Why Evangelize?
As a Calvinist and a believer in predestination, many people have asked me, “Why do you evangelize?” The logic being that since God is sovereign in salvation, and has predestined all who will come to him, that there is no need to evangelize since no matter what you do, the job will still get done. That, of course, is wrong thinking.
Calvinism holds these three three things true simultaneously: God is sovereign, man is responsible, and Christians are to witness and pray.
Consider what God says to the Israelites before they go into battle for the Promised Land: “The Lord has given your enemies into your hand.” Now, the Israelites didn’t just sit around after that and say, “Why fight the battle? God has already won it for us!” That’s because God doesn’t make things happen in spite of what we do. That’s fatalism. He makes things happen because of what we do.
For an expanded discussion of these truths, check the excellent Parchment & Pen blog here.
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Posted on August 20, 2008, in Apologetics. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Josiah Concept Ministries 
1 Chronicles 14:15-16 says:
15 And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.” 16 And David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer.
I write about this in more detail here. In fact, you have read it before, but here is the short version…
God went out to strike down the army of the philistines, and then David’s Army struck down the army of the Philistines. Redundant? Contradiction? No. As you noted above, God can act through agents, and the result is no less God’s will.
It is no less true of evolution.
– Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation…” –> The land was God’s agent.
– And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures…” –> The water was God’s agent.
– And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds…” –> Again, the land was God’s agent.
A few days ago, you said that evolution is not in the Bible… well the word evolution is not there, but the wording of these verses always seemed a bit odd to me. “After their kind” suggests the kind already exists. Furthermore, the wording above clearly suggests God used the water and land as His agents, but I always dismissed these thoughts until I realized that the land and the water could be God’s agent of creation if Evolution is true… and the result would be no less God’s.