Argument Against Calvinistic Understanding of Election & Predestination

Tarrou said:

I'm afraid I've little ability to keep myself out of this particular argument. I have tried, though.

Argument from Arbitrary Selection:

1. All humans are born into a state of Total Depravity. (premise)
2. Because of Original Sin, humans cannot be born into any state other than that of total depravity. (premise—or true by definition of 'total depravity')
3. Because of total depravity, humans are incapable of doing anything of his own free will that is wholly free of sin or of choosing to follow God. (premise—or true by definition of 'Total Depravity')
4. The cause of original sin (i.e. the act that created the condition of original sin) is Adam and/or Eve. (premise)
5. Any human being born after the fall, though inheriting the guilt of original sin, is not the cause of original sin. (from 4)
6. No human being born after the fall chose to be born into a state of total depravity. (from 2 and 5)
7. All human beings are condemned to a state of total depravity by forces wholly outside of their control. (from 6)
8. All humans are equally sinful and/or unworthy of God. (from 1 and 3)
9. All humans are equally inculpable for their sinful state. (from 7)
10. All humans are morally equal. (from 8 and 9)
11. Justice is not arbitrary. (premise)
12. Some humans will be elected to salvation. (premise)
13. All humans not elected to salvation will be damned. (premise)
14. Not all humans will be elected. (premise)
15. God's election is based on his will alone and not foreknowledge (i.e. Arminianism is false). (premise)
16. Some humans will be damned. (from 13 and 14)
17. Some humans will be saved. (from 12)
18. God's has divided humans between the elect and the reprobate. (from 16 and 17)
19. The elect are no more or less sinful than the reprobate. (from 10)
20. Election/reprobation is arbitrary as regards the individuals selected. (from 15, 18 and 19)
21. Election/reprobation is not just. (from 11 and 20)
22. God is just. (premise—or true by the definition of 'God')
23. God is responsible for election/reprobation. (premise)
24. God engages in unjust activities. (from 21 and 23)
25. Items 22 and 24 are contradictory; therefore, one or more of the premises is false: either God is not just and the reprobation/election scheme arbitrary, or God is just and the scheme is not arbitrary.

You could, of course, argue that God is all working this out to some ultimately and unknowably just end; but then he is achieving an end that is just on balance via a means that is unjust in and of itself, which makes God a utilitarian rather than a being of inviolable justice, and utilitarianism is unacceptable in an omnipotent being for whom such moral compromises should be unnecessary:

Argument from Moral Compromise

1. God is just. (premise—or true by the definition of 'God')
2. God is omnipotent (premise—or true by the definition of 'God')
3. The doctrine of unconditional election is true. (premise)
4. Unconditional election is unjust. (premise; see 'Argument from Arbitrary Selection')
5. God can use unjust means to achieve a just end. (premise)
6. God is using the the unjust election/reprobation scheme for just ends. (from 3, 4 and 5)
7. God is making a moral compromise. (from 6)
8. Omnipotent beings do not need to compromise. (premise—or true by the definition of 'omnipotence')
9. God is perpetrating unjust acts unnecessarily. (from 7 and 8')
10. Items 1, 2 and 9 are contradictory; therefore, one or more of the premises is false: either God is not just, or God is not omnipotent, or the doctrine of unconditional election is false.

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Monergism said:

It's been quite some time since I've stepped foot into Christian Forums, so to speak. I came across a fellow who wished to challenge the Calvinist view of predestination, and his method would seem to have dismantled the idea that the Calvinistic belief of election and predestination is arbitrary and brings a moral issue for God and man. I know that the Reformers disagree that God arbitrarily elects and predestines. However, I thought I'd come here to get some replies. Here I lay out the fellow's argument.

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Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

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I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. (Rom 11:4b)

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