The Truth About Calvinism: How It Misrepresents God and His Sovereignty, Grace, and Word
What Love Is This? A Review of Calvinism's Misrepresentation of God
Have you ever heard of Calvinism? It is a system of theology that claims to be based on the Bible and the teachings of John Calvin, a 16th-century French theologian and reformer. Calvinism is also known as Reformed theology, and it has influenced many churches and denominations throughout history.
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But what does Calvinism really teach about God and his relationship with us? Is it a faithful and accurate representation of the God who is revealed in the scriptures? Or is it a distorted and misleading view of God that contradicts his true character and attributes?
In this article, we will examine the main points of Calvinism and compare them with what the Bible says about God. We will see how Calvinism misrepresents God's sovereignty, grace, and word, and how it affects our understanding of sin, salvation, and sanctification. We will also see why we need to reject Calvinism and embrace the biblical God of love who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).
Introduction
What is Calvinism and why does it matter?
Calvinism is a system of theology that is based on the teachings of John Calvin, who was one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Calvin wrote a massive work called Institutes of the Christian Religion, where he expounded his views on various doctrines and topics.
Calvinism is also known as Reformed theology, because it claims to be a reform or correction of the errors and corruptions that had crept into the Roman Catholic Church. Calvinists believe that they are following the pure and original teachings of Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ and his apostles.
Calvinism matters because it affects how we view God and his relationship with us. It also affects how we view ourselves, our sin, our salvation, our sanctification, and our eternal destiny. It affects how we interpret the Bible, how we preach the gospel, how we pray, how we worship, how we evangelize, how we disciple, how we relate to other Christians, and how we live our lives.
Therefore, it is important to examine what Calvinism teaches and compare it with what the Bible teaches. We need to test everything by the word of God and hold fast to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
The main points of Calvinism: TULIP
Calvinism can be summarized by the acronym TULIP, which stands for the following five points:
Total depravity: This means that human beings are totally corrupted by sin and unable to do anything good or pleasing to God. They are also unable to respond to God's grace or accept the gospel unless God first regenerates them and gives them faith.
Unconditional election: This means that God has chosen some people to be saved and others to be damned before the foundation of the world, based on his sovereign will and not on anything in them. He has predestined the elect to eternal life and the reprobate to eternal punishment.
Limited atonement: This means that Christ died only for the elect, and not for the whole world. His death was a substitutionary and efficacious sacrifice that actually paid for the sins of the elect and secured their salvation.
Irresistible grace: This means that God's grace is irresistible and effectual for the elect. He draws them to himself by his Holy Spirit and enables them to believe and repent. They cannot resist or reject his grace, nor can they fall away from it.
Perseverance of the saints: This means that the elect will persevere in faith and obedience until the end. They cannot lose their salvation or fall from grace, because God will preserve them and keep them from apostasy.
These are the main points of Calvinism, as taught by Calvin and his followers. They are also known as the doctrines of grace, because they emphasize God's grace as the sole cause and guarantee of salvation.
The biblical and logical problems with Calvinism
However, as we will see in this article, Calvinism is not biblical or logical. It is based on human traditions and interpretations that twist and ignore many clear scriptures. It also creates many contradictions and paradoxes that defy reason and common sense.
Some of the problems with Calvinism are:
It makes God the author of sin and evil, by making him decree everything that happens, including the fall of man and all the wicked deeds of men and devils.
It denies human free will and responsibility, by making man a puppet or robot who can only act according to God's predetermined plan.
It contradicts God's love and justice, by making him hate and condemn most of his creatures without giving them a chance to be saved.
It limits God's grace to a select few, by making him refuse to save those whom he could save if he wanted to.
It distorts the gospel and salvation by faith alone, by making faith a gift that God gives only to some people, instead of a response that he requires from all people.
It undermines God's grace in sanctification and perseverance, by making them automatic and inevitable for the elect, instead of conditional and dependent on their cooperation with God.
It relies on human traditions and interpretations, by basing its doctrines on the writings of Calvin and other theologians, instead of on the plain meaning of scripture.
It twists and ignores many clear scriptures, by using allegorical or figurative methods of interpretation, or by appealing to mystery or paradox.
It creates confusion and division in the church, by causing doubts, fears, pride, arrogance, intolerance, and hostility among Christians who disagree with it.
These are some of the problems with Calvinism that we will address in this article. We will show how Calvinism misrepresents God's sovereignty, grace, and word, and how it contradicts the biblical God of love who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).
Calvinism's Misrepresentation of God's Sovereignty
How Calvinism makes God the author of sin and evil
The first problem with Calvinism is that it makes God the author of sin and evil. Calvinists believe that God is absolutely sovereign over everything that happens in his creation. He decrees everything that comes to pass, including the fall of man and all the wicked deeds of men and devils. Nothing happens without his will or permission. He ordains both good and evil for his own glory.
This is what Calvin himself taught in his Institutes:
"We hold that God is the disposer and ruler of all things; -that from the remotest eternity, according to his own wisdom he decreed 71b2f0854b