How Do I Know I am One of The Elect?

[Ani_Ibi]

I’m still undecided on this point. There are days that I lean more towards Molinism and other days that I lean more towards Molinism. God Bless,Michael

I suppose one way to know if you are among the elect is to sin like crazy and see if you get to Heaven.

I kid. The trouble I have is not how to know but if you know. If you know that you number among the elect, what effect does that have on your life? If you know that you number among the reprobate, what effect does that have on your life? I am speaking of course assuming predestination is a fact – which has not yet been demonstrated.

 

[mikeledes]

If TULIP is correct, than its principles must apply to both Old an New Testament saints. Both Old and New Testament saints must have been made righteous before God the same way. There are passages in Ezekiel who pose a challenge to TULIP, specifically perseverance of the saints. According to Calvinists, however, despite God specifically describes these people as righteous, they are not really righteous. They are only “legally” righteous or righteous before men. However, when one really analyzes how the word “rightoeus” is used in these passages, one finds that such an interpretation is untenable and makes nonsense of the passages.

In Ezekiel, **You shall llive **means that God has deemed/declared you righteous and pleasing in His sight. Thus, it can never refer to someone who has not been justified by His grace:

Ezekiel 3:21

**21"However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself." **

Ezekiel 18:9

**9if he walks in My statutes and My ordinances so as to deal faithfully–he is righteous and will surely live," declares the Lord GOD. **

Ezekiel 18:21

21"But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

"You shall die means that God has deemed you unrighteous/wicked and God has not found you pleasing in His sight.

Ezekiel 3:19

19"Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity

Ezekiel 18:13

13… He will not live! He has committed all these abominations, he will surely be put to death…"

Ezekiel 18:23

**23"Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord GOD, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? **

God never says He shall surely live to anyone who is not righteous in His sight, to a person who has not been justified by His grace. Therefore, when we have a verse like:

Ezekiel 33:13

13"When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die.

God will never call a person “righteous” if they have not been justified by His grace and he would definitely not tell that person he shall surely live - a phrase only used in reference to the genuinely righteous and the repentant sinner - if that person is not pleasing in His sight and has not genuinely repented of his sins. That would contradict His express words. These passages are pretty clear and it contradict Calvinism. No “word” gymnastics can obscure the obvious.

To be continued…

 

[treadhead]

I’ll answer this as best I can. In my opinion, we are all the elect of God meaning that God may call upon us, or draw us yet we have the free will and power to say ‘no’.

The question that you are asking appears to come from Calvinist roots where the belief is that we are either saved (elect) from the beginning of time, or damned. Free will plays no part in it.

I will say this. To be ‘sure’ of election or salvation is to fall into the sin of presumption. We cannot presume upon the lord. None of us are guaranteed salvation.

Our hope is to remain faithful in contrite himility and confess our sins regularly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Salvation is a lifelong process.