This Debate Is Over: Searching scripture to see if their views are so . . .

By Hashone Green

This book deals with an ongoing debate between Calvinist and Non-Calvinist. For over 400 years these two groups have went back and forth on issues such as Election is it Conditional or Unconditional. The issue of the saving grace of God is it resistible or irresistible. Scholars from both sides have waxed eloquent biblically supporting their view, while at the same time presenting sound chases to dismantle the opposing view. That’s the problem though isn’t it? Both sides are winning and losing at the same time. Nobody wins, it’s a draw!

What happens if instead of comparing one system against the opposing system, we examined each systematic view against the scripture? That’s what this book does, examines each view with scripture.

Which view or views were able to withstand scriptural scruntiny?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798385019670

Hashone Green

Hashone was born on September 30, 1971 in Highland Park General Hospital. He lived in the Detroit area his whole life. He’s a father of 3 wonderful young adults DaJhone, Drevhone and Brittany whom He loves more than anything in this world. Hashone considers himself to be just a brother in Christ who believes in the authority of the word of God in the life of all believers. He believes that God teaches us and we learn from God line upon line, precept upon precept. His prayer is that this line upon line, precept upon precept evaluation of these groups will reveal truth that ends this debate and leads us toward the unity of faith we should be walking in.

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Copyright © 2024 Hashone Green.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1968-7 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1969-4 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1967-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024903806

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/20/2024

CONTENTS

Dedication

Chapter 1  Desired Unity

Chapter 2  A Division Problem

Chapter 3  The Answer Key

Chapter 4  The Arminians

Chapter 5  The Provisionists

Chapter 6  The Calvinists

Chapter 7  Push Back

Chapter 8  Show Your Work

Chapter 9  A System Divided Against Itself

Chapter 10  Sum of it All

Bibliography

DEDICATION

First I would like to thank God. Scripture says no man can receive anything unless it’s given to him from above (John 3: 27). I truly thank you, Father, because I believe you have given me understanding to end this debate within the church and bring unity instead.

I would like to dedicate this book to the body of Christ. My prayer is that this book would be the beginning of a much needed self-evaluation within the body, which ends with us walking in the unity of faith. My hope is to see the body of Christ walking in its purpose and fulfilling what’s said in Ephesians 4:16: that every joint supplies [the] measure of every part…edifying itself in love. That’s how the church functions. We all work together building and edifying one another.

I give honor to those in my life who demonstrated just how the church should function so we can build and edify one another. Pastor Emery Moss Jr., who is strong in apologetics, taught me the importance of being strictly biblical. My biblical counseling instructors were, by far, the most influential in my personal walk with Jesus Christ. For the most important life-changing lessons I’ve ever been taught, I’m forever grateful for you Sister Latresa Adams-Williams and Sister Mary Smith. I’ll always love you sisters; you have a special place in my heart.

To the most important people in my life—my children DaJhone, Drevhone, and Brittany, and my sister Natahsha—I love you dearly. I thank all of my friends and family. I would not be the man I am today without the moments and experiences I had with all you guys. Love you.

CHAPTER 1

DESIRED UNITY

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

—1 COR. 1:10

A Discussion with My Sister

I went to visit my sister one afternoon in late November 2020. During my visit, we began to discuss the incoming Biden/Harris administration and where their leadership was going to direct our country, the United States.

I made a statement concerning the Bible and how it was clearly against some of their policies, which invoked a passionate response from my sister. She believes the Bible was written by men and is only a manmade book. I stated several facts showing why the Bible was much more than a manmade book. I even stated if anyone were to try to write a book like the Bible, they would never write some of the passages contained in the Bible. She then said to me, If the Bible is so right, then why are there so many different types of Christians, like Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and Lutherans?

I explained to her we are all Christians. There are some essential tenets you must believe to be a Christian. All Christian agree on and believe in the essential Christian doctrines. It’s the nonessential issues we have different views on. She replied emphatically, That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Doesn’t the Bible say the same thing to everybody? So how is it that these people read it and get one thing, and then other people read it and get a whole different something? People can interpret the Bible all kind of ways.

I did my best to describe to her the difference between essential and nonessential doctrines. I also stated there are some passages of scripture that can be difficult to interpret, because a word could have multiple meanings. One group could interpret a word or phrase one way, and the other group could interpret it another. Furthermore, I told her while this could be the case with some passages there are no passages that would call into question any of the essential doctrines. All of the essential doctrines are clearly affirmed and taught in the Bible; that’s why all denominations confirm them. I emphasized that in order to be considered a Christian group you have to believe the essentials. Even with all my persuading, there was still some apprehension on my sister’s part to accept what I was saying.

You see, my sister is an RN. While furthering her education, she had taken a world religions class, where she learned about Christianity and its many different denominations. I understand how the essential doctrines unify all the different Christian denominations, but I must be honest. Sometimes I wonder, does she have a point? Is there any validity to her question? How is it that we all read the same Bible and come away with different theological systems? The concern that gives me pause and causes me to sometimes wonder about this is not found in my sister’s words alone. What causes me to consider this most of all is found in the scriptures. My thoughts often go to 1 Corinthians 1:10, which states,

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (1 Cor. 1:10)

Here, Paul is admonishing to the point of pleading with the church at Corinth to speak the same thing and let no divisions be among them. Paul seems to be passionately concerned about the unification of the church. He actively fights against the church being divided. Paul goes on to say just how they should accomplish this unity. He tells them to be perfectly joined together in the same mind, which is to say the same thought or knowledge. They should also be perfectly joined together in the same judgment, which is to say the same understanding and application of said thought or knowledge.

According to this passage, it seems my sister has a biblical point. We should be in agreement about the things we speak. We should be striving to be unified in mind and judgment. It seems what we have with these different denominations is the complete opposite. The objective of the church today does not seem to be to speak the same thing. It seems there is no real effort to be joined together in the same mind and judgment.

The Bible uses terms like the faith and one faith when it addresses the Christian faith. This seems to be the very reason God has given us preachers and teachers in the first place. God has given us these gifts until we come into the unity of the faith (Ephesians 4:13).The one faith taught by our preachers and teachers should be the catalyst that unifies us. Instead of these denominations focusing on unifying the church in the one faith of Christianity, it seems they’re bent on establishing their own brand of what Christianity is to them.

In the process, they want to establish their own concept of the Christian faith. They often feel the need to debate those who have an opposing view. Now I remind you, they are debating about the so-called nonessential (unnecessary) tenets of our faith. If they’re unnecessary, why argue about them? Why not focus on the unity we do have, and confirm those essentials? Is there really a need for debate?

A person’s normal thought process would be that debate tends to divide rather than to unify. In this case, though, there are people who actually say debate is a good thing. They say, debate benefits those who participate in it, as well as the body of Christ. I have heard it said that through debate, iron is sharpening iron. Through debate and examining one another’s positions, we can learn what we ourselves may have missed. We can see and learn the scriptures from opposing points of view, by which we can ascertain and determine which interpretation is more reasonable and should be accepted. Still, after four hundred years of debating, where is the progress? How has Christianity (the body of Christ) benefited from this Calvinist versus non-Calvinist debate?

As far as I can see, not much, if at all! What would benefit Christianity (the body of Christ) is to end this fruitless debate. Instead, we could gather the leading scholars from all true Christian groups (those who believe in all the essential doctrine). Let them meet together for a weekend or two a month, or as often as their schedules will allow, for as long as necessary, and even if it takes ten years or more. They should have one purpose only: to confirm the biblical exposition of the faith once delivered to the saints. This confirmation should consider and accommodate the whole of scripture. Most people involved in this debate would say this task is impossible. My thought is that though it may be difficult, it still should be the goal. The body of Christ should speak the same thing, and be of the same mind and same judgment. Until this is accomplished, the body of Christ is what suffers. Instead of a people of God-united and walking by faith, what we have is each different denomination teaching its view is the truth of scripture. Do we really have several truths that don’t affect the core of our faith? When it comes to this debate, I seriously struggle with this concept. I find it very difficult to accept the current state of our one-faith Christianity.

Studying with My Daughter

I am so blessed to have a twenty-three-year-old daughter. She lives in another state and yet still studies the scripture with her dad. We are currently studying soteriology (the study of salvation) and came to the subject of election. I wanted to be thorough in my explanation of the subject. Up until this point, I had a basic understanding of the subject. I knew that there were two views of election: conditional and unconditional. My knowledge of the subject overall was a general understanding of both views. I decided to gather information that supports both conditional and unconditional election. I always knew they were opposing views, but it was at this point I realized just how wide the divide is between the two. They are on complete opposite sides of the spectrum. There is no middle ground. There is absolutely no way for both views to be unified.

This is why I genuinely struggled with the concept that different views don’t affect the core of our faith. Is it really possible for someone to be a Christian from either position? Can we truly believe Jesus is the only way? However, God chooses people to be in him both conditionally and unconditionally. The church today seems to have accepted that yes, it’s possible, though there are two totally opposite views. As long as your trust (faith) is in the work of Christ, you can take either view and be a Christian. If you believe election is unconditional, then you’re a Calvinist. If you believe that election is conditional, then you’re a non-Calvinist.

Let’s go back to our scripture passage from earlier, 1 Corinthians 1. Paul was clearly passionate about the unity of the church. He says in the eleventh verse that he hears there are quarrels (contentions) among believers. In the twelfth verse, he explains exactly what the contentions are. He explains that some are saying they are of Paul, some of Cephas, and some of Apollos. Paul identifies what was bringing division and hindering the church from being unified, from speaking the same thing, and from having the same mind and same judgment. People were saying they were followers of this person, and another group was saying they were followers of that person. Today, the unity of the body of Christ is being hindered in the very same way. There are those who say I am an Arminian or I am a Provisionist, while others say I am a Calvinist. All of whom debate one another. They say the opposing view is not taught in scripture, and the Bible really supports and teaches their view and not the other.

Nowhere in scripture has God instructed us to believe in John Calvin and his teachings, and the same thing goes for Jacob Arminius. These men were just theologians. Where is it written that either of these theologians was inspired by God? While neither side would ever claim that its theologian was inspired of God, they argue and defend that theologian’s view as if the theological system was inspired by God. No theologian alive today would claim that the things he or she teaches are without error. They know that they are mere humans not inspired to write Holy Scripture. Is it so far-fetched to conceive that Calvin and Arminius theological view could have errors as well?

The simple truth is, Christ is not divided, and both Calvinists and non-Calvinists preach Christ (the essentials). They believe the things necessary to be Christians. Why can’t we just preach Christ and walk in agreement and unity about what scripture says of Him?

CHAPTER 2

A DIVISION PROBLEM

For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

—1 COR. 1:11

Trying to understand the debate between Calvinists and Arminians (and other non-Calvinists) has been interesting. With all the back and forth that goes on between the two groups today, you would think it was Calvin and Arminius who developed their theological systems. They then saw that their views were totally opposite one another. They had many discussions, challenging