William has a good post, challenging the idea that God irresistibly decrees some to condemnation:
I believe that God loves everyone, but it is clear from the Bible that He also hates some people. The whole issue seems irrelevant to the Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate. I just don’t see any point at all in speaking on behalf of God about who He hates. Let’s just make sure that He doesn’t hate us.
There is a funny video mocking the Calvinist position, which shows a hapless Calvinist approaching someone and saying, “God might love you; believe in Him and be saved!”. The apostles didn’t lead with “God loves you”, and I find no precedent for such an approach in early Christianity. So I wonder why we would want to anchor our own evangelism in “God loves you”?
Did the video disappear?
“For God so loved the world ….”
One evangelist led with that one.
BTW, I tell my atheist kids that if someone asks them do they believe in “God” and they don’t want to share too much they can say “Yes” because in their head they can think, “God is the feeling of love I have for strangers”. Or something like that. Kids don’t need caveats
Do you live in a place where there are lots of Christians? The idea of my kid having to pretend to believe in God to “fit in” seems weird. Most people in her class are atheist, and will criticize kids who believe in God. I’ve had a number of parents tell me that they are worried that my daughter’s Christianity will “rub off” on their kids, as if it’s a form of leprosy.
Yes Josh, predominately Christian — with a seminary in the neighborhood. We have lost family friends once they discovered we were recalcitrant Atheists — kids got along marvelously and all until they asked us to join them in Bible Camp in the summer and declined. They asked “why?” so I told them. After that, all stopped. My kids have been ridiculed in school. So have other atheist friends’ kids. People have lost jobs and more because of Christians.
In other places, where tables are turned, it can turn out the opposite I imagine. Tribalism is ugly.