Calvinism's "For No Reason At All"

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Calvinists object when we say, "for no reason at all" is the methodology of their god. It is claimed that God needs no reason, that it simply pleased Him to do, or that the reason is hidden in the mystery of His will: "We do not know what God bases His choice on..."

Even God, however, must have reason for saving some and damning others. Otherwise, He would be acting unreasonably, and thus contrary to His being. Election/predestination is always said in the Bible to result from God's foreknowledge-"the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Cor. 2.9).

He offers to reason with man about this matter: "Come now, and let us reason together" (Is. 1.18).

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"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3.16). Both "world" and "whosoever" must be changed to "elect" for Calvinism to be sustained. But God is "no respecter of persons" (Acts 10.34) "without partiality" (James 3.17).

God is love and that He is merciful to all is exactly what we would expect of Him in view of His command to us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to do good to all. Calvin though said, "the first man fell because the Lord deemed it meet that he should...because he saw that his own glory would thereby be displayed...".

But the Bible says, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Is. 55.7); "Ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer. 29.13); "Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will like him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock (Matt. 7.24); " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11.28); "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (John 7.37); "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22.17).

Each of the above clearly includes two facts that refute the invention of man, Unconditional Election:

1) The command and invitation are given to all, not just to a select group. The words "wicked and "unrighteous" and "whosoever" and "all" clearly mean what they say and cannot be turned into "elect".

2) There are conditions that must be met. There is both a command and an invitation to meet certain requirements: to "forsake" one's sin, to seek God with the whole heart, to "hear and do" what Christ commands, to "come" to Him, and to "take and drink" the water of life that Christ gives.

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Pleading "mystery" can not cover up the horror of this doctrine of Unconditional Election. Calvin mistakenly said "How sinful it is to insist on knowing the causes of the divine will...Ignorance of things which we are not able...it is not lawful to know...while the desire to know them is a species of madness." Pleading "mystery" and exalting ignorance is contrary to God's Word, which tells us that we must "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason..." (1 Pet. 3.15). Yet Calvin said it is wrong to seek a reason.

The only Greek word translated "mystery" is musterion. It is never used as Calvin used it to denote a secret not to be revealed. For example: "I would not...that ye should be ignorant of this mystery..." (Rom. 11.25); "I shew you a mystery..." (1 Cor. 15.51); "made known unto me the mystery..." (Eph. 3.3); "Even the mystery which hath been hid...but now is made manifest" (Col. 1.26); " I will tell thee the mystery..." (Rev. 17.7), etc.

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According to the doctrine of Unconditional Election, both the faith to believe and the salvation the elect receive are imposed upon them by God's sovereignty, overriding entirely their alleged human incapacity to choose and their depraved will's rejection of the gospel. The Calvinist objects to the phrase "imposed upon them" and insists that God simply removed from the elect their natural resistance to the gospel.

Any removal, however, of the alleged natural rejection would have to change a rebellious sinner's desire. On the contrary, no one can be made either to love or to accept a gift, much less change his mind without the willingness to do so. That willingness must come from the heart; it can't be created out of thin air, because no one can be forced to change their mind. "He that cometh to God must believe that he is..." (Heb. 11.6). Jesus said, "According to your faith be it unto you" (Matt. 9.29). The expression "your faith" is found twenty-four times: "your faith is spoken of..." (Rom. 1.8); "if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain..." (1 Cor. 15.17), etc. "Thy faith" is found eleven times: "thy faith hath made thee whole..." (Mark 5.34: Luke 8.48); "the communication of thy faith..." (Philem. 6), etc. "His faith" is found twice: "his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4.5), etc., and "their faith" three times: "Jesus saw their faith" (Mark 2.5), etc. These are odd expressions if no one can have faith unless God sovereignly regenerates him-then give him a faith that is not his own but totally of God.

Scripture repeatedly depicts God as appealing to man's reason, conscience, and will in order to persuade him to repent and believe. The entire story of God's dealing with man-past, present, and future, as revealed in Scripture-is a meaningless charade if Unconditional Election is true. And so it is with all of TULIP.

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Atheists feel justified in rejecting a God who, contrary to basic human compassion, predestinates multitudes to eternal torment whom He could just as well have predestined to eternal joy in His presence. Some try to escape the moral disaster by simply saying it is hidden in the secret of God's will-an obvious copout. Others, while admitting this monstrous contradiction, insist that what seems abhorrent to us is not so to God. That argument, however, is demolished by the fact that God has written His standards in every conscience and reasons with mankind upon that very basis (Is. 1.10-20). "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also them likewise" (Luke 6.31).

Calvinist cannot agree on how to handle Paul's clear declaration that God desires "all men to be saved" (1 Tim. 2.4). Of course many calvinists argue that Paul doesn't mean "all men" but "all classes of men". Calvin himself adopted this devious idea for escaping the truth concerning God's love for all. Yet Spurgeon rejected this ploy: "As it is my wish that is should be so, as it is your wish that it might be so, so it is God's wish that all men should be saved; for assuredly, he is not less benevolent than we are."

The rabbit hole gets dug this way: Spurgeon said God apparently has two wills, "God's will of decree (His eternal purpose)...[and] God's will of desire." But Spurgeon pleaded ignorance: "[God] has infinite benevolence which is not at all points worked out by his infinite omnipotence; and if anybody asks me why it is not, I cannot tell...of all difficulties." What a copout. God is not totally benevolent?

Calvinism creates this "difficulty"! To face reality a Calvinist would have to abandon the dogmas which he has devoted his life and reputation. Many have done so. It is our prayer that we may help more to be delivered from TULIP.

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"God so loved the world" that He gave His Son to die "that the world through him might be saved" (John 3.16-17). Christ the Lamb of God came to take away the sins of the world" (John 1.29), and He became the propitiation "for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2.2).

"Whosoever believeth in him.... Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely" (John 3.16; Rev. 22.17). How can God express this any more plainly? "Whosoever" is defined in Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary as "whoever; whatever person: an emphatic form." There are no alternate meanings-it always means whoever or whatever person. The word "whosoever" is found 183 times in 163 verses, beginning with "whosoever slayeth Cain" (Gen. 4.15). "Whosoever" clearly means everyone without exception. There is nothing in these passages or in any other context to suggest that Christ ever offers salvation to anyone less than "whosoever".

"Everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it [the brazen serpent], shall live...if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (Numb. 21.8-9; see John 3.14,15). The healing was not for a select group within Israel that God has predestined to be healed, but for "everyone...any man." "All have sinned..all the world [is] guilty before God," thus salvation is for "all them that believe" (Rom. 3.9-31).

If salvation is not genuinely available to all, why did Christ command His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16.15)? Is that not giving a false impression, both to His disciples and to all who would read their account of Christ's teaching? "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life" (John 5.24); "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink" (7.37); "I am the door...by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved" (John 10.7-9).

The preaching of the gospel of calvinism becomes a cruel hoax.

"All have sinned" (Rom. 3.23), so all are offered deliverance from sin and its penalty through the gospel. Surely the "all" in "all we like sheep have gone astray" must be the same as the "all" in "the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53.6). "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11.28). This is a promise that all who labor and are heavy laden with sin have every reason to believe is extended to them. He is not willing that anyone should perish but wills for "all men to be saved" (1 Tim. 2.4). All Israel went astray, therefore, Christ suffered for the sins of all Israel; "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3.23).

John the Baptist declared, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1.29), yes the whole world. To claim that "all" and "world" mean only a select group called "the elect" does violence to the plain meaning of language and impugns the character of God.

Calvinism is likened to the following scenario:

If I should hold a rope 30 feet above a man at the bottom of a well and plead with him earnestly to take hold of it so that I could pull him out, wouldn't he think that I was mocking him? And if, in addition, I berate him for not grabbing the rope, would he not begin to wish he could grab me by the throat? And how could I maintain to any reasonable person that I really wanted to bring the man up out of the well but he was the one who wasn't willing? So how can God really want to save those to whom He doesn't extent irresistible grace, that being the only means whereby they can believe the gospel?

Whether the man was dead or alive, it wouldn't be a sincere offer extended to all. The insincerity of the calvinism god is unmistakable. If he has the power to take him out then why not do so? Such balarny can not be explained away by the potter and the clay when promising perfection to each lump of clay, yet turning around and discarding many, if not most, into a rubbish heap.

The "Father of all mercies, and God of all comfort" (2 Cor. 1.3) would not withhold mercy from any who so desperately needed it-much less that He would take pleasure in doing so. Surely God is being misrepresented by those who limit His love and mercy and grace to a select number.