Of course I disagree with John Calvin about most everything, except of course that Jesus is Lord. But I do respect Calvin for one thing-- he freely ADMITTED the necessary implications of His system which adamantly holds to Gods absolute and omni-causative sovereignty. First, Calvin admitted there was absolutely no difference between God allowing evil and God causing the evil, BECAUSE Gods permissions ARE His purposes. Second, BOTH (and ALL) good and evil come solely from Gods sovereign hand. Third, we are COMPELLED by Gods direct hand to forcibly commit every evil desire we feel, every evil thought we think, and evil act we do, ALL as part of Gods mysterious judgment, not only upon us, but also upon whatever victims we then harm. Fourth, God pre-scripts and pre-mandates ALL acts, ALL events, and ALL thoughts of ALL men 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year every year. Calvin stood up and owned these implications. He was intellectually honest enough to admit that his system of hyper-sovereignty only works if God is the ONLY direct cause of ALL events. But, today, it is so different. So many people believe these same Calvinistic things about God, but they wont let themselves admit the horrible implications of those beliefs. For instance, if I point out that God is a child-killer, not ONLY on a city-wide scale (Sodom), not ONLY on a nation-wide (Egypt), but on a WORLD-WIDE scale (the flood of Noahs day), at least according to the Calvinistic reading of Scripture, then how do many modern Calvinists respond? --They robotically respond that Scripture always and only literally means what it literally says. -----Yes, I respond, Jesus, in the New Testament, said that His kingdom loved and welcomed ALL children, BUT the Old Testament Scripture literally says God killed cities of children, nations of children, and a world-full of children. Are you then admitting that God IS, in realty, a child-killer. If you believe that, just say thats what you believe. --The Bible is infallible, they respond. All those passages say what they say. -----Yes, I get that, I answer. But do you have the courage of your convictions, like John Calvin did, to OWN IT by just saying YES, God killed all those children, as well as often commanding the Israelites to kill their enemies children. God is clearly a child-killer. Why oh why cant you simply say the words, Yes, God brutally kills children when it pleases Him by drowning them, burning them, and delighting to send what Deuteronomy 28 calls marvelous plagues upon them? You never answer my question as to whether you believe God kills all these children. You just keep repeating the mantra, The Bible says what it says. Tell me what you think it says, does it or does it not say, by the dead-literal letter, that God is a child-drowning, infant-burning, throat-slitting, plague-sending, people-smiting killer? Just please answer yes or no. --The Bible literally means what it literally says. You are attacking the Bible, they retort. -----I respond with a sigh. John Calvin would have simply said, Yes, God is a child-killer exactly as you say. And though I would totally disagree, I at least would respect his intellectual honesty. So many Calvinists today cop out by refusing to say yes to the implications of their reading of Scripture. They ALWAYS change the subject from God being a brutal killer of infants to the Bible being the literal word of God. BUT THEY NEVER ANSWER THE QUESTION. Similarly, Calvin believed that God actually sends the original criminal impulses of rapists, molesters, and robbers into their hearts to begin with. The idea to molest children, rape women, and assault/rob men comes FROM....... God, only God and always God. Consider Calvins claim: that thieves, murderers, and other evildoers, are instruments of divine providence, being employed by the Lord himself to execute the judgments which He has resolved to inflict. Institutes I, 17, 5. Calvin again: The devil, and the whole train of the ungodly, are, in all directions, held in by the hand of God as with a bridle, so that they can neither conceive any mischief, nor plan what they have conceived, nor how they may have planned, move a single finger to perpetrate, unless in so far as He permits, nay, unless in so far as He commands; that they are not only bound by His fetters but are even forced to do Him service. Institutes I, 17, 11. But, when confronted with this scenario, most Calvinists refuse to acknowledge the inescapable implication that God is the author and doer of all evil. --So, I say, Everything which occurs is ordained by Gods sovereignty. -----Yes, certainly, they respond. There is no creaturely freedom. Every action we take is predestined and predetermined by God. His permissions are His express purposes. --So, I respond, God puts the initial idea of raping a particular victim into the rapists mind and heart, correct? ----Certainly not, He would never do that, they say. --But, I point out, Calvin believed this and you just said God predetermines all our thoughts because He is sovereign and that we have no freedom to deviate from His will. ----The Bible is the word of God. Dont question it, they respond. --I am not questioning the Bible, I say, but I am questioning your dead-letter reading of it. Are you saying God puts the ORIGINAL raping-urge, the molesting-urge, the assaulting-urge, the lying-urge, the robbing-urge, and the killing-urge into ALL evil doers and they can do absolutely nothing to resist or deny it? Why dont you just own it? John Calvin would quickly say yes. Why cant you? Or is it that you really havent thought through and admitted the horrible implications of your Calvinistic (and Judaisms Old Testament) view of God. ----God is sovereign. The Bible says what it says. --Is that your final answer? I ask. ----You are attacking the Bible. --I sigh again. Here is the bottom line: if one believes that God is a child-drowning, infant-burning, throat-slitting, plague-sending, people-smiting killer--- then they should simply OWN it like John Calvin boldly did. They need to have the courage of their convictions. They neednt hide behind Bible generalities, but rather specifically read it, actually process it, then declare the obvious truth which their theology demands. Can these believers forthrightly tell their own children that whenever God kills children it is just and fair? No, not typically. John Piper, and a few others, are the only modern Calvinists with the courage of their convictions to actually say this to their own children. Most Calvinistic believers will not let the words leave their mouth that God is a sovereign puppet-master who pulls all the killing strings: a child-killer, parent-killer, sibling-killer and spouse-killer. No, they wont say EVER say that..... but they WILL say is that the Bible is true and that we dare not question it, analyze it, or reinterpret it in view of the nature of God revealed in Christ. And perhaps the saddest truth is that these Calvinistic thinkers refuse to allow Jesus words in the better-informed New Testament to cleanse the palate of their Old Testament wrath. How could the loving deity who said the below words EVER kill ANY children of ANY age? Allow the little children to come unto me , and forbid them not : for of such is the kingdom of God. Mark 10:14.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 12:08:22 +0000
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