Only.me80 #5: Three Types of Calvinists
From part 4 where we examined a sermon by John MacArthur [see part 1 and part 2 and part 3 and part 4 of this series]:
A quick review of a small part of MacArthur's sermon For whom did Christ die?: "Most people in the church believed that on the cross, Jesus paid the debt for the sins of everyone because He loves everyone unconditionally and wants everyone to be saved... [and that] since Christ died for everyone, everyone can believe and should believe... Now, if that sounds strange to you, it is... You will not find such language anywhere in the New Testament or the Old... According to Scripture, sinners are dead in trespasses and sin...[which affirms the doctrine of] total inability...[which] necessitates the doctrine of God’s divine invasion... He must give repentance, He must give faith... And He does it to those whom He has chosen... God limits [the atonement] to those who believe, and nobody can believe unless He gives them faith... It’s not at all biblical to [believe in an unlimited atonement/that Jesus died for all people]. We must agree that the atonement is limited... It is limited to those who believe, and that limitation is established by God and not by man since man can’t believe on his own."
And from this 8-minute clip of John MacArthur: "I don't think it's a good solution to diminish the nature of the atonement and have Jesus dying for everybody... [Some people say that] He died a potentially saving death...[that] He died for nobody in particular and everybody in general, and the sinner who is depraved is the one who activates the potential atonement. Well, that's impossible."
See? See how Calvinists are not unaware of biblical truth, but how they know it and yet deny it, resist it, and look for more and more ways to try to prove it's wrong.
And see how much they base their unbiblical understanding of election/predestination on their unbiblical understanding of what depravity/spiritual death is. (See "TULIP's Totally-Depraved Doctrine" and "Is Calvinism's TULIP Biblical?")
(And now picking up where we left off:)
It's one thing when someone doesn't understand the truth or never heard the truth before, and so they just need it explained to them better so that they can understand it and believe it. This person can be helped.
But it's a totally different thing when someone has been educated enough that they clearly understand the truth and can clearly state the truth, but then they reject it and call it "impossible." There is no hope for this person, no way they can be helped.
Here's a very fitting comment from Warren (Idol Killer) in a recent video called "Questions Calvinism cannot answer" (I love this! Start at 40:23):
"So for someone that wants to defend the system [Calvinists defending their unbiblical systematic theology], there is no move that they won't make in order to preserve it. And I've said this before and I'll say it again, my dad used to tell me this: 'An honestly mistaken man, when presented with the truth, will either cease to be mistaken or cease to be honest.'
Sometimes it can take us awhile to wrap our head around [the truth] because of cognitive dissonance or just 'I'm just not seeing what you're seeing.' That's genuine. But there comes a point where you realize that they are intentionally self-deceiving. And what do you do at that point? There's nothing you can do. They've locked the door from the inside.
... If you're dealing with somebody that is genuine, sincere, and just struggling in a sincere disagreement, cool - take all the time you need. But if you're dealing with someone that is an idealogue that is committed to a falsity and a blasphemous and anti-Christ view of God at all costs, then you're not dealing with somebody that's willing to deceive you, but you're dealing with somebody that's willing to deceive themselves. And there's no hope for that. Because Christianity is about following the One who is the way, the truth, and the life, right? If we're deceiving ourselves, we're loving darkness more than Him. And you can't help that. All you can do is pray for it."
This is what hardened Calvinists have done to themselves. They've read, heard, and understood the actual, commonsense biblical truth... but they reject it because it doesn't fit their Calvinist mindset/philosophy, Calvinist definitions, and Calvinist interpretation of verses. They deceive themselves and toss out the clear commonsense truth, choosing instead to cling to the "mysterious," twisted, contradictory "truths" that have been taught to them.
And on this note: I think that there are generally three types of Calvinists, three different ways they will react when confronted with the biblical (non-Calvinist) way to read the Bible or with their own doubts about Calvinism:
1. Those who want to think for themselves, know the truth for themselves, and are willing to take the risks associated with questioning the "spiritual authorities," will allow their doubts, questions, and concerns to surface in their minds and will honestly examine and consider them, instead of being manipulated, gaslit, and shamed into being silent and/or agreeing with the Calvinist pastor.
Of course, the fact that they are Calvinists in the first place means that they've been manipulated and indoctrinated into it thus far (maybe because they grew up in it, assumed it's the only way to read the Bible, never heard any other interpretations, "humbly" trusted their pastor like "good Christians" do, etc.). But when they do encounter a different way to read the Bible or finally realize something is "off" about Calvinism, they won't brush their doubts aside but will investigate them.
They won't take their pastor's word for it that he's "just teaching right from Scripture, what the Bible clearly says," but they will double-check him for themselves, refusing to be manipulated into thinking that disagreement with Calvinism is not an option: "Any time [Calvinist predestination/election] is preached, people react in one of three ways: they get angry about it, they avoid it, or they accept it." (my ex-pastor, June 26, 2016)
They won't fall for it when the Calvinist pastor says that the reason why they don't like Calvinism and why they reject its dreadful doctrines is because...
... their emotions are getting in the way: "[Some people object and say] 'Doesn’t election make God look bad?' Honestly, a lot of our visceral reactions to this stuff are emotional reactions..." (from my ex-pastor's August 16, 2015 sermon on predestination)
... they are full of "biblical and theological illiteracy" (PJ Tibayan in his 9Marks article) and are "unsuspecting and uneducated... [similar to people who] rely on the supermarket tabloids as your reliable source of news." ("What Theology is this? Dave Hunt's Misrepresentation of God and Calvinism")
... they have weak faith: "...when you talk and preach about predestination, you must always keep in mind those with whom you are speaking.... Are you talking to a congregation of professing believers? If so, some may be strong in faith and able to plumb the depths and scale the heights of such a doctrine, while others may be weak in faith and the very mention of predestination will cause them doubts and worries." (from the Calvinist article "Should we talk about Predestination?")
... they're full of prideful arrogance: "... [the doctrine of election] is one of the best ways to test whether we have reversed roles with God... The doctrine of election is one very effective test of whether you are being delivered from the indigenous ocean of arrogance in the modern world, or are still drenched to the bone." (John Piper, "Pastoral Thoughts on the Doctrine of Election")
.... they are petulant, wicked, profane, want praise, and oppose God: "As I have hirtherto stated only what is plainly and unambiguously stated in Scripture, those who hesitate not to stigmatise what is thus taught by the sacred oracles, had better beware what kind of censure they employ. If, under a pretence of ignorance, they seek the praise of modesty, what greater arrogance can be imagined than to utter one word in opposition to the authority of God... Such petulance, indeed, is not new. In all ages there have been wicked and profane men, who rabidly assailed this branch of doctrine." (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 1, chapter 18, Section 3)
... they only want to hear what's flattering: "[People don't like the Calvinist doctrine of election because] the unregenerate love to hear of the greatness, the dignity, the nobility of man. The natural man thinks highly of himself and appreciates only that which is flattering. Nothing pleases him more than to listen to that which extols human nature and lauds the state of mankind." (A.W. Pink, Doctrine of Man's Total Depravity)
... they love to be coddled: "[People reject Calvinism's doctrine of total depravity because] it presents a low view of man. Human nature loves to be coddled. Men and women love to be told of their self-worth, self-importance, and innate goodness. Total depravity destroys all that... Total depravity is rejected by man because it presents a low view of man. God is not gushing over us like a high school crush but 'has bent and readied his bow' because 'If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword.'" (Grace Bible Theological Seminary, "3 Reasons People Reject Total Depravity")
... "they hate the idea that they are not in control... Simply put, they want to think that they are fully in control of their own eternal destiny." (from Got Questions, "Why do some people so passionately hate Calvinism")
... "They don't know the Bible... it's really their lack of knowledge of the full counsel of God as taught in the Scripture. It allows them to continue to rebel against the truth that is presented in the Doctrines of Grace... Why do so many resist [Calvinism]? It's a lack of knowledge of Scripture, and it's also pride and arrogance." (Steve Lawson's answer in an interview when he was asked "Why are so many Christians against, and actively against, these [Calvinist/Reformed] concepts?")
... they are "merit-mongers [who] will not allow the supremacy of the divine will... [because their] heart is loath to receive such an humbling and flesh-withering truth... [The devil] is never more pleased than when he can persuade nominal Christians to do his vile work for him [when they pervert, oppose, and attack Calvinism]... The vast majority of these opposers have little or no real understanding of that which they set themselves against. They are largely ignorant of what the Scriptures teach thereon, and are too indolent to make any serious study of the subject. Whatever attention they do pay to it is mostly neutralized by the veil of prejudice which obstructs their vision." [A.W. Pink, Doctrine of Election]
... they hate God and want credit for saving themselves: "No doctrine is more despised by the natural mind than the truth that God is absolutely sovereign. Human pride loathes the suggestion that God orders everything, controls everything, rules over everything. The carnal mind, burning with enmity against God, abhors the biblical teaching that nothing comes to pass except according to His eternal decrees. Most of all, the flesh hates the notion that salvation is entirely God’s work. If God chose who would be saved, and if His choice was settled before the foundation of the world, then believers deserve no credit for their salvation." (John MacArthur, "God's Absolute Sovereignty")
... they're "atheists" (R.C. Sproul, about those who disagree with his view of God's Sovereignty)
... or they're simply not even real Christians: "those who continue to cavil against [Calvinism] and steadfastly refuse any part of the truth, are not entitled to be regarded as Christians." (A.W. Pink, Doctrine of Election)
"The Bible teaches that God sovereignly chooses some and not others... The first question when it comes to Bible study is not 'Do I like this?'... The first question is "WHAT DOES THE TEXT SAY?" If this is not your first question, your first burden, there is concern if you really know Christ as Lord and if you honor Him. If all you accept is the stuff you like and what is convenient for you and emotionally comfortable for you, then there is a real question whether you know Christ, if His Spirit lives in you." (My ex-pastor, July 2018)
"Let me tell you: This country is literally filling up with those kind of converts under this seeker-friendly [free-will] approach in churches. Because the whole idea of seeker-friendly ministry is basically to appeal to people's fleshly lusts... And the church fills up with, you know, the unconverted living in a deception." (John MacArthur in Election and Predestination: The Sovereignty of God in Salvation, about those who believe in free-will and reject Calvinism)
"We would say you can’t be a Christian if you have a wrong view of Christ. Can we – can you be a Christian if you have a completely wrong view of God?... [No.]" (John MacArthur in "Answering Big Questions About the Sovereignty of God", about those who don't view God's sovereignty the way he does)
These type-1 Calvinists won't let manipulative-shaming like this stop them from doublechecking their pastor and theology. Instead, they will recognize the manipulative-shaming for what it is and will resist it, willing to take the risk that they might be viewed as all these bad things for questioning what their Calvinist pastor is teaching.
They will take off the Calvinist glasses that have been over their eyes, will step outside the Calvinist echo-chamber, and will carefully read the Bible for themselves to see what it actually says in context (such as Romans 9), maybe even deliberately looking for non-Calvinist interpretations and for arguments against Calvinism to help them evaluate it fully and honestly.
[That is, if they are even aware that the theology they've been taught is called "Calvinism." This is a detail that stealth Calvinist pastors like to hide, making it hard for us to research their theology for ourselves. See "9 Marks of a Calvinist Cult #2 (hidden agendas)".]
They will compare their Calvinist beliefs to the plain truth of Scripture, using the plain and in-context teachings of the Bible to determine if Calvinism is accurate, instead of using Calvinism's mysterious, contradictory, double-layered, convoluted teachings to determine what the Bible says.
[And they will realize that it's especially important to do this if they have children because they, as parents, are heavily responsible for the theology they raise their children in, for the way their children view God and His Word and the effect it will have on them later. As I've shared before about some of the damage Calvinism has done to people:
Fr
"I'm so angry that I was taught that I was completely bad, simply by being human, and I deserved to be tortured by the Creator for all of eternity, AND I COULD DO NOTHING ABOUT IT. All I could do was pray to God and hope that he had mercy on such a miserable, worthless, depraved wretch such as twelve-year-old me. I lived with a phobia of hell until the cage of my mind opened when I was 22, and I could finally think for the first time in my life..." (why-homo-sapien)
"A few years ago I was wondering why my self-esteem was so crap and then suddenly realised that the people who taught me to hate myself were my parents, through the medium of calvinism :)" (pktechboi)
From the Reddit post "Verily verily I say unto thee, f*ck this sh*t!": "...When I realized our own judicial system treats us better than this sadistic god, I was out. 30 years of my life. Sure, there were good memories. But the weight of it all sure took a toll on me eventually. Thankful I can breath a bit more easy now not worrying if I have committed the unpardonable sin. I’m certain I have 100x over. ;) ..." (Miss_an100)
And from the reddit post Election and Suicide : r/Calvinism (reddit.com): "I have recently discovered the doctrine of election and I believe that I am not elect. I don't have any spiritual fruit and I hate God with all my heart. My question is, at this point is it right to want to die? Might as well go to hell now instead of later. I do not want to kill myself (I never will hopefully) but I cant see a reason to live when my end destiny will be the same." (from "deleted")
Take these seriously, as warnings. Because someday this could be your children!]
They will honestly confront the contradictions in Calvinism, the ways it contradicts itself and the plain teachings of Scripture. And they will reason out Calvinist doctrines to their logical ends to see where they lead to and what they do to God's character. They will admit that there are very serious contradictions in Calvinism and very damaging "end results" which destroy God's character and Word, and they will realize that these cannot be fixed or smoothed over with "Who are you to question God? It's just an emotional reaction you're having to things you don't like hearing. Don't judge God by human logic. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. So live with the tension. You have to accept it even if you don't like it. It's just a mystery to us now, but it's all sorted out in God's mind and will become clear to us in eternity. Just be humble and trust Him." [Translation: "Don't question us because we speak for God and can't be wrong. So just shut up, fall in line, and trust what we Calvinists tell you about Him, like good little submissive Christians."]
They are teachable, not afraid to admit they might be wrong, not afraid to be corrected, not afraid to pull at the Calvinists threads to see if it unravels or holds tight - because they are more concerned with understanding God's Word correctly for themselves than with maintaining their current theological system which others have taught them. (Besides, what do they have to be afraid of? If they're correct about their Calvinism, pulling at threads should only strengthen and confirm their Calvinism even more and give them even better arguments to defend it, right?)
There is great hope for this kind of honest, determined truth-seeker. There is hope that they will eventually see clearly enough to get unstuck from the sticky, tangled web of Calvinism, becoming one of those who "cease to be mistaken."
[Sidenote: Sadly, to be honest, there are reasons to be afraid of pulling at Calvinist threads, especially when you've built your faith and social world around Calvinism and Calvinist people.
Because to realize that you might've been wrong this whole time - to have to tear down your Bible knowledge and your view of God to the studs in order to start over, to start pure, to rebuild it - could rattle your faith and make you distrust yourself. You might wonder how you could've been wrong this whole time (you trusted what you were told by spiritual leaders, by those who should've known better!), making you worry that if you got it wrong once, then you'll get it wrong again. You might wonder if it's even possible for you to understand the Bible correctly for yourself (it is!) and if it's even worth the effort to try (it is, especially if you have children!).
And then if you do research it and find out that you disagree with it or must push back against it, it might cause you to look like a "bad Christian" to your Calvinist friends/church, straining your friendships. It might cause you to lose your reputation and/or positions in church if they don't allow their staff to hold different views.
It might cause you to distrust all churches and pastors from now on for fear of being duped again. It'll cause you to always be on alert now for hidden Calvinism and to flinch at certain biblical concepts that shouldn't cause us to flinch when taught correctly (grace, sovereignty, justice, God is "in control," etc.).
And, worst of all, it might possibly even cause you to lose your Calvinist friends, family, and church itself if you have to leave (and it's even worse, I imagine, if the church disciplined you and forced you out for disagreeing with them).
This is a high cost, a big sacrifice, as many can attest to.
And I kinda wonder if many Calvinists realize, deep down, that this is where it might end up if they allow themselves to listen to their doubts and concerns, to disagree with the pastor, to start pulling at threads. And since they don't want to take the chance of ruining the good thing they got going, they silence their doubts, fall in line, and never even acknowledge the loose threads. They become comfortable living in a world of cognitive dissonance, contradiction, and self-deception, settling for a surface-level Calvinism which allows them to call themselves "Calvinist" without ever really having to think about it too much. They willingly swallow whatever they're spoon-fed because, deep down, they are unwilling to examine it too closely in case they might be wrong, unwilling to make the sacrifices that might be required of them if they discover they disagree.
I will admit it: It is a lot of risk, a lot to sacrifice, a high cost.
But that's the consequence we brought on ourselves for being non-Bereans: for (as a Church) allowing a slippery, deceptive, unbiblical theology to take over throughout the centuries, and (for ourselves, personally) for allowing ourselves to be sucked into it without double-checking it from the start or for not sounding the alarm bells when we should've. It's inevitable that people who finally stand up for the truth against the heretical-norm will eventually get hurt and lose something.
But when God's Word and character, Jesus's sacrifice, the biblical gospel, and people's faith/eternities are on the line, how can we not take these risks and make these sacrifices? How can we not take a stand against the anti-gospel that's hijacked the Church? What else is this important? What else is worth sacrificing for?
If this isn't worth it, nothing is!
Yes, we might lose something in the short-term, but I trust that what we gain in the long-term will be so much better. (And thank God we don't live in the days when they killed people for disagreeing with the Church!)
A bit of advice from my experience of losing our church after a Calvinist pastor slowly and stealthily reformed it over years: Time is not your friend. Do not wait too long. If you're starting to have concerns and doubts about what the pastor is teaching, tell as many people as possible and as quickly as possible. Of course, be as respectful as possible, but you want this out in the open as soon as possible, especially if the pastor is being stealthy about reforming your church. (Yes, they do this on purpose, counting on our naivete and silence to allow them to spread their Calvinism undetected, under the radar. See "The 9 Marks of a Calvinist Cult".)
In the time it takes you to try to get one person out of the Calvinist mindset, the stealthy Calvinist pastor is brainwashing twenty people into it. So don't drag your feet. You want as many people as possible knowing what brand of theology is taking over and what your doubts and concerns are - so that they know that they need to double-check it and that there are good reasons to question it, so that they aren't manipulated and brainwashed into Calvinism without even realizing it's happening.
(Maybe just be careful with your wording. You don't have to call his teachings "heresy" or try to talk people into "disagreeing" with him, but it should be okay for you to suggest that people find out what the Bible really says in context for themselves, to figure out what exactly was predestined, and what spiritual death means, and how a "sovereign" God acts, and what Romans 9 is really talking about, and if "total inability" is biblical or not, and if regeneration happens before or after belief, etc. Understanding the Bible in context and taking it at face-value (without those hidden double-layers and redefined terms that Calvinists teach you) will go a long way in combating Calvinism. And if a church has a problem with people researching the Bible deeper for themselves and double-checking the pastor's teachings, then they are totally in the wrong and should be exposed for it.)
If we who have concerns and who disagree with the pastor suffer in silence, don't sound the alarm, and then leave quietly one by one (because "we don't want to make trouble, be divisive, or cause others to question their faith/church/pastor"), then most of the congregation won't even realize what's happening (the Calvinist take-over or the exodus of those who disagree) or see the damage Calvinism is doing to the church.
And then any others in the church who have concerns will feel like they must be the only ones having trouble with what the pastor is teaching - because no one else seems to be disagreeing - and so they'll feel like there must be something wrong with them and their faith, their level of humility, their ability to understand and accept God's truth, and so they'll keep quiet too, allowing Calvinism to take over even more, unopposed.
And before long, there will be no one left to stand in the way of this unbiblical theology because we've all either left quietly or fallen in line... because "good Christians shouldn't disagree with giants of the faith, shouldn't be unhumble, shouldn't cause disunity, shouldn't resist the authority of the leadership, shouldn't be divisive troublemakers."
Right?
Yes, there's a big risk, cost, sacrifice for disagreeing with the Calvinism in the Church... but, overall and ultimately, there's a bigger risk, cost, sacrifice for not disagreeing with it.
And while we might comfort ourselves that we're not speaking up because we don't want to be "divisive" and because we want to be "unified" and to "humbly submit to the leaders," I wonder if God would condemn us for taking the easy way out, for not standing up for His Truth and His character, for not warning those around us of a false gospel infiltrating the Church, for putting our fear of and respect for man over our fear of and respect for God.
Just wondering.
Ezekiel 3:18-19: "When I [the Lord] say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will surely die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself."
Sometimes our polite tolerance isn't "unity, humility, the good Christian thing to do."
Sometimes it's handing the Church over to heresy, welcoming wolves in sheep's clothing, holding hands with the devil.]
2. Then there are those church-members who simply want to be spoon-fed biblical teachings, beliefs, and interpretations... who put too much faith in the pastor because he "went to seminary, knows Greek, speaks so confidently and powerfully, etc."... who doubt their own ability to understand Scripture... who don't like to ruffle feathers or rock the boat... who enjoy being part of the in-crowd, believe they need to side with the "spiritual giants of the faith," and find comfort in groupthink... who might not know that there are other ways to read Scripture (non-Calvinist ways)... who think that spiritual humility is accepting whatever they're taught, convinced that they're honoring to God... or who think that this issue isn't that big of a deal, that it's a second-level issue not worth fighting over or exploring too deeply (many non-Calvinists do this too). Etc.
These people are often those who are "Calvinists," in quotes: Those who call themselves "Calvinists" because that's what they think they are (that it's what they're supposed to be or what all Christians are), even though they really haven't examined or thought through all that Calvinism teaches, what it's really saying underneath the deceptive sugarcoating, and what the end results of their doctrines are. And if they did, they probably wouldn't be Calvinists anymore.
(This is probably what most of my ex-church is like: Good, kind, loving, trusting, God-fearing people who genuinely want to be humble, learn truth, glorify God, uphold Jesus, and submit to Him, but who've been duped into believing that the pastor is "just teaching right from Scripture, what the Bible clearly says" and that those who oppose him are bad unhumble Christians who reject Scripture and dishonor God. They mean well, but they are meaning well right into heresy, right into a totally destructive view of God and His Word.)
These people will ignore any doubts, concerns, questions, or alternative views that are presented to them or that pop up in their minds - not allowing themselves to even consider the possibility that their Calvinist pastor/church might be wrong, that they themselves might be wrong - because they feel like bad Christians if they do doubt, question, or research what they've been taught (this is the effect that the cult-like Calvinist atmosphere, control, and brainwashing has on people).
Maybe they even believe in Calvinism partly because they need to believe in Calvinism, that God predestines, causes, controls everything that happens. Maybe it's because it makes them feel better about a tragedy that happened to them, like God wanted, planned, caused it to happen and so it makes it okay and good, even if it hurts. Or maybe it's because it helps them feel like they weren't truly responsible for some sin they did or bad choice they made, like it had to happen, like it was impossible for them to not do it, like it wasn't really their choice or their fault, but it was God's. Or maybe they have a loved one who rejects God, and they need to believe that it's what God ordained and that God Himself can and will force that loved one to believe in Him when the time is right. Or maybe it's because they don't want to put too much time and effort into understanding God's Word for themselves, into learning His rules and guidelines about how they should live, or into being responsible and cautious about the choices they make... when it's so much easier to just think that everything that happens is what God wanted, planned, and caused, that it was destined to happen that way and there's nothing they could do about it, right? Just coast through life and go with the flow! (There are many reasons why someone might feel the need to believe in Calvinism.)
These spoon-fed Calvinists will try to put a good spin on it and make themselves feel better by embracing a motto like this: "It doesn't really matter what we think about this, does it? God wasn't very clear about all this anyway, and so we can all have our own opinions about it. And we're all Christians anyway, aren't we? And so we need to be unified, put our own ideas aside, not be divisive, and humbly submit to our leaders for the good of the church. And so I simply trust the pastor and don't let minor disagreements about little issues like this divide us. It's all good. Kumbaya!"
(I'm not trying to be mean. I'm trying to be honest.)
They let themselves be convinced by the Calvinist pastors and theologians that the common Christian can't really understand God's Word for themselves and so they must accept what they're taught, even the things that sound terrible and contradictory. Besides, "We can't understand these 'mysteries' anyway, right? So why bother putting too much thought into it?"
And so they simply fall in line with everyone else, hand their sense-making over to the pastor, and let him tell them what to think... while they nod, smile, and say, "Oh okay, whatever, I trust you," concerning themselves more with church programs and events than what's being taught.
But there is still hope for these "Calvinists." There is hope that over time they will hear enough alarming things and see enough other people bravely questioning the Calvinist narrative that it will cause them to get so uncomfortable that they will begin pulling at the Calvinist threads for themselves.
There is hope... but not much.
Because the longer they sit under Calvinist preaching while ignoring their doubts, red flags, and alarm bells, the easier it gets. Every time they ignore the Spirit's warning that something is incorrect, alarming, or contradictory, they deaden their conscience and quench the Spirit more.
And doubly-dangerous: While they're busy ignoring the Spirit's alarm bells, they're also soaking up Calvinist teachings (errors), systematically following the "Calvinist breadcrumb-trail" into deeper, harder Calvinist beliefs. And this will shape their theological beliefs and solidify them even more in Calvinism, whether they realize it or not.
And triplely-dangerous: The more time they spend learning errors, the less time they spend learning truth. The more error they soak in, the less truth they get. And so the more error is taught to them as truth, the less ability they'll have to recognize the error as error. [As I've said before: Calvinism's doctrines all flow from one and into the next, giving the appearance that it's solid, consistent, logical, and biblical. And so once you bite onto one of their ideas, you will inevitable be drawn into all. And because all their errors hold together so tightly in a huge interconnected web, you'll feel pressured to believe that it's all logical and biblical truth, making it impossible for you to see the error in it.]
Time is of the essence here. The longer they remain this way - ignoring the warnings, soaking up Calvinist teachings, being deprived of correct biblical teachings - the harder and harder it gets to change it and to even see the problems in it anymore.
If you resist the Spirit long enough, He'll eventually leave you alone, letting you have whatever beliefs you want, handing you over to the hardness and error you chose.
Zechariah 7:11-13: "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to [the Lord]. So the Lord Almighty was very angry. 'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the Lord Almighty."
Hebrews 3:12-15: "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God…. so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness… Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts...”
3. And then there are those who are like the Pharisees: Calvinist preachers/teachers/theologians like those I quoted above and the Christian who's savored every bit of Calvinist teaching and sought for more. These people have educated themselves right into unbiblical theology, convinced that they're learning "deeper truths" and that they're humble and God-glorifying for submitting to such dreadful doctrines.
[They're convinced that they're humble and glorifying to God, but they're often really just very proud of their "elite" theological education and spiritual intelligence and their "superior" level of humility for accepting Calvinism's nastiest doctrines and irresolvable contradictions.
Spiritual pride in humility's clothing.
Satan's tactics don't get any better or more sinister than that: Using a Christian's desire to be humble, God-glorifying, and biblically-knowledgeable against them, their faith, the Truth, and God Himself. Brilliant. Satanically brilliant!]
These people even know enough to know how repulsive Calvinism is, that most people will reject it right away. And so they know that in order to get others to agree with them, they must use strategic tactics to reel them in slowly, step by step, through deception, sugarcoating, manipulation, shaming, gaslighting, deflection, etc.
They know that Calvinists have to live in a state of cognitive dissonance, but they accept it and try to spin it into a positive thing - a sign of "humble submission to God and His Truth" - convincing themselves that their contradictory doctrines (contradictory to itself within Calvinism and to God's Word when taken at face-value) are actually biblical and God-glorifying, even though they seem to do tremendous damage to God's character. But as long as they don't think about it, they're fine! (See "Why is it so hard for Calvinists to get free from Calvinism?")
Like the Pharisees, they have studied more than everyone else (and so they should know better than anyone else what the truth is)... and they know what the "the other side" believes (the non-Calvinist views/what Scripture plainly and commonsensely says), but they reject it because it doesn't fit their Calvinist mindset. They have chosen to cling to their Calvinism instead, protecting and cementing their Calvinist views as they twist everything to fit Calvinism and deny whatever non-Calvinist views, arguments, evidence they encounter.
They are convinced that they have "the truth," that they can't possibly be wrong, that everyone must come to them to get "the truth," and so they reject every attempt to correct them.
And as they willingly and deliberately entrench themselves in their errors even deeper, they remove all hope that they can ever get free from it. They are "intentionally self-deceiving. And what do you do at that point? There's nothing you can do. They've locked the door from the inside."
Matthew 13:15: "For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.'" [Jesus is saying that if the people didn't choose to be calloused to the truth, to cover their ears and close their eyes to the truth, then they would be able to see the truth, turn to Jesus, and be healed. But they chose to be blind and hard-hearted, and so they couldn't understand or believe the truth about Jesus.]
2 Timothy 4:3-5: "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations ..."
2 Kings 17:14-15: “But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the Lord their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless…”
2 Corinthians 11:13-15: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”
[I think these are the people who end up "deconstructing" from the faith later in life. They've been convinced that Calvi-god is the God of the Bible, that Calvinism is the gospel... and so when they someday become so disgusted or discouraged by it and can't hold to it anymore, they toss out faith and God altogether instead of just tossing their bad theology. They never allowed themselves to admit (or research) that there's a massive difference between their ideas about what the Bible says and what the Bible actually says; between the god they heard about from Calvinists and the God of the Bible; between the Calvi-gospel and the true gospel. They are fully convinced that it's one and the same. And so when they finally want to get rid of Calvinism, they get rid of God, too. Tossing the baby out with the bathwater. This is detrimental to their faith, and it will be their undoing.
Some more sad examples fr
"My parents used to say 'even the cutest baby is a dirty rotten sinner.'... I’m turning 30 this year and I still have trouble turning down the volume on this narrative about myself. It has led to issues in my friendships, with my partner, and now, with my parents... I have deconstructed to the [point] of agnosticism... This has crippled my emotional growth as an adult in ways..." (foreverlanding)
"The [Calvinist] concept of total depravity is so completely toxic.... The system is designed to make you feel like a POS [piece of sh*t] just for being a human. I'm 37 now and am agnostic after trying really hard to believe until about 2ish years ago. I feel more hopeful and free without the church." (eab1728)
"Agreed. Total Depravity isn't the "Good News" espoused in Reformed circles... it robbed me of dignity and replaced it with constant, grating guilt. And it's utterly worthless in the face of real hardship... I am a universalist now, which couldn't be further from Reformed doctrine. And honestly, what a relief." (come_heroine)]
Education is a two-edged sword. It can make some people truly smarter, wiser, and more correct. But it can harden others in their errors because they now think that they're smarter, wiser, and correct because of all their education, which makes them more resistant to admitting that they could be wrong, more unable to admit when they are wrong.
They are totally unaware that they've been taught error... totally sure that they would've recognized error when they saw it... totally confident that all those huge, smart-sounding, Calvinist Systematic Theology books taught them the "deeper truths" that others haven't learned... totally enthralled with how incredibly "humble" and "God-honoring" they are for accepting it all... and (ensuring the stranglehold that Calvinism has on them) totally thrilled at the idea of being the gatekeepers to "the truth, Christianity, the true Church."
Like the Pharisees, these Calvinists are too educated to ever be able to admit that they're wrong, so blinded by their own brilliance and education that they miss the truth of Jesus even when He's standing right in front of them!
And in the end - horrifyingly - these are the people who will go so far as to praise Calvi-god for his incredible "mercy" and "grace" in loving only some people, dying for only some people, and choosing only some people to go to heaven while predestining everyone else to hell. They convince themselves that ordaining sin, evil, and the reprobation of most people to hell is actually a good thing, that it pleases and glorifies God. They believe that it's true justice for Calvi-god to punish the non-elect for doing what he ordained them to do, that it's truly "mercy/grace" when he gives them food and water for a little while before sending them to the eternal hell he predestined them for, and that predestining them to hell is for the eternal benefit of the Calv-elect.
And so let's praise him for his goodness, grace, and mercy to all people! Give it up for Calvi-god! Whoop, whoop!!
Be warned: This is where you will end up the longer you marinade in Calvinism and harden yourselves in your Calvinist views, rejecting every attempt to correct you. (I've shared these before, a lot, but that's because they need to be shared again and again! And if you can't agree with these - if something in your spirit is very disturbed by these - don't ignore it and brush it under the rug. Start pulling threads and see what happens. Because the longer you ignore it, the more you will become like this or at least tolerate it in your church, allowing it to spread more and more. Could you stand before God one day and feel good about that?):
R.C. Sproul (start at the 4:45-minute mark in the Idol Killer video "James White Responds - Infant Salvation?"): "Don't you know that when you're in heaven, you'll be so sanctified that you'll be able to see your own mother in hell and rejoice in that, knowing that God's perfect justice is being carried out."
James White [listen here], in answer to the question “When a child is raped, is God responsible and did He decree that rape?”, says this: "If He didn't then that rape is an element of meaningless evil that has no purpose... Yes, [He decreed it] because if not, then it's meaningless and purposeless... [But if He decreed it], it has meaning, it has purpose, all suffering has purpose, everything in the world has purpose, so there's no basis for despair [other than the fact that a god like that - Calvi-god - is evil! (The true God of the Bible is not.)]... But if we believe that God created knowing all this was going to happen but with no decree - He just created and all this evil is out there and there's no purpose - then every rape, every situation like that, is nothing but purposeless evil and God is responsible for the creation of despair...." [So let me get this straight: If Calvi-god doesn't decree all that evil and rape then he's responsible for despair, but if he does decree it then he's not responsible for despair!?! What the...!?! And how on earth can Calvinists trust a god who commands us not to do evil, but "ordains" us to do the evil he commanded us not do, giving us no ability to resist, and then he punishes us for doing the evil he ordained!?! Sick and twisted!]
Gordon H. Clark (Religion, Reason, and Revelation): “I wish very frankly and pointedly to assert that if a man gets drunk and shoots his family, it was the will of God that he should do it… Let it be unequivocally said that this view certainly makes God the cause of sin. God is the sole ultimate cause of everything…” [Then how in the world is Calvi-god any different from Satan!?!]
Jeff Durbin (from the video Jeff Durbin Answering 'The Problem of Evil') talking to a woman about evils like gang rape: “God actually has a morally sufficient reason for all the evil He plans… nothing happens in the universe apart from His will… So let’s say this evil happens. How do [people try to] get God off the hook?... By saying 'He didn’t want that to happen, or He’ll fix it, or He wouldn’t mess with your free will'… [But] the truth is that all those answers make God unworthy of worship… He actually decrees all things." [So Calvi-god is only worthy of worship if he deliberately wants, plans, and decrees evils like gang-rape!?!]
R.C. Sproul Jr. (watch The Church Split's video: "Calvinism's Most DISTURBING claim yet: This Is Monstrous Theology") says that God ordained the kidnapping, torture, rape, and strangulation-to-death of a 10-year-old girl, and that the little girl "received the judgment from God she had earned."
David Mathis, 9Marks ("Hallelujah over hell? How God's people rejoice while their enemies perish"): "We plainly don't think of hell as a reason for God's people to rejoice... The idea that we might someday enjoy God's justice and power on display in his judgment - the idea that hell might provoke our Hallelujah - seems almost imponderable.
... Yet [in the end]...we will rejoice in his power on display in the destruction of the wicked [wicked by Calvi-god's decree, not their own free choice - a very important distinction]. Even now, we can shape our hearts to rejoice appropriately in those truths... To begin, we would be wise to beware pretending our moral compass is better than God's. [Gaslighting! Manipulating you to not trust your judgment or listen to your concerns about this.]
Some Christians today may reluctantly think about hell, Well, God said it. I’ll believe it, but I don’t like it... While we might admirably profess to hold to God’s Word, our 'not liking it' is no evidence of maturity. In fact, it’s an expression of moral immaturity, if not error or sin. The admission that we do not like something that God says, does, or commands presents us with an opportunity to grow emotionally in our likeness to Christ. [A brilliant bit of manipulation! Well done!]
... We want to mature in this by meditating on the happiness of God’s people not despite but because of God’s destruction of the wicked... As God's horrific judgments fall one after another on the wicked, the torments of the damned in hell cannot diminish the delight of the saints in heaven... God's people rejoice because they know themselves to be recipients of his grace... Divine judgments against the wicked are for you. [And that's supposed to be comforting? That others are predestined to eternal damnation for our benefit? If you find comfort and joy in that, something is seriously wrong with you!]
... When we get to glory, we’ll find eternal joy in the God of lavish mercy and uncompromising justice. [Sure, if you define mercy as "picking only some for heaven but the rest for hell" and justice as "punishing people for what they had no choice about and no control over, for doing what God caused them to do"!😕]... While we may struggle now with how the eternal destruction of the wicked could be a cause for joy, we won’t struggle forever... [In the end] We will not cringe. We will cry hallelujah."
Well, Calvinists, why wait until eternity to celebrate it!?! Why be so "immature, in error, and sinful" by not celebrating it now!?!
And, of course, a beloved favorite by Mark Talbot/John Piper (editor), from Suffering and the Sovereignty of God (Read it slowly, Calvinists. Savor every word, every beautiful, grace-filled, God-exalting "truth"!😕😖):
"It isn’t just that God manages to turn the evil aspects of our world to good for those that love him; it is rather that he himself brings about these evil aspects… This includes God’s having even brought about the Nazi’s brutality at Birkenau and Auschwitz as well as the terrible killings of Dennis Nadar and even the sexual abuse of a young child... God's foreordination is the ultimate reason why everything comes about, including the existence of all evil persons and things and the occurrence of any evil acts or events. And so it is not inappropriate to take God to be the creator, the sender, the permitter, and sometimes even the instigator of evil.
... In summary, this means that we should affirm the age-old Christian doctrine of God’s complete providence over all. God has sovereignly ordained, from before the world began, everything that happens in our world... It should be beyond all doubt that no one suffers anything at anyone else’s hand without God having ordained that suffering.
During his first hour or so in Birkenau, Elie Wiesel saw the notorious Joseph Mengele...casually directing [people] either to his left, so that they went immediately to the gas chambers, or to his right to the forced-labor camp. In seeing Mengele, Wiesel was seeing a very evil man whom, nevertheless, God was actively sustaining and governing, nanosecond by nanosecond, through his evil existence. And we can be sure that, from before time began, God had ordained that at that place those moments would be filled with just those persons, doing and suffering exactly as they did... that he actually brought the whole situation about, guiding and governing and carrying it by his all-powerful and ever-effectual word to where it would accomplish exactly what he wanted it to do.
[Footnote: Mengele was a medical doctor who was nicknamed 'The Angel of Death.' He carried out unspeakable experiments on some of his prisoners, including injecting chemicals into children's eyes in an attempt to change their eye color from brown to the preferred Aryan blue. He would visit the children, acting kindly and bringing them candy and clothing in order to keep them calm and happy, and then transport them in what looked like a Red Cross truck or in his personal vehicle to his laboratory beside the crematoria where he would perform his horrible experiments and then burn their bodies. He specialized in experiments involving identical twins. He was intrigued to see if he could make them differ genetically by, among other horrors, performing sex-change operations on one of them or removing one twin’s limbs or organs in macabre surgical procedures that were performed without the use of anesthesia and that had no scientific basis or value.]
... Even though he ordains all of our free sinful choices ["Free" that's not free is not free. Duh!], those sinful choices still 'count' and we are held responsible for them.... In ordaining the evil works of others, he himself does no wrong, 'upright and just is he.'... We can be sure, as Scripture confirms, that God has made everything for its purpose, even evil persons like Joseph Mengele or Dennis Rader. We can be sure that God has made our lives’ most evil moments as well as their best....
... I myself find it very difficult to understand how [God can ordain evil for our good] with some of the worst things that human beings do, like sexually abusing young children or raping or torturing someone mercilessly.
And, of course, something much less horrible than these sorts of things can happen to us and still leave us wondering how God could be ordaining it for our good. I have seen marriages break apart after thirty-five years and felt to some degree the grief and utter discombobulation of the abandoned spouse. I have watched tragedies unfold that seem to remove all chance for any more earthly happiness.... Many of us have tasted such grief....Yet these griefs have been God’s gifts.... [And in the end, when we see Jesus face-to-face] we will see that God has indeed done all that he pleased and has done it all perfectly, both for his glory and our good..."
When someone gets to this point of believing that such horrible things about God are actually "good and God-honoring"... when they're convinced that the satanic lies they've embraced are "biblical truths" and that the plain teachings of the Bible are the lies... when they resist every attempt to correct them because they don't think they could possibly be wrong, convinced that those who disagree with them are the wrong ones... and when they are educated enough to know the actual truth of the Bible but have rejected it, locking themselves into their Calvinist doctrines and refusing to see it any other way... there is no hope for them.
We cannot reason with Calvinists like this because they resist all attempts to do so. And so all we can do at this point is pray for them, that God shocks them with a Damascus Road moment or that they come to their senses one day after they find themselves in the pit they dug for themselves, the place where they ended up after God handed them over to their self-chosen blindness, hardness of heart, and anti-gospel. Sad.
2 Chronicles 7:14: “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Just don't let them take you down with them! Listen to the alarm bells and do your research for yourself. Be a good Berean. It might hurt you, shake your faith a little at first, and cost you a lot, but it's worth it! (What else can we do in the face of such destructive and unbiblical doctrine taking over our churches, our families, the Church as a whole, and Christianity itself!)
Acts 17:11: “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”
1 John 4:1: "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
2 Timothy 2:15: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
