This is a subject that for many years I tried to stay away from and frankly had very little interest in. I saw Christians arguing about Calvinism and didn't want to get involved.
This all changed last Christmas after what I can only describe as an encounter with a 'militant Calvinist'. He told me in no uncertain terms that unless I completely agreed with his views on Calvinism I am going burn in hell for eternity. At this point all I could think of is, 'why?'. As far as I can see, the basic requirement for salvation is found in Romans 10:9, 'If we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead we shall be saved'.
Having grown up in a Christian home going to Church every week up until I rejected God as a teen, I learned many years ago what one could call the 'fundamentals of the faith'. I knew which beliefs are essential to Christianity and I know that Calvinism certainly isn't one of them.
After this confrontation last Christmas, I decided to look more into Calvinist ideas to see what I thought of it for myself. The more I read, the more I learned, the more I found the whole idea repugnant. I'm not a scholar or a theologian so please don't expect some in depth scriptural study here. This is why I hate Calvinism so much:
The basic premise of my hatred for Calvinism is the thought that God has predestined only some of us to go to heaven - which must conversely mean that He has predestined the rest of us to go to hell. How can we call God 'love', how can we say that He not only has love but that He is love if He chooses send many of us to an eternity in hell? From my understanding of the Bible, I see no scriptural support for the idea that God allows people to be born just so He can damn them.
One question that arose and no Calvinist has been able to give me a satisfactory answer to is this: If God has all foreknowledge that means He knew man would sin and fall. He also knew that when man did fall who He would choose to save and who He would choose to damn to hell. How can an all loving God choose to create people knowing what they would do, with the intention of causing most of them to suffer for eternity whilst saving just a few and not allowing those going to hell to have any say in the matter and choose Him freely?
I've used this quote on another thread recently but I really think that it hits home. To quote Wesley, it is 'the kind of love that makes the blood run cold'.
As repugnant as I find the idea of predestination to be, it was only compounded when I learned about the Calvinist doctrine of limited atonement. This was for me the real crunch point, the point at which I came to the conclusion that Calvinism isn't just wrong, it is heretical. To say that Jesus only came to die for the elect is from my understanding a completely unbiblical position. The Bible says in 1 John 2:2 'He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.' I'm not reading here 'the sins of the elect'. The Bible clearly states that he is the atonement for the sins of everyone.
Last but not least, one final question I have for Calvinists. If it is indeed true that God has already predestined all those who will go to heaven - what is the point of evangelism? After all, the elect will be saved anyway whether or not I share the gospel won't they? And there is no point in sharing the gospel with someone who isn't the elect as they can't get saved anyway.
I could say more on this but I feel like I've gone on long enough. In conclusion, this post is about my personal journey over the last few months on this issue. I find Calvinism repugnant, unbiblical and possibly even heretical. I now leave this open for you all to discuss.
May God bless you all.
