Ophelia is right, in a Calvinist world view, no one really knows if they are chosen ("elected" is the word generally used) or not. At least, I don't think so. I always wondered about that old hymn "Blessed Assurance,":doze: and whether it was really Biblical or just something that came along with the idealistic, American way of seeing things.
I don't think we really can know, because although I have grown up in a Christian family and have "prayed the prayer" for salvation, and try to please God, I know that I haven't really given myself heart and soul to Him like the Bible spells out. Maybe I'm not one of the elect. I honestly don't know. The Bible also says that at the day of judgment many will say "Lord, Lord," and Jesus will say "I never knew you."
I wonder if that will be me? If it is, I still feel that I do have a blessed assurance that my life counted for something. Like in "It's a Wonderful Life," if I had never been born, God's perfect plan for the world wouldn't have been the same.
So yes, it is VERY hard to live with the thought that some --most, actually-- are "unchosen." I actually wrote a poem, by that title, on the subject, during a time of great spiritual and mental struggle in my life. I won't post it unless you want me to, because it basically just says what I've been saying here.
The point is, I've had to change my thinking to see the world as belonging to God, and Him being in control. What seems good to me is very likely not part of God's
truly good plan. (God is the only good. Anything not of God is evil.) In the Westminster catechism, the first question is "What is the chief end of man?" the reply is "To bring glory to God and to enjoy him forever." I make it my mission to put all the glory completely on God. It's somehow freeing to think that everything I do is due to God's amazing and fabulous power. As a person who naturally struggles with pride and boasting, it has freed me to think that way, and I thank the Holy Spirit often for giving me this view of things.
I still serve myself and my own lusts a lot. One thing that I know I love more than God is the tv show Stargate:oops: and I'm also guilty of loving books way too much, as is obvious. I sometimes think, what if someone just outright gave me the choice between living a bookless, Stargate-less existence with only God, or giving up my commitment to Him completely and wasting my life on these fleeting pleasures that entertain at the moment but don't satisfy the real needs of my soul. Then I think, that's what's happening right now, and I'm making the wrong choices.
That is sort of like free will, but I don't think it's the same as some people think. After all, God is in control, and has already planned that I would waste much of every day watching tv and reading books, and I know he will use it for good somehow. But as I am a sentient being with a mind and a will, it is my duty to give up that will to God's perfect will and obey Him.
Only then will my life be taking the perfect path.
It's complicated, and like I said before, I am so young and don't really know what I'm talking about, but that's how I see things right now. There are some things I can't explain (like free will!
I make myself almost sick trying to figure out where that fits in, and no one can tell me. Wah!
) Oh well, it helps to just trust in God and not worry too much about the questions sometimes. Things happen in God's time, not ours. It's all cool.
Now onto a tougher subject. I think that some people should be judged for their "sexual preference." I know, I could probably get kicked off the site for saying that. However, I have to say what I believe.
What about people whose sexual preference is rape? That's illegal, for obvious reasons. Homosexuality used to be, too. The Bible says that the natural state is for a man to leave his parents and cleave unto his wife. That is what is known as a Creation Commandment, and it is just as important if not more important than the Ten Commandments. A perversion of nature is a slight against the natural order that God created, and it is like a direct insult to God.
Homosexuality being okay in this day and age is a sign of the times. It was a sign in Sodom and Gommorha and it was a sign in the Greek and Roman empires.
America is going to die of immorality, and the sexual revolution is the flames that it is going down in.
I get most of this from my dad and his buddies from church who discuss current events. Frankly, I'm not very passionate about such things. I tend not to look at the present with thoughts for the future, I'm just not made to be farsighted like that. However, it is scary to think about what America will be in twenty years, or even ten, if things keep going the way they have been.
Homosexuality is not a joke. It's a sin. It's not something that people can't help. We all at some time in our lives feel a sinful urge to do something perverse (by which I mean, against the natural order of creation, against God's will) that doesn't mean we
have to sin. With God's help, we can overcome temptation.
I'm sorry if this offends anyone. I can't judge anyone for being sinful, because I have sinned myself. We're all sinners. That doesn't mean I can joke around and pretend that it's okay to do something wrong. Just because something is fun or cool doesn't mean it's okay to do it even though it's wrong. All sin is fun while you're doing it, but it has eternal consequences. So all in love, I can say to any homosexuals, "this is sin. God can save you from it." Whether He will or not is up to Him. All I can do is speak the truth.
Once again, sorry for the super long post, and thank you guys for reading and responding.
For what, though some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
God forbid: yea, let God be true, and every man a liar, as it is written, "That thou mightest be justified in thy words, and overcome, when thou art judged." - Romans 3:3-4