Luke 17:2
Luke 17:1-2 (see also Matthew 18:14)
He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.”
Question: Is it “inevitable” because everything is scripted by God, as per Calvinism, or is it inevitable because that is simply consistent with human nature?
Answer: If everything is scripted, then why didn’t Jesus say “predetermined”? In other words: Woe to the one that God predetermined would cause one of these little ones to stumble? In other words, if Calvinism is true, then why isn’t Jesus talking like a Calvinist?
Rest assured, Calvinism does teach a “script” theory:
Calvinist, R.C. Sproul: “Predestination seems to cast a shadow on the very heart of human freedom. If God has decided our destinies from all eternity, that strongly suggests that our free choices are but charades, empty exercises in predetermined playacting. It is as though God wrote the script for us in concrete and we are merely carrying out his scenario.” (Chosen by God, p.51, emphasis mine)
R.C. Sproul: “If He decides to allow something, then in a sense he is foreordaining it. ... If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled. Perhaps that one maverick molecule will lay waste all the ground and glorious plans that God has made and promised to us. ... If we reject divine sovereignty then we must embrace atheism.” (Chosen by God, pp.26-27, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “We also note that we should consider the creation of the world so that we may realize that everything is subject to God and ruled by his will and that when the world has done what it may, nothing happens other than what God decrees.” (Acts: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.66, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “First, the eternal predestination of God, by which before the fall of Adam He decreed what should take place concerning the whole human race and every individual, was fixed and determined.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.121, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “God had no doubt decreed before the foundation of the world what He would do with every one of us and had assigned to everyone by His secret counsel his part in life.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, p.20, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “…the reason why God elects some and rejects others is to be found in His purpose alone. … before men are born their lot is assigned to each of them by the secret will of God. … the salvation or the destruction of men depends on His free election.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, p.203, emphasis mine)
Question: Is causing a child to stumble, God’s sovereign
will?
Answer: Based upon John 17:1-2, I do not get the
impression from Jesus that this is God’s will at all.
But if God scripted it, as R.C. Sproul describes, being
the First-Cause, then for whom would it be better that
a millstone be hung about their neck and cast into the
sea? The Secondary-Cause? How would it be reasonable
for God to condemn the very act that He caused?, and
then how would He simultaneously be able to say,
“Come, and let us reason together”? (Isaiah 1:18)
When a discussion on “abortion” had taken place on the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry, certain Calvinists made statements that horrified non-Calvinists:
Calvinist CARM member, beloved57: “Abortion is according to Gods sovereign will.”
Calvinist CARM member, 4calvinism: “God has His reasons for allowing abortion. I would rather beleive that than believe in a God who could stop abortion anytime he wanted but chooses not to. Or a God who is simply incapable of stopping it. Which do you choose?”
Calvinist CARM member, Big Bus: “Of course it brings glory. In what way, we have no idea. All things bring glory to God....even punishing the evil people who commit abortions. What a sad and pathetic god you have that has the power to prevent these MURDERS but just will not because of violating man’s will.... You see, we C’s actually have an answer for things like this that are biblical....God’s GLORY and RIGHTEOUS PURPOSE. All you guys got is the imaginary ‘God won’t violate their free will’ defense...or something even stranger, like ‘God lets these phases of time just play out’. Yeah, sounds good. I think I’ll go turn off all the streetlights and just let things play out FOR NO REASON AT ALLLLL! Good stuff.”
- The 1st Calvinist is simply a hyper-Calvinist.
- The 2nd Calvinist appeals to permission, which makes no sense, in light of Calvinistic determinism. How does an author permit his characters to do things, when they do only what he scripts? That’s why permission and determinism do not go together.
- The 3rd Calvinist states that God scripted and predetermined abortion for His “glory and righteous purpose,” and not permitted it and using it, mind you, but scripted it, and these same Calvinists then reject that their theology necessarily makes God the “author of sin,” and then when they are asked to explain it, they defer to “mystery.”
