Things My Calvinist Pastor Said #4: God's Love Saves Some But Not Others

(This "Things My Calvinist Pastor Said" series is a breakdown of this much longer post: "We Left Our Church Because of Calvinism," which was written last year but updated July 2020.  All memes were created with imgflip.)

4. "God didn't have to save any of us.  But in His love and sovereignty, He chose to elect some to salvation, even though we are depraved and wicked and in rebellion against Him.  But none of us deserve to be saved; we all deserve hell.  So the real question isn't 'Why would God predestine some people to hell.'  It's 'Why did God elect any of us for heaven when no one deserves it?'" (paraphrase)
            

First off, whether he intends it or not, this is deflection, making us feel like we can't ask the hard questions about the terrible teachings of Calvinism, the most disturbing parts.  (It's much easier to make people drink poison when you hide the skull-and-crossbones on the bottle!)

[Skilled Calvinists know how to deflect, to get you to look at one hand while they pull the old switcheroo with the other.  Be careful.  

For example, if you want to know if a pastor is a Calvinist, ask them.  If they answer "yes," then they are Calvinist.  But if they answer you with a question - such as "Well, you believe God is sovereign, don't you?  You believe in grace, don't you?" - then they are educated Calvinists who are smart enough to know not to admit it because it turns people off.  

Here is a story of one Calvinist pastor who knowingly deceived the church he was interviewing at, after they specifically asked him if he was a Calvinist and told them they wouldn't hire him if he was.  And even though he is a solid 7-point Calvinist, he ended up getting the job because he played games with their definition of "Calvinist."  This is how tricky they can be!  And this should make you angry: A 7-point-Calvinist who deceived and lied about being a Calvinist so that he could get hired at a church that said it didn't want a Calvinist pastor.  Shame on him!  If a pastor answers your "Are you a Calvinist?" question with another question, then you can safely assume they are slippery Calvinists who know to be strategic in how they word things so that they don't scare you off too early.  

            

Our pastor is a very dogmatic Calvinist who has been very careful over the last six years to never call himself a Calvinist or reveal his theology as Calvinism.  Calvinist pastors do this deliberately, to get deep into a church before anyone catches on to their Calvinism.  And besides, if a Calvinist pastor never says they're a Calvinist then no one will know to look up Calvinism online for themselves to see what others say about it.  Very strategic.]

Okay now, back to Calvi-god showing his "love" to the elect.
            

My 17-year-old son came up with a great analogy of that kind of "love."  Imagine you're a parent with 10 kids.  And you have more than enough food to feed all 10 kids.  But you decide to choose only one child to feed, and the rest you slowly starve to death.  

But the worst part is that you had those other 9 kids just so that you could hate them and starve them to death for your pleasure and glory... but all along the way, you tell them that you really do want to feed them, that you want them to live.  But your true plan from the beginning was to have them so that they could die so that you could show the chosen child how loved he is, by comparison.  And because it somehow brings you some kind of glory, showing off how "sovereign" you are over everything.

This is Calvinism!  

Amazing love, isn't it?

  
And the Calvinist "death row" illustration is along the same lines, but it doesn't hold together either when examined.  My pastor used this one, too, saying that God's grace and His love for the elect is something like this (paraphrased): 

"Imagine there's 100 people on death row, and God walks into the room and graciously chooses to free 10 of them.  Was God unfair to spare only a few of them and not the rest, when everyone on death row deserved death for their crimes?  God didn't have to save any of them, but He chose to save some of them because of His amazing love and grace.  Without God choosing to save some of them, none of them would have lived, because they all deserved death."

Sounds kinda convincing, right?

But the thing is: Calvi-god didn't just walk in and graciously free some on death row who were truly guilty of a horrible crime.  No!  He first preplanned and caused them to do the horrible crime that put them on death row in the first place.  He predestined the crime and made them unable to resist doing it, giving them no chance or ability to choose anything else, and then he punishes them for it.  And what's more, Calvi-god specifically created those he wasn't going to save just so that he could punish them - because he needed someone to sin so that he could have someone to punish so that he could show off his justice and wrath to get glory for it.  (Sick!)

And we're supposed to believe this is "gracious" and "loving"!?!  "Merciful" and "justice"!?!  That it's how God really is?  That it coincides with His good, loving, trustworthy, righteous nature?

Bullcrap!

And I'll say it again ... Bullcrap!

Oh, the damage Calvinism does to the Gospel, God's character, Jesus's amazing sacrifice, and people's faith!

(And if "bullcrap" offends you more than Calvinism, something's wrong.)  

[Sidenote: Calvinists love to talk about God's grace (which is wonderful), about how amazing it is, how abundant it is, how unconditional it is.  Like my Calvinist pastor says, "I love the doctrine of God's grace, His undeserved favor towards wretched sinners like us."  ("Doctrines of Grace" is code-word for Calvinism.)  

Sounds good, right?  

But what they really mean (not so wonderful) is that Calvi-god only has saving grace for the elect.  There is no real grace for the non-elect, the majority of the people.  The only kind of "grace" they get is food, water, and breath while they're alive on earth ("common grace"), before they die and go to their predestined damnation.

"Unconditional grace" - in Calvinism - does not mean that it's for everyone, unconditionally, that anyone can reach out and grab it.  It just means that the Calv-elect did nothing to get it, to get salvation.  It was showered on them - and only on them - with no conditions, not even the condition that they choose, of their own free-will, to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

But Calvinists will still wax poetic about Calvi-god's "amazing unconditional grace," even though it's not for most people because Calvi-god predestined them to hell.  Kinda sick, don't ya think!  

(Whenever Calvinism and the Calvi-gospel sound good, it's because Calvinists are only sharing the parts that relate to the Calvi-elect or the parts about Calvi-god being in control over evil and helping us through the hard times, but they're hiding the bad parts that talk about Calvi-god's terrible plan for the non-Calvi-elect and about how Calvi-god first predestined, causes, orchestrates all the evil he "helps" us get through.  Deceptive.  Sick.  Twisted.)]

Another thing to notice (from what my ex-pastor taught at the beginning of this post) is that Calvinists give us false dichotomies: Two options that we have to choose between - one is obviously-false and the other leads to Calvinism - that forces us to pick the one that supports Calvinism.  

In this case, it's "Either God chose some people to be saved or else no one gets saved."  And if those are your only two options, then you will be forced to pick that God chose some to get saved - because, obviously, not everyone goes to hell - aligning with their idea of election.  

But what we often don't realize is that this has Calvinism baked right into it, their idea that God chooses who gets saved, that there's no free-will, that God doesn't truly offer salvation to everyone.  And this is not biblical.  And so their question is misleading from the very beginning.  But if you answer it as they ask it, you will automatically be trapped in a Calvinist mindset.   

The thing is, there is another option they don't consider, the biblical one: God made salvation available for everyone, and those who choose, of their own free-will, to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior will be saved.  The offer is given to everyone, but we choose to accept it or reject it.

But since Calvinists do not believe in free-will, they automatically default to "God decides/God chooses for us," which means their questions and dichotomies have a Calvinist-bias built right into them, making them erroneous from the start.  They leaves the biblical option out, forcing you to pick the Calvinist one.  (It's not that they're deliberately hiding the biblical option, but it's that they don't believe the biblical option themselves.)  

Do not answer Calvinist questions as they are asked.  Dismantle them instead, pointing out the errors, Calvinist-definitions, Calvinist misinterpretation of verses, and Calvinist-bias that's baked right into it all.  If you answer them according to the way they word their questions, you'll automatically be trapped in Calvinism's mindset, giving them home-court advantage. 

    

They do this also with "Either God is sovereign, or you are sovereign... Either God is in control, or you are in control... Either God saves you, or you save yourself... Either God fully controls evil, or evil is in control of Him/He has no control over evil... Either God controls everything, or God controls nothing."

And so if those are the only options, of course we pick that God is sovereign and in control and saves us - because no Christian would say that man is sovereign or in control, that we save ourselves, that evil controls God, or that God controls nothing.  

And before we know it, we're trapped in Calvinism, slowly getting reeled deeper and deeper into their beliefs - all because we didn't think to question their incorrect definitions of sovereignty and "in control" and didn't notice their Calvinist-bias and didn't consider the third option they left out (the biblical one). 

[Note: When Calvinists says "sovereign" and "in control," they mean "God preplanned, controls, causes, orchestrates all things, even our desires, our choices, our sins, and our beliefs."  And when they preach, they will often plant their definitions of words like these (and like predestination and election) into our heads, preconditioning us to interpret the Bible their way and to think that there's no other way to define these words.

But biblically, sovereignty and "in control" mean that God is the highest authority there is, the greatest power there is.  He is over and above all things and all other powers, and He has the last word over everything.  But He has chosen to not actively control/decide all things.  He has chosen to voluntarily restrain His use of power and His ability to control all things, giving mankind the right to make real choices and to have some control in and influence over how things go in this world.  Instead of controlling man's choices to make His plans work out, He has chosen to work with and through mankind's choices, incorporating our truly-free-will decisions into His plans.  This is how the Bible shows God working, time and time again.  NOT actively controlling every detail, such as causing our sins and our rejection of Him.  (For more false dichotomies, click here.  And click here for more on what predestination really means.)]

               

Calvinism sucks people in bit by bit through false dichotomies, bad analogies, out-of-context verses, Calvinisticly-defined words, etc.  

And it works - because we trust them.  Because we believe them that they're "just preaching right from the Bible."  Because we don't stop to notice the built-in errors and Calvinist-bias.  Because we ignore or explain away the "red flags" we feel in our hearts when they say something that doesn't sound quite right or that sounds downright horrifying.  Because we don't take the time to compare what they say against the Bible.  And because we begin reading the Bible through the Calvinist glasses they put on us, never stopping to consider that they might be wrong, that there might be a different way to read the Bible.  

(Also see "When Calvinism's 'Bad Logic' Traps Good Christians.") 

Have I mentioned how much I hate Calvinism!

And finally, going back to the point of this post and what my pastor said: 

Calvinists claim that God didn't ultimately want to save all people, that He only ultimately wants to save the Calv-elect.  And they'll explain away the verse about God wanting all men to be saved - 2 Peter 3:9 - by saying that, sure, He "wants" to save all people and it makes Him "sad" when anyone goes to hell, but what He wants more than everyone's salvation is glory for Himself when He shows off His wrath and justice against sin.  And so He had to predestine people to hell, even though He "wants" them to be saved and it makes Him "sad" to put them in hell.(😕)

But here's something I wrote in another post regarding that verse about God wanting all men to be saved (which any rational person would rightly assume means God truly wants all people to be saved, and so, therefore, He made salvation truly available for all, as evidenced in other verses):

To explain how the "God wants all men to be saved, He doesn't want anyone to perish" verse (2 Peter 3:9) fits with their idea of God predestining people for hell, my pastor basically put it this way: "How can God say He wants all people to be saved if He predestines people for hell?  Because God doesn't always get what He wants.  He can want things to happen, but this doesn't mean He has to cause them to happen.  So God can want all people to be saved, but not cause all people to be saved."

The thing is, there is some truth in here.  (But notice that it has the built-in Calvinist belief that God chooses who goes to heaven and hell and that predestination is about which individuals get saved and which don't.)  

It's true that God doesn't always cause the things He wants to happen.  He wants all people to be saved, but He doesn't cause all people to be saved.  

This is true!  

And this is how they trap you, presenting you with a truth you agree with while secretly slipping in their nonsense - because "not causing what He wants" is not what's really going on with Calvinism's belief about God predestining people for hell.  In Calvinism, it's not just that God doesn't force what He wants; it's that He actively causes the opposite of what He says He wants.  And this is totally different!

The God of the Bible wants all people to be saved and doesn't want anyone to perish.  But He doesn't force all people to be saved.  He lets us choose.  This makes sense.

But Calvi-god says that he wants all people to be saved … but then he causes the opposite to happen, deliberately predestining most people to hell, for his glory and pleasure.  This is a whole different thing than just "not forcing what you want."  It's "causing the opposite of what you 'want' because you really want the opposite of what you said you wanted."  Illogical and contradictory.  Deceptive and two-faced.  Untrustworthy and unjust.

I can say that I want my husband to fix a broken chair, and yet not force him to do it.  Logical.

But I can't say that I want him to fix a broken chair and then force him to hold an ax and chop the chair up into tiny shards of wood.  Illogical and contradictory!

But this is what Calvinism does with the Gospel and God's character.  It turns it into illogical, contradictory nonsense, but it hides it under layers of logical, biblical-sounding truths.  It's "bait and switch," presenting you with a logical, biblical idea that you agree with but then slipping in their incorrect, nonsensical, contradictory garbage.  But you aren't aware of it.  All you are aware of is the logical, biblical truth you first agreed to, making everything else they say seem logical and biblical to you.

And if it doesn't seem logical and biblical to you, you simply assume that there must be something wrong with you.  Not with them or their theology.  And to get you to do this – to think there’s something wrong with you, and not Calvinism – they’ll say things like “I know this stuff is hard to understand - predestination, God’s 'sovereign' control, how He ordains evil and sin but holds us accountable for it, how He created most people for hell but He's still good and just and loving, etc.  Most people have trouble understanding all this stuff.  It's human to have a bad emotional reaction to it, to resist it because we don't like the way it sounds and don't understand it.  But just give it time.  We don't have to understand it or even like it; we just have to humbly accept it in faith because it’s what the Bible says.  And even if you can’t understand it and don’t like it, God is good and can be trusted.  He knows how it all works together, which is all that matters, and so we don't have to understand it.”  

You see how they spin it from the very beginning to make it about your inability to understand it or about your feelings of not liking it, never considering that the real problem is that there might be something wrong with their theology.  

And if you "just give it time" – meaning "allow them time to teach you more Calvinism, to lead you bit by bit through their Systematic Theology classes" - then you’ll accept it, like a good, humble, God-glorifying, Bible-believing Christian.  

Yes, this stuff would be good advice … if Calvinism was true.  

But since it’s not, it's all just manipulation and gaslighting.

Calvi-god truly wants most people in hell because it's what brings him the most glory.  And so it's a lie for him to claim that he wants all people saved.  (And if he really wants people in hell because it brings him the most glory, then he's actually denying/undermining his own glory by claiming he wants all people saved - because, in Calvinism, that's not what would bring him the most glory.  Calvi-god works against himself.  And we know what the Bible says about double-minded men and cities that are divided against themselves.)

And so thank God that Calvi-god is not the God of the Bible!  

The God of the Bible can be trusted to say what He means and mean what He says, but Calvi-god cannot.