Angel T. at The Comment Corral
Here's a rather lengthy exchange between me and reader named Angel T. on my comment blog:
Angel T's comment:
Hello,
I just found out about your blog a little while ago and I wanted to reach out with two questions:
1. Are you familiar with Answers in Genesis? I used to work for them and I'm grateful for much of their great content concerning biblical authority and cultural issues. Nevertheless, although they claim to not take a side in the Calvinism debate, my wife and I have noted that their conferences typically feature Calvinistic speakers (such as Costi Hinn, Voddie Baucham, and others). It's frustrating because we appreciate AiG a lot but their associations with Calvinistic teachers is worrisome.
2. Would it be possible for my ministry to be added to your list of non-Calvinistic teachers/writers? In addition to serving as a pastor, the Lord has allowed me to publish two books. I aim to use the platform I've been given to inform people about the dangers of Calvinism and how we can respond in grace, humility, and truth.
Thanks for your time,
Angel
My reply:
Hello Angel, Thank you for your comment and insight. I do know of Answers in Genesis with Ken Ham. Like you, I truly appreciate their creation vs evolution research, and I have even shown lots of their videos to my kids because I think they're very valuable. But I didn't know about the Calvinist speakers at their conferences - that's sad to me that they'd do that. I wish they would just stick with creation vs. evolution, especially if they claim to not take a side.
But I have suspected for years that Ken Ham is most likely a Calvinist, based on some research I did about him. But since he didn't talk about it or push Calvinism in his creation stuff, I let it slide and enjoyed the creation videos anyway. And because his focus wasn't on theology, I never included his name on my lists of Calvinist preachers/teachers/pastors. But I've always known to be cautious with him. Thank you for bringing this to people's attention. It's worth knowing and being aware of. :)
I'm glad to hear you've got a ministry about exposing Calvinism and that you want to do it with grace and humility. That's wonderful! And so important these days, with the way Calvinism is spreading. If you share the name of your ministry and/or books with me, I'll look into it. (It will take me some time though.)
And even if I don't add it to the actual lists on my other blog (I only have a few consistent names on that list, ones I've known for years), at least it will be here in the comment section for people to find... or maybe I could highlight it in its own post. I've done that before to help get the word out about other resources. God bless. And thank you for taking the time to visit and comment. :)
And one more thing: I just started publishing comments from this Comment Corral blog on my anti-Calvinism blog. So fill your next comment with things you'd like to have published on my other blog. It'll be like being a guest blogger for a day. :)
(But I reserve the right to edit out things in people's comments that I don't want published on my blog, like identifying details about other people/churches, or links to websites I don't want to support, or if someone says something hurtful/bad information, or Bible verses in a translation that's copyrighted, etc. But I'll do my best to publish them as is.)
Angel's reply:
Heather,
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my questions. Concerning Mr. Ham's stance on Calvinism, he put out the following article two years ago:
Perhaps you'll find that to be helpful for your records. As for my books, I can email you the final manuscripts so that you won't be charged for anything. Otherwise, you can find them on Amazon:
- Creation Reformation: Returning to the Authority of Genesis (this one isn't about Calvinism but rather creation v. evolution).
- Does Truth Matter? (this is a commentary on 2 John and I do my best to clarify what election means, among other questions pertaining to truth and so on).
Here's my website:
https://biblically-speaking.ghost.io
It's still pretty barebones since I just recently started putting it together, but I'm currently working on a series of posts concerning Calvinism. I'll leave some thoughts in a follow-up comment for your readers (should you choose to publish it).
In Christ,
Angel
My reply:
Thank you, Angel. I appreciate the offer for emailing the books, but that's okay, you don't have to. I don't share my email address publicly anyway, and so you wouldn't even know where to send it. And it would be too long for the comment section. But at least we all can find it on Amazon now. :)
And I appreciate you sharing your website with us. God bless your efforts and your ministry. And yes, go ahead and share some more thoughts in a follow-up comment. It sounds like you tackle the same kinds of issues I do. God bless!
Angel's reply:
(Part One)
"Is that grace available to everyone? God's help to be saved?"
Seventeen years ago, a woman asked that question before a panel of three well-known Bible teachers. All three men addressed her query, however, one in particular said the following:
"You mean regenerative grace? No."
(Please know that "regenerative grace" is a man-made phrase that doesn't appear in the Bible and, in fact, contradicts what we do see in Scripture.) This takes us to the subject of Calvinism; what exactly did John Calvin teach and what does it have to with how that Bible teacher responded to that woman?
Well, in his famous book Institutes of Christian Religion, John Calvin wrote the following: "All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death."
Essentially, he taught that God has created certain people for eternal life and others for eternal damnation. If such an idea is scriptural, then the answer given to that woman's question was spot on. According to Calvinistic theology, it makes sense that only the elect receive this special regenerative grace from God. After all, they are the ones who've been preordained for salvation. If Calvinism is not biblical, however, then that lady was terribly misled (by a leading Bible teacher, no less).
So, let's compare these claims with the plain teaching of Scripture.
(Part Two)
Are there any passages from the Bible that speak of God's mercy extending toward all people? Consider the following verses from Psalm 145 (a beautiful Psalm about God as the Creator and Sustainer):
- "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works... The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth" (Psalm 145:8-9, 15-18).
Clearly, the scope here encompasses all of creation. God satisfies the desire of everything that lives, and no one can operate independently from God's sustaining power (Job 12:10, Acts 17:28). Moreover, Psalm 145:9 says that "... his tender mercies are over all his works." Human beings certainly qualify as God's works (Psalm 139:14, Ephesians 2:10)! Additionally, God is near to whom? "… to all that call upon Him in truth." If you are seeking after the Lord, then you have a promise straight from Jesus that your search will be honored by God (Matthew 7:7-8). God created us in His image and His will is that none would perish (2 Peter 3:8-9).
But let's look at another example in Scripture:
- "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:8-11).
Most likely you're familiar with the Christmas narrative of Jesus' birth in humble Bethlehem. Well, note carefully what the angel who appeared to the shepherds on that special Judean night said: "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." If God's mercy is reserved for the elect and the elect only, how could the birth of Jesus possibly be good news for everyone else? After all, Calvinists who believe in a limited atonement would say that Jesus' blood wasn't shed for the non-elect. But according to Scripture, Jesus coming in the flesh is cause for rejoicing for everyone, because He came to die for everyone!
Although there are more examples we could look at from Scripture, I'll end with the words of Romans 5:17-19:
-"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
Sin and death came into the world when Adam sinned by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. There was no death or suffering in this world prior to Adam's sin. But we can't stop reading there: "… even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life" (Romans 5:18). How many men did the free gift come upon? All men! Just as Adam's sin affected the entire human race, the sacrifice of Christ was made on behalf of the entire human race. As you've probably noticed, the language used in these passages (e.g., Psalm 145, Luke 2, and Romans 5) is so plain that you have to do some serious theological gymnastics to try and make them say something else. May our thinking be built upon the strong rock that is Scripture instead of the sand that is man's wisdom and rhetoric!
My reply:
Thank you for sharing, Angel - and for taking a stand against Calvinism, a theology which I too believe contradicts the plain teaching of Scripture. And as you said, Calvinism requires "some serious theological gymnastics to try and make [Scripture] say something else." (As a licensed counselor, Calvinism's mental gymnastics, word games, and manipulation really raise my red flags.)
Here are some examples of the mental gymnastics Calvinists would use to answer things you wrote (you might know this already, but I'm including it for the other readers):
1. They would agree that God pours His mercy/grace out on all people, but they break up "mercy/grace" into 2 types: a save-your-soul kind for the elect, and a give-you-food-and-water-while-alive kind for the non-elect. So they'll agree that God gives mercy/grace to ALL people - yet they'll hide the "non-saving" type as long as possible so that we don't catch on too quickly to what they really think, because it will alarm/repel us. Their duplicity makes us initially think they're saying the same things we are (when they really aren't) - and so we let our guard down and unwittingly follow them into Calvinism, unaware that they've got a deeper, unbiblical layer that they're hiding underneath the biblical surface-layer.
2. They'll agree that God is near to all who call on Him and that He honors those who seek Him. But they don't think that all people have the inherent ability to call on/seek God, but that the only ones who can seek God are the ones He first regenerated (the elect), giving them the desire/ability to seek Him and call on Him. But the non-elect will never want to seek God because they remain unregenerated, just like Calvi-god predestined. In Calvinism, if you seek God, it's because you are already elect/saved. And no one else can seek. As Calvinist Loraine Boettner said in The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination: "A man is not saved because he believes in Christ; he believes in Christ because he is saved."
3. They would agree that His will is that none perish, making it seem at first like they think (as most of us non-Calvinists do) that if God wants all saved then He must have given all people the ability/option to be saved. But once again, they have "two types": (1) God wills/wants all people to be saved, but (2) He also wants glory when He shows off His wrath/justice by punishing sin/sinners in hell, and so He created reprobates to punish. You see, Calvi-god has two competing wills/wants, which leads him to decree things he doesn't want or not decree things he does want. Calvinists will say "Yes, God wills/wants all people to be saved - and so He'll be sad that people are in hell - but He wants glory for Himself more than He wants all people saved, and so He predestined some people to hell."
Calvinism is one great big Alice-in-Wonderland rabbit-hole. A real "through the looking glass" experience, full of mental gymnastics, word games, duplicity, hidden meanings, etc.. And so we often think they're saying one thing when they're really saying something totally different. But by the time we catch on, it's usually too late because - having let our guards down, trusting they were on the same page we are and were preaching the Bible correctly - we let them slowly and strategically reel us into Calvinism, right under our noses.
But as you said, Angel: "May our thinking be built upon the strong rock that is Scripture instead of the sand that is man's wisdom and rhetoric!"
Amen and amen! Keep up the good work and may God bless your ministry!
Oh, and one more bit of mental gymnastics: Calvinists will also use the term "all men," but they mean one of two things (neither of which is the same way we non-Calvinists use "all men/all individual people"):
1. They will break up all men into two different types with different characteristics/qualifications/outcomes. Calvi-god loves "all men" but he loves them with two different types of love: a "saving love" for the elect and a "non-saving love" for the non-elect where he merely gives them food and water while they're alive before sending them to their predestined damnation.
2. And sometimes when they say "all men," they mean "all kinds of men/all nations": Calvi-Jesus died for "all men," but not all individual people, just all kinds of people, the elect from all nations.
But of course, we think at first that they're saying "all individual people" (which is how most of us would interpret "all") and so we let our guards down, listen to them more, and let them Pied-Piper us further and further into Calvinism.
The more we study Calvinism and its tactics, the deeper the rabbit-hole goes and the more bizarre it gets.
Angel's reply:
Concerning the concept of God having "two wills," I appreciate what Sebastian Castellio, a Protestant Reformer, pointed out about the problem with that (and he personally knew John Calvin and was familiar with his theology). He essentially said that God doesn't approve of man being double-minded:
"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8).
But according to Calvinistic theology, seemingly everything is not what it appears to be on the surface. For instance, God "loves" the world, but "world" doesn't literally mean everybody and His love is categorized into a generic kind of love for the lost and a salvific love for the elect. Isn't that what we'd call being "double-minded?" In fact, the AV1611 KJV dictionary defines "double heart" as "Deceitful; acting two parts, one openly, the other in secret." Sounds like Calvinism to me!
Regardless, I appreciate the opportunity to share some of my observations about Calvinism (especially in light of the plain teaching of Scripture).
My reply:
Well said, Angel! Especially "But according to Calvinistic theology, seemingly everything is not what it appears to be on the surface." Thank you, and God bless! :)
