Why Arminians Don’t Talk to God Like They Talk to Others
When I was a child, I remember the disparity of speech when children talked to one another on the playground, and how different their speech was when in the presence of adults, especially their parents. On the playground, there was no masking one’s boast with some demure or fake humility. Some of the most audacious claims were made by my playground mates. When these mini, man-centered beings grow larger in stature, their claims can be just as bodacious.
One of the reasons Arminians like the status of “professing Christian” is they are now in a position of talking big, regarding the biggest issue of them all. Salvation is the big issue, and the Bible informs us that salvation belongs to the Lord (Ps 3:8; Jon 2:9; Rev 19:1). In fact, it reveals His absolute sovereignty, in saving His people from their sins (Ps 115:3; 135:6; Mt 1:21).
God saved us (Titus 3:5); we did not save ourselves. It was His will that we received Jesus (Jn 1:12–13), not an act of one’s autonomous free will. Salvation was His choice before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4–5; Rom 11:5). A remnant of humanity was predestined to adoption as sons (Rom 8:15, 23, 29–30). But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 1:30), and one’s transfer into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col 1:13) leaves us with zero room for boasting (Rom 3:27; 1 Cor 1:29–31). He caused us to be born again, not we ourselves (1 Pet 1:3). There should not be an arrogant meditation or claim, ever to proceed from us, regarding our salvation, exclusively willed and executed by the grace of God (Eph 2:8–9).
Still, on the playground of life, there are those who shamelessly boast of their control of the salvation that does not belong to them. In their quest to control God, having been duped by the devil into thinking they have become gods (Gen 3:5), they declare to everyone on the playground that they have decided to allow Jesus to save them. Apparently, sovereignty and salvation have shifted from our Lord Jesus Christ to these magnificent boasters. Who knew?
Naturally, the unbiblical boaster becomes a promulgator of the Pelagian, semi-Pelagian, or Arminian heresies. They tell others that it is their own choice, whether they go to heaven or hell. God, of course, stands by helplessly hand-tied to save anyone. All He can do is pray to Himself that these autonomous creatures will accept Him, in a kind of cosmic popularity contest. There is no truth in the Arminian heresy and its man-centered boasts. It is mere child’s play.
Let us pause here and remember all the times we departed the playground of pride and man-centered boasting, and headed into the house of God, the house of prayer. It is in prayer that we enter the presence of our heavenly Father, through the mediation of our righteous Brother (1 Tim 2:5), and with the presence of the Holy Spirit teaching us proper etiquette before the omnipotent throne (Jn 14:26; 16:13).
Think long and hard…Have you ever heard the arrogant, pride-filled boast of the Arminian in prayer? I assure you that you would remember it, if you did. The fact is that nobody talks like an Arminian to Almighty God…nobody.
Arminianism is pure playground trash-talk. It is silly, deviant, and defiant. It is the rhetoric of the narcissist, who is self-centered in salvation-speak. Not even the Arminian will utter such tomfoolery in the hearing of Him, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Mt 10:28).
To silence the pompous, playground, pundit of self, let’s construct an Arminian prayer…if there was such a thing…
“Dear God, thank you for making me completely autonomous from Thyself. Were You to have done otherwise, my salvation would depend on You. May it never be! You are too much of a gentleman to impose your sovereign will upon others. As it is, I thank you that I am not like others, who are not making good choices. I have been wise and powerful to self-generate a faith in Your Son, Jesus, who did His part in making my salvation possible. I am grateful He did a good job, and I am grateful to me, too, because I was able to finish the good work He began, by placing my approval and acceptance on His work. In choosing to let Jesus save me, I am thankful for the conditional covenant that lets me do my part, to share the glory, for willing and working my own salvation. I have made a good choice, and I am grateful that I have done that myself, by my own free will. In the name of my savior. I pray. Amen.”
It is my prayer that you can see the foolishness of man-centered, playground banter, contrasted with how all Christians talk to God, in His house and in prayer. Nobody talks to the Almighty Sovereign in the manner of this fictitious prayer that is loaded with Arminian ideas from the playground.
Christian, it is time to put away the childish things like a self-centered faith in yourself, plus Jesus. The Bible reveals one Savior of sinners, and it is not you, in any way. God has made it clear that He will have mercy, on whom He will have mercy (Rom 9:15–16). He will love whomever He sovereignly chooses to love (Rom 5:5; 1 Jn 4:19), and He will hate whomever He sovereignly chooses to hate (Ps 5:5; 11:5; Rom 9:13).
If God has chosen to befriend you, to redeem and adopt you, to set His love upon you (Rom 5:5), then, there is only one right response…humble gratitude (Mic 6:8), for His amazing grace that made you a vessel of mercy prepared for glory (Rom 9:23). Give thanks and stop boasting in yourself, and stop issuing a perfunctory nod to others who do the same. God hears you on the playground, as He does when you pray in His house. Talk to others about Him, not yourself, in the same way you do when in prayer.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
October 18, 2022
