"But predestination!" (#5-6: Romans and sovereignty)
In this series, I'm examining some things that Calvinists (especially my ex-pastor) say about predestination. Here's the whole series on my other blog: the pastor's sermons ("When Calvinists say 'But predestination!'"), and my comments 1-4 (election) and 5-6 (Romans and sovereignty) and 7-9 (depravity, Book of Life, predestine) and 10-11 (shaming tactics, Feb. 2015) and 12-14 (dead, regeneration, born again) and 15 (total depravity, manipulation) and 16A (God's Will, babies) and 16B (sin, evil, suffering) and 17 (double-speak and the gospel) . Fifth: Like this pastor does, Calvinists constantly - all the time, over and over again, in every sermon on this topic - quote Romans 9:18: “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.” They love this verse and the word “hardens.” They say it means that God decides who will go to heaven and who won’t, and that He hardens those w