does God make people lost?A gracEmail subscriber asks, "Did God create some people to be saved and others to be condemned based on his own good pleasure and totally apart from their choices and conduct?
Reformed and non-ReformedSeveral gracEmail subscribers have asked for some explanation of the difference between "Reformed" and "non-Reformed" theologians as mentioned in a recent piece.
what is Reformed theology?Someone asks: "You sometimes mention "Reformed" teaching or "Reformational" theology. What does that refer to?"
TULIP -- five petals of graceA gracEmail reader in California asks what the acronym T-U-L-I-P stands for in summing up the theological points of Reformed Christianity.
getting past the impasse (four gracEmails)For nearly 2,000 years now, gospel-believing Christians have proclaimed that God saves sinners through the atoning death of Jesus Christ . . . . However . . . they reach different conclusions regarding the scope of Jesus' death (for whom did he die?) and the effect of his death (did it actually save anyone or only make salvation a possibility?).
accountability to GodA gracEmail subscriber in Arkansas asks the basis on which I believe God holds people accountable.
our choice or God's?A gracEmail reader asks: "Do we choose God, or does God choose us? Is our will involved?
God's choosingA gracEmail subscriber writes: "I can't reconcile the idea of God's arbitrarily choosing some for salvation with the exercise of our will. Didn't God choose a 'class' of people (those who believe) rather than selecting individuals?"
choosing: ours or God's?"You do not seem to emphasize the necessity of human choice in salvation," someone writes. "Don't you know that the Bible teaches that we must make a decision for Christ?"
election and evangelismA subscriber in Oklahoma writes, "If God already knows who will finally be saved, why should we even bother to spread the gospel? I would appreciate whatever light you can shed on this issue."
calling and election"Did God choose any person to be lost?" a reader asks, and "did he choose the saved because he knew in advance that they would respond to his calling?
extensions of electionIn response to gracEmails about God's choosing us, an outstanding Bible teacher writes: "My question is not about God's ability to save us or eternal security. It's about predestining some regardless of response and, by extension, rejecting others without any response."
why evangelize if God is sovereign?After I said that God must regenerate one who is "dead" in sin before that person can believe, a subscriber responded, "So, why worry about preaching the good news to them? Why worry about them believing it?"
foreknowledge and free will (two gracEmails)A gracEmail subscriber writes: "I have been trying to work out in my mind how God can give us free will to choose salvation and also know beforehand who will be saved. Can you explain this?"