Calvinism and Arminianism:
Myths & Realities
Stephen Hitchcock: “The Calvinist must maintain that not a single sinner will be judged and suffer the punishment of hell because he has rejected or sinned against God’s love for him, because God does not love those who perish. So whenever a sinner sinned against God it was always against a God who never truly loved him. For if God had loved him, reasons the Calvinist, then God would have bestowed salvation upon him.” (Recanting Calvinism, p.183, emphasis mine)
Of course, it should also be pointed out that Jesus never said that Hell was made for mankind. See Matthew 25:41.
No one in Hell could otherwise be told: “You didn’t have to be here. You could have believed in Jesus, but now instead, you are stuck here forever.”
The guilt and shame of rejecting God’s grace in Christ is obliterated by Limited Atonement.
Arminian Charge: Calvinism cannot make sense of Hell.
Myth or Reality: According to Calvinism, no one in Hell can be told that they didn’t have to be there, and that if they had only believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, that they could have gone to Heaven instead, and this is because the Calvinist doctrine of a Limited Atonement means that Jesus only died for certain people, which cannot include anyone in Hell. So that effectively means that most people were born without a Savior, and without a hope in the world. Literally, then, (1) being born from Fallen parents, and inheriting their fallen nature, and (2) being divinely de-selected for having a Savior who died for them, the alleged non-elect are born into utter hopelessness.
