Costello,
In reply to:
[color:"blue"]My questions which I think remain unanswered:

From a Calvinist view, how do I know I am pre-selected?

Calvinist's don't start out knowing they are predestined to salvation. They end up knowing it afterward because the Bible teaches that. Until their eyes are opened by the Holy Spirit they can't understand this truth. Like every truth about God, the doctrine of election involves mystery, and it sometimes sitrs controversy. But in Scripture it is a pastoral doctrine, helping Christians to see how great is the grace that saves them, and moving them to respond with humility, confidence, and praise. We do not know what others God has chosen among those who do not yet believe, nor why He chose us in particular. We do know that we believe now only because we were chosen, and that as believers we can rely on God to finish the good work He has begun (I Cor. 1:8, 9; Phil. 1:6; I Thes. 5:23, 24' II Tim. 1:12; 4:18). For these reasons the knowledge of election is a source of gratitude and confidence.

In reply to:
[color:"blue"]What were the Hebrews in 6:6 in danger of falling away from?

Wes said they were falling away from the external church, but that does not answer to the rest of the verse IMO.

I mentioned the example of Judas Iscariot because he was assumed to be in the kingdom as a disciple of Jesus. He was thought to be enlightened by the teaching of Jesus, he tasted the heavenly gift and became a partaker of the Holy Spirit (see Luke 9:1-6) but apparently he was not born again, so he fell away.

In reply to:
[color:"blue"]Is there a human side to the Calvinist view of Salvation?

I presume the answer to this is 'no', which leaves an apparent contradiction IMO.

Yes, there is a human side to salvation. Man's responsibility is to repent and believe. When John writes in chapter 1:12: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God," he also mentioned "not by the will of man, but of God." So the problem that you have not yet grasped is that man is unable to respond until he is born again from above. The Spirit works at God's command according to God's will not man's will.

SCRIPTURE PROOF

I Cor. 2:14: The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.

Gen. 2:17: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Rom. 5:12: Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned.

II Cor. 1:9: Yea, we ourselves had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead.

Eph. 2:1-3: And you did He make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; among whom ye also all once lived in the lusts of your flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Eph. 2:12: Ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Jer. 13:23: Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

Ps. 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.

John 3:3: Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Rom. 3:10-12: As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one;
There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God;
They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable;
There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one.

Job 14:4: Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

I Cor. 1:18: For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.

Acts 13:41: Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; For I work a work in your days, A work which ye shall in no wise believe, if one declare it unto you.

Prov. 30:12: There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes,
And yet are not washed from their filthiness.

John 5:21: For as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom He will.

John 6:53: Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, ye have not life in yourselves.

John 8:19: They said therefore unto Him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father; if ye knew me, ye would know my Father also.

Matt. 11:25: I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes.

II Cor. 5:17: if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.

John 14:16: (And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever,) even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you.

John 3:19: And this is the judgment, that light is come unto the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.


May the Lord be pleased to open your eyes to the wonderful truth about His amazing grace!


Wes




When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. - Isaac Watts