Yesterday we began commenting on a comment by a recent visitor to our little corner of cyberspace and you can read that here. Today, we continue responding to our new friend.
Once again, here is his original comment in its entirety:
“Calvinism is appealing to those who do not want to be held accountable for his/her own actions. In certain ways it mirrors one of the largest growing religions, Atheism. In similar fashion Atheists love their religion because they are not accountable for what they do and there is no penalty. They only need to abide in man’s law and finding loopholes is OK. Also they can break man’s law, and that is fine as long as they don’t get caught, again because there is no penalty. OSAS is a feel good teaching that will lead many to destruction. Once you are “saved”, you can do as you please. This philosophy is in direct line with the Satanist Aleister Crowley’s, “Do What Thou Wilst”.”
So, anyone who believes that those Jesus came to save He WILL save – anyone who believes that no one can snatch His people out of His hand – anyone who believes that nothing will separate His people from His love – anyone who believes those biblical passages and concepts is an atheist. Hmmmm. I guess, then, I belong to the same club as Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, the Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit Himself who inspired these passages.
Our friend’s comment is a good example of how we need to make sure we have our opponents’ views stated correctly before we criticize them. I have encountered this with some Christian friends with regard to Islam, for example. My friends have in some cases misrepresented Islam and its beliefs and when I’ve pointed out their misrepresentations I have been told, “Well, it’s a false religion anyway so it doesn’t matter.”
YES, it DOES matter.
We are to be people of truth, speaking truth. Jesus was not timid in pointing out the errors of those who objected to Him and His message, but He always did so truthfully.
I don’t know exactly where my new friend has encountered Calvinism but the conclusions he draws are quite incorrect. If, for example, he uses this syllogism to draw his conclusion:
I know someone who says he’s a Calvinist.
This Calvinist I know lives a sinful lifestyle.
Therefore, all Calvinists live sinful lifestyles.
Now, both of his premises may be correct but his conclusion is invalid. It would be similar to me using this syllogism:
I know an Arminian.
He’s a jerk.
Therefore, all Arminians are jerks.
Both premises may indeed be correct but my conclusion would not be. All Arminians are swell people, right? (!)
I know some people will say, as our friend does, that election necessarily leads to Antinomianism. That, at first glance, could be a conclusion. One would think, though, that Paul addressed this matter sufficiently in Romans 6, but evidently not sufficiently enough for some.
I have many (actually most of my friends) friends who are not Calvinists. They know I disagree with them and they with me. We do not, though, go around calling each other atheists or other terms that are flat out insulting and derogatory. My friends pray that I will see the light of man’s free will and its proper place above God’s free will. I pray they will see that God’s free will in its proper place over man’s free will. I do not call them names, though, and vice versa. A cursory following of, as Gordon Clark was fond of saying, “the present writer,” will show that I am not beyond using sarcasm, but it is not mean-spirited. Sarcasm is a biblical method of making a point.
In our next installment, we will address the version of “Once Saved, Always Saved” that does indeed lead to destruction, as our friend stated it.
