For any readers in Canada, and some in select areas of the US, the words in our title will mean something. For those who are unaware, each year, Tim Horton's, a Canadian based coffee and donut franchise runs a contest called, "Rrroll Up The Rim To Win!" Under the rim of paper coffee cups, there is the potential to win a prize (coffee, donuts, iPods, cash, TVs, cars). It's a neat promotional activity for the company to say "Thank you" to customers, and no doubt, helps to boost coffee sales.

Now, what does the Rrroll Up The Rim To Win contest have to do with the Bible? Thankfully, nothing! How awful it would be if whether we were acceptable to God or not was based purely upon chance or dumb luck! How terrible if our eternal place of abode were determined, as it were, by the roll of a dice! And yet, there is a segment of the religious world who believe something of the sort.

The Westminster Confession of Faith states,

By decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.
These angels and men, thus predestined, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.
Those of mankind that are predestined unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto: and all to the praise of His glorious grace.
(Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch. 3, Sect. 3, 4, 5)

Fortunately, these are the thoughts and doctrines of men, rather than that which comes from the Lord above. According to the Westminster Confession of Faith, and other Calvinistic documents and writers, God has chosen beforehand, indiscriminately who will go to heaven and who will go to hell. What's under your rim? As much as you might desire to go to heaven; as diligent as you are in reading the Scriptures; as faithful as you may be in doing what God has commanded — it matters not! Win or lose, heaven or hell — it's completely out of your control. According to Calvinism, you have as much to do with your eternal abode as you do with winning a coffee, a car, or getting a "Please Play Again" tab.

Thankfully, the Lord's will is not so. Contrary to the Westminster, our fate is not unchangeable. Hear the LORD: "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of the one who dies." (Ezekiel 18:30-32).

Has the LORD ordained a select number to be saved, and others to be lost; which numbers can neither increase or diminish? If so, He does so against His own will, for Peter tells us, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9). If the number of the saved is predestined and foreordained, such that no increase may occur, then how futile is it for the God who supposedly made it so to desire that none should perish, but come to repentance? If the Calvinist is correct, then God has defeated His own will by what they call His sovereignty.

Does God save apart from man's faith, good works and perseverance? The Hebrew author penned, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6). The writer indicates that we must "come to God" and "diligently seek Him", both statements which are opposite of the random selection spoken of in the Westminster Confession of Faith. What about works? Are they excluded? Check the rest of Hebrews 11, and you will see case after case where individuals demonstrated their faith through works of obedience. James fitly describes the importance of faith and works. He says of Abraham, "...that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect." (James 2:22). Well, what of perseverance? Is it a non-issue, as the Confession of Faith indicates? Again, consider the Hebrew letter: "Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise..." (Hebrews 10:35-36).

But the Bible does speak about predestination, doesn't it? Certainly, it does, but Biblical predestination and Calvinistic predestination are quite different. Calvinistic predestination indicates that God has chosen some and rejected others from before the foundation of the world. Upon what basis does He choose? We are told, His own good pleasure. That inherently makes God a respecter of persons. It pleased Him to choose this one, but to reject that one. The Bible pictures something much different. How does the Bible indicate we have been chosen? It is based upon our relationship to Christ. If we are "in Him", then we are the chosen of God (Ephesians 1:3-14). Being "in Christ" is not some process out of man's reach, but results from our response to the word of God. There are only two texts in Scripture which reveal how we get "into Christ". Both indicate that the penitent sinner needs to obey the Lord's command to be baptized (Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:26-27; cf. Mark 16:16).

The Lord has saved those who will respond to His wonderful grace and mercy in Christ Jesus. The Calvinist turns the sovereignty of God into a game of Russian roulette. Who receives mercy; who receives wrath? Wait for God to spin the chamber and see what happens. This is the monster God of Calvinism, not the merciful God of the Scriptures. There is no spin of the chamber or roll of the rim with the Lord. He has imparted the way to life eternal in His word; those who come to Him in with penitent and obedient heart, He will not refuse.