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Excel Stillmore. Good morning. Welcome back to Excel Stillmore. Today I want to try something different, pretty unique approach.

We're going to talk about the doctrinal ideology called Calvinism. It's quite old. There was a guy named John Calvin in the 16th century that espoused it. It's taken off since then, and the vast, it seems, majority of religious thinkers across our country and

world found in many different denominations and ideologies espouse at least portions of it,

if not all five pieces. And I, for one, and maybe you as well, disagree with all five of the

Calvinistic tenants, which I'll talk to you about shortly.

But the real issue today isn't how do we answer those. It's how do we have conversations with

people who believe those things? Is there any way to bridge that gap? How should you

approach someone, family member, a close friend who believes some of these

things in a way that may get them to think, and could very well establish enough common ground

between you that you could even build rapport that can lead to helping them convert to what

is found in scripture? Before we can explore that, let me tell you a bit about

Calvinism in terms of how I understand it. If I was going to put it in one simple sentence,

it would be this, that salvation is 100% the working of God and 0% your choice or free will.

In its fullest form, this is represented in what's called the tulip theory, T-U-L-I-P. Stage 1, total hereditary depravity. Every human being is born

carrying Adam's sin. We are not good, and we cannot be good on our own. You, unconditional election. God chooses

who will be saved and who will be lost before and independent to any decision that mankind makes.

L. Limited Atonement. Jesus died on the cross only for the elect, the ones whom God had predestined

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