Yesterday I wrote about Tim Mackie's contention that "Existence is a gift".
It occurred to me that this is not a sentiment that a Calvinist could ever affirm. Not logically anyway.
After all, according to Calvinism, a great multitude of human beings throughout history were planned and created for the express purpose of being consigned eternally to Hell. They are there to give God a platform to demonstrate His justice in the face of sin.
This supposedly "brings God glory", but for all those reprobates who pay the price, it is certainly a bum deal. They didn't ask to be born. They are just there to absorb God's wrath.
The closest I ever got to convincing a Calvinist that his system was faulty was when I asked him, "Why does God hate so many people?"
He had always held the assumption that God loves all people, but the question stumped him because he was honest enough to admit that there is no logical way to hold the proposition that God loves people whom He brings into existence just so He can eternally damn them.
I think my friend later put the question out of his mind so that he could continue to hold his Calvinistic systematic theology. Cognitive dissonance is useful for keeping us stuck in bad belief systems.
I wonder if the question ever comes back to haunt him.
Hope so!
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