Absolute Predestination

Absolute Predestination
Author: Jerome Zanchius
Publisher: Sovereign Grace Publishers,
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2001-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1878442252

"In whom we also have been chosen to an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of the One working all things according to the counsel of His will" (Ephesians 1:11) Zanchius (1516-1590) created his age-enduring classic in response to the challenges of those who persisted in charging God with being the Author of sin because He says in the Scriptures that He predestinated all things that come to pass. His answer is irrefutable. The first forty-two pages describes God as He is revealed in His holy Word. He is all-wise and all-powerful. He is perfect and unchangeable. He, being by Himself alone in eternity, determined to create a universe, and to people that universe with being of His own choice. He saw in His mind the entire course of events, and the persons who would act out these events, and having all things completely settled in His mind beforehand, He decreed all things that were to occur. The distinctions thus having been established in His own mind, He at one time, in one act of His will, predestinated all things "according to the counsel of His will." The author then takes up the subject of predestination. The word means to 'deliberate beforehand with ones' self how one shall act; and in consequence of such deliberation to constitute, fore-ordain, and predetermine where and when, how and by whom anything shall be done, and to what end it shall be done. Who else but God is able to both conceive and order all the happenings in time and eternity? This book is not only closely reasoned, but it is backed and proven by Scripture throughout. It is made abundantly clear that men may not absolve themselves of evil because of God=s eternal predestination of allthings. God leaves all men with a freedom to will, but in their total depravity all choose to will only what is evil in the eyes of God. For, "God is not tempted by evils, and He tempts no one. But each one is tempted by his own lusts, having been drawn out and havin

Predestination

Predestination
Author: Peter J. Thuesen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2009-07-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 019988398X

Winner of the Christianity Today 2010 Book Award for History/Biography, and praised in Christian Century as "witty...erudite...masterful," this groundbreaking history, the first of its kind, shows that far from being only about the age-old riddle of divine sovereignty versus human free will, the debate over predestination is inseparable from other central Christian beliefs and practices--the efficacy of the sacraments, the existence of purgatory and hell, the extent of God's providential involvement in human affairs--and has fueled theological conflicts across denominations for centuries. Peter Thuesen reexamines not only familiar predestinarians such as the New England Puritans and many later Baptists and Presbyterians, but also non-Calvinists such as Catholics and Lutherans, and shows how even contemporary megachurches preach a "purpose-driven" outlook that owes much to the doctrine of predestination. For anyone wanting a fuller understanding of religion in America, Predestination offers both historical context on a doctrine that reaches back 1,600 years and a fresh perspective on today's denominational landscape.

The Catholic Doctrine of Predestination from Luther to Jansenius

The Catholic Doctrine of Predestination from Luther to Jansenius
Author: Guido Stucco
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2014-04-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493197606

The doctrine of predestination was one of the most discussed topics in the period that goes from the beginning of the Reformation to the end of the XVII century. In this book, Guido Stucco provides a nuanced and thorough description of the unfolding of events, doctrinal developments and controversies surrounding this complex doctrine.

Systematic Theology

Systematic Theology
Author: Louis Berkhof
Publisher: Rare Treasure Editions
Total Pages: 1119
Release: 2024-03-14T00:00:00Z
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1774646870

Considered one of the classics on Systematic Theology, the book covers all the basics on the reality of God, the atonement of Christ and the final state of man and the last things. Anyone who wishes to study theology would be wise to read this book as many in the Reformed tradition hold that it is a landmark in its field. It is arguably the most important twentieth century compendium of Reformed Theology. 'The work seemed particularly important to me', writes the author, 'in view of the widespread doctrinal indifference of the present day, of the resulting superficiality and confusion in the minds of many professing Christians, of the insidious errors that are zealously propagated even from the pulpits, and of the alarming increase of all kinds of sects.

Apologetic Works 3

Apologetic Works 3
Author: Andrew Fuller
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 508
Release: 2021-09-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110420597

When Socinianism was at the height of its power, Andrew Fuller challenged it in its self-professed point of greatest strength --the virtue encouraged by its principles of theistic rationality. Do the extended implications of its principles compare favorably with Calvinism in the development of virtue? Using their own writings and the admissions they make concerning piety and virtue among Socinians, Fuller compared both systems in their tendency to convert profligates to a life of holiness, to convert professed unbelievers, their development of a standard of morality, to encourage love to God, candor and benevolence toward men, encourage humility and charity, promote love for Christ and veneration of Scripture, develop happiness, cheerfulness, gratitude, obedience, and heavenly-mindedness in the followers of the respective systems. If challenged that he is being judgmental and has focused on subjective criteria, Fuller replied that he is merely engaging the Socinians at the place where they have invited investigation. Fuller intended to lay bare the emptiness of the Socinian boast to virtue. The work first was published in 1793.