2 The Terrible Decrees
John Calvin Condition of Babies
Institutes Reference
hence even infants bring their condemnation with them from their mothers womb, suffer not from anothers, but their own defect .and therefore cannot but be odious and abominable to God.
Book 2, Ch 1, Section 8
"I admit that in this miserable condition wherein men are now bound, all of Adam's children have fallen by God's will."
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 4
God ... arranges all things by his counsel, in such a way that individuals are born, who are doomed from the womb to certain death
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 6
"Again I ask: whence does it happen that Adam's fall irremediably involved so many peoples, together with their infant offspring, in eternal death unless because it so pleased God? ... The decree is dreadful indeed, I confess. Yet no one can deny that God foreknew what end man was to have before he created him, and consequently foreknew because he so ordained by his decree." "And it ought not to seem absurd for me to say that God not only foresaw the fall of the first man, and in him the ruin of his descendants, but also meted it out in accordance with his own decision..
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 7
John Calvin - The cause of Original Sin ?
"...it is utterly inconsistent to transfer the preparation for destruction to anything but God's secret plan." "..God's secret plan is the cause of hardening."
Book 2, Ch 23, Section 1
some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and accordingly, as each has been created for one or the other of those ends, we say that he has been predestined to life or death.
Book 3, Ch 21, Section 5
"We call predestination God's eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is fore-ordained for some, eternal damnation for others."
Book 3, Ch 21, Section 5
"Therefore, those whom God passes over, he condemns; and this he does for no other reason than that he wills to exclude them from the inheritance which he predestines for his own children."
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 1
"With Augustine I say: the Lord has created those whom he unquestionably foreknew would go to destruction. This has happened because he has willed.
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 5
God not only foresaw the fall off the first man, and in him the ruin of his posterity: but also at his own pleasure arranged it.
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 7
"Even though by God's eternal providence man has been created to undergo that calamity to which he is subject, it still takes its occasion from man himself, not from God, since the only reason for his ruin is that he has degenerated from God's pure creation into vicious and impure perversity."
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 9
Calvins Contradictions
Fall decreed by God
Fall NOT decreed by God
"...salvation is freely offered to some while others are barred from access to it". Book 3, Ch 21, Section 5
"We call predestination God's eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is fore-ordained for some, eternal damnation for others". Book 3, Ch 21, Section 5
"...it is utterly inconsistent to transfer the preparation for destruction to anything but God's secret plan." "..God's secret plan is the cause of hardening". Book 2, Ch 23, Section 1
"Man falls according as God's providence ordains, but he falls by his own fault". Book 3, Ch 23, Section 8
"Even though by God's eternal providence man has been created to undergo that calamity to which he is subject, it still takes its occasion from man himself, not from God, since the only reason for his ruin is that he has degenerated from God's pure creation into vicious and impure perversity." Book 3, Ch 23, Section 9
"Moreover, the Wicked bring upon themselves the just destruction to which they are destined". Book 3, Ch 24
"The very inequality of his grace proves that it is free." Book 3, Ch 21, Section 6
"...God could foresee nothing good in man except what he had already determined to bestow by the benefit of his election,.." Book 3, Ch 22, Section5
God Predestines people to damnation !!
No God Passes Over??
Some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and accordingly, as each has been created for one or the other of those ends, we say that he has been predestined to life or death. Book 3, Ch 21, Section 5
"...we say that God once established by his eternal and unchangeable plan those whom he long before determined once for all to receive into salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, he would devote to destruction. ...he has barred the door of life to those whom he has given over to damnation." Book 3, Ch 21, Section 7
God not only foresaw the fall off the first man, and in him the ruin of his posterity: but also at his own pleasure arranged it. Book 3, Ch 23, Section 7
"Therefore, those whom God passes over, he condemns; and this he does for no other reason than that he wills to exclude them from the inheritance which he predestines for his own children." Book 3, Ch 23, Section 1
3 Reformers
3.1 Common Calvinistic Dogma
"The whole human race existed as one moral person in Adam; so that in Adam's sin we sinned, we corrupted ourselves, and we brought guilt and merited condemnation upon ourselves. Adam's will was the will of the species, so that in Adam's free act, the will of the race revolted against God and the nature of the race corrupted itself."
"Unconscious infants, dying without baptism, are damned by virtue of their inherited guilt."
"From this condemnation no one is exempt, not even newborn children."
Doctrine of Augustine, 5th Century A.D.
"Even children, dying un baptized, are lost."
Martin Luther
The sin of Adam is the immediate cause and ground of inborn depravity, guilt, and condemnation to the whole human race."
A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology
"Every man is guilty in Adam, and is consequently born with a depraved and corrupt nature. And this inner corruption is the unholy fountain of all actual sin."
L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology
"Original sin is the corruption of man's nature, whereby he is utterly indisposed, disabled and made opposite to all that is spiritually good, and wholly inclined to evil, and that continually."
Larger Catechism
we assuredly gather it was His everlasting determination so to do; and consequently that He reprobated some from before the foundation of the world
A W Pink The Sovereignty of God pp 83-84
If then God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass then He must have decreed that vast numbers of human beings should pass out of this world unsaved to suffer eternally in the Lake of Fire.
A W Pink From The Sovereignty of God in Reprobation Chapter 5
"From this original corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions."
Westminster Confession
*
3.1 Charles Spurgeon - Grammatical Gunpowder
The following text relates to a common problem. Words do not mean what they say. This argument is often used to explain away a biblical text that is contradictory to a desired dogma. Spurgeon destroys such fallacies as shown below.
3.2 Arthur W Pink It Must be
Arthur W Pinks wrote many books where his forthright views make Calvin himself look a bit soft. Never mind the secret council of Gods will. No, IT MUST BE declares Pink.
Pinks logic is often used by modern Calvinist and directly contradicts their notion of original sin. I.E. Did Adam voluntary sin or was it prearranged?
Supra Lapsarian Calvanist who believe God pre arranges every event and even the fall as described in Geneses was pre planned down to the very second.
Infra Lapsarian Calvanists who believe that Adam fell by his own free will and only after this event did God pre plan who would be saved and who would be lost.
3.3 Grudem Closet Calvinism
Modern Calvinism is the kind of Calvinism that A W Pink vigorously attacks. Pink belongs to the Double Predestination school of thought. That is that God actively dams people to hell. I.E. Calvins terrible decree. This teaching often gets its proponents into a lot of heated debate and trouble. Hence it has been watered down and most modern Calvinists adhere the Single Predestination view. That is God pre elects those who will be saved but passes over those who wont be. The purpose of this teaching is to try and avoid the inescapable conclusion that God is the author of sin. Grudem is one of many who attempt to use circular logic to get themselves out of trouble as shown in the article below.
3.4 Summary
Predestination is only mentioned 4 times in the Bible. Always referring to the future state of believers. The notion that every teaching has a positive and negative side, hence proving Calvinistic predestination - has no biblical basis whatsoever.
There is not one shred of evidence in the Bible for double or single predestination.
The single predestination proponents still have the problem that those passed over have never had nor will have any chance of salvation. Teaching totally opposite to the Bible.
Any version of Calvinistic predestination contradicts its own versions of the concept of original sin.
2 The Terrible Decrees
John Calvin Condition of Babies
Institutes Reference
hence even infants bring their condemnation with them from their mothers womb, suffer not from anothers, but their own defect .and therefore cannot but be odious and abominable to God.
Book 2, Ch 1, Section 8
"I admit that in this miserable condition wherein men are now bound, all of Adam's children have fallen by God's will."
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 4
God ... arranges all things by his counsel, in such a way that individuals are born, who are doomed from the womb to certain death
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 6
"Again I ask: whence does it happen that Adam's fall irremediably involved so many peoples, together with their infant offspring, in eternal death unless because it so pleased God? ... The decree is dreadful indeed, I confess. Yet no one can deny that God foreknew what end man was to have before he created him, and consequently foreknew because he so ordained by his decree." "And it ought not to seem absurd for me to say that God not only foresaw the fall of the first man, and in him the ruin of his descendants, but also meted it out in accordance with his own decision..
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 7
John Calvin - The cause of Original Sin ?
"...it is utterly inconsistent to transfer the preparation for destruction to anything but God's secret plan." "..God's secret plan is the cause of hardening."
Book 2, Ch 23, Section 1
some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and accordingly, as each has been created for one or the other of those ends, we say that he has been predestined to life or death.
Book 3, Ch 21, Section 5
"We call predestination God's eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is fore-ordained for some, eternal damnation for others."
Book 3, Ch 21, Section 5
"Therefore, those whom God passes over, he condemns; and this he does for no other reason than that he wills to exclude them from the inheritance which he predestines for his own children."
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 1
"With Augustine I say: the Lord has created those whom he unquestionably foreknew would go to destruction. This has happened because he has willed.
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 5
God not only foresaw the fall off the first man, and in him the ruin of his posterity: but also at his own pleasure arranged it.
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 7
"Even though by God's eternal providence man has been created to undergo that calamity to which he is subject, it still takes its occasion from man himself, not from God, since the only reason for his ruin is that he has degenerated from God's pure creation into vicious and impure perversity."
Book 3, Ch 23, Section 9
Calvins Contradictions
Fall decreed by God
Fall NOT decreed by God
"...salvation is freely offered to some while others are barred from access to it". Book 3, Ch 21, Section 5
"We call predestination God's eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is fore-ordained for some, eternal damnation for others". Book 3, Ch 21, Section 5
"...it is utterly inconsistent to transfer the preparation for destruction to anything but God's secret plan." "..God's secret plan is the cause of hardening". Book 2, Ch 23, Section 1
"Man falls according as God's providence ordains, but he falls by his own fault". Book 3, Ch 23, Section 8
"Even though by God's eternal providence man has been created to undergo that calamity to which he is subject, it still takes its occasion from man himself, not from God, since the only reason for his ruin is that he has degenerated from God's pure creation into vicious and impure perversity." Book 3, Ch 23, Section 9
"Moreover, the Wicked bring upon themselves the just destruction to which they are destined". Book 3, Ch 24
"The very inequality of his grace proves that it is free." Book 3, Ch 21, Section 6
"...God could foresee nothing good in man except what he had already determined to bestow by the benefit of his election,.." Book 3, Ch 22, Section5
God Predestines people to damnation !!
No God Passes Over??
Some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and accordingly, as each has been created for one or the other of those ends, we say that he has been predestined to life or death. Book 3, Ch 21, Section 5
"...we say that God once established by his eternal and unchangeable plan those whom he long before determined once for all to receive into salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, he would devote to destruction. ...he has barred the door of life to those whom he has given over to damnation." Book 3, Ch 21, Section 7
God not only foresaw the fall off the first man, and in him the ruin of his posterity: but also at his own pleasure arranged it. Book 3, Ch 23, Section 7
"Therefore, those whom God passes over, he condemns; and this he does for no other reason than that he wills to exclude them from the inheritance which he predestines for his own children." Book 3, Ch 23, Section 1
3 Reformers
3.1 Common Calvinistic Dogma
"The whole human race existed as one moral person in Adam; so that in Adam's sin we sinned, we corrupted ourselves, and we brought guilt and merited condemnation upon ourselves. Adam's will was the will of the species, so that in Adam's free act, the will of the race revolted against God and the nature of the race corrupted itself."
"Unconscious infants, dying without baptism, are damned by virtue of their inherited guilt."
"From this condemnation no one is exempt, not even newborn children."
Doctrine of Augustine, 5th Century A.D.
"Even children, dying un baptized, are lost."
Martin Luther
The sin of Adam is the immediate cause and ground of inborn depravity, guilt, and condemnation to the whole human race."
A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology
"Every man is guilty in Adam, and is consequently born with a depraved and corrupt nature. And this inner corruption is the unholy fountain of all actual sin."
L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology
"Original sin is the corruption of man's nature, whereby he is utterly indisposed, disabled and made opposite to all that is spiritually good, and wholly inclined to evil, and that continually."
Larger Catechism
we assuredly gather it was His everlasting determination so to do; and consequently that He reprobated some from before the foundation of the world
A W Pink The Sovereignty of God pp 83-84
If then God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass then He must have decreed that vast numbers of human beings should pass out of this world unsaved to suffer eternally in the Lake of Fire.
A W Pink From The Sovereignty of God in Reprobation Chapter 5
"From this original corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions."
Westminster Confession
*
3.1 Charles Spurgeon - Grammatical Gunpowder
The following text relates to a common problem. Words do not mean what they say. This argument is often used to explain away a biblical text that is contradictory to a desired dogma. Spurgeon destroys such fallacies as shown below.
3.2 Arthur W Pink It Must be
Arthur W Pinks wrote many books where his forthright views make Calvin himself look a bit soft. Never mind the secret council of Gods will. No, IT MUST BE declares Pink.
Pinks logic is often used by modern Calvinist and directly contradicts their notion of original sin. I.E. Did Adam voluntary sin or was it prearranged?
Supra Lapsarian Calvanist who believe God pre arranges every event and even the fall as described in Geneses was pre planned down to the very second.
Infra Lapsarian Calvanists who believe that Adam fell by his own free will and only after this event did God pre plan who would be saved and who would be lost.
3.3 Grudem Closet Calvinism
Modern Calvinism is the kind of Calvinism that A W Pink vigorously attacks. Pink belongs to the Double Predestination school of thought. That is that God actively dams people to hell. I.E. Calvins terrible decree. This teaching often gets its proponents into a lot of heated debate and trouble. Hence it has been watered down and most modern Calvinists adhere the Single Predestination view. That is God pre elects those who will be saved but passes over those who wont be. The purpose of this teaching is to try and avoid the inescapable conclusion that God is the author of sin. Grudem is one of many who attempt to use circular logic to get themselves out of trouble as shown in the article below.
3.4 Summary
Predestination is only mentioned 4 times in the Bible. Always referring to the future state of believers. The notion that every teaching has a positive and negative side, hence proving Calvinistic predestination - has no biblical basis whatsoever.
There is not one shred of evidence in the Bible for double or single predestination.
The single predestination proponents still have the problem that those passed over have never had nor will have any chance of salvation. Teaching totally opposite to the Bible.
Any version of Calvinistic predestination contradicts its own versions of the concept of original sin.