Important: The Calvinist Chain of Responsibility
One thing that's really important to understand about Calvinism (to uncover the deception they use) is their "Chain of Responsibility," for lack of a better term. It's not a term they use or an official Calvinist idea, but it's just my way of describing why they adamantly deny that Calvinism teaches that God causes/forces us to sin.
Whenever a non-Calvinist says "Calvinists say that God causes sin," they respond something like this: "No, we don't say that. God doesn't cause anyone to sin. People make the choices they want to make. That's why God can hold us responsible for our sins." This then confuses us because we understand that the Calvinist idea of God's "sovereignty" is that He actively preplans/controls all things, even sin, evil, and our belief/unbelief in Him. So how can God control all things, even our thoughts and choices and actions, but not be the cause of the sins we commit?
This is where the Calvinist Chain of Responsibility comes in. And it goes something like this:
1) Before time began, God predetermined which nature we would all get: the sinful/unregenerated one that the non-elect get or the regenerated one that the elect get. We have no control over or influence over which nature we get. It's predetermined for us by God, and we can't change it. If you were predestined to be non-elect, you will always be non-elect, with no chance of ever being regenerated/saved.
2) Each nature comes with its own set of built-in desires. The regenerated nature (of the elect) contains the desire to seek God, obey God, do good, etc. But the sinful nature (of the non-elect) contains only the desire to sin and reject God. We can't change or influence the desires we have because they are built-in to the nature God gave us.
3) The built-in desires determine what we "want" to do, and we can only "want" to do the things that our built-in desires make us want to do. Those who get the regenerated nature will "want" to seek God, obey God, believe in God, do good, etc. But since the unregenerated nature contains only the desire to sin and reject God, those who get the unregenerated nature can/will only "want" to sin and reject God. (The nature we get, with its built-in desires, is little more than a magic potion that causes us to "want" to do certain things, and only those things.)
4) And then we make choices based on what we "want" to do ... which is based on the built-in desires of the nature God gave us. Therefore, since an unregenerated person can only desire to sin (according to the nature God gave them), then all they can choose is sin, and so they will always "choose" to sin. They are prevented from ever being able to obey God because they have no desire to obey God because they were not given the nature that contains the desire to obey God.
5) And therefore, since the unregenerated person "chose" to sin because they "wanted" to sin, the Calvinist says "See? God doesn't force anyone to sin. We choose what we want to do, and so God can hold us responsible for our sins. We deserve the punishment for our sins because we 'wanted' to sin."
Calvinists bury their idea that "God causes people to sin" by adding extra steps:
"God causes people to have the unregenerated nature ... and the unregenerated nature gives them the desire to sin ... and so then they will 'want' to sin (and only to sin) ... and so then they will 'choose' to sin, just like they 'wanted'."
And they think this absolves God of the responsibility for causing sin - because they put a degree or two of separation between God and our sins.
"There! Problem solved!" So says the Calvinist. "God doesn't 'force' us to sin; He just forces us to have the sin-nature that forces us to want to sin that forces us to choose to sin. Just like He predestined."
But I say "Hogwash!" This is just a convoluted, round-about way of saying that our sins were predestined, that we had no real control over our decisions, that we had no choice or ability to do anything differently. That God preplanned and caused and is responsible for our sins.
But since they know they can't come right out and say that God causes sin, they add extra layers - to make it less clear, in an effort to trick others and themselves into thinking that they aren't saying what they really are: That Calvinism's god causes sin.
So remember all this - the extra steps they add to make it seem like they aren't saying what they are - whenever you hear a Calvinist say ...
... "We freely choose what we want to do." (They mean "according to our Calvi-god-given natures"!)
... "We make choices according to our desires." (But our desires are predetermined for us, and we have to obey them.)
... "God doesn't force people to sin or to reject Him." (Sure, because He doesn't have to "force" us to do it if the magic potion makes us "want" to do it on our own. Well, that is, if you can call it "on our own" when we've been given a magic potion that controls our desires.)
... "Unregenerated people are 'free to choose to sin'." (They are only free to "choose" to sin because they have no other choices.)
... and "Calvinists don't say that God causes sin." (They're right; they don't say it. They hide it. But their theology absolutely, undeniably teaches it, when you remove the extra layers they disguise it with.)
Do you want to know what the Calvinist's brilliant answer is for "How can God sovereignly control everything, even sin, but hold us accountable for it?"
It usually comes down to some form of this (similar to what my Calvinist pastor has said over the years):
"I don't know. But I don't have to know how it all works out. I humbly accept both those ideas as truth because the Bible teaches them both without any tension, that God is sovereign over all and that He holds man accountable for his sins." [Yes, the Bible does. But it's the Calvinist definition of "sovereign" that's wrong and that causes all the problems. And just because a Calvinist calls something "biblical truth" doesn't mean it is, at least not the way they define it.] "Who are we to think we can talk back to God? Who are we to question His Word? Who are we to think we can peer into the deep mysteries of God? There are some things He doesn't explain to us, and we just have to humbly accept them as true, even if we can't fully understand it." [Yes, there are some things we have to accept without fully understanding it, such as the Trinity, how God can be eternal, the supernatural world, how Jesus can be both God and man, etc.... but NOT the idea that God sovereignly controls sin (as Calvinists define it: preplanning/causing sin) but then He holds us responsible for it! That flies in the face of scripture, and it makes God the author/cause of sin, despite Calvinist attempts to deny/disguise it. God can be "in control" over sin - choosing what to allow, what to not allow, what consequences to allow for our sins, and how to work our self-chosen sins into His plans ... but He cannot preplan, predestine, actively control our sins, force us to sin, without giving us any option to do anything differently, and yet hold us responsible for our sins, as if we had a choice about them. That - Calvinism - destroys the gospel, God's Word, and His character: His justice, love, trustworthiness, holiness, righteousness, etc. And this is why we must not "humbly accept" the garbage they're teaching!] "God can be trusted, even if we don't understand how it all works out. Humble people have no problem accepting God's sovereignty. It's only those who are proud and self-sufficient, who like to be in control, who don't like having anyone in authority over them, that have a problem with it. There are only three possible responses to this 'biblical truth': ignore it, get angry about it, or humbly accept it." [Manipulation after manipulation after manipulation!]
How in the world is that an acceptable, reasonable answer for a huge theological question that completely affects God's character and the gospel?
An answer like that won't hold up when it comes time to stand before God in the end and give an explanation for their theology, when He asks them, "What on My green earth were you teaching others about Me, and why?"
