Laurence Vance
Laurence Vance: “All Calvinists, whether they be Presbyterian or Reformed, Primitive Baptist or Sovereign Grace Baptist; all Calvinists, whether they be premillennial or amillennial, dispensational or covenant theologist; all Calvinists, whether they go by that name or not; all Calvinists have one thing in common: God, by a sovereign, eternal decree, has determined before the foundation of the world who shall be saved and who shall be lost. To obscure the real issue, a vocabulary has been invented to confuse and confound the Christian. The arguments about supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism, total depravity and total inability, reprobation and preterition, synergism and monergism, free will and free agency, common grace and special grace, general calling and effectual calling, perseverance and preservation, and the sovereignty of God are all immaterial. The stumbling block for the Calvinists is the simplicity of salvation, so upon rejecting this, a system has to be construed whereby salvation is made a mysterious, arcane, incomprehensible, decree of God. Thus, the basic error of Calvinism is confounding election and predestination with salvation, which they never are in the Bible, but only in the philosophical speculations and theological implications of Calvinism: the other side of Calvinism.” (The Other Side of Calvinism, p.35, emphasis mine)
“The Other Side of Calvinism” is an exposé on Calvinism that is rich in both the history of Augustine, John Calvin and Jacob Arminius, and in the documentation of quotes by Calvinists. When you read this book, you will know what Calvinism teaches. Whether you are a Calvinist, an Arminian or a non-Calvinist, “The Other Side of Calvinism” offers balance to the many Calvinist writings which are seldom as forthright as they ought to be. In fact, it’s when a Calvinist does present himself forthrightly and consistently, like Arthur Pink, that they get themselves in hot water. “The Other Side of Calvinism” undresses Calvinism so that everyone may fully know what they are getting into.
