"Calvinist doctrine
Here are the five main points of Calvinist doctrine commonly known by the memory-crutch T-U-L-I-P.
1.
Total depravity. This means that each individual is conceived guilty of Adam's sin and lost... even before birth.
2.
Unconditional election. Is the belief that God has predetermined
who and
how many will be saved regardless of man's efforts.
3.
Limited atonement. Yahshua's sacrifice didn't atone for all men, but only for those who are chosen by God's unconditional election.
4.
Irresistible grace. Those who are chosen cannot resist the operation of the Holy Spirit on their hearts to save them.
5.
Perseverance of the Saints. In short... eternal security... once saved, always saved. No chance of backsliding.
It is should be apparent to a logical thinking person that each of these doctrines rest on the assumption that the other four are true. They depend on one another and flow from one another in such a way... that if any one of them were to fall, the rest would fall as well. Let's take a short look at what the Bible has to say about each one of these doctrines to see if even one of them can stand.
Hereditary Total Depravity.
Wrong. Children are conceived and born
sinless and are not charged with sin until they are
able to know the difference. Man may be born with a propensity for evil, but he is not born guilty. Just a few of the passages that make this evident are the following;
"They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed
innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and daughters..." Psalm 106:37,38
"For before the child shall
know to refuse the evil and choose the good... Isaiah 7:16
Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them, But Yahshua said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them;
for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:13,14
And Yahshua called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, "
Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become
as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18:2-6
Unconditional Election.
Calvin said,
"All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and accordingly, as each has been created for one or the other of these ends, we say we have been predestinated to life or to death". Apparently, no one has a say in the matter of their salvation as far as the Calvinists ultra-sovereign picture of God goes. But the Bible is full of passages that put the responsibility squarely in man's lap.
And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us,
if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us. Deuteronomy 6:24,25
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,
not willing that any should perish but that
allshould come to repentance." 2Peter 3:9
It should be apparent from this small sampling of applicable passages that salvation
is conditional, and open to
all.
Limited Atonement.
It should be evident that limited atonement springs
from unconditional election. Calvinism teaches limited atonement
because it teaches unconditional election. The reasoning goes that if each and every sin committed by those who are destined to be saved was listed and paid for by Yahshua, why should he have suffered any more than he had to? This completely misrepresents Yahshua's sacrifice. His was a single heavy price that he willingly paid, for the purpose of purchasing for himself
salvage rites to
all of mankind. (More on this later) The accumulative amount of sin committed by those who are saved is irrelevant, and had absolutely nothing to do with the severity of his sacrifice. This is also evident in the passage quoted above.
"...not willing that
any should perish but that
all should come to repentance." 2Peter 3:9
"Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world." John 1:29
Irresistible Grace.
The circular reasoning is near complete with this one. The flow of logic should again be evident. If man is conceived evil and happens to be one of the lucky few destined for salvation, but at the same time there is nothing he can do on his own behalf to gain salvation, God has to getit to him somehow!! Enter;
irresistible grace! The Bible is replete with examples of men rejecting God's good-will and grace toward them. Absolutely nowhere can there be found scripture that suggests man can't resist God's grace! Calvinism doesn't even
try to establish this doctrine with Scripture. It is merely a logical outflow from the three previous doctrines.
Perseverance of the Saints
Again, it is obvious that this is a natural outflow of logic from the previous doctrines. It is the necessary conclusion to the doctrines of Calvinism. Here we have much scripture to refute the idea that once someone is saved they are always saved. From the following passages is established the fact that a person certainly
can lose their salvation after having acquired it.
"Yet now, if You will forgive their sin--but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written." And the Lord said to Moses "Whoever has sinned against Me,
I will blot him out of My book." Exodus 32:32,33 (see also Revelation 3:5)
"Again, when a
righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin,
and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered;..." Ezekiel 3:20
There are many Christians who would not want to be characterized as TULIP Calvinists. They will claim that human responsibility is still fully intact in their scheme of things. It is believed by many that both man's responsibility and God's sovereignty in knowing what man will choose to do may be reconciled and understood in the context of the supposed
timelessness of God. Many believe that God is outside of time, believing that time is something God created. This is another picture that has its origins in ancient Greek philosophy. It is far from scriptural and it causes more problems than it fixes. If it is true that God knows everything that will transpire, man is at a total loss to explain
why God is even bothering with this creation.
Timelessness is meaningless and undoes any concept of '
purpose'. Someone will inevitably say that Einstein proved time could be altered. Sorry, no he did not. Even he was forced to admit that his theory was un-provable. It is only theory, and there are many accredited theoretical physicists who haven't the time of day for Einstein's theory of general relativity. Lest I get too far off on this tangent I will refer the interested reader to my arguments in,
Was Einstein Right? Time is linear, and there is no substance to it. Therefore it was not created. It is merely demonstrated in the passing of events. The only time that exists at any given moment is the present. The future can be planned for, and the present can be recorded and played back as the past, but these in no way demonstrate the altering of time. God is going through time right with us. "
The Attributes of Deity
