Why am I not a Reformed Protestant? There are many reasons really, but there is one major reason. I do not believe in double predestination.
Hollyn
Obvious?
Predestination, and Reformed scholasticism, is more of a philosophy than it is a Theology. It’s a system of thinking about salvation, usually based on a couple of occurrences of the term in the New Testament.
Predestination can mean a lot of things. Usually it refers to God’s salvation plan. In some way He knows who is going to get saved. Therefore, it naturally follows that He not only knows, but also chooses who is going to get saved. This is from the predestination framework, and I’ve studied all the scriptures and wrapped my mind around the philosophy.
One question I have at this stage, and there are many, is the question of what God knows and what God chooses. Is there a difference? In other words, are there some things that are simply outside of God’s will? He sees that these things outside of His will are going to occur, but He does not choose for them to occur. This would be a question and a counterpoint.
However, let’s not stop there. If one truly believes in predestination, then ultimately one believes in double predestination. Predestination is the belief that God has chosen who will be saved. Double predestination takes it one step further. God not only chooses who will be saved. He chooses in advance who will be damned.
This is a difficult pill to swallow, and has always been a dealbreaker for me. I simply cannot believe that God chooses in advance who will be saved and who will be damned.
So there are many reasons I don’t adhere to what is known as Reformed Theology, but this is the ultimate dealbreaker.
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