Re: Are Calvinists Saved?

I did listen to this one too. Guess I'm a glutton for punishment, and I didn't find it much better than the first.

I will say though that I agree with him about the danger of trusting your own works as assurance of salvation. Not all calvinists do this by any means, I certainly don't, but many do, and those that do are often called "Lordship salvationists". I'm sure you've probably heard the term. John MacArthur falls into that camp, as well as many others, including Steve Lawson, the author of the video Tansy has posted at times.

We'll never have assurance of salvation, or we shouldn't at least, if we are looking to our own works for that assurance. Our works will always fall short of the righteousness that God requires for salvation. Trusting in the rigtheousness of Christ alone and believing that righteousness is imputed to us if we have faith in Him, is what will give us the assurance of salvation and being secure in our salvation is actually what brings about good works. Trying to prove to God and ourselves that we are saved by the evidence of our works will only bring despair or pride, both which are very harmful and not based on faith in Christ alone.

This is just one of the reasons I said recently in one of my posts that I don't agree with a lot of what is taught in calvinist groups. When I say I'm a calvinist, I just mean that I believe the five points of calvinism, but even the fifth point, "perseverance of the saints", really should be called "preservation of the saints". It's not our perseverance that will keep us saved, but it's God's preserving power that will keep us saved.



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