Chosen but Free

Through Norman Geisler’s book Chosen but Free he discusses the views of both Arminianism and Calvinism. The one thing that I really like throughout this book is that he uses Scripture to show views of both sides; he then adds some of his personal views on what he actually believes. The book does discuss the issues of predestination that is a common issue in most people and gives Scripture backing up the foreknowledge of God himself and a person’s initial decision of either accepting or rejecting Christ. Like many others I have struggled with the issue of predestination and whether or not God elects or has the foreknowledge of unbelievers accepting him. However, this book does a great job showing how neither view of this is correct, in fact it is somewhat of a combination of the two. There are so many questions we as children of God have, such as eternal security, but these questions we have will not always be answered. We must just trust and accept what he has shown us in his Word.

One of the major points I’m sure many other people have made is “Was John Calvin really a Calvinist?” He seemed to share the Calvinistic view which was supposedly instituted by him. However, dealing with the topic of TULIP many people think that he believed in all of the five points. He actually did not hold to this belief as many of the extreme Calvinists do. In this book it shows how Calvin believed that Christ died for the sins of the whole world, something that Calvinists argue against (200). I had never heard this view before that he did not always agree with his own doctrine which is completely fascinating to me. This does in fact show that the many people that did and do look up to Calvin for his many views are following him on beliefs that he did not all he believed in.

Reading chapter three in this book really caught my attention in the fact that God holds everything together and how everything is under his control including: “human events, earthly kings, good angels, evil angels, Satan, and human decisions” (pg. 27- 29). In this since Geisler states, “Job confessed to God: I know that you can do all things, no plans of yours can be thwarted” (pg. 26). He also says, “He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: What have you done?” (pg. 27) These statements show how God is in control of everything and has his hand in everything that happens. In this chapter it also talks about how God was here before anything else since he was the one who created everything. “He knows all things, he upholds all things, and can do all things” (pg. 23, 24). The author states, “God was not only before all things, but He was before all time” (pg. 23). This is so true and show’s how God has created everything and was here before anything else. It also shows how God can do all things; “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (pg. 24). The answer for this is defiantly no, the Lord can do all things, and nothing at all is too difficult for him.

I really enjoyed this book and the way Geisler used Scripture to back up the different point of views. I agree with Geisler on many of these issues, and think this is an excellent book for every Christian to read to become more knowledgeable on both sides of view the Calvinistic and the Arminianism. The Scripture aspect was one of my favorite parts of this book.