that men go to hell, it is the destiny if men who are born from Adam and Eve. It is their sin that has led them to destruction. All have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. In God's mercy he elected some to salvation. That is basic to Bible beliefs.

Anonymous said...

I just think that if you hear the "Call", and i have, you are the "elect". Too many people say they know Christ and want to be just like him, but fall right into the world again. I am one of those people. Why? Because i am a man. I am a believer in the teachings of Christ, leading away from the world and into the arms of God, but i am a sinner at heart. Only God can cure this disease i was born with, and He called me to be saved. As he did you, and you, and anyone else who hears His word. If you believe that you are the elect, you have accepted the gift in my eyes. So lets not focus on whether "everyone else" is predestined too, but assume that they will hear the teachings that Christ handed down to us and repent as a child of God. We are all predestined until proven other wise. I believe that is where the faith gets its power. God so loved the world people. Predestined or not, there is a God who loves us and calls us to be his bride. Those who hear/obey ARE the elect.

WatchingHISstory said...

seems we agree, anon, the elect are not elect because they believe but believe because they are elect.