Why I Disagree With Calvinism

Disclaimer: This is another religious post. This time I'll be writing about doctrine and theology. The views expressed in this blog post are my own. I do intend offense or disrespect toward anyone. I will be writing about a rather popular theological system that I find to be quite disgusting and wrong, given the scriptures. I hope you enjoy.

Calvinism. Some call it Reformed Christianity, or Reformed Theology. I call it something else. See, I disagree with it. But what is it?

The overly generalized form of John Calvin's theological system is contained within the acronym TULIP, which breaks down as follows:

T - Total Depravity / Total Inability
U - Unconditional Election
L - Limited Atonement
I - Irresistible Grace
P - Perseverance of the Saints

Believing each of these points renders one a "5-Point Calvinist." Some people only hold to a few of the points. Some hold to even stricter definitions. John Piper, a Baptist minister from Minneapolis, Minnesota, is sometimes jokingly referred to as a 19-Point Calvinist looking for 6 more points. In honesty, Piper's notion of the 5 points is different from historic Calvinism, but depending on your outlook, his idea could be much worse than historic Calvinism.

We're only focused on the main five, though. Let's go over each one.

Total Depravity / Total Inability - 
This first point of Calvinism states that mankind is utterly depraved and is utterly unable to come to God of his own free will. In some definitions of Total Depravity/Inability, it is defined as man lacking the ability to come to God and trust in Him, unless God has foreordained him to salvation.

But this is not true according to scripture. The Calvinist relies on Irresistible Grace (point #4) for man to be saved. They say that for a man to be saved, God must have already ordained him to salvation, and God must draw him irresistibly into salvation. Yet every invitation in the scripture reveals a different nature of God. The final invitation written in the Bible, Revelation 22:17, reads "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." It's not difficult to read that scripture and see that any who seeks God can come to Him. It says "him that is athirst," not "him that God has irresistibly made thirsty."

John 5:40 reads "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."

 Total Depravity insists that all men are born into the sin of Adam. I agree. All men are born in sin. But the Calvinist position is that, since babies are born in sin, if they die in infancy, unless God had already chosen them as one of the Elect, that baby burns in Hell, having committed no worse sin than being born, and having no knowledge of sin. Romans 5:13 says sin is not imputed where there is no law. Therefore a baby, who has no knowledge of the law and its effectiveness as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, cannot be held accountable for sin. I believe God reveals His own stance on this, by speaking of babies as having no knowledge of good or evil, and calling the children of non-Jews "innocent." That's a strong stance against the idea that babies go to Hell if they aren't Elect.

Unconditional Election - 
Before the dawn of time, before God even created the world, He had already decided who would be saved and who would not. He "elected" those who would be saved in a manner in which they cannot help but be saved.

This interminable doctrine establishes as a foundation of Calvinism the belief that God "elected" some to salvation and He "elected" the remainder to damnation. Seeing as the Elect cannot possibly lose their election, this point of Calvinism completely negates the need for evangelism. Why Calvinists bother preaching is beyond me. Paul wrote in Romans 10:9-15 saying "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" According to the doctrine of Election, the Elect cannot possibly lose their Election, and the damned cannot possibly gain Election, so Paul's expressed necessity that the gospel be preached is obviously in error. What else misses the boat? Oh yeah, the Great Commission.

The Great Commission, found in Matthew 28:16-20... "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."...is rendered pointless, as God has already selected the saved and the damned. Man does not have the free will to accept God, and therefore cannot possibly respond to the gospel, and God has already determined the saved and the damned and no act of man will change that determination. Therefore, no gospel is required under Calvinism. We can all just sit back and relax.

I know this sounds flippant, and I hope no one takes offense, but it is true that Calvinism's doctrine of Unconditional Election, when coupled with Limited Atonement and Irresistible Grace, renders the necessity of gospel preaching moot.

In fact, we see in some places in the Bible where God implores man to repent. He calls on all men to repent (Acts 17:30). Why would God call on all men to repent if He never intended to honor the repentance of all men in the first place?

This is, along with the next point of the acronym, the most disgusting and disturbing of Calvinism's points. It completely flies in the face of the many invitations listed in the scripture. It takes scripture that is plain and clear, and spits in its face. The idea that God has already decided the fate of everyone, choosing to save only a few and to utterly damn the rest for eternity, is so unscriptural as to be sickening. This does not mean that God does not know who will and who won't accept Him. No Christian would argue that, as it would mean God is not omniscient, which we hold that He is. No, God knows who will accept Him, but we do not believe, and scripture does not back up, that God has forced each person into their fate.

Instead, this point of doctrine demands that we accept the fact that God does not love everyone. In fact, by "electing" so many to utter damnation, we can only accept that God must indeed hate many, many people. By electing so many to Hell, we are taught that God never intended to save them. But that flies in the face of clear scripture. 2 Peter 3:9 is quite clear, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that anyshould perish, but that all should come to repentance."

1 Timothy 2:3-4 also clearly states God's desire, "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." It is the desire of God to see everyone saved, yet He does not force salvation upon anyone...unless you believe in Calvinist doctrine.

Limited Atonement - 
When Christ came to Earth, went through His earthly ministry, and was falsely condemned by the Sanhedrin, taken before Pilate, and eventually crucified, He provided atonement for sins. According to Limited Atonement, Christ only died for those God elected. He did not die for all mankind. Those who are not the Elect were not included in the number that Christ atoned for.

As I stated earlier, this point of the acronym is one I find utterly reprehensible. What boggles the mind is how many people believe this point, while seemingly ignoring the amount of clear scripture that negates it.

Here are just a few verses that cut the foundation out from under Limited Atonement...

Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." This Old Testament verse quite clearly sums up the actions of Jesus Christ related to the entirety of humanity. All of us, the whole of mankind, had gone astray from God, and while we could atone through sacrifices that were not permanent, God in His Grace, offered up Himself, Christ the Son, to take our place, taking on Himself the iniquity of everyone.

Hebrews 2:9 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Again, we are clearly shown that Jesus Christ died for all mankind. The Calvinist will argue that these scriptures apply only to the Elect. That is the sad state of their doctrine, that they must take clear and understandable scripture and twist it into a complicated doctrine.

1 John 2:1-2 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." John is writing this epistle to fellow believers, but he explicitly states that Christ died not only for them, but for the whole world.

2 Peter 2:1 "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." Peter is writing to believers, but he clearly writes that even those opposed to God, and who have denied God, are doing nothing more than denying the God that had bought them through the sacrifice.

The atonement cannot possibly be limited. If it is, then the atonement of God is no greater than sin, seeing as scripture tells us more are going into destruction and damnation than into righteousness and glory (Matthew 7:13-14). Yet scripture also tells us that "...where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Romans 5:20)." If grace abounded much more than sin, then the atonement must be universal, as sin is already universal.

Irresistible Grace - 
When God calls one of His Elect unto salvation, they have no option but to be saved. According to this point, mankind has absolutely no control over anything. This point of Calvinism is the one they use to deny the free will of mankind. They'll throw around terms like "man is bound by his sin nature, so man has a free will, but it is only to sin." Some go so far as to say everything man does prior to salvation is sin. You know that old lady you helped across the street? Yep, you were sinning the whole time.

No scripture talks about God irresistibly compelling anyone to do anything, much less be saved. No, scripture is clear. God calls, and man must answer. Man can answer by either accepting God on the terms of the gospel, or he can deny and reject God, turning unto his own sin.

Jesus, looking over Jerusalem, stated in Matthew 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" If God truly desired these people to come to Him, and He possesses irresistible grace to force them to do so, then why did Jesus lament the rejection He felt from Jerusalem? Why not just force them to turn to Him?

Because God does not work that way. We're told not to quench the Spirit, which is a clear indicator to us that God can be resisted. God said in Genesis that His Spirit will not always strive with man. A person can spurn God enough times that God, even with His great love, will withdraw from them, turning them over to a reprobate mind.

Titus 2:11 states "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." We already know that God desires everyone to be saved. However, God created us as free moral agents, able to act in a way that, when He calls us, we can either answer Him, or reject Him. Consider the woman caught in adultery. When brought before Christ, He drove away her accusers and turned to her, telling her to "Go, and sin no more." The impetus was on her to no longer sin. Christ didn't force her to not sin. He instructed her not to.

Perseverance of the Saints - 
What this means is that a child of God, once saved, can never stray from the path of righteousness. I disagree.

Now, I do not doubt the eternal security of the believer. I hold to "once saved, always saved," even though some discredit that phrase and cast doubt on those who hold to it. I believe that I am saved to the uttermost, and sealed unto the day of redemption. I believe that, as it is written in John 10:28, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." If Christ granted me "eternal life" and I can somehow lose it, then that doesn't make it very eternal, does it?

I don't believe I am sealed because I persevere, although there is much to the positive to be said about a Christian persevering. No, I am sealed and granted eternal life because Christ has "preserved" me. I believe in the way in which Jude opened his letter, "them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ."

Conclusion -
In short, I cannot stand the doctrine of Calvinism. The only doctrine I despise even more is the prosperity gospel. But do not take this writing to mean that I am an Arminian. One of the worst things to happen in modern society is the desire to set up a dichotomy on every issue. If you aren't a Democrat then you must be a Republican. If you aren't pro-life then you must be pro-choice. If you aren't Calvinist then you must be Arminian.

No. The Arminian doctrine is equally horrific. Neither Arminianism or Calvinism holds true to scripture.

Truth be told, from my perspective, Calvinism assigns a nearly-monstrous nature to God that, in order for Scripture to be held true, must invariably reveal a God willing to conceal His motivations and actions through duplicitous statements and outright lies to certain people. Yet the Bible clearly tells us that God cannot lie.

I'll take scripture, divinely inspired and protected by God for thousands of years, over the doctrines of a theologian who lived 1400 years after the last piece of scripture was written.

Registration, Writing Essays, and Being Baptized

“See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?”

I don’t sugarcoat things of religious or spiritual nature. If you’re offended by my stance, then I’m sorry I offended you. But I’m not going to change my beliefs because you are offended. My latest issue comes from a “mega-church.” As an act of disclosure, I’m not a fan or a supporter of mega-churches. I grew up in, and still attend, small churches. The church family is tighter-knit. The worship is more intimate.

I’ve spoken with people who attend mega-churches. Two good friends of mine, who were not mutual acquaintances, discovered they attended the same mega-church, and had for at least three years. They did not know each other. I like to know everyone at my church. But, I look at church as more of a spiritual event while many of the mega-churches have taken on an air of McWorship, fast-food-type spirituality. This lack of personal acquaintance leads me to the topic of the day: baptism. In the Baptist denomination, baptism is also the threshold over which men and women must pass to become members of the church.

My cousin attended a church that, while not quite a mega-church, surely had aspirations of one day becoming one. The night came that she found herself in need of salvation (I’ll not go into the spiritual mechanics of salvation here, but I’ll gladly talk about it to anyone who does). Her family could not get in touch with anyone from the church, so she came to my grandfather’s house, as he was a minister. He spoke with her for a bit, they prayed, and she got up satisfied that the Lord had saved her. She invited me grandfather to her baptism at the would-be-mega-church. My grandfather found his way into a conversation with the pastor, at which time he rehearsed the story of her salvation. The would-be-mega-pastor said “I was wondering why she wanted to be baptized.”

Just down the street from me is another mega-church that currently has nearly 10,000 members. On their website, they detail the requirements for baptism. You have to go online and register to be baptized. You select the “campus” at which you wish to be baptized, and then fill out a form that requests your phone number and email address. The form then asks what you were like “before you decided to follow Christ,” what  change occurred in “how did you meet and decide to follow Christ,” and what affect this change has had in what “life [has] been like as a follower of Christ.” This feels like an academic assignment. Do they deny you baptism if they don’t like your answers?

By the way, this is for adults. If a child in 5th Grade or younger desires to be baptized, a parent/guardian must attend a class about leading children to Christ, then they must accompany the child to a class on living a Christian life and the order of the baptism service, and then they may register their child for baptism. I don’t know what translation of the Bible these people have, but this is wrong.

Consider one of the purest requests for baptism found in the New Testament. In Acts, chapter 8, the Holy Spirit guides Philip to the desert, where he comes across an Ethiopian eunuch reading from the old scriptures. Philip “joins himself” to the chariot the man is in, and begins to expound to him the meaning of the words, describing Christ and his work.

And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.

Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:

In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?

Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

-Acts 8:26-39

The Ethiopian accepts Christ, and, in the middle of the desert, they come across a body of water. The eunuch says to Philip, “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” Philip didn’t tell the Ethiopian that he needed to register and write a detailed account of his “faith journey.” He didn’t have to take a class before being baptized. The requirement was the same as it was from the beginning: accept Christ as your lord and savior.

Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change. It imparts no saving grace. It is a symbol only. It represents the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. How can you partake in a symbol of something you’ve not accepted?

I was saved at the age of ten. I believe this to be the result of being in church all my life, hearing the gospel preached, and having a family that talked about what to do when God moved in your life. Just as for my cousin, when the time came for me to be saved, I moved. I went to the same grandfather, and basically went through the same thing that she would later go through.

Then, instead of having to take a class with my parents, or having to write out a detailed account of my “decision to follow Christ,” I stood before the whole church, at ten years old, and requested to be baptized. In my mind, and a belief I hold to this day, I didn’t choose to follow Christ. Instead, Christ chose me, just as he chooses everyone. He offers the opportunity to accept his sacrifice. This acceptance does not come from signing a card or being baptized. The acceptance of Christ comes with “fear and trembling,” with a broken and contrite heart.

 

Imagine if, when the Ethiopian had said “what doth hinder me to be baptized,” Philip had responded “Well, you need to go to this website and fill out the forms. Once you’ve registered, you need to come to our class Sunday morning. After that, we’ll schedule your baptism. You should be baptized sometime within the next few months.” Requiring those things are conditions of man. In God’s way, baptism is as simple as “See, here is water.”