prison break

imagine a prison holding 100 prisoners in 100 pitch black cells (100 being an arbitrary number).

having grown accustomed to his own pitch black cell (indeed, having been born in his own pitch black cell), each prisoner does not realise that he is in prison.

the only way out for each prisoner is through his own locked cell door, which incidentally blocks off all light and keeps each prisoner from realising that he is in prison.

how is he going to escape? stay tuned to find out.

the greatest prison break in history

the prison represents sin, the prisoners represent sinful man and the prison officer represents God. the master key which unlocks all the cells is the death of Christ on the cross.

calvinism

the prison officer unlocks 50 out of the 100 cells (50 again being an arbitrary number). the prison officer then grabs the 50 prisoners and drags them out of their respective cells, into the light.

what about the other 50 prisoners?

arminianism

the prison officer knocks on the door of each cell and asks each prisoner whether he wants to escape. the prison officer then unlocks the cells of those who say they want to escape (not that prison officers help prisoners to escape in real life).

the problem with this is that even when the prison officer knocks on the door of each cell, each prisoner does not realise that he is in prison. in complete darkness (ie. being totally depraved), he simply cannot say whether he wants to escape, because he does not even know that he needs to escape.

geisler's 'chosen but free'

the prison officer unlocks all the cells and flings open all the doors, flooding all the cells with light - except for the shadows of the prisoners. having seen the light, each prisoner is then free to either step out into the light or remain in his own shadow.

as geisler puts it, election is 'unconditional for God and conditional for man' (the sole condition being faith in Christ alone).

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light

My chains fell off, my heart was free
I rose, went forth and followed Thee
My chains fell off, my heart was free
I rose, went forth and followed Thee

links: why i am not a (classical) calvinist (19 aug 08), ord loh! (3 mar 09)