The "Two Conflicting Wills" Theory

The Calvinist says, "Because God's will is always done, the will of every creature must conform to the sovereign will of God." Logically, then, every thought, word, and deed of mankind (including the most heinous wickedness) has been willed by God. Vance comments, "That fornication and unthankfulness are actually part of God's 'secret will' should come as no surprise in light of...the Calvinistic concept of God's all-encompassing decree." But does not everyone's God-given conscience shrink in horror from this doctrine that all evil is according to God's will? Pink even rejects the distinction sometimes made between God's "perfect will" and His "permissive will," because "God only permits that which is according to His will." He thus contradicts MacArthur's view of 1 Tim 2.4 that God has two conflicting wills-a view with which Sproul, Piper, and other leading Calvinists are in full agreement.

Piper has an unblushing contradiction. In His great love and compassion, God "desires the salvation of all men." Yet to "display the full range of his glory" he doesn't save them all-and this in spite of the insistence that He could save all if he so desired. Let us get this straight: Piper's God desire the salvation of all men; in His sovereign imposition of irresistible grace, he could save all but doesn't in order show "the sovereign demonstration of his wrath..."

So God has two wills which, though they contradict each other, are really in secret agreement. Are we being led into madness where words have lost their meaning? There is no way to reconcile reprobation with the clear expression of God's love and desire for the salvation of all. God does not contradict Himself in one sense, but not in another. God never contradicts Himself! Piper must, therefore, show these two wills are in agreement. This he fails to do because it is impossible. A contradiction is a contradiction. There is no honest way to do it.

Piper is following Calvin who fell into the same misconception. Calvin's God is a schizophrenic and this is how calvinists become and take medicine for their condition. Calvin said, "No mention is made of the secret decree of God by which the wicked are doomed to their own ruin." Sproul attempts to play the same broken string. Bryson responds reasonably and succinctly:

Thus, Calvinists are in the rather awkward position of claiming to make a valid offer of salvation (to the unelect)...while denying [that] the only provision (i.e., Christ's death) of salvation is for the unelect...[and saying] that the unelect cannot possibly believe [the gospel].... To add insult to injury, they are claiming this is just the way God (from all eternity) wanted it to be."

Calvinists claim that man's will and actions cannot be in conflict with God's will, for that would make man greater than God. That unbiblical position concerning God's sovereignty drives them to propose that the two wills in conflict are not God's will and man's will, but the two wills of God's design. In other words, they claim that the battle is not between God and man, as the Bible says, but rather God against himself, as Calvinism insists. God is being misrepresented.