The Anti-Calvinist Rant

[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 .   And these are not exact quotes, but they are summaries of what he said (exact quotes from his sermons can be found here ).] 9.   "God shows His love by saving the elect.  And He shows His justice by damning the non-elect to hell."   (From my pastor's adult son, not my ex-pastor himself.)             That's strange, because my Bible says that God shows His love by saving sinners ( Romans 5:8 ), that we are all sinners ( Romans 3:23 ), and that God shows His justice by sending Jesus to the cross to pay for our sins ( Romans 3:25-26 ).  Actually, what really happened was this (taken from another  post of mine on this topic, edited a bit): My pastor's adult son (the c...

The sermon we watched today was so timely:  Encouragement That Calms Fear  from Tony Evans.  I've watched it before, but I think it's one a lot of us could use right about now.   But as I watched it and heard Dr. Evans speak about how God really wants to hear from us, how He wants us to pour out our pain to Him so that He can help, it made me think of how sad and damaging Calvinist sermons are when it comes to the trials of life.   I remember one sermon at our old church where the Calvi-pastor said how everything in your life - all the tragedies, including something as horrible as any childhood abuse you went through - was God's "Plan A" for your life.  It's what He wanted for you ... for your good, for His glory, and to keep you humble. What the @#$%! How on earth can anyone find encouragement in something like that!?!  Why would anyone want a relationship with a god like that!?!  It broke my heart for those in the audience who were ab...

Understanding God's Will #9b: (No Calvinism information added to this post.) So, as seen in the point 9a, faith in God isn’t “claiming” something that He hasn’t promised, believing that He’ll do it just because we believe in His ability to do it.    Godly faith is trusting that He is the God that He claims to be in the Bible and that He will do what’s best, in His time and in His way.    And our job is to follow in obedience, not to lead.                And contrary to the “name it and claim it” way, I believe that we are off-base when we are “claiming” a particular answer to prayer before He reveals it, when we tell Him the answer that we expect and that we are going to wait for.    I think we need to not be claiming specific answers or blessings as much as “instructions” or “help along the way.”              While we can and should pray what's in ...

Some people have a lot of trouble accepting the idea that God would rapture the church out but leave everyone else to go through the tribulation.    They think it is heartless and cruel of Him.    I, however, think that a pre-trib rapture is the most merciful thing God could do. In the movie   Left Behind   (with Nicolas Cage), a young woman who missed the rapture looks around at all the pain and heartbreak and devastation ... and she screams out about how the loving God her mother worshipped would never cause something as tragic as that to happen.    He would never take people away and let others be left behind to face the troubles of the tribulation. Or would He? The thing is, I think a pre-trib rapture shows just how loving and merciful and patient He is, how much He wants everyone to come to Him. [And I have to ask ...  If God created a way for us to be saved ... ... if He Himself, out of His enormous love for us, paid  the pe...