To my brothers and sisters in Christ, for the sake of unity, I wanted to clarify why the most common arguments against Calvinism reveal a misconception (misunderstanding) about what Calvinism teaches.
I want to address 6 popular misconceptions, and hopefully help others to see the beliefs of their brothers and sisters more clearly. Please remember that although you have every right to question these beliefs, please reference Scripture if you believe we are misguided.
Misconception #1
Presentation: This argument goes something like this: Calvinism teaches us that God is going around picking who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, and he doesn't give everyone an equal chance. This is not the loving, compassionate God that we see in the Scriptures. Quoted verses include John 3, and 1 John 4:8.
Clarification: This argument seems logical, but it is more emotional than Scriptural. It assumes that the believer already knows what love is, and then applies this concept of love to God to see if he 'measures up;' of course, the God of Calvinism fails to measure up to the believers' standard of love, and is dismissed.
The response we must take is simple: God is love. Therefore, whatever God does is ultimately motivated out of a sense of love. We must also remember that the flip side of God's love is his wrath as well. Either way, God defines love, not us. Therefore, we are NEVER able to judge whether God is loving or not, because if the Scriptures teach that God does something, we know then that it comes from a loving God.
We believe firmly that God raised dead, lifeless sinners from their prison of death, and does so lovingly. If it were not for his actions, we would remain in our death; this makes God ultimately wonderfully loving.
Misconception #2
Presentation: If God is completely sovereign like you say he is, and he is choosing people to come into salvation, than he is turning people into robots, devoid of a will.
Clarification: I'm not sure who popularized this phrase, the concept of a 'robot,' but it is still not a Scriptural argument against Calvinism.
This argument assumes that there is such a thing as a free will in which people ultimately make their own decisions and decide their own destiny; this assumes that free will not only exists, but that it exists in such a way that man is ultimately in charge of his own fate (in terms of his own choices). This concept of free will is foreign to the Scriptures.
Calvinists believe that people have their own will; really we do ! However, we do not believe that these wills are completely free to do whatever can be done. Instead, we believe that we are only able to do what our nature allows us to do; if our nature is sin, we can only sin. If our natures are regenerated by God, we are 'freed' to live in righteousness; but ONLY if God regenerates our hearts.
Our condition prior to regeneration:
1) Dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1)
2) Walking according to Satan's ways (Eph 2:2)
3) Indulged in our fleshly desires (Eph 2:3)
4) Separated from Christ (Eph 2:12)
5) Spiritually unable to discern truth (1 Cor 2:14)
6) Having a heart of stone (Ezekiel 11:9)
7) Spiritually unable to come to Christ without the Father drawing us (John 6:44)
8) Slaves of sin (Romans 6:20, John 8:34)
Consider #1 as the strongest point of our argument: a dead man can do nothing, just as a spiritually dead man can do nothing spiritually.
We are never robots, but have a will that needs fixing. It is not that we want bad things, its that we need our 'wanter' fixed.
Misconception #3
Presentation: This is basically the same as argument misconception #2, but it is slightly different. It says that Calvinism fails to acknowledge that we make decisions all the time. I can choose to eat ramen, or I can choose to eat yakisoba. I can choose to do my laundry today, or I can choose to play soccer. I can choose to ignore replying to this post, or I can choose to do so. See? I clearly have a free will to do what I choose to do. Calvinism denies this.
Clarification: Calvinism addresses that there is indeed a will in people, and that this will is present in that person's decisions. There is no evidence contrary to Calvinism that people choose to do things, as clearly any Calvinist knows this very well.
The true argument still lies in the nature of the teachings of God's sovereignty and our wills. We do not have 'free wills' in the sense that we can choose anything we want. Our wills must be 'fixed.' Here is how God fixes us, not in particular order:
1) He chooses us before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4, John 15:16-19, 1 Thess. 1:4)
2) He calls us (Matt. 22:14)
3) He regenerates us by enlightening our hearts to his glories, and swapping our heart of stone for a heart of flesh (Eph. 1:18, Ezekiel 11:19, Eph 1:18)
4) Makes us alive by raising us from our death in order to do good works that he has prepared for us (Eph 2:5-6, Eph 2:10)
4) Seals us with the Holy Spirit, promising us our inheritance (Eph 1:13)
5) Promises never to lose us, but to keep us (John 6:39, John 10:28, Phil 1:6, Eph 1:13, John 6:47, Heb. 12:2)
6) Enslaves us to righteousness (Romans 6:18)
I hope this clarifies a key confusion on what a Calvinist believes the Scriptures teach about the will of man.
Misconception #4
Presentation: If God chooses who comes to him and who doesn't, than surely there will be people who want to come to God, and he will turn them away. The Bible clearly teaches that God will not turn away anyone who comes to him!
Clarification:This statement shows a profound misunderstanding of Calvinism. Calvinism teaches that are completely unable to come to God because we do not want to come to God. The only thing that can make us want to come to God, is not ourselves, but God. Without God, we will always desire sin. Romans 14:23 teaches that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin, and since we are to glorify God in EVERYTHING we do (1 Cor 10:31), everything we do apart from Christ is sin; we are unable to do anything but sin apart from being regenerated by Christ.
You see, even if we give to the poor and sacrifice our life to save another, it is not done out of faith in God and for his glory, and thus, by the Bible's definition, it is a sin. Please read carefully Romans 14, especially verse 23, the last verse.
Therefore, God does not prevent anyone from coming because no one seeks for God apart from God working in their lives. See Romans 3:11, that no one seeks for God, and furthermore all have turned aside and become worthless (Romans 3:12).
Contrary to what the misconception says, Calvinism teaches that God, while people are dead in sin and unable to do anything to love him or come to him, raises up people to come to him and love him. He does this by showing them how wonderful and amazing he is.
I loved the analogy another poster used about onions and liver. I'll make my own. Say you come to Japan, and you are fed some raw liver (yes, they eat it here). You HATE it. You can't stand the smell, the taste, the look. But one day, someone comes to you and touches your tongue and says, 'You will taste and see now.' The next day, at the restaurant you visit with a friend, you see a picture of raw liver. What's going on? You hated it yesterday, but now you WANT to try it again. You order it, thinking it can't be good, but take a whiff. It smells WONDERFUL. You take a bite... Unbelievable! What you hated yesterday, you LOVE today. You absolutely adore the smell and taste of raw liver, and you can't get enough.
This is our nature before and after being regenerated. Before Christ, we hate the things of God, even if we mask it under a thin veil of piety ('oh, God is ok with me, I just don't want to comitt my whole life to him'). Then, after having our 'wanter' fixed, we learn to love and desire him the way we should. Who fixes it? We believe God is the only one who can fix our broken 'wanters' (our wills, what we desire, are crooked until God makes them straight).
We believe whole-heartedly in the truth of John 6:37, that whoever comes to Christ he will by no means cast out (provided that coming is in faith; some will come not in faith and Christ will tell them that he NEVER knew them, Matt. 7:23).
Misconception #5
Presentation: If you believe that God chose you and not another, you will become prideful and think that you are somehow special or more worthy than the other person.
Clarification: This is not a Bibilical argument, but an opinion. It assumes that God chooses us for our own merit. The Bible clearly teaches that we are not chosen because we are more worthy, or better. In fact, the Bible teaches that God chooses the despised things of this world to bring down the high and mighty (haughty) (1 Cor. 1:28).
We believe we are chosen not because we were good, for no one is good but God (Mark 10:18). We believe we were chosen because God simply chose to do it (Romans 9:14-16, especially 16). Note how God speaks to Israel about their chosen status:
Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers ...
We believe God chose us because he loves us, and he loves us because he does (circular logic there, but that's okay; it's biblical).
So, with this evidence, we are now forced to realize our complete helplessness prior to Christ, and our total lack of worthiness of what we have been called into. We are forced down onto our knees to beg for additional mercy and grace, for we know we are undeserving and lowly, having no grounds for boasting but the Lord himself.
We have nothing to be prideful about. In fact, if you believe that you chose God and another didn't, you might begin to think that you 'get it' and the other doesn't it. Maybe you're smarter? Maybe you're wittier? Who knows, but if you are the one who made the good choice, there is some possibility for pride there. But with Calvinism, the possibility for pride lies only in a misunderstanding of the doctrines of grace.
Misconception #6
Presentation: As the misconception says, Calvin is just an ivory tower theologian who strokes his long beard while pouring over theology books, disconnected from the real world and how things really work.
Clarification: I won't repeat all of the verses I've quoted so far, for they are sufficient to be quoted once (some were quoted twice or thrice). This is not the product of mere intellectualism, and Calvin wasn't the first to 'think it up.' In fact, we believe these teachings are present in the Old Testament in amazing ways; you can see many of my OT verse quotes throughout. Check out Proverbs 16:33, 21:1, 16:9, 20:24. Check out Exodus 7:3, or Daniel 4:35.
We believe that this is of vital importance for regular believers. There is great comfort and joy in knowing God's sovereignty, especially his sovereignty over our salvation, for we can be sure that he will work out his good in our lives (Romans 8:28). We can be sure he will brings us into completion (Hebrews 12:2, Romans 8:29-30).
When a loved one passes away, or when a tradgedy strikes, it is of little comfort to say, 'This is not God's will, but he can make something good come of it.' But if your distress is of God, then you know that it is for your good, and that everything is under control, and that God will bring about his ultimate purposes for his glory (Isaiah 55:11). He is jealous for his glory (Exodus 34:14, Isaiah 42:8), and we should never think to give his glory to something such as 'chance' or 'human free will.'
-----------------------------------------------------------
I hope this post does amazing good to clarify some common misconceptions, and that the people of God can begin to better fellowship because of it (at least in some small way here on this little messageboard).
I want to address 6 popular misconceptions, and hopefully help others to see the beliefs of their brothers and sisters more clearly. Please remember that although you have every right to question these beliefs, please reference Scripture if you believe we are misguided.
Misconception #1
If Calvinism is true, then God is not loving
Presentation: This argument goes something like this: Calvinism teaches us that God is going around picking who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, and he doesn't give everyone an equal chance. This is not the loving, compassionate God that we see in the Scriptures. Quoted verses include John 3, and 1 John 4:8.
Clarification: This argument seems logical, but it is more emotional than Scriptural. It assumes that the believer already knows what love is, and then applies this concept of love to God to see if he 'measures up;' of course, the God of Calvinism fails to measure up to the believers' standard of love, and is dismissed.
The response we must take is simple: God is love. Therefore, whatever God does is ultimately motivated out of a sense of love. We must also remember that the flip side of God's love is his wrath as well. Either way, God defines love, not us. Therefore, we are NEVER able to judge whether God is loving or not, because if the Scriptures teach that God does something, we know then that it comes from a loving God.
We believe firmly that God raised dead, lifeless sinners from their prison of death, and does so lovingly. If it were not for his actions, we would remain in our death; this makes God ultimately wonderfully loving.
Misconception #2
Calvinism turns people into robots
Presentation: If God is completely sovereign like you say he is, and he is choosing people to come into salvation, than he is turning people into robots, devoid of a will.
Clarification: I'm not sure who popularized this phrase, the concept of a 'robot,' but it is still not a Scriptural argument against Calvinism.
This argument assumes that there is such a thing as a free will in which people ultimately make their own decisions and decide their own destiny; this assumes that free will not only exists, but that it exists in such a way that man is ultimately in charge of his own fate (in terms of his own choices). This concept of free will is foreign to the Scriptures.
Calvinists believe that people have their own will; really we do ! However, we do not believe that these wills are completely free to do whatever can be done. Instead, we believe that we are only able to do what our nature allows us to do; if our nature is sin, we can only sin. If our natures are regenerated by God, we are 'freed' to live in righteousness; but ONLY if God regenerates our hearts.
Our condition prior to regeneration:
1) Dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1)
2) Walking according to Satan's ways (Eph 2:2)
3) Indulged in our fleshly desires (Eph 2:3)
4) Separated from Christ (Eph 2:12)
5) Spiritually unable to discern truth (1 Cor 2:14)
6) Having a heart of stone (Ezekiel 11:9)
7) Spiritually unable to come to Christ without the Father drawing us (John 6:44)
8) Slaves of sin (Romans 6:20, John 8:34)
Consider #1 as the strongest point of our argument: a dead man can do nothing, just as a spiritually dead man can do nothing spiritually.
We are never robots, but have a will that needs fixing. It is not that we want bad things, its that we need our 'wanter' fixed.
Misconception #3
Calvinism denies the human will
Presentation: This is basically the same as argument misconception #2, but it is slightly different. It says that Calvinism fails to acknowledge that we make decisions all the time. I can choose to eat ramen, or I can choose to eat yakisoba. I can choose to do my laundry today, or I can choose to play soccer. I can choose to ignore replying to this post, or I can choose to do so. See? I clearly have a free will to do what I choose to do. Calvinism denies this.
Clarification: Calvinism addresses that there is indeed a will in people, and that this will is present in that person's decisions. There is no evidence contrary to Calvinism that people choose to do things, as clearly any Calvinist knows this very well.
The true argument still lies in the nature of the teachings of God's sovereignty and our wills. We do not have 'free wills' in the sense that we can choose anything we want. Our wills must be 'fixed.' Here is how God fixes us, not in particular order:
1) He chooses us before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4, John 15:16-19, 1 Thess. 1:4)
2) He calls us (Matt. 22:14)
3) He regenerates us by enlightening our hearts to his glories, and swapping our heart of stone for a heart of flesh (Eph. 1:18, Ezekiel 11:19, Eph 1:18)
4) Makes us alive by raising us from our death in order to do good works that he has prepared for us (Eph 2:5-6, Eph 2:10)
4) Seals us with the Holy Spirit, promising us our inheritance (Eph 1:13)
5) Promises never to lose us, but to keep us (John 6:39, John 10:28, Phil 1:6, Eph 1:13, John 6:47, Heb. 12:2)
6) Enslaves us to righteousness (Romans 6:18)
I hope this clarifies a key confusion on what a Calvinist believes the Scriptures teach about the will of man.
Misconception #4
If Calvinism is true, then he must be cruel; he's preventing people from coming to him for salvation!
Presentation: If God chooses who comes to him and who doesn't, than surely there will be people who want to come to God, and he will turn them away. The Bible clearly teaches that God will not turn away anyone who comes to him!
Clarification:This statement shows a profound misunderstanding of Calvinism. Calvinism teaches that are completely unable to come to God because we do not want to come to God. The only thing that can make us want to come to God, is not ourselves, but God. Without God, we will always desire sin. Romans 14:23 teaches that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin, and since we are to glorify God in EVERYTHING we do (1 Cor 10:31), everything we do apart from Christ is sin; we are unable to do anything but sin apart from being regenerated by Christ.
You see, even if we give to the poor and sacrifice our life to save another, it is not done out of faith in God and for his glory, and thus, by the Bible's definition, it is a sin. Please read carefully Romans 14, especially verse 23, the last verse.
Therefore, God does not prevent anyone from coming because no one seeks for God apart from God working in their lives. See Romans 3:11, that no one seeks for God, and furthermore all have turned aside and become worthless (Romans 3:12).
Contrary to what the misconception says, Calvinism teaches that God, while people are dead in sin and unable to do anything to love him or come to him, raises up people to come to him and love him. He does this by showing them how wonderful and amazing he is.
I loved the analogy another poster used about onions and liver. I'll make my own. Say you come to Japan, and you are fed some raw liver (yes, they eat it here). You HATE it. You can't stand the smell, the taste, the look. But one day, someone comes to you and touches your tongue and says, 'You will taste and see now.' The next day, at the restaurant you visit with a friend, you see a picture of raw liver. What's going on? You hated it yesterday, but now you WANT to try it again. You order it, thinking it can't be good, but take a whiff. It smells WONDERFUL. You take a bite... Unbelievable! What you hated yesterday, you LOVE today. You absolutely adore the smell and taste of raw liver, and you can't get enough.
This is our nature before and after being regenerated. Before Christ, we hate the things of God, even if we mask it under a thin veil of piety ('oh, God is ok with me, I just don't want to comitt my whole life to him'). Then, after having our 'wanter' fixed, we learn to love and desire him the way we should. Who fixes it? We believe God is the only one who can fix our broken 'wanters' (our wills, what we desire, are crooked until God makes them straight).
We believe whole-heartedly in the truth of John 6:37, that whoever comes to Christ he will by no means cast out (provided that coming is in faith; some will come not in faith and Christ will tell them that he NEVER knew them, Matt. 7:23).
Misconception #5
Calvinism makes people prideful, because they believe that God favors them and specifically chose them rather than others.
Presentation: If you believe that God chose you and not another, you will become prideful and think that you are somehow special or more worthy than the other person.
Clarification: This is not a Bibilical argument, but an opinion. It assumes that God chooses us for our own merit. The Bible clearly teaches that we are not chosen because we are more worthy, or better. In fact, the Bible teaches that God chooses the despised things of this world to bring down the high and mighty (haughty) (1 Cor. 1:28).
We believe we are chosen not because we were good, for no one is good but God (Mark 10:18). We believe we were chosen because God simply chose to do it (Romans 9:14-16, especially 16). Note how God speaks to Israel about their chosen status:
Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers ...
We believe God chose us because he loves us, and he loves us because he does (circular logic there, but that's okay; it's biblical).
So, with this evidence, we are now forced to realize our complete helplessness prior to Christ, and our total lack of worthiness of what we have been called into. We are forced down onto our knees to beg for additional mercy and grace, for we know we are undeserving and lowly, having no grounds for boasting but the Lord himself.
We have nothing to be prideful about. In fact, if you believe that you chose God and another didn't, you might begin to think that you 'get it' and the other doesn't it. Maybe you're smarter? Maybe you're wittier? Who knows, but if you are the one who made the good choice, there is some possibility for pride there. But with Calvinism, the possibility for pride lies only in a misunderstanding of the doctrines of grace.
Misconception #6
Calvinism is a product of intellectualism and theologians in ivory towers. It isn't something that the average person would ever believe without these intellectuals like John Calvin
Presentation: As the misconception says, Calvin is just an ivory tower theologian who strokes his long beard while pouring over theology books, disconnected from the real world and how things really work.
Clarification: I won't repeat all of the verses I've quoted so far, for they are sufficient to be quoted once (some were quoted twice or thrice). This is not the product of mere intellectualism, and Calvin wasn't the first to 'think it up.' In fact, we believe these teachings are present in the Old Testament in amazing ways; you can see many of my OT verse quotes throughout. Check out Proverbs 16:33, 21:1, 16:9, 20:24. Check out Exodus 7:3, or Daniel 4:35.
We believe that this is of vital importance for regular believers. There is great comfort and joy in knowing God's sovereignty, especially his sovereignty over our salvation, for we can be sure that he will work out his good in our lives (Romans 8:28). We can be sure he will brings us into completion (Hebrews 12:2, Romans 8:29-30).
When a loved one passes away, or when a tradgedy strikes, it is of little comfort to say, 'This is not God's will, but he can make something good come of it.' But if your distress is of God, then you know that it is for your good, and that everything is under control, and that God will bring about his ultimate purposes for his glory (Isaiah 55:11). He is jealous for his glory (Exodus 34:14, Isaiah 42:8), and we should never think to give his glory to something such as 'chance' or 'human free will.'
-----------------------------------------------------------
I hope this post does amazing good to clarify some common misconceptions, and that the people of God can begin to better fellowship because of it (at least in some small way here on this little messageboard).