For the last month or so, the "mytwocents" section of the Griffin Daily News has been regularly salted by those who are really angry with pastors they accuse of being "Calvinists." All in all, reading the things they have written has brought moments of laughter as well as amazement at the degree of anger they have expressed.
Yet, I have serious doubts that any of these who are so adamantly set against the teaching of election have ever read even one single article or book written by John Calvin himself. If they had, they would have run across several statements that Calvin made such as this: "No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief." If you would like to read what John Calvin believed in his own words, I recommend his Institutes of the Christian Religion. I will warn you that it is a lengthy read.
I am one of those whose character has been demeaned and critiqued with a great deal of savagery. Of course, I am humbled to be classed along with such distinguished theologians/preachers as John Calvin, the Puritans, Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, and John MacArthur. But I have to say, some of the remarks made by these contributors border on profanity. Some of the terms these writers have used to refer to me and other pastors who teach the doctrine of election include...
slinky cat burglar
common thief
deceitful
dishonest
cultist
sneaky
slimy
hijacker
arrogant
wolf in sheep's clothing
cold
calculating
immature
ungracious
hard-hearted
without a conscience
without a sense of right and wrong
without intestinal fortitude
coward
faithless
money hungry
It may just be me, but those do not sound like the endearing terms that one would expect when one Christian addresses another Christian. Oh yeah, I forgot. We are the devil.
One of the things I have been accused of is lying to the Pastor Search Team about my beliefs in election. I tried to defend myself, but I could not convince my accusers that I had been honest with the search team. So....
Here is the excerpt from what I gave the Pastor Search Team when we first started meeting concerned with a question related to Calvinism:
Question:What are your views of the Calvinistic Theology?
My answer:
Theology is the study or knowledge (-logy) of God (theo). I believe John Calvin had it right about God. God is the absolute Sovereign of the Universe. He created it and us by the simple expression of His thoughts, and by Him all things consist. He is self-determining. He does not choose to do what is right, but what He chooses to do is right. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, immutable, infinite, and eternal. He is purposeful. The fact that there is a Universe with static laws is evidence that there is design and purpose in the Creation.
His purpose for Creation was so that He would receive glory. This Universe is the factory in which He is creating for himself sons – heirs to His kingdom – who will worship Him forever. The process He chose to use included the Fall of man and man’s ultimate redemption through Christ Jesus. The plan of salvation is totally His and was determined before the foundation of the world. Those who call Him Father were chosen by Him before the foundation of the world. So that salvation is His responsibility – one hundred percent. We do not seek Him – He seeks us and calls us and saves us by His own volition and by His own absolute sovereignty.
At the same time, God, in His infinite wisdom, knew that the only true worship was that which came from a willingly humbled heart. Love that is forced or coerced is not love. He therefore created man with the capacity to decide. Man chose wrongly – selfishly – and, as a result, inherits the capacity to die – something that is not natural, but is the result of disobedience and judgment. The result is that every man who is approached by the Spirit of God must ultimately decide what he will do with the Lordship of Christ. To reject Him is to choose an eternity separated from the presence of God and the heavenly hosts. So that salvation is his (man’s) responsibility – one hundred percent. Man does not seek God because there is no natural facility within him to prompt him to seek that which is infinite.
While it may seem thus, there is no contradiction in these parallel thoughts. We would love to be able to reconcile these two concepts that seem to be in opposition, but we cannot because we are finite – limited by time, space, and matter. To reconcile these two concepts would require knowledge that God did not see fit to reveal to us. It is a knowledge of eternity that, if we possessed it, would truly make us like God. It is a piece of the puzzle that God chose to keep from us until all is revealed at the last day.
If you would like to read the whole questionnaire, you can download it here.
Pastoral Candidate Questionnaire
John Calvin was never accepted by the Catholic Church in any sense, except as another sinner needing redemption.
ReplyDeleteHis leading people into heresy and away from the Body of Christ has been one of the major heartaches for all good Catholic saints who have worked so hard through the centuries to repair the damage he has done to innumerable souls in cutting them off from Divine Grace through severance from the Church.
One saint in particular, St. Francis de Sales spent his life as a missionary, and subsequently as bishop of Geneva trying to reconvert (with great success) those who had been led astray.
The Jesuits were founded, as a religious order, specifically to help combat the heresy of Protestantism.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response. I read back over my article and did not see any reference to the Catholic Church, so I am not sure what prompted your response except your antipathy towards John Calvin. I certainly can understand your sentiments. If the Catholic Church ever had an enemy, it was John Calvin.
The article was written, not because I am a “Calvinist,” (although I do believe in the sovereignty of God in salvation and election the way he taught it), but because I have been accused by other Protestants (typically Baptists, some of whom are former members of the church where I pastor) of lying about my beliefs, of teaching false doctrine, and intentionally trying to destroy the church.
Of course, I understand that, as a Catholic, you would agree that both my accusers and I teach false doctrine. Nevertheless, they have not been very nice in their comments toward me and other pastors who teach as I do.
One thing your comment did was alert me to the fact that someone could comment on my blog. I was surprised. I had set it to accept comments, but could never figure out how it was done. After receiving your comment, I went back to the blog and figured it out! So , thanks.
One more thing I would like to ask is how you came across my blog. Looks like you are in Australia? I would love to visit there one day.
Otherwise, God bless and have a great day!
Pastor Dan