Why I believe in Election?

We read in the news of heroic deeds, a man who risked his life to save Children from the Holocaust or perhaps a nurse who sacrificed herself to save people during an epidemic. And as Christians, some would ask, are these heroes saved? And when we discover that these are not Christians, the very common response would be "Aiya (Singaporean colloquial term), wasted! These are good people, they don't deserve to go to Hell!".

It is indeed tempting to ask God for justice, that good people like these heroes among men should suffer for eternal damnation. And these people are very real to us. They often appear as the kind lady who gives to the poor or the very helpful neighbor who is always available to lend a hand to those in need. Indeed, to our very human fleshly eyes, we see these as good people, with good moral standing.

However, the bible is clear that no one can be saved except through the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (John 14:6). And many Christian communities will go on a frenzy to evangelize to their friends and relatives, especially those whom they thought would be of good standings, "Mother Theresa"s in their midst, thinking that it would be a "waste" if these "good people" are not saved.

But have we considered passages like Rom 3:9-19? Was Paul being metaphorical in his statement? Was David, whom Paul quoted from the Psalms being merely poignantly poetic in his Jewish language? I have even heard of a theory that Rom 1 to 3 was written about the Jews only (I reject this hypothesis but this would be a subject that is too long to include in this article). Evidently not, for this is consistent throughout the Old Testament writings; that mankind is incapable of righteousness, and our only ability is to produce nothing good but Sin and Death.

So how about our friendly neighbors and good Samaritans who are beacons of Morality to society? What a contradiction to the 3rd chapter of Romans don't you think? Isaiah 42:8 says, "I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols." When we think about our friendly neighbor spider-man, we are reminded of his heroic acts, his good deeds, the people he saved, the good he had contributed. How many times will people actually say, "Praise God for the good deeds of Florence Nightingale for He is the one who used her for His glory"? That is seriously unheard of. But the bible is clear, that God created mankind for His glory, and anything (including good deeds) that takes glory away from God is Sin. What we have done here, is that we are measuring Morality, according to our own human standards.

Romans 3 is clear, there are no "good people" in the eyes of God. Rom 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." We can never be the good Samaritan that Jesus described in Luke 10:25-37. No matter how much we see the Superheroes among people, none of them are capable of God's glory. In Matthew 5:21-48, even the slightest thoughts of lust, hate, broken promises or even unwillingness to love our enemies are sufficient enough to condemn us to Hell. God's standard of righteousness is so perfect that none of us qualifies to Salvation. We deserve nothing more than the eternal punishment of Hell. 

At this juncture, if you still think that it's a waste for "good people" to suffer eternal punishment, then you can cease from reading further. If you are unable to understand the Total Depravity of mankind (1st point of Calvinism), you will not be able to understand Election, because you will judge it with human system of justice, which is nothing but filthy rags to God (Isaiah 64:6); there is simply no such thing as "good people", it does not exist in God's divine dictionary.

Ephesians 2:1 says that we are "dead in the trespasses and sins". And it is indeed we are capable of nothing else than to "lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." (v3). v4-5 says, "But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, MADE US ALIVE together with Christ—by grace you have been saved". Hence indeed, as consistent with Romans 3:23, Paul says that we are dead as there are none righteous in the sight of God, and notice in Eph 2:5, Paul said that it was GOD who MADE US ALIVE in Christ.

Indeed, dead men cannot repent nor accept Jesus Christ. Only God has the power to cause dead people to live. And only when we are alive, that we are able to understand the truth, to see our need to accept Jesus Christ and repent from our sins. 

In John 6, Jesus fed the 5000. After some of the crowed actually followed Jesus where he said to them in John 6:26 "“Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." Using the analogy of the bread, Jesus showed them that He is the bread of Life (v35), one where if they partake will never hunger or thirst (CF John 4:13-14). Jesus also made a few shocking truths which contributed to the crowd who left Him with unbelief  (John 6:66). Here are some of the highlights:

28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” - John 6:28-29

Jesus response to their question of the works to be done to attain Salvation, is to point to Himself as the bread of life.

30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” - John 6:30-33

Jesus then made some shocking remark regarding the election of God, only those who believes in Him, will be saved.

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.- John 6:35

But many of them will not believe, why?

36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. - John 6:35

Notice that Jesus said, "All that the Father gives me..." , meaning that all who believe in him are the ones that are given by God, and these he will never cast out.

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. .- John 6:35

Which means that all that the father had give to Jesus for Salvation will never lose their Salvation.

39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” - John 6:39-40

The Jews grumbled against Jesus's sayings, and this was his response,

43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. - John 6:43-44

Indeed, if we study the passage of John 6 close enough, we can clearly see that God had elected some to be able to believe and come to him, and those that he elected he will lose nothing. This supports the idea of Eternal Security, which is a popular term today as "Once Saved Always Saved".

So to summarize, if we take all the scripture references as a whole, we know that mankind has fallen to a state beyond redemption. No matter how "good" people are in the eyes of our moral system, there is none righteous in the eyes of God. And because we are dead and are beyond hope, we deserve nothing in this world but eternal punishment in Hell. So it is only by the Mercy of God that he had decided to save some of the dead by making them them alive in Christ, so that they are able to see the truth, to believe, and accept, and repent from their Sinful ways.

And when we talk about Mercy, no passage can better explain it than Romans 9. In this chapter, Paul continues to explain God's Salvation plan for mankind in relations to the Jews. Have God forgotten his promise to Abraham and forsaken his people? And in the course of answering his question, he addressed one of the most awkward position of the Christian faith: Double Predestination.

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 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.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,[b] but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. - Romans 9:14-18

This is a shocking truth because from this we learnt that it is the mercy of God to soften some for repentance, and harden some to damnation. v15 says, "it depends not on human will or exertion,[b] but on God, who has mercy" If we read this in the light of John 6 and Ephesians 2, then it all make sense. Those whom God had made alive in Christ will see the truth and repent, those that he did not made alive remain dead in trespass and death. Those that God made alive, he will lose nothing and will by no means cast them out. Are you thinking that God is unfair? Why did he chose some and rejected some? Do you feel like protesting? Well, Paul has an answer to that... we can suck thumb...

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?- Romans 9:14-18

We are nothing but his creation, and we simply have no right to question our creator. And what is the purpose of all these? God's sovereignty, regardless of his decision to allow good or bad, are ALL for his glory.

22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? - Romans 9:22-24

What then? Are those who are saved free to do whatever they want? Can they live in the desires of their flesh and enjoy Sin all they want and still be saved? The answer is no. Why? Didn't John 6:35 promise that we are "Once Saved Always Saved"? John wrote in 1 John 2:3-6 that "Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him". In other words, a genuine believer who has truly been elected to Salvation will not live in Sin, but in obedience to the father. 

So does it mean that a Christian who is obedient is guarantee to be saved? As far as our human capacity to discern, that is the only benchmark that the bible has given us as a gauge. If a Christian who produces visible fruits, one day were to denounce his faith and fall away, his faith was never genuine in the first place. Hebrews 6:8 says, "But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned", this is consistent with Matthew 13 where in the Parable of the Sower, the 3rd kind of Seed was unable to grow because it was choked with Thorns which represents the worries and cares of the world. The thorny ground in which the seed fell upon was never a good ground to harvest good fruits to begin with. 

But in God's eyes, he foreknew who will be saved and who will be not (Rom 8:28-30). God is the only one who knows who is "Once Saved Always Saved". Hence it is not good to stay in the comfort of eternal security without checking our faith and fruits. But neither is it biblical to deny the doctrine of Eternal Security and Election as that will also deny God's Sovereignty who is the ultimate controller of the outcome of all things, even the number of hair on your head.

26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[h]29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?[i] And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. - Matthew 10:26-33

Can Salvation by maintained by our determination?

There are some who doubts God because they are unable reconcile about the existence of suffering in this world; how can a good God allow humans to go through pain? The bible is clear, it is because of Sin. The world is capable of nothing but Sin and destruction, and hence there is no hope in it. Those who are grieved because they expected God to save the world have deeply misunderstood God, because God had never intended to make a better world nor to give us better lives. If we receive blessings, we ought to be thankful; anything better than Hell is an incentive compared to what we actually deserve. He came to show us the antidote to Sin and Death in Jesus Christ while the world continues to dive in self corruption and final destruction (The 4 horsemen in Revelations 6 is a depiction of the ultimate deterioration of mankind).

A church goer can appear faithfully serving in church. He can blend in well with the community, have good relations with everyone. He can also satisfy all your so called criteria of being a good Christian, but that does not mean he is truly saved. For non believers too, can display the same compassion for the poor, kindness to his peers and loved ones, but at the end of the day he cannot glorify God because only his human goodness can be seen, nothing of God's. So the false believer cannot be saved despite his public display of fake faith and false fruits.

The truly saved understands his total disability. And hence the fruits that he produces, being dependent on the Spirit, even if lesser than the false or non believer, glorifies God more than himself, because he is humble enough to acknowledge that he can produce nothing but Sin, and all the good that he is able to produce is not his but from the spirit. Therefore he does not boast about his good works, neither does he condemns others for not being able to do it because he knows he could never had done it himself.

Christian living is not one which can be induced by warning and coercing one to act. A continuous tongue lashing campaign will only produce false or forced obedience whereby one tries to justify oneself based on his own efforts to act.

Let's learn from David and Paul, who teaches us first to be contrite before God, to acknowledge our total disability before an Almighty father, and trust him to make us and guide us to righteousness.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right[b] spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
- Psalms 51:7-12

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
- Romans 7:21-25

Man is only capable of Sin and Death, and nothing else. And no one besides God is capable of living a life of Holiness. A false Christian can pretend to be a Christian by imitating Christian living, but his motivation is from his own determination, and he only glorifies himself.

Man is presumptuous to think they are capable of doing any good, especially so called Christians who think their own determination would amount to credit their own stinking pride. Whereas a true Christian values the eternal and heavenly, not putting hope in the things of this world. A true Christian glorifies God by living out his Commandments through the spirit, and not through the flesh.

Can a backsliden Christian come back to God based on Heb 6:6

If your understanding of Hebrews 6 is about true believers falling away, then based on Heb 6:6, it is impossible for backsliden believers to redelicate their lives to God coz that will be cruxifying Christ once again on the cross.

Rather, Let's start with the context of Hebrews 6... context...

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Hebrews 6:1 ESV

What are the elementary doctrine of Christ? He is referring to the Old Covenent.

For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
Hebrews 5:1 ESV

He is addressing the apostasy of going back to animal sacrifices after Christ has come.

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:11‭-‬14 ESV

So here, he continues to warn the Jeruselam Christians against the temptation to abandon faith in Christ, and seek salvation by animal Sacrifices... elementary teachings of ritual laws.

and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.
Hebrews 6:2‭-‬3 ESV

So it is in this context, that he continues in verse 4, that it is impossible for genuine Christians to fall away...

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
Hebrews 6:4‭-‬5 ESV

Falling away would have been an insult to the cross. It does not mean a backsliden Christian cannot be enlightened again and redelicate his life to God... if this verse is about genuine Christians falling away, then many backsliden Christians who repents and wants to come back to God can never do so coz that will mean "crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt".

and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
Hebrews 6:6 ESV

Therefore those who bear thorns and briers, and actually not saved, since they decided to leave their faith and return to the Old Covenent. Its the same today for a "Christian" who decided to return to his old Pagan religion, or went back to his Sinful lifestyle, his faith was never genuine in the first place.

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
Hebrews 6:7‭-‬8 ESV

V7 to 8 is parallel to the Parable of the Sowers in Matt 13, it is also Parallel to Matt 7 where Jesus called out false teaching of the Pharisees who teaches a distorted version of the Old Covenent, which is basically Judaism. Same as Mark 7, where Jesus flagged out the false tradition of the Pharisees that contradicts God's original intention of the Law.

Hence, the universal enemy that the early church was battling against, was Legalism of the Pharisees...

*of course beside Legalism, they had to also battle against the Lawlessness of the Nicholaitans and Doctrine of Balaam, Jezebel and the Gnostics (1 John). But the context of Hebrews is against Legalism (Salvation by works). We can expand this context to apply it to any other means to Salvation other than Christ, meaning, idolatry through false teachings, false ideas about God, trying to please God in our own terms. These does not contradict the doctrine of Eternal Security.

The truly saved will obey and continue with faith, false believers will not and can only bear thorns and briers.... and only time will tell.

What is the true evil here?

"The petition, started by a Rachel Chan on March 6, is titled, “Ban satanic music groups Watain and Soilwork from performing in Singapore”. It quickly gained popularity, and got over 15,000 signatures as of 11:30am on March 7."

Absolutely agree that Watain's explicit content and theme of outright rebellion against God and all His values, is what no Christians will condone. As children of God, we ought to be aware of such dark acts, and should seek to live apart from it. Yet many artists in the Pop music industry would promote similar themes and are yet under noticed and never gets flagged out, why? Simply because they dress and behave in socially more acceptable manner, and heavy metal artists just appear more hostile than the rest. But question is, does the most corrupted Sinners in the world listen to metal? I hardly think so. The world's greatest most corrupted people are not criminals, they are thriving greedy traders of wall street and hungry power politicians who legally reign in this fallen world. Satan promised Jesus to be ruler of the world if he bows down to him, does Black Metal Bands reign in this world? And yet the world will always pin the blame on the outcasts of society while they exalt the affluent, and the church has sadly perceived using the very same set of fleshly eyes.

Is Black metal Satanic? Absolutely. Its not the same as classic metal, speed metal, trash metal, even death metal. Yes, generally metal is a genre which artists express their opinions on political injustice, oppression from establishment, social outcasts, and inevitably they will hate organized religion, simply because they represent voices that fell through the cracks of society's norm.

But Black metal is different. They are not merely frustrated complainers of society. They are religious in nature, many of them are genuine Satan worshipers. But if we think deeper, what exactly is Satanism? In Revelations, it simply refers those who refuse to acknowledge Christ as savior. Apostle John said in 1 John 3:10 that whoever is not of God is from the Devil. What Black Metal artists promote is merely a symbol, a name that is demonized into a Baphomet with Pentagram... the real Satanism is already in the system, in pagan religions, in corrupted politicians, in our TV program teaching our kids that promiscuity is cool, education system that values monetary success, movements and labels that promote values contrary to God's Laws.

Yet why are we protesting against a particular group without consideration of the greater Evils that can be found on our cell phones and netflix? If we should rebel against Satan, should we not rebel against all that the world represents instead of singling out a particular group that looks the most hideous in our perception? So why not write petitions against movie makers and novel writers who pushes any notions that goes against God?

Fishes swim, monkeys climb, singers sing... so guess what? Sinners Sin! Why am i not surprised?? They sin because they are not alive, they are spiritually dead, they do not know God, and unless God makes them alive, they remain dead (Eph 2:1-10). Can our protests and petitions enable the world to see Christ? Does our signatures speak more than sharing of the gospel and teaching the word of God? If that is so, Paul would have organized a petition against the pagans of Athens in Acts 17, instead, he patiently explained the God of the bible to them, and some believed. Signing on a petition does not make the world want to know Christ. It only gives the world another excuse to react to angry Christians who just stepped on their toes.

Jesus and the Apostles lived under the tyranny from Claudius  to Domitian to Nero. Yet they never organized a single demonstration or strike despite of the immorality propagated through their imperial cults. They focus their attention on preaching the gospel and demonstrating it through Christian love, not taking part in protests and petitions thinking they can change the world. In fact both Paul and Peter urge us to be in peace with the government and live quiet lives.

You can't change the world and its values. You can only promote the values of God and hoping some will come to know the truth. Those in darkness will practice darkness, what do we expect? That they will repent from their sins by cancelling a concert? Having signatures on a petition is never gonna change the world's values.

Instead of spending time thinking about protests and petitions, why not rather spend time studying the word so that one can be equipped with the right tools to share the word of God? Because most Christians only want to have a voice without putting the hard work and doing the real work of teaching the word... end up having zeal without knowledge.