[Editor’s note: This was published prior to 2021. It is republished here so it can be accessed.-JS]
I believe a person can be a Calvinist and still be a Christian…I just don’t know how. Calvinism (named after John Calvin 1509-1564) teaches a person must be chosen by God for salvation and has no free will in accepting or rejecting that salvation. The doctrine is represented by an acronym:
Total Hereditary Depravity (man is so sinful he cannot believe)
Unconditional Election (God chooses the saved and damned)
Limited Atonement (Jesus died for the saved alone)
Irresistible Grace (The Holy Spirit acts before faith, repentance)
Perseverance of the Saints (Those God chooses are saved)
When our faith only friends refer to “getting religion” or “being saved” they are describing the moment the Holy Spirit “hit” them with irresistible grace. This better felt than told experience is seen as proof God has chosen them to be one of the predestined saved. True Calvinism teaches you are incapable of faith or repentance until this miraculous work of the Spirit enables you to believe and turn. But perhaps my biggest issue with this doctrine is it nullifies the need for and effectiveness of baptism.
The way a Calvinist sees it, the irresistible grace experience is proof God has chosen them and regenerated their entire depraved being. After that, what good is baptism? After this sign of God’s choice, how can they fall from grace? These are the logical conclusions if Calvinism is true. And there lies the problem.
Where in Scripture is an unbeliever told they must wait until the Spirit hits them? Where is the description of this better felt than told experience being referred to as a moment of salvation? Where are the hordes of people being struck down by God’s sovereign choice regardless of the desire for salvation or even open hostility toward our Lord? Calvinism teaches a person can go to worship every Lord’s day, read their Bible religiously, submit to God in every way they know how, and still be lost because God did not choose them. The dark secret of Calvinism is that God chooses the saved and condemns the lost and there is nothing a person can do to change that.
This teaching is the root of all faith only religion. Few today openly acknowledge it. The modern evangelical has given man free will to make a choice to “let God into their heart” or “say a sinner’s prayer.” But they have retained Calvin’s teaching that the moment of faith is the moment of salvation. It is a pity the practice given to Christians to be a participation in the very act of atonement that makes salvation possible (Romans 6:3-4), has been made meaningless to some because of a man-made doctrine (Matthew 15:6-9). In its place, man has put a superstitious feeling or an unscriptural prayer.
How simple would it be to go back to the Bible and simply repeat the words of Jesus, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”-Mark 16:16? What would Peter’s answer be to the question, “What must we do?” You know the answer (Acts 2:38). Jesus died so you would believe. You have the choice to submit to baptism and be forgiven by the power of God. If Calvinism is true, then the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28 make no sense, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Calvinism teaches you can’t come to Jesus even if you want to. False teaching makes one heavy laden. Be reconciled to God today! Praise God you can!
Leave a Reply