Why Calvinism and Predestination Are A False Gospel.
My thoughts:
The Nature of Man is that we are created in the image of God. I suppose one could state that all of creation reflects the image of God and I would not have an argument that God’s creation reflects his glory. But is there anything about Man that is unique or special in God’s creation. Is man special? Or are we merely a higher intelligent animal? I would look first to the Book of Genesis for these answers. The Bible tells us God created man in his image. He didn’t create anything else in his image. Not as a reflection as in nature being a reflection of God’s glory but as in an image. We know that God gave man some ability to think on a higher plane than any other animal, the ability to make choices, to create using what God has already created. God gave us the ability to think, to contemplate, and ultimately to reason. One can clearly see that although we are like God, we are not God. We are limited. God is unlimited.
In the garden of Eden God gave Adam and Eve directions not to eat from the tree the knowledge. In that the day they ate it they would surely die. When Adam disobeyed God, he had a choice. And Choices have consequences. Animals have instincts. Man has instincts plus choice. This ability to choose and create separates us from all of Gods other creations. God and Man both have the ability to make choices. God is perfect and his choices are always glorious. Man is weak and his choices, (except for one choice) are always imperfect choices based on pride, lust, envy, sloth, gluttony, greed.
The Bible teaches that we inherited this sinful human nature through Adam. Since man has the ability to reason and reflect God provided man with information. The Bible tells us that no one can look at the creation and not know there was a creator. Many men will never stop to consider this. Many men will reason that it was not from God but from something else. Many men may even declare it was from God but place no significance to it. But some men will look at this creation with rightful awe and fear at the magnitude of the power of something or someone that could create something so infinitely majestic. We know God draws men to him and from the testimonies of believers that method varies from person to person.
It would only seem logical that if a man concludes that God has revealed himself in nature to man that a person even with his limited capacity would have to next determine or discover what are the attributes of God. God would have to be all powerful to create what he created. He would have to exist outside of time and space. He would have to be all knowing. But this would only explain his attributes. What of his nature. Couldn’t God if he wanted to be mean, vindictive, diabolical. Fortunately, for us, God has also revealed himself to us in a direct and personal way. The Bible tells us God has strived with man, but he will not do this forever. God is personable. We see through history that God has directly revealed himself to us by individuals: Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the prophets. Then God revealed himself directly and generally to all of us. God gave us the Bible, written by man inspired by God. In the Bible God revealed more to us of his nature. The Bible tells us, God is Love. He also showed his love for us by sending his only begotten Son born of Virgin, having him crucified and suffering an atoning death as a way of salvation for those that wanted. Christ knows all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and while we were still in our sins and trespasses, Christ died for us to pay the penalty for our sins. Christ loved us even we were in enmity with him.
All we need to do is acknowledge and accept his grace.
We have a knowledge of man’s nature. We have some degree of knowledge of Gods’ attributes and Nature. We know that Gods’ nature is love. We have some understanding of the depth of Gods’ love. But what of the nature of love itself. Love can be one way. You could love someone I suppose, and they not know it. You could love someone, and they dislike you or are ambivalent towards you, but you still love them anyway. Or you could love someone, and they love you, back. Albeit perhaps not perfect since one party is perfect(God) and the other is flawed(us). When love is reciprocated it can grow, mature, and be beneficial and satisfying to both. A party to this love may not necessarily need the love of the other but that love can be satisfying and honorable. The Apostle John says, “we loved him because he first loved us.” God even tells us how to love him by loving one another as he loved us and loving God by obeying his commandments. If we did not have free will or choice to respond to God’s love, we would be nothing more that animals responding to stimuli. But God has already stated, He made man different from all other types of life; in his image. God gave us the choice to love him. The love between man and God is reciprocal.
The relationship between God and man deepens over time. First, we come to believe in God, then we accept what he did for us by his grace through our faith in who he is and what he did on the cross for us. We learn of Gods’ love, and we respond. At this point we are born again and adopted into Gods’ family as his own children. We go from fearing the awesome power of God to being made perfect in the love of God. That is the pattern of regeneration or being born again.
God is also a God of Justice. I am not addressing the issue of being justified by the blood of Jesus. I am discussing the issue of justice involving wisdom, equity, fairness and judgement. The Bible states in Proverbs, “To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.”
The concept of justice involves culpability. Culpability is the responsibility for a fault or wrong.
The Bible tells us all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The Bible tells us everyman will be judged. We know that Christ forgives sins through our faith in his dying on the cross as a substitution for the penalty we should be paying. Those that don’t believe in the person and works of Jesus will be left in their sins and thus will be judged guilty and deserving of punishment. The concept of culpability involves a depraved mind or a recklessly indifferent mind. In other words, a person is not guilty under the law if they are incapable of forming the requisite intent. You would be not guilty by reason of insanity. Or not guilty by reason of an inability to understand your actions perhaps due to age or mental impairment. So, if a three-year-old child intentionally pushes you down the stairs he is considered not guilty because he could not appreciate the consequences of his action. He could not form the requisite intent.
Calvinism: Love and Justice.
Calvinism is a reformed Protestant religion that grew out of the Reformation in the 1500 and its leader or founder John Calvin was a French theologian and pastor. Calvinist doctrines include predestination and election. God has absolute sovereignty over the salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation.
Calvinism would have you believe that God chose who he would love and then gave you the faith to love him back. I would ask rhetorically if this were true love? Since your free will is non-existent to choose love.
Calvinists believe that from the beginning God predestined some men to be saved with eternal life in heaven and predestined other to be punished with eternal life in hell. That all men are dead and their sins and trespasses. That they cannot help themselves from sinning since they inherited a sinful nature from Adam. Calvinists believe that unless God elects you from or with predestination you will not be regenerated by Gods’ grace and that a person will be incapable of having faith. That choice only comes after God has given you faith. That once we have faith the choice will only be for salvation. It this statement is true then all the people that God did not predestinate will never be able to have faith then and thus never able to make a choice. And those non-elected/non-predestined people will never be able to choose Christ Jesus as the way to their salvation. Their eyes will never be able to be opened and they will continue as dead men in their sins. If this is True, then where is the culpability of the non-predestined peoples. And what of the relationship to the punishment. The punishment always has to fit the crime. If these non-predestined people were unable to conform to the grace God extended why punish them with eternal punishment? Would that be justice?
Scripture is replete with verses for man to be just and to seek justice. God will also display his justice.
“For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.” (Isaiah 61:8, KJV).
“It is a joy to them just to do judgement; but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.” (Proverbs 21:15, KJV).
“He that sayeth to the wicked, thou are righteous shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him. But to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good blessing shall come upon them.” (Proverbs 24:24–25, KJV).
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether. (Psalm 19:9 KJV).
And just as God is a God of Justice, He is also a God of mercy. To understand Gods’ justice we first need to understand sin. Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4) and iniquity (Daniel 9:4-5; Micah 2:1; James 3:6). It embodies everything contrary to Gods’ holy nature and is offensive to Him. Thus, sin is a crime against God, and justice demands a penalty of death and separation from Him for it (Romans 1:18-32; 2:5; 3:23). But God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to pay that penalty for us (Romans 5:8-11; 6:23) and made salvation available to all who believe in His name (John 1:12; 3:15-17; 20:31).
Monergism and synergism what do they mean? Monergism states that the regeneration of an individual is solely the work of God through the Holy Spirit alone, as opposed to Synergism, which, in its simplest form, argues that the human will cooperates with God’s grace in order to be regenerated. To most synergists, regeneration is a process that begins when a man responds to God’s initiative by faith, repents, believes in the person and work of Jesus Christ i.e., the Gospel. Monergists believe that regeneration takes place as a single act in which God regenerates a man from his fleshly state and thus now enabled, a man can believe, and that he inevitably and invariably will do so in choosing Christ.
This is an important distinction since the Bible teaches in John 3:16,For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The Bible uses the term whosoever it does not say when Gods’ elect believes. The Calvinist will argue that the whosoever are the people God elected.
I suppose I could at this point one could go through the Bible verse by verse as in point counterpoint. There would be legitimate interpretation of these scriptures on both sides. But ultimately all these points and issues can be summed up in the following statement, does man have the mental capacity to be able to formulate the rudiments of faith and thus accepting the extended grace of Christ for salvation or is man incapable of developing faith in God and thus anyone that is saved is called by God, imbued with faith by God and then extended grace by God for salvation?
Either man has free will or he has no free will.
What is the nature of man? What is the nature of God? What is the nature of Love?
My last point and only one verse I will site.
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19
I am going to make the case that Calvinism is non-Biblical, a heresy and teaches a different gospel. I am also going to make the case that there is no such thing as a soft Calvinist or a four-point Calvinist or any other such term as the issue pertains to when a person is regenerated, that it redefines Biblical text to include faith being a work, that it redefines the nature of God as unjust, that it redefines the nature of man as being created in the image of God to just another creature God has created. Lastly it fundamentally changes the relationship between God and man.
I hear so many preachers saying statements such as we are all brothers and Sisters in Christ. That this is merely a variance in interpretation of Scripture. It’s an intramural argument between believers. Nonsense. Baptists are the ones claiming consistently we are Brothers is Christ with Calvinists and our disputes are over interpretation of scripture. The issue of Gods’ ordained nature of man being changed from individuals with free will into an automaton and removing the nature of Justice from Gods’ character is seldom or never considered or discussed.
Let us put the shoe on the other foot. Now for any Calvinist skeptic let us ask the question in reverse. There are other verses we can look at but for the remainder of this essay let us consider Ephesians 2:8 and 9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” In order for the Calvinist theory to be consistent they must teach that faith is a work. If man plays any role in his salvation, then it’s not predestination by definition. Baptists will tell you faith is not work. Calvinist will tell you it is a work. Therefore, they believe we are the ones teaching a false Gospel because they believe we are teaching a works Gospel. We would be no different than any other false Gospel and akin to Roman Catholicism.
