John Calvin did not invent God’s sovereignty. So why do many Christians use ‘Calvinism’ to attempt to prove human free-will and diminish God’s authority? My belief is that religious people use ‘Calvinism’ to categorize scriptures that they cannot explain. Scriptures that prove God’s sovereignty and completely disprove human free will are not Calvinism, but scripture.
For instance, God says He determined who would be in Christ before time began and this is not based on the person’s decision or any act on their part (2 Timothy 1:9). God also says that HE determines everything a person does whether it be good or bad…and He determines this before they are born (Romans 9: 11-12).
Do Christians take the time to present the case as to how a person can be free to make any choice they want when God already determined what they would do before they were born, before time even began? NO! They just say, “You are a Calvinist!” As a result, they can just ignore plain statements of scripture and put it into the ‘Calvinist argument box’ to avoid truth.
First, I want to say that not all Christians use this argument. However, those that do are completely in error. ‘Calvinism’ is simply not taught, nor used as a basis for anything on this substack. Let me prove it:
On this substack, God’s sovereignty is taught based on scripture that shows God as the Potter and human beings as clay (Romans 9:21). God plans the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) and determines belief and forms every decision of a man’s life before birth (Psalm 139:16, 2 Timothy 1:9, Romans 9:11). God gives humans this experience of evil (Ecclesiastes 1:13) and every experience to individually work out the order of every creature’s salvation based on Christ’s faith, His death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection alone. God works all according to His will (Ephesians 1:11) for the end game accomplishment of all creation being reconciled through the blood of the cross (Colossians 1:20) so that God will be All in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).
Calvinism teaches that God has determined people to be eternally separated from Him. Specifically, God created human beings and other creatures for the sole purpose of torturing them in fire forever. It is impossible for these beings to be saved no matter what they do. Even Christ’s death for sin can do nothing for the sin that God has guaranteed for them. John Calvin and his followers deny the numerous scriptures that speak of God, through Christ cross, saving all of His creation.
So, Calvinism is a sick perversion of predestination. However, many Christians that use this argument hate God’s sovereignty so much that anything God plans from the beginning must be Calvinism, therefore they can create the straw man that satisfies their belief in human free-will.
Sorry, claiming ‘Calvinism’ does not get anyone off the hook for believing in human free will or as I like to call it, self salvation. The reason people need to relate God’s sovereignty to Calvinism is because Calvinism is obviously false, but still this argument addresses none of the verses that clearly teach God’s sovereignty.
One of the reason religious people hide behind this fake argument is with the nonsensical argument that ‘we are not robots.’ I have heard this so many times in the past few years that I will touch on it now.
Ya know, most people are apprehensive about calling AI (artificial intelligence) humans. This is because AI and robots are man’s creation and do not possess God’s spirit, as humans do. Robots buzz and blink while having no ability to let emotions effect their decision making. However, when defending ‘free will,’ Christians often say, “God did not create robots.”
This thought process operates under the assumption that if God created the inmost being and circumstances of a person’s life in order for them to make predetermined decisions, then these people would somehow be robots. As I said before, Robots buzz and blink without emotions. So, how is this the same thing as God creating all the circumstances of life and putting a unique individual in these circumstances while using the complex intricacies of their heart and mind to cause them to learn, feel emotions, grow and make decisions according to God’s own plan?
Its more like God is the Potter and we are the clay. He molds us using our inmost being (that He created) and weaves it into unique individualized circumstances to produce the experiences of our lives and the decisions that come as a result. Scripture in fact says “Has not the potter the right over the clay (Romans 9:21)?” So God is the Potter and we are the clay, according to scripture. So, why don’t those that believe in ‘free will’ use this analogy as opposed to the ‘robot’ analogy?
Because the ‘robot’ is a straw man argument they can win while denying the true scriptural analogy that proves ‘human free will’ false. We are obviously not robots, so obviously we have a ‘free will’ the argument goes. However, God uses far more ‘molding’ of inmost beings and circumstances that make up the human being in order fulfill His intention. As if God wasn’t powerful enough to cause His creation to do His intention with all the tools at His disposal that the only way He could make them do His will is by making them robots. Nonsense!
As a high school basketball coach and teacher, I could manipulate situations based on my knowledge of a student to get the desired response. I don’t need to make them robots! I know them and understand the individual circumstances they need to learn, grow, and make the right decisions. We don’t even give God this credit? He has to make robots? God created us and has intimate knowledge of each individual and complete control of circumstances. Can you see how ridiculous and blasphemous this robot argument is?
So, we are not robots as humans are far more complex than that. However, God still retains His sovereignty as the potter does with his clay. Again, I ask any Christian, give me an example that is allowed in the Potter and clay analogy in Romans chapter 9 that proves clay can mold itself causing the Potter to react. All of Romans chapter 9 proves God’s sovereignty and disproves human free will. The only way around this is to ignore it along with many other scriptures. Free-will believers have no problem doing this.
You see, the underlying problem with this ‘robot’ argument is that those that use it treat God as if He were a human being. If a human being did this, the thought goes, then he or she would be unloving and controlling. However, as I mentioned in previous articles, God is in a unique position in that HE is God and the Placer/Subjector of all things. Acts chapter 17 says that it is in God that humans live, move, and exist (Acts 17:28). God’s spirit animates our every thought, movement, and decision. So, How can we be free from God when our existence requires Him?
Keep in mind that God is creating us in Christ Jesus. It is God’s work and it is God that is working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13), not our free-will. After all, how could we be free of death that is operating in us? We are dying creatures and this in and of itself makes free-will impossible because, of course, death operating in us is an influence on us.
Once God constitutes us with the immortality of Christ, then death is no longer an influence and we can truly be free. At this point, God becomes our All forever. Do we have a free-will when God is our All? This is the endgame that every experience of every creature is leading toward…all orchestrated by the Almighty God.
Grace and peace.
Exactly right Scott. In my everyday living I pray to have knowledge of His will for me today - in all things His will, not mine. Once this is recognised then ego can be exciled and the love of Jesus prevails. As Eckhart Toller advises, "stay in the NOW" - the past cannot be changed and the future has not yet arrived.