Conversations with a Calvinist (memes, updated)

















































































































Most Popular Posts Of The Week:

List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, etc.

I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist" posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one. So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinists."  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify as a Calvinist, I tried to figure it out based on the statements of faith of the groups/churches they
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How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist (simplified version)

(For the extended version of this post, which I recommend, click here .  It is loaded with lots more information.  This simplified one is just the highlights.  And feel free to copy this and share it with others, to help them learn to identify Calvinism when they see it.  Just make sure to share the link to this blog so that they can find the original post.  Thank you.  New : For the super-short version, click here . ) We just left our church of almost 20 years because of the dogmatic Calvinist pastor who recently came on board.  ( Read my "Letter to Our Elders Regarding Calvinism Growing in Our Church" here.)   And I was thinking about what precautions I might take to make sure we didn't end up in another Calvinist church (that is, when we feel like searching again, which we don't for now).  What signs would I look for?   And I figured I'd post my ideas here, in case they might help someone else too.  (Be aware that some of the links I provide are for pro
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Why Is Calvinism So Dangerous? (updated heavily)

Because it teaches the opposite of what the Bible teaches! (FYI: If you only read one Anti-Calvinism post of mine, I think it should be this one.  But I'm warning you that this post is long.  Very long.  So pack a lunch and bring a sleeping bag.  But it has to be long because Calvinism is so deceptively convoluted that it takes time to peel off the layers so that you can see it for what it really is.  My hope is that with this one post, I can demonstrate the deceptiveness of Calvinism and show you how it contradicts the Word. Of course, this is only scratching the surface, but I want to give enough that you can learn to identify where and how Calvinism goes wrong, and the damage it does to God's character and truth.  That's why this post is so "full."  And for fun, I added a bunch of meme links.  Because they're too good to not share.  And you can find lots more by clicking on the "meme links" label on this blog.  For the original, non-updated versi
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Leaving You with the Links to Anti-Calvinism Posts

I don't know if I will get back to writing posts anytime soon; I really need a break (other than I do want to finish reviewing John Calvin's Institutes someday ... yuck!).  But for easy reference, I will repost the links to a bunch of anti-Calvinism posts.  Some are mine (a selection of my posts) and some are from other blogs. But first, here are a few other of my posts I want to provide links for: Why I Could Never Be An Atheist! A Little Girl's Nonsensical Sign An Overview of World Religions Support for Jesus and the Bible Starting Your Own Relationship With Jesus  Help for Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts War Rooms, Praying Scripture, and Spiritual Warfare   Now, Some of my posts on Calvinism : Why is Calvinism So Dangerous? If Calvinism is true, then God is a liar! What's The Best Way To Make People Agree With Your Calvinist Views? Letter To Our Elders Regarding Calvinism Growing In Our Church Acts 13:48: Not As "Predestination" As It Sounds Sove
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Calvinism in the Evangelical Free Church

Before we left our church because of Calvinism, we sent a long letter to the elders , expressing our concerns.  However, none of the elders cared enough or were concerned enough to do anything about it.  And so we left our church home, the place we had been at and loved for almost 20 years, the church we raised our kids in. After awhile, I became concerned that maybe the Evangelical Free Church, in general, didn't realize that there were dogmatic Calvinist pastors taking over their churches, blocking other views, manipulating people into agreeing with them.  And I thought maybe they would want to know this, especially since it seemed to contradict their "official stance" about this issue, which I believed was supposed to be a middle-of-the-road approach, falling under the heading of "significance of silence" (where they don't let the small controversial issues become big divisive issues).  I figured that if a pastor in one of their churches was manipulat
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A Random Verse That Destroys Calvinism (And "Is The ESV a Calvinist Bible?")

In my normal Bible reading today, I came across a verse about "singleness vs. marriage" that destroys Calvinism in a few short words: "But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but who has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin - this man also does the right thing."   ( 1 Cor. 7:37, NIV ) When you get past all the layers Calvinism wraps itself in to disguise the bad parts, it ultimately teaches - at the heart of it all - that God causes/controls  everything , even controlling our wills and causing our sins.  (But He then punishes  us  for the things He caused us to do, which would make Him unjust, no matter how much Calvinists try to deny it and cover it up.  See  this post  for some links about that.)  Calvinism ultimately teaches that everything we do is because God preplanned it, ordained it, and compels us to do it.  That we have no ability to make up our own minds about things
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We Left Our Church Because of Calvinism (Things My Calvinist Pastor Said)

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[A repost: Updated July 2020 with lots of new stuff, including memes.  (When do I ever write anything short?)  For the text-only version, no memes, click here .   For the memes only,  click here .  For the links only, click here .  Also,  I broke this long post down into smaller posts, so click here for all the links to the "Things My Calvinist Pastor Said" series .  All memes were created with imgflip .] The inevitable has finally happened, the day we hoped would never come: The day we officially resigned from our church because of our pastor's dogmatic Calvinist preaching (May 20, 2019).   (From now on, I will try to call him our "ex-pastor."  And for the record, it was an Evangelical Free Church, which are being taken over by Calvinism all over the place.  So be wary and educated.) It's been a long road.  He came on board about 6 years ago, and began introducing his Calvinist views here and there.  Just a little bit at a time, never really exposing the
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Why I Hate Calvinism So Much!

Wanna know why I hate Calvinism so much? Watch a few of these songs.  Listen to the words.  Think about how much Jesus sacrificed for us.  The incredible price He paid.  The love, grace, forgiveness, help, healing, and salvation He died to give us.  How true hope and life is found only in Him. Oh, What Love by The City Harmonic I Am by Crowder Hallelujah Christmas by Cloverton Sweetly Broken  by Jeremy Riddle  (God draws everyone to Him.  He calls everyone to come out of death and into life!  Will we listen?  Will we respond?) Fell Apart by The City Harmonic Confession (Agnus Dei) by The City Harmonic  (Calvi-Jesus did not take away the sins of the world , but of just a few people.  But the Jesus of the Bible did!  And that's why I love Him!) Healing Begins by Tenth Avenue North And then think about how Calvinism destroys  all of this.  How it teaches that most people will never  ever be able to find hope and life and healing.  Think about how it destroys God's love an
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How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist (extended version)

(For the simplified version, click here .  And feel free to copy this and share it with others, to help them learn to identify Calvinism when they see it.  Just make sure to share the link to this blog so that they can find the original post.  Thank you.   New :  For the super-short version,   click here . ) We just left our church of almost 20 years because of the dogmatic Calvinist pastor who recently came on board.   Unfortunately, our church was one of the best around, with some of the most biblical teaching.  WAS!  And so now we are struggling with where to go next.   (I just heard that, apparently, the elders were aware of how dogmatic he was before they hired him.  And so even if he left the church, I would have a hard time going back until I saw who they hired next.  Because I don't think I can trust their judgment.  It seems that basically all of the elders and other pastors are Calvinists too.  We had no clue because Calvinism never came up with the previous pastor. 
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Links to Other Anti-Calvinism Posts

Some of my thoughts and research on Calvinism.  Why I believe it's not Scriptural!  (These aren't all my posts on Calvinism, but most of them.) : Why is Calvinism So Dangerous? If Calvinism is true, then God is a liar! What's The Best Way To Make People Agree With Your Calvinist Views? Letter To Our Elders Regarding Calvinism Growing In Our Church Acts 13:48: Not As "Predestination" As It Sounds Sovereignty and Free-Will Working Together Anti-Calvinism Memes and Links Why Is It So Hard For Calvinists To Get Free From Calvinism? Can You Lose Your Salvation? Problems in John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion Are We Only Here For God's Glory? What About God's Love? So Job was a dimwit, huh? "Defend Your Calvinism" Challenge More Anti-Calvinism Memes.  Just for fun! Some of John Calvin's Contradicting Nonsense! Do Babies Go To Heaven If They Die?  A Criti
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