The Calvinism Controversy

John Calvin is one of the Reformers of the Church and Father of Presbyterian and Episcopal Churches. He is the theoglian who coined TULIP:
Total depravity,
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement,
Irresistible Grace,
Perseverance of the Faith
These doctrines of John Calvin developed into a school of thought and theology called Calvinism, and it has created controversy since it was established.

T: Total Depravity

Calvin's T for total depravity aligns with St. Augustine's view that man is totally depraved, stained with sin from Adam, that built in man is the propensity to sin. If one reads Genesis 3 through 6, the conclusion mankind became so depraved they even had sex with angels (Genesis 6:1-5) and had children. Calvin goes one step more to say every molecule of a person is depraved, but after one repents and believes in Christ (Romans 10:9) this changes according to Scripture, "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin," (Romans 6:6), "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me," (Galatians 2:20), "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires," (Galatians 5:24), "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires," (Ephesians 4:22), "Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices," (Colossians 3:9), and, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Corinthians 5:17),


U: Unconditional Election

This is the unicorn of Calvinism, the doctrine that divides the lines only second to L: Limited Atonement. Unconditional election is the belief that Christ has chosen an elect, a certain number of people to be saved, and no one else will be. This inevitably leads to that even if you evangelize people it is in vain, for only the chosen are saved. This is were "frozen chosen" gets its name and the concept for this interpretation comes form, "For many are called, but few are chosen," (Matthew 22:14), "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit--fruit that will last--and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you," (John 15:16), "who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance," (1 Peter 1:2), and "Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel." (Revelation 7:4). The problem is that more Bible verse advocate Armenianism, the opposite belief to Unconditional Election, "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who  wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth," (1 Timothy 2:3-4), "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," (Matthew 28:19), "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation," (Mark 16:15), "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance," (1 Peter 3:9), "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4), "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him," (2 Peter 3:16), "I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling," (Revelation 2:21), and "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent." (Revelation 3:19), and finally, another more dissected translation of the Unconditional Election verse, "Many are called but few are chosen" read "Many are invited but few are (have) chosen," (Matthew 22:14); which comes from full context as being that Jesus invited people who professed in His Name to the banquet (Wedding Supper of Lamb, see the Parable of Ten Virgins, and ), but they refused to come, so Christ picks other people, sinners because the elect did not want Emmanuel, this entire parable is to Pharisees and religious elite, to Jewish people who are reject Him (I am to my own, and they received me not"). Read Matthew 22:1-14 for the full context of this "many are chosen are few."

L: Limited Atonement

Limited Atonement claims Jesus Christ only died for the elect, that only the chosen, internal believers get covered by the blood, but this violates the Bible, the Great Commission and the Apostles: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance," (1 Peter 3:9), Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," (Matthew 28:19), "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation," (Mark 16:15, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (Yahweh in Hebrew, God, see Colossians 2:9), and believe in your heart He was raised from dead by God you shall be saved," (Romans 10:9), "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory," (Ephesians 1:13-14), "They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household," (Acts 16:31), and "For God So loved the World that He sent His One and Only Son, and whoever believes Him shall not perish but have eternal life," (John 3:16), and "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them," (John 3:36), "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world," (1 John 2:2), "God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood--to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished," (Romans 3:25), "For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time," (Hebrews 10:10), "Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit," (1 Peter 3:18), "The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God," (Romans 6:10), and "so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:28). Not only does Christ and all the Apostles contest Calvin's claim, they do on many occasions. Limited Atonement is misunderstanding of James 4, "Grace and works," which I have explained elsewhere, and it is misinterpretation of, "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling." (Phillippians 2:12). Working out your salvation is believing in Christ Jesus the Savior (Romans 10:9), serving and follow Him without falling away.

I: Irresistible Grace

In this point Calvin claims there is external call to salvation, and internal call that the elect cannot resist. In essence what this means is that select few will be saved by default, without a choice, they cannot "resist" while others choose the gospel and can fall away (Hebrews 6:4). The problem is there is no clear Scripture defining those who are external believers, saved by choice and internal believers saved without a choice.  All we do have is the opposite of Calvin's point, "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who  wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth," (1 Timothy 2:3-4), "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," (Matthew 28:19), "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation," (Mark 16:15), "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance," (1 Peter 3:9), "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4), "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him," (2 Peter 3:16), "I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling," (Revelation 2:21), and "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent." (Revelation 3:19),

This kind of thinking creates an elitism, and then the call to share Gospel gets confusing, do I preach to a crowd, or are they the chosen internal ones? Also, according to Calvin's Limited Atonement, only the internal, elect will be saved, so then those who choose Christ will not be saved which eliminates the whole point of this Tulip point! This is where Calvinism begins to unravel itself. Calvin endeavors to bridge, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling," (Phillippians 2:12) and "It is by grace you have been saved, not by works should anyone boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9). But ultimately, Calvin decides to say only the special cult, small group can be saved which is not Scriptural as I pointed out under the previous points.

P: Perseverance of the Saints

This part of TULIP claims you cannot lose you salvation if you are one of the elect, the chosen. But Scripture contradicts this claim, " For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame," (Hebrews 6:4-7), "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them," (2 Peter 2:21), "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved," (Matthew 24:13), "To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne," (Revelation 3:21), "To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations," (Revelation 2:26), "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons," (1 Timothy 4:1), "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many," (Matthew 24:9-11), "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves," (1 Peter2:1), "For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect," (Matthew 24:24), ""If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened," (Matthew 24:22), "I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"(Luke 18:8), "Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist--denying the Father and the Son," (1 John 2:22), --"And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people." (Revelation 13:13). Clearly perseverance is going to be needed due to what is going to happen, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything," (James 1:2-4), "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him," (James 1:12), and, "And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:3-4). But what does this perseverance look like? Is it austere and ascetic works? No, it is continuing to believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him no matter what happens (John 3:16, Romans 10:9).

Source on Calvinism: http://www.calvinistcorner.com/tulip.htm

John Calvin's doctrines of TULIP are meant to be a measure. His teachings he claimed could help a believer know if they are "chosen" but ultimately Calvin said this, "In the end the measure, these points cannot give you assurance, you will never know if you are chosen or saved until you die." (Church History in Plain Language, 4th Edition, Bruce Shelley). This is what the Quran teaches about Allah, " all Muslims go before Allah and must have their good deeds weighed against their bad deeds on scales. A Muslim never knows if they have enough good deeds until they die. Hence why Muslims feel the need to die in cause of Allah (Jihad Akbar) to guarantee their salvation promised by Muhammed." (How Islam Plans to Change the World, William Wagner). Calvin's claims sound quite like Muhammed's leaving believers with no assurance of salvation, when in fact the Holy Scriptures does, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (Yahweh in Hebrew, God, see Colossians 2:9), and believe in your heart He was raised from dead by God you shall be saved," (Romans 10:9), "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory," (Ephesians 1:13-14), "They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household," (Acts 16:31), and "For God So loved the World that He sent His One and Only Son, and whoever believes Him shall not perish but have eternal life," (John 3:16), and "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them," (John 3:36). Especially Ephessians 1:13-14 gives us full assurance of salvation. I therefore have problems with John Calvin's theology and doctrines, which actually got him run out of Geneva, because of the austerity and government he tried to establish. Scripture supports Armenianism clearly. Ultimately you must go to Holy Bible to discern what doctrines are true, any doctrine from a man who was not one of the Apostles, nor is the God Man Jesus Christ must have severe scrutiny before the Scriptures.