Calvinist Bad Logic #15: Contradictions
Bad Logic #15: I've talked about this already, but in Calvinism, contradictions don't matter. They will state clear contradictions, and then say "Oh, but we don't have to understand how it all works together. We just have to accept that this is how things are. And God can do whatever He wants because He is God."
ANY group that tells you to accept something without understanding it should be viewed as a cult!
Christianity itself is a reasonable faith that makes sense. God is a reasonable God that makes sense. The Bible is reasonable and makes sense.
That is, when you understand it all the way it really is. The way it's supposed to be understood (as much as we can understand anything).
And the Bible tells us to know Scripture deeply, thoroughly, and accurately so that we can handle it properly and have real answers for real questions.
And yet Calvinism tells you "You don't have to understand it. And you shouldn't look too deeply into these things because they are mysteries that belong to God. So just believe what we tell you to believe."
It's a cult! And the more I study it, the more I believe it.
Warning: Never trust a quote from a Calvinist author or theologian that sounds like they are saying that we make choices or that all people can be saved or that Calvi-god doesn’t really cause sin, etc. Because there will be another quote you didn't hear where they said the exact opposite. Or they will simply add a bunch of qualifiers to what they first said which will change the meaning completely. It's like I say: It's what they hide that makes all the difference!
Here are a couple examples from John Calvin himself:
In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 2, Section 1, he says: "For, until men feel that they owe everything to God ... they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience ..."
This makes it sound like men have the free-will to choose to obey or disobey God.
But how is "voluntary obedience" possible when, according to Calvin, ...
"... everything done in the world is according to His decree..." (Book 1, Chapter 16, section 6) and ...
"... the devil, and the whole train of the ungodly, are, in all directions, held in by the hand of God as with a bridle, so that they can neither conceive any mischief, nor plan what they have conceived, nor how much soever they may have planned, move a single finger to perpetrate, unless in so far as [God] permits - nay, unless in so far as he commands ..." (Book 1, Chapter 17, section 11) and ...
"The counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined" (Book 1, Chapter 16, section 8)?
Additionally, in Book, 2, Chapter 2, section 8, he scolds people for believing in free-will and says that they should not believe in it, saying, "If any one, then, chooses to make use of this term [free-will] ... but I am unwilling to use it myself; and others if they will take my advice, will do well to abstain from it."
Never mind the fact that Calvin just said he is "unwilling" to use the term "free-will" - that he wills himself to not believe in free-will (ha ha ha, what a joke!) - but this contradicts what he said about us obeying God voluntarily (of our own free-will choice). (And ... just wondering ... but how can he reason with people to not believe in free-will when he believes that God makes all of our choices for us, when Calvi-god himself would be the one who decides if we believe in free-will or not? Talk about nonsense!)
Another example: In Book 1, Chapter 17, Section 5, Calvin says this about wicked people: "I deny that they serve the will of God."
He says that we CANNOT say that "he who has been carried away by a wicked mind are performing service on the order of God" because the evil person is "only following his own malignant desires," not acting in obedience.
And yet ... just a couple sections later, as we see above ... he says that all the ungodly are held in the hand of God so tightly that they cannot even conceive a thought unless God commands it. And a chapter earlier, he said that everything happens according to God's decree (according to how God planned it to happen), that God controls our wills in order to move us in exactly the course He predestined us to go in.
But now ... in this section ... he dares to say that wicked men are acting on their own, outside of God's control, that God doesn't cause them to do the wicked things they do!?!
And a chapter later, in Chapter 18, section 2, Calvin says, "The sum of the whole is this, - since the will of God is said to be the cause of all things, all the counsels and actions of men must be held to be governed by his providence; so that he not only exerts his power in the elect, who are guided by the Holy Spirit, but also forces the reprobate to do him service."
So ... he denies that wicked men serve the will of God and he says that they are "not performing service on the order of God" ... but then he says that "the reprobate do him service"!?!
Which is it, Calvin!?! Make up your mind!!!
Is Calvi-god in control of evil or not (as in the planner/causer of it)!?! Does he control everything or not!?! Do we have free-will or not!?!
And this is exactly how Calvinists operate today! Do not trust what a Calvinist says in one place ... because they will say the opposite somewhere else or simply be hiding what they really believe! (And they usually do this to hide the fact that Calvi-god is the cause of evil. They try to say he controls everything and that there's no free-will, but then they struggle with how to hide the fact that this makes him responsible for evil. For more on this, see "Do Calvinists Really Believe God Causes Sin? Let Them Speak For Themselves!")
ANY group that tells you to accept something without understanding it should be viewed as a cult!
Christianity itself is a reasonable faith that makes sense. God is a reasonable God that makes sense. The Bible is reasonable and makes sense.
That is, when you understand it all the way it really is. The way it's supposed to be understood (as much as we can understand anything).
And the Bible tells us to know Scripture deeply, thoroughly, and accurately so that we can handle it properly and have real answers for real questions.
And yet Calvinism tells you "You don't have to understand it. And you shouldn't look too deeply into these things because they are mysteries that belong to God. So just believe what we tell you to believe."
It's a cult! And the more I study it, the more I believe it.
Warning: Never trust a quote from a Calvinist author or theologian that sounds like they are saying that we make choices or that all people can be saved or that Calvi-god doesn’t really cause sin, etc. Because there will be another quote you didn't hear where they said the exact opposite. Or they will simply add a bunch of qualifiers to what they first said which will change the meaning completely. It's like I say: It's what they hide that makes all the difference!
Here are a couple examples from John Calvin himself:
In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 2, Section 1, he says: "For, until men feel that they owe everything to God ... they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience ..."
This makes it sound like men have the free-will to choose to obey or disobey God.
But how is "voluntary obedience" possible when, according to Calvin, ...
"... everything done in the world is according to His decree..." (Book 1, Chapter 16, section 6) and ...
"... the devil, and the whole train of the ungodly, are, in all directions, held in by the hand of God as with a bridle, so that they can neither conceive any mischief, nor plan what they have conceived, nor how much soever they may have planned, move a single finger to perpetrate, unless in so far as [God] permits - nay, unless in so far as he commands ..." (Book 1, Chapter 17, section 11) and ...
"The counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined" (Book 1, Chapter 16, section 8)?
Additionally, in Book, 2, Chapter 2, section 8, he scolds people for believing in free-will and says that they should not believe in it, saying, "If any one, then, chooses to make use of this term [free-will] ... but I am unwilling to use it myself; and others if they will take my advice, will do well to abstain from it."
Never mind the fact that Calvin just said he is "unwilling" to use the term "free-will" - that he wills himself to not believe in free-will (ha ha ha, what a joke!) - but this contradicts what he said about us obeying God voluntarily (of our own free-will choice). (And ... just wondering ... but how can he reason with people to not believe in free-will when he believes that God makes all of our choices for us, when Calvi-god himself would be the one who decides if we believe in free-will or not? Talk about nonsense!)
Another example: In Book 1, Chapter 17, Section 5, Calvin says this about wicked people: "I deny that they serve the will of God."
He says that we CANNOT say that "he who has been carried away by a wicked mind are performing service on the order of God" because the evil person is "only following his own malignant desires," not acting in obedience.
And yet ... just a couple sections later, as we see above ... he says that all the ungodly are held in the hand of God so tightly that they cannot even conceive a thought unless God commands it. And a chapter earlier, he said that everything happens according to God's decree (according to how God planned it to happen), that God controls our wills in order to move us in exactly the course He predestined us to go in.
But now ... in this section ... he dares to say that wicked men are acting on their own, outside of God's control, that God doesn't cause them to do the wicked things they do!?!
And a chapter later, in Chapter 18, section 2, Calvin says, "The sum of the whole is this, - since the will of God is said to be the cause of all things, all the counsels and actions of men must be held to be governed by his providence; so that he not only exerts his power in the elect, who are guided by the Holy Spirit, but also forces the reprobate to do him service."
So ... he denies that wicked men serve the will of God and he says that they are "not performing service on the order of God" ... but then he says that "the reprobate do him service"!?!
Which is it, Calvin!?! Make up your mind!!!
Is Calvi-god in control of evil or not (as in the planner/causer of it)!?! Does he control everything or not!?! Do we have free-will or not!?!
And this is exactly how Calvinists operate today! Do not trust what a Calvinist says in one place ... because they will say the opposite somewhere else or simply be hiding what they really believe! (And they usually do this to hide the fact that Calvi-god is the cause of evil. They try to say he controls everything and that there's no free-will, but then they struggle with how to hide the fact that this makes him responsible for evil. For more on this, see "Do Calvinists Really Believe God Causes Sin? Let Them Speak For Themselves!")
(For all the posts in this series, see the "Intro ..." Or look for "'Calvinist Bad Logic' Series" in the labels on the side-bar. Or find the whole series in one post, "When Calvinism's 'Bad Logic' Traps Good Christians.")
