Calvinism and Arminianism:
Myths & Realities
Calvinist, John MacArthur: “I’m a Christian today because before the foundation of the world from all eternity past, God chose to set His love on John MacArthur and to give him the faith to believe at the moment that God wanted him to believe.” (Understanding Election, emphasis mine)
John MacArthur: “When you look at your salvation, then thank God. Thank God! Because you are a Christian because He chose you. I don’t understand the mystery of that. That’s just what the word of God teaches. That is the most humbling doctrine in all of Scripture. I take no credit, not even credit for my faith. It all came from Him. He chose me. He selected people to be made holy in order to be with Him forever. Why he selected me, I will never know.” (Understanding Election, emphasis mine)
It seems like Calvinism turns salvation into a lottery,
where those who are saved, are saved by of the sheer
luck of the draw. Calvinists admittedly cannot explain
why God chose to save them, and therefore must simply
defer to an unfathomable mystery.
Arminian, John Goodwin: “And whether that doctrine, which teacheth that God intendeth only the salvation of a few, but the condemnation of many, and yet commandeth all to believe that they may be saved, doth not make the glorious gospel of God like unto one of such lotteries, I leave to all understanding and unprejudice men to consider.” (Redemption Redeemed, pp.140-141, emphasis mine)
Steve Gregg comments on the Calvinist doctrine of Limited Atonement: “The atonement is Jesus giving His life for the sheep. Who did He give it for? The sheep. The elect. Not everybody. Not the losers. Ok? Jesus didn’t do it for the losers, He did it for the winners in this raffle.” (The Narrow Path, emphasis mine)
Question: If some are saved by “arbitrary” choice,
while others are damned by arbitrary choice, in having
been “created for the specific purpose of perishing,”
is not the one who is saved, like that of a lottery winner?
John Calvin: “When God prefers some to others, choosing some and passing others by, the difference does not depend on human dignity or indignity. It is therefore wrong to say that the reprobate are worthy of eternal destruction.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, pp.120-121, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “If what I teach is true, that those who perish are destined to death by the eternal good pleasure of God though the reason does not appear, then they are not found but made worthy of destruction.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.121, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “Solomon also teaches us that not only was the destruction of the ungodly foreknown, but the ungodly themselves have been created for the specific purpose of perishing (Prov. 16:4).” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, pp.207-208, emphasis mine)
Question: If you were created for the “purpose of perishing,” wouldn’t you at least have to say that you were very unlucky?
One member of The Society of Evangelical Arminians answers: “I made a very similar comment when I was a Calvinist. And you know what, back then, I could have cared less that the greater part of humanity was damned by an eternal decree of God because I viewed the non-elect to be as bad as demons. No lie. When someone ‘got saved,’ I viewed them (as I did myself) as ‘lucky’ that God saved them. It’s horrifying. The psychological affect of Calvinism on the minds and hearts of some Christians is downright frightening.”
John Calvin: “There are some, too, who allege that God is greatly dishonored if such arbitrary power is bestowed on Him. But does their distaste make them better theologians than Paul, who has laid it down as the rule of humility for the believers, that they should look up to the sovereignty of God and not evaluate it by their own judgment?” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, pp.209-210, emphasis mine)
And there it is...God’s sovereign right to make some born lucky and others born very unlucky.
Calvinist, D. James Kennedy: “So God makes His sovereign selection from among the human race, a race of sinful and corrupt people, all of whom deserve condemnation. But God extends mercy to a vast multitude. He must be just, but He doesn’t have to extend mercy to any. Those whom He selects are saved---a great number out of every tribe and tongue and nation.” (Solving Bible Mysteries, p.30, emphasis mine)
However, Kennedy clarifies: “Again and again we see that people are predestined (elected) to salvation--but nowhere do we see that anyone is ever predestined to condemnation of Hell. When we think of God as unfairly, arbitrarily electing people to Heaven or Hell, it is as if we have a mental picture of a row of people sitting on a fence, and God passes down the line and points at each one, ‘It’s Hell for you, Heaven for you, Hell, Hell, Hell, Heaven, Hell...’ Now, that would be unfair--and absolutely capricious! But that’s not the kind of God we love and serve.” (Solving Bible Mysteries, p.29, emphasis mine)
This is a rather shocking statement, because it seems to convey exactly what Calvinism teaches!
Arminian Charge: Calvinism is like a Lottery system.
Myth or Reality: A common criticism of Calvinism is that it makes salvation into a Lottery. For if, from all eternity, God has chosen only a certain number of people to become saved, then the rest are very unlucky. No?
