Some Calvinists claim that Calvinism is THE Gospel (See the article listed below by Professor Engelsma). If the Bible describes the Gospel as "Good News", then what's so good about a God who arbitrarily chooses some to be saved while arbitrarily choosing others to be damned?
Today's blog will consider the Calvinist teaching of Double Predestination - double predestination is a sovereign act of God, who before creation, pre-determined the future and fate of every person in the human race. In other words, God created a "master list" of those who would be saved and those who would go to hell before they were even born. The list is unchangeable; thus, before creation, God pre-determined the physical and spiritual outcomes of every person throughout all of time and for all of eternity. Whatever the individual wills or does, for good or for evil, is orchestrated by God, specifically for God's pre-ordained purpose and good pleasure - making God the author of both good and evil (See Cheung's article below: The Author of Sin).
Double Predestination not only calls into question the love of God, but the justice and character of God as well. Double Predestination creates a god who is an arbitrary autocrat arranging the fall of human beings and then sends many of them to eternal punishment for being and doing precisely what He predestined them to be and do. ..beings whose sole purpose for existence is as Calvin put it "to glorify God by their destruction". The good news is that the god of Calvinism does not exist. The bad news, or sad news, is that so many people believe in and worship the god of Calvinism.
Regarding the video clip below, I wrestled with the idea of attaching this clip for several hours, since the video is very graphic and may be offensive to some. My objective for attaching the video is not to offend, but rather to provide the reader with a visual that adequately describes the full implication of what double predestination really means. It is a horrible doctrine that turns the loving God of the Bible into a ruthless and unmericiful monster (read more about this in the comment field).
***WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS NOT INTENDED FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES, OR THE FAINT OF HEART. THE VIDEO IS VERY GRAPHIC, AND IS VERY VIOLENT IN NATURE***
Although Calvinists go out of their way to distance themselves from "theistic fatalism", they are in essence saying the same thing. A theist believes in a personal God. A fatalist believes the future (especially the destiny of individuals) is fixed. a Theistc Fatalist believes that a "personal god" unconditionally determines where individuals go when they die, that is, whether they go to heaven or hell.
ReplyDeleteWhen a philospher believes "what ever will be will be" it is called determinism. When a stoic believes "what ever will be will be" it is called fate. When a Muslim believes "what ever will be will be" it is called fatalism. But when a Calvinist believes "what ever will be will be" it is called predestination.
According to John Calvin,
ReplyDelete"Predestination we call the eternal decree of God, by which He has determined in Himself, what He would have to become of every individual of mankind. For they are not all created with a similar destiny; but eternal life is foreordained for some and eternal death for others. Every man, therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say he is predestinated either to life or to death," (Institutes, Book III, Ch. XXI, Sec. 5).
To punish someone for doing something that is impossible to do, or for doing something they are forced to do, is the opposite of justice. What is even worse, is the Calvinist view is that God predestines man to sin so that He would have someone to judge. This is offensive and contradicts scripture,
ReplyDeleteRegarding the video that was attached to this blog. I want you to know that I struggled of whether I should attach the video or not. I know that it is etremely violent and difficult to watch. I wept the first time I watched it, and it still bothers me everytime I see it.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I decided to use it because I want the readers of this blog to understand the significance and reality of what Calvinists mean when they speak of the doctrine of double predistination.
How could man rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men?
ReplyDeleteDouble predestination. Double predestination holds that God decreed from eternity, and for the manifestation of His glory, that some people and angels are predestined to everlasting life, while others are foreordained to eternal damnation. From this perspective, predestination is “double” in that it is both positive and negative; God predetermines the eternal destinies of both the righteous and the unrighteous. This solution, however, isolates and focuses on the theological thread of God’s sovereignty, while ignoring (or not fully grasping) the cord of humankind’s freedom. Nor does it take into full consideration the gracious character of the God revealed in the Bible Who desires the salvation of every human being (cf. Ephesians 1:3-11 and 2 Peter 3:9).
ReplyDeleteCalvinists preach love, but they practice exclusion and they display a toxic intolerance to different views. I don't know about you, but for me the very definition of arrogance is someone who presumes to know God's will and to speak in His name
ReplyDeleteRegarding the video, when compared to the god of Calvinism, I would argue that the Germans portrayed in the video clip are more loving the Calvinistic god for the following reasons:
ReplyDelete1) The Germans at least gave the priest and the villagers a chance; whereas, the god of Calvinism gives no one a chance. Mankind is predestined to eternal life or eternal hell (The doctrine of Double Predestination). The villagers are symbolic of those that God arbitrarily cast into hell.
2) The Germans at least showed mercy and killed those who were critically wounded. (realistically, did this, for fear of being exposed);whereas, the god of Calvinism sends mankind to hell eternally. There is no mercy what so ever.