Calvinism

The Calvinist may respond that I err when I say determinism (compatible style) makes conditionals in the Scripture nonsensical. They would probably base this on the idea that, according to compatibilism, man is considered to make a free choice to meet or not meet the condition as long as he chooses according to his greatest…

Calvinists seek to make Calvinism more biblically compatible by contending that regeneration is only logically prior to faith and not temporally prior to faith; I believe their attempt fails. Regarding Calvinists who believe regeneration precedes faith, Jeremy A. Evans says, “This relationship is intended to be understood logically, not temporally. Temporally, the cause and effect…

Many Calvinists are prone to refer to church history as though it started at the Reformation or drop back to the time of Augustine, thereby skipping all church history other than the Reformation. This distorted historical approach includes an attempt to co-opt Augustine from Catholicism in order to make him the Protestant forerunner to Calvin.…

Calvinism’s exclusive doctrines position it in an untenable place when it comes to people spending eternity in hell. To mitigate the indefensible entailments of Calvinism that consign people to hell (the reprobate non-elect class), they offer various responses. First, they say the lost deserve to be there. While that is true, it does not tell…

There are many examples of confusing language regarding man’s free exercise of faith in Calvinism. Lewis Sperry Chafer responds to Arminians rejection of the term “sovereign grace” and their charge that such coerces or annuls the human will by saying, “No step can be taken in the accomplishment of His sovereign purpose which will even…

John Calvin is unabashed in his defense of his views and says, “Many professing a desire to defend the Deity from an invidious charge admit the doctrine of election, but deny that any one is reprobated. This they do ignorantly, and childishly, since there could be no election without this opposite reprobation. God is said…

John Piper said, “The book of life represents God’s free and unconditional election. In the New Testament the book of life is synonymous with the list of those who are elect and predestined for eternal life.”[1] John Calvin said, “Those, therefore, whom God passes by he reprobates, and that for no other cause but because…

Calvinists commitment to unconditional election along with believing in obeying the Great Commission to evangelize and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20) necessitates certain auxiliary concepts in order to harmonize these two; the good faith offer is such a concept. The simple explanation is that while the Calvinist is to preach the gospel to all so that…

I believe the vast majority of Calvinists seek to be clear about their belief in Calvinism when interviewed by a pastoral search committee. I personally know some Calvinists who seek to make this very clear in the interview process. However, and quite unfortunately, that is not always the case. On one occasion, the director of…

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is the most well-known, awe-inspiring, humbling, and most beautiful verse regarding God’s loving plan and offer of salvation to any and all. Calvinists must ultimately reduce it…