And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
(2 Timothy 2:24-26 KJV)
Calvinism teaches an acrostic called TULIP in which each letter refers to a certain doctrine. T: Total Depravity, U: Unconditional Election, L: Limited Atonement, I: Irresistible Grace, P: Perseverance of the Saints.
The doctrine above has a pattern of irresponsibility of the person who is saved from their sins. The people are elected without any conditions which means they can do nothing to be elected or even unelected. The “I” tells us that when we are called it is irresistible we are helpless, it is not a choice it is chosen for us.
This lack of choice is the problem. Looking at the scripture above, we see that Paul is writing to Timothy about how to instruct “those that oppose themselves;”. Furthermore Paul tells Timothy why this is so important: “if God peradventure will give them repentance” and “that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil.”
God giving them repentance could fall under TULIP if only the next verse was not there. Recovering yourself out of the snare of the devil at a bare minimum requires a choice, you are given repentance and then you have the choice to accept it and be recovered.
A choice is not part of TULIP, thus 2 Timothy 2:24-26 disproves Calvinism. There are many other places that disprove Calvinism that will be covered later, but this is the most succinct I have found to date.
Everyone, please come out of man-made religion with man-made doctrines to the fullness of the scriptures. Put off the world and pick up the scriptures. Read them and come to the knowledge of the truth.
With love,
Timothy (A Family Serving The King)