Calvinism Answers a Different Question - Today, 01:26 PM
I’m brand new here, but would like to offer up the same old topic with a different slant.
I spent countless hours debating on the side of Calvinism until about a dozen years ago on Crosswalk, when real life happened and I had to start learning how to apply my theology instead of just talk about it.
I popped in here just curious to see if the general tone or process of the debate has changed in the last twelve years, and mostly it looks like it hasn’t. In the years since my "raging debate" days, I have come to see something that I’d like to run past those that are so angry about Calvinism, just to help them understand the point of the doctrines of grace that they are missing. I have nothing invested emotionally in anyone accepting what I’m saying, so rail against me if you want to and I won’t hold it against you. I do think, though, that in the debates I’m seeing here (maybe even to a degree past what I saw a dozen years ago) a particular point is being missed.
First, every Calvinist who isn’t afraid of a theological ambush will agree with most of what an Arminian would say about the gospel:
1. Whoever believes will be saved.
2. All who call upon the name of Jesus will be saved.
3. Everyone who truly wants Jesus gets Him.
4. Every person born is offered the gospel as a means for redemption.
5. Every person born is responsible (held accountable) for their own choices.
There is more to agree on here. Those of us that believe the Reformed doctrines of grace are not denying any of this, and so in any exercise of evangelism an unbeliever would hear essentially the same message… with a few differences that wouldn’t change any of the above statements.
The point I’m making in all of this is that an answer to any unbeliever on "what must I do to be saved" would be about the same from a Calvinist as it would a non-Calvinist. The doctrines of grace answer a different question entirely.
The doctrines of grace are a means of grace for those who already believe. They explain to a converted sinner how he got to where he/she is and the Source of power that will take him/her where he/she is going. It helps us move to depend on God more as we understand the grace and spiritual power He worked on our behalf so far. They explain the opening of our eyes. They answer the question "why are we saved?".
To most Arminians, the human will – and why it chooses – is just a mystery. It just chooses what it chooses. But the Bible indicates that there is no mystery there. Those of us who are in love with Christ are loving Christ because of the power of grace applied by God in and through us, as we love Him because He first loved us. Our choices are a reflection of what our heart desires, and our heart is a result of spiritual influence.
The doctrines of grace are just showing us how much more we have to thank God for, and how much more we need to depend on Him going forward, than we ever thought was true before we were converted. We were worse off than we thought, yet God reached down and lifted us up anyway.
These aren’t doctrines of tyranny. They are the story of the sweet pursuit of God to rescue a people for Himself in spite of their hatred of Him. We had to be reborn, yet He declared a “peace” and reshaped us into vessels of honor. There’s not a word to describe how merciful this is, or how sweet. The reality of GRACE is that it erases us – our efforts at righteousness, our hopes and dreams, our quest for personal significance through performance –all through the exchange of our sinfulness for the righteousness of Christ.
