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     We are looking at a series of lessons dealing with a group of doctrines taught by those who follow John Calvin.  Calvin taught a group of five doctrines that were given the acrostic of TULIP.  Last week we looked at “T,” which stood for “Total Hereditary Depravity.”  As we saw this is a false doctrine that teaches that babies are born sinful because they inherit the sin of Adam.
     This week we are going to look at the letter “U” in TULIP which stands for “Unconditional Election.”  The doctrine of Unconditional Election teaches that basically God decided, before He created the world, who was going to be saved and who was going to be lost.  His decision had nothing whatsoever to do with what kind of life you lived.
     Consider what a teacher of this doctrine says, “If I killed my wife and mother and debauched a thousand women I couldn’t go to hell — in fact, I couldn’t go to hell if I wanted to.”  This false teacher believes that he is one of those that God decided to save and there was nothing he could do about it.  It is hard to believe that anyone who claimed to be a Christian could believe this doctrine, but there are many who do.
     Let’s consider what the Scriptures teach.  First, 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  Note that in the judgment we are “recompensed” for the deeds we have done.
     A second verse that refutes this false doctrine, Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” We must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.
     There are many more verses that could be used to refute this doctrine, but we have a limited space here.  Basically you can pick up your Bible and open it to any passage and it will teach how you ought to live, if you want to go to heaven.

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