FREE WILL?

I wasted some time this evening arguing with a Calvinist in the comment section of a YouTube video. 

Upon seeing I was a non-Calvinist, he asked this:

"I want to ask a genuine question, do you pray for the non believers? If you do, why? In your world view God can not violate the mighty will of man? This is a genuine question."

I have heard Calvinist say things like this - that indicate they believe their theological opponents hold that man's free will is of such a nature that it cannot ever be overridden by God. I don't know why they believe this. 

It would be a complete non sequitur to say, "Man has free will, therefore God is incapable of ever imposing His own will upon human beings." 

So I wrote back:

Excellent question. I'm glad you asked it because maybe I can clear up a common misunderstanding. Just because we say that man has free will it does not follow that we believe God can never "violate" man's free will. Why would it? 

I don't know if you have children or not but I think of it in terms of a father with his children. The father is both free and "sovereign" while the kids have free will but are not sovereign. 

The father is not micromanaging the kids' every move. They have plenty of choice as to what they play and how they spend their time. The father can say, "It's time to clean up" and the kids can even then decide to disobey. But the father is in charge and is the final authority. So when he says, "If you don't clean up, there will be consequences", the kids need to be prepared to suffer the consequences of their actions or inactions.

Of course, the father is also at liberty to bring unexpected blessings into the lives of his children: "Hey, kids, we're going to the amusement park tomorrow!"

When I pray for non-believers, I pray that God will put people and events and ideas into the pathway of that person that will wake him or her up to God's reality and goodness. God reaches people in a million different ways, so I don't presume to dictate the means in my prayers as if I would be better equipped to reach that person than their Creator is. 

What does the Calvinist pray for the non-believer? And why?

CASE CLOSED

When I was younger, I was impressed by any Biblical "expert" who could rattle off a dozen verses proving their particular viewpoint on Scripture. I assumed it meant that teacher really knew their Bible inside and out. 

Now I know that this is called proof texting - and, when it comes to defending a "Biblical doctrine", I consider it a practice which is suspect at best.

There was a (brief) time when Calvinism actually appealed to me. This was about 15 years ago when I was invited to a Together for the Gospel conference without knowing it was organized by Calvinists to promote Calvinism.

The two qualities which drew me in at that time were these:

1. It was presented as a "hard teaching that you just had to accept if you take the Bible seriously".
2. Several well-known pastors gave talks on all the Calvinist distinctives - based on plenty of verses from the Old and New Testaments.

At the time I didn't understand the inevitable damage done to a verse when it is isolated from its context. I was simply impressed that these men (always men!) could cite so much evidence for their hard teachings. 

I never stopped to consider that the flaws in proof texting make it as useful in promoting some obvious heresy like the Prosperity Gospel as it is for Calvinism.

If you aren't familiar with the dangers of proof texting yourself, consider one of the Prosperity Gospel preachers' favorite teachings from the Apostle Paul:

2 Corinthians 8:9 - "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." 

Or these words from Jesus Himself in Mark 11:22-24 - “Have faith in God,” Jesus said to them. “Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

And a little Old Testament for good measure, in Malachi 3:10 - "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure."

How many more verses do you need to see the Bible's clear teaching that God's desire is to bless you with great riches ... as long as you tithe?

The case is settled. Right?

FOOLING OURSELVES

“It takes inordinate courage to introspect, to confront oneself, to accept one’s limitations—scientists are seeing more and more evidence that we are specifically designed by mother nature to fool ourselves.”  -Nassim Taleb

What some blame on mother nature or evolution, seems reasonably explained as the result of fallen human nature as well. 

Nearly indetectable from the inside, the human ability to fool oneself is nearly unlimited in its scope. 

This makes for another prime argument in favor of cultivating a true humility in the face of holy Scripture. A "beginner's mindset" that has no problem with admitting, "I may well be wrong."

I suppose one of the reasons Calvinism fascinates me is that its adherents firmly hold the belief that the unregenerate are incapable of understanding any spiritual truth from Scripture but they - the elect - see all with perfect clarity. 

They regularly give the impression of believing themselves to be inerrant in their interpretation of God's word.

And, like the Pharisees before them, they perpetually miss the big picture and inadvertently paint God as a complete monster.

It is a profound tragicomedy. 

MAKING THINGS WORSE!

I was listening to a YouTube debate about Calvinism the other day and the guy arguing against Reformed ideology, a gentleman named Jed Smock, said something like the following:

"Under Calvinism, the punishment for sin is more sin."

That hits the nail on the head!

He was referencing the concept of "original sin".  

All of Adam and Eve's descendants have been born carrying the guilt of Adam's sin. 

This is the so-called "sin nature". As a result of the fall, the thinking goes, God cursed humanity with an inability to do anything but sin.

Plus, now all humans would be born hating God and considering Him an enemy. 

And not only that, but a spiritual deadness which make them 100% unresponsive to any and all Truth as well.

I would never criticize the One True God, but I have to say that the Calvinist god's reaction to Adam and Eve's screw up was a bit over the top.

He managed to make matters much, much worse for everybody concerned, including himself. 

EVANESCENT "GRACE"

One of the lesser-known teachings of Calvinism is termed Evanescent Grace (or sometimes "Temporal Grace"). This is grace that appears for a time and then fades away. 

(And there's good reason to keep this doctrine hidden.)

It's the Calvinist's answer to the question of how some individuals profess faith in Christ, seem fruitful for a time, but then fall away.

Now every Christian is faced with this reality and needs an explanation. If one holds to "Once Saved, Always Saved", the answer is simple:

That person was never really saved in the first place. 

Undoubtedly, Calvinists would like to keep it that simple, but their situation is complicated by their doctrine of Total Depravity - that people are spiritually dead and cannot receive the things of God.

But what happens when that doctrine runs up against Matthew 7:21-23?

21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

Do you see the conflict?

Jesus does not dispute their claims to have prophesied, driven out demons, and even performed miracles - He just didn't "know" them.

So how do dead, depraved men - bound for hell from before the foundation of the world - do these spiritual things? 

Well, obviously God sends them a bit of grace, deceives them into thinking themselves saved, and then withdraws it.

And that deception on God's part is called Evanescent Grace. 

Definitely NOT to be confused with Irresistible Grace!

It's all part of God's meticulous plan ... and for His glory.

This doctrine, taught by Calvin himself, is yet another in Calvinism's arsenal which makes logical sense on paper as part of the systematic, but utterly slanders God's character in its entailments! 

FILTHY RAGS?

There is this idea in pop-Christianity that any good deed done which is not directly motivated by a conscious desire to serve Jesus is actually sinful. Even detestable in God's sight.

(I think maybe this is yet another Calvinist concept that has slipped into the broader Christian tradition. It has "Total Depravity" written all over it.)

One of the proof texts for this idea is Isaiah 64:6:

6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

You might have heard "polluted garment" translated as "filthy rags". The Hebrew words here famously denote soiled menstrual cloths. 

Sounds bad for human righteous deeds, right? They are disgusting in God's sight, right?

But there are two problems here. 

The first is the oft-made mistake of assuming a verse applies to all people at all times. When Isaiah says "we", is he speaking of "we humans" of all times and places or is he speaking of "we Israelites and Judeans" of his own day?

Since he's prophesying to a wayward people at a crucial time in their history, I would lean toward understanding the "we" and "our" as applying to his immediate audience. Maybe the idea of "filthy rags" can be universalized, but we need to understand that this would require an extra step and then build a case for why it should be done. 

The second problem is pulling a verse out of context. 

Notice that Isaiah says "we" have all BECOME unclean, implying that it was not always this way. If the people were not always unclean, perhaps their righteous deeds were not always like filthy rags in God's eyes.

Look, too, at verse 5!

5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways.

Seems to me Isaiah is not saying God has a problem with righteous deeds in general - after all, He's willing to "meet" with those who act righteously with joy. 

The problem seems to be when the Israelites think they can balance out their rebellion and sin with a few righteous acts done to placate God. 

That's the old "get drunk on Friday night and go to church on Sunday morning" approach. 

And that approach to "righteous deeds" is rightly repugnant in God's sight.