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1)Calvinism is a theology that was invented in the 1500's by John Calvin.
This is false, because John Calvin developed his ideas and theology from St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), who also believed that salvation was predestined by God,and that all men are totally depraved, and can in no way seek God. Calvinisism is similar to some parts of Thomism by St.Thomas Aquinas. And I would call it Paulism and Johnism too, since they clearly teach such Calvinist concepts in The Bible.
2)Calvinism is anti-Gospel because it states that God has already chosen those whom he would save. For the Calvinist, evangelism is an empty act because he leaves it up to God.
Although God has chosen who will be saved, and he does this by regeneration. He has chosen preaching to be the primary way this is accomplished. By having an evangelist preach the Gospel--God has his name proclaimed and is therefored glorified. Additionallly, God is glorified because those elected will come forward (out of a new desire of heart and the conviction of sin) and bow the knee and call on the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ and be saved. For what is is a person's heart is what comes out of thier mouth. Therefore, Salvation is a condition of the heart.
You can read a devotion I wrote in this thread.
http://www.christianforums.com/t676708
3)Calvinism teaches that God will not accept anyone who comes to him.
According to hyper-calvinism, faith and belief don't save us. Hyper-Calvinism is nothing like Calvism, with the exception of Election. It is contrary to the truth of The Bible because it tells Christians that evangelism/wittnessing does not matter, and rightous works don't matter.
Here is a thread and a website about the subject of Hyper-Calvinism.
What is hyper-calvinism?
http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/articles/hypercal.htm
4)Calvinism teaches that we are forced to believe God, and therefore contradicts "free will" or "free agency".
As already stated, God regenerates the sinner, thereby providing him a new desire to seek Him. He does this because he wants to, not because he has too. The Baptist Faith and Message teaches this as well.
5) According to Calvism teaches that we can know who the unelect are.
I have never known any Calvinist that believed or taught this. Since Election is God's pretemporal choice of whom he would save; we can not know who those people are. Only God knows. The most stubborn and obstinate people I know may yet one day believe.
6)Calvinism has very little basis in Scripture.
Anyone who has studied Calvinism enough knows that this is simply not the case. In fact, Calvinsim has so much basis in Scripture that many Christians including myself struggle with its concepts. Arinmias developed his Anti-thethical theology shortaly after John Calvin so he could justify the free agency of man, and the fairness of God, and clarify what the Bible means by "election" and "election to grace" (Matt. 24:22, 31 Mark 13:20, 22; Rom. 9:11, 11:7, 28;Eph. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:10; Titus 1:5;1 1 Peter 1:1-3; 2 Tim. 1:10)
7)Calvism is the belief that God damns some people to hell while others he choses for Salvation.
Calvinism includes many tenants of Soteriology. This is about Election and predistination
Eletion is found in the bible, see #5. You may not agree with the Calvinist interpretation, but it is there.
9)Calvinism teaches that we should not share the Gospel, and that we can't even know if we are saved or not.
This is Hyper-Calvinism. It is true that we don't know who is elect, and that Salvation soley God's choice. Yet he still holds us responsible for our actions (Romans 9). He has every right to blame us for our failures to share the Good News.
10)Calvinism is limited to 5 simple points in the form of an acronymn, TULIP which was invented by John Calvin.
Calvinism includes so much more than TULIP. TULIP is over simplified to be of much use in teaching The Bible. Also, John Calvin did not invent TULIP. It was invented by other reformers 55 years after his death. Calvin wrote his Institutes of Christian Religion, an 80 chapter book that discusses his theology.
11)Calvinism ignores all the passages about faith and believing.
This is not true, but TULIP does. TULIP is not the end all of Calvinism.
12) According to Calvinism we should not pray for other peoples salvation because God has already decided the matter.
Also, we find promises of salvation to family members nad others (Acts 2:39; and 1 Tim. 2:1-8). God finds this acceptable, because he wants all kinds of people to be saved. And desires all to repent (Ezek. 18:23, 33:11). Read this article about divine election and God's disire to save all (From a Calvinist view point).
You can read an old thread here about this topic.
13)Calvinims limites the number of people that would be saved.
This is a big if, and based on a number of assumptions. For example, it assumes that if God allowed others to choose him with resistance as an option, then thier resistance my interfere with someone elses opportunity to make the decidsion. This relates to chaos theory, where a butterfly in Brazil flaps its wings, which causes a long chain of events to where somebody dies in China. See Chaos Theory and Butterfly Effect.
All Calvinist reject Chaos Theory, because they believe that God controls everthing directly or passively, and that there is no accidents and not random luck. The Puritans called this Providence. If one rejects the notion that God would choose people without reason, then one must accept a world where God is not always in control. They have to deal with the sovereignty of God.
For me, I would rather trust God to save some, then leave it to chances and chaos.
14)According to Calvinists, God is unfair because he elects some to hell.
There are different view on how God elects people. Some believe that God saw all of the human race as fallen and sinful and condemned to die, and out of those few he chose to pardon some by sparing them hell (what they deserve/mercy) and giving them eternal life (Something undeserved/grace). I can't remember the terminology for this, but to suffice it to say, God is more than fair in saving anybody.
14) The comic Calvin and Hobbes has nothing to do with John Calvin.
15) Calvinist make for bad Christians.
Many great Christian have lived that where Calvinists
This is false, because John Calvin developed his ideas and theology from St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), who also believed that salvation was predestined by God,and that all men are totally depraved, and can in no way seek God. Calvinisism is similar to some parts of Thomism by St.Thomas Aquinas. And I would call it Paulism and Johnism too, since they clearly teach such Calvinist concepts in The Bible.
2)Calvinism is anti-Gospel because it states that God has already chosen those whom he would save. For the Calvinist, evangelism is an empty act because he leaves it up to God.
Although God has chosen who will be saved, and he does this by regeneration. He has chosen preaching to be the primary way this is accomplished. By having an evangelist preach the Gospel--God has his name proclaimed and is therefored glorified. Additionallly, God is glorified because those elected will come forward (out of a new desire of heart and the conviction of sin) and bow the knee and call on the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ and be saved. For what is is a person's heart is what comes out of thier mouth. Therefore, Salvation is a condition of the heart.
You can read a devotion I wrote in this thread.
http://www.christianforums.com/t676708
3)Calvinism teaches that God will not accept anyone who comes to him.
According to hyper-calvinism, faith and belief don't save us. Hyper-Calvinism is nothing like Calvism, with the exception of Election. It is contrary to the truth of The Bible because it tells Christians that evangelism/wittnessing does not matter, and rightous works don't matter.
Here is a thread and a website about the subject of Hyper-Calvinism.
What is hyper-calvinism?
http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/articles/hypercal.htm
4)Calvinism teaches that we are forced to believe God, and therefore contradicts "free will" or "free agency".
As already stated, God regenerates the sinner, thereby providing him a new desire to seek Him. He does this because he wants to, not because he has too. The Baptist Faith and Message teaches this as well.
Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility. http://www.utm.edu/martinarea/fbc/bfm/5.html
We see here that God's election works throught all things, "it comphrehends all the means in connection with the end" whether it be prayer, Christian music, The Bible, or preaching. God may simply be waiting for us to pray before he acts. Look at the example of the Apostle Paul, who was stubborn and ruthless (Acts 9;19-20).
5) According to Calvism teaches that we can know who the unelect are.
I have never known any Calvinist that believed or taught this. Since Election is God's pretemporal choice of whom he would save; we can not know who those people are. Only God knows. The most stubborn and obstinate people I know may yet one day believe.
6)Calvinism has very little basis in Scripture.
Anyone who has studied Calvinism enough knows that this is simply not the case. In fact, Calvinsim has so much basis in Scripture that many Christians including myself struggle with its concepts. Arinmias developed his Anti-thethical theology shortaly after John Calvin so he could justify the free agency of man, and the fairness of God, and clarify what the Bible means by "election" and "election to grace" (Matt. 24:22, 31 Mark 13:20, 22; Rom. 9:11, 11:7, 28;Eph. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:10; Titus 1:5;1 1 Peter 1:1-3; 2 Tim. 1:10)
7)Calvism is the belief that God damns some people to hell while others he choses for Salvation.
Calvinism includes many tenants of Soteriology. This is about Election and predistination
'Nevertheless, it is not entirely accurate to identify Calvinism with predestinarianism, as this was only a minor teaching of John Calvin."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:John_Calvin
8)Election is not found in The Bible. Eletion is found in the bible, see #5. You may not agree with the Calvinist interpretation, but it is there.
9)Calvinism teaches that we should not share the Gospel, and that we can't even know if we are saved or not.
This is Hyper-Calvinism. It is true that we don't know who is elect, and that Salvation soley God's choice. Yet he still holds us responsible for our actions (Romans 9). He has every right to blame us for our failures to share the Good News.
10)Calvinism is limited to 5 simple points in the form of an acronymn, TULIP which was invented by John Calvin.
Calvinism includes so much more than TULIP. TULIP is over simplified to be of much use in teaching The Bible. Also, John Calvin did not invent TULIP. It was invented by other reformers 55 years after his death. Calvin wrote his Institutes of Christian Religion, an 80 chapter book that discusses his theology.
11)Calvinism ignores all the passages about faith and believing.
This is not true, but TULIP does. TULIP is not the end all of Calvinism.
12) According to Calvinism we should not pray for other peoples salvation because God has already decided the matter.
Also, we find promises of salvation to family members nad others (Acts 2:39; and 1 Tim. 2:1-8). God finds this acceptable, because he wants all kinds of people to be saved. And desires all to repent (Ezek. 18:23, 33:11). Read this article about divine election and God's disire to save all (From a Calvinist view point).
You can read an old thread here about this topic.
13)Calvinims limites the number of people that would be saved.
This is a big if, and based on a number of assumptions. For example, it assumes that if God allowed others to choose him with resistance as an option, then thier resistance my interfere with someone elses opportunity to make the decidsion. This relates to chaos theory, where a butterfly in Brazil flaps its wings, which causes a long chain of events to where somebody dies in China. See Chaos Theory and Butterfly Effect.
All Calvinist reject Chaos Theory, because they believe that God controls everthing directly or passively, and that there is no accidents and not random luck. The Puritans called this Providence. If one rejects the notion that God would choose people without reason, then one must accept a world where God is not always in control. They have to deal with the sovereignty of God.
For me, I would rather trust God to save some, then leave it to chances and chaos.
14)According to Calvinists, God is unfair because he elects some to hell.
There are different view on how God elects people. Some believe that God saw all of the human race as fallen and sinful and condemned to die, and out of those few he chose to pardon some by sparing them hell (what they deserve/mercy) and giving them eternal life (Something undeserved/grace). I can't remember the terminology for this, but to suffice it to say, God is more than fair in saving anybody.
14) The comic Calvin and Hobbes has nothing to do with John Calvin.
"Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, a comic character created by Bill Watterson, was named after John Calvin." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin#Trivia
Many great Christian have lived that where Calvinists
http://www.founders.org/library/reis1/reis.html