{"id":49,"date":"2010-08-06T08:20:23","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T13:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rogereolson.com\/?p=49"},"modified":"2011-08-18T19:32:18","modified_gmt":"2011-08-18T19:32:18","slug":"the-problem-with-calvinism-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2010\/08\/the-problem-with-calvinism-is\/","title":{"rendered":"The problem with Calvinism is…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

People often ask me what is my single most serious problem with Calvinism.\u00a0 Why am I not a Calvinist?\u00a0 First, I like to point out that nobody is obligated to be one.\u00a0 Some evangelicals are under the mistaken impression that Calvinism is the norm for all evangelicalism and that if you\u2019re not a Calvinist you\u2019re somehow defectively evangelical.\u00a0 It is wrongly believed to be the default theology of authentic evangelicalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I grew up in the thick of evangelicalism\u2013spiritually nurtured by mentors and peers in Youth for Christ where I rubbed shoulders with evangelicals of many different denominations.\u00a0 We used to debate Calvinism versus Arminianism all the time and we generally agreed to disagree and nevertheless worship and witness together.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember anyone then telling me I had to be a Calvinist to be a faithful Christian or an evangelical.\u00a0 I grew up in a Pentecostal<\/a> denomination that was thoroughly Arminian (although no doubt some folks were really semi-Pelagian because they didn\u2019t know any better and took songs like \u201cThe Savior is Waiting [to Enter Your Heart]\u201d too literally.\u00a0 My uncle was president of our little denomination for 25 years\u2013including the years I was growing up and becoming a theologian-wannabe.\u00a0 He and I talked endlessly about these issues and he told me that in the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) of which he was a national officer Calvinists and Arminians got along wonderfully and nobody made anyone else feel second class for holding either view.\u00a0 Point of trivia: One of the first presidents of the NAE who held office for many years was Billy Melvin, a minister of the Free Will Baptist denomination.<\/p>\n

Then, something new began to come onto my radar screen.\u00a0 I\u2019ll never forget the day in about 1985 when\u00a0a student came to my office and said \u201cProfessor Olson, I\u2019m sorry to tell you, but you\u2019re not a Christian.\u201d\u00a0 When I asked him why he said \u201cBecause you\u2019re not a Calvinist.\u201d\u00a0 He claimed that his pastor, a well-known Calvinist speaker and author, taught him that only Calvinists can be authentically Christian.<\/p>\n

Later I had opportunity to talk with that pastor and he denied ever teaching that, but he did say to me that \u201cArminianism is on the precipice of heresy.\u201d\u00a0 Over the intervening years something called the \u201cyoung, restless, Reformed\u201d movement has grown and many people associated with it do talk and act as if Calvinism and evangelical Christianity, if not simply Christianity itself, are necessarily linked such that non-Calvinists cannot really be authentically evangelical.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I invite representatives of the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) to speak to my classes every year.\u00a0 One leader of the local chapter told my class \u201cOh, Arminianism\u2013that\u2019s just Pelagianism.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, I corrected him, but I suspect he and many others like him still think that.<\/p>\n

Calvinist and Arminian evangelicals share much common ground as I wrote in my book Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities.\u00a0 But, there are also deep differences.\u00a0 And that brings me back to the question why I am not a Calvinist.<\/p>\n

As I implied above, first, I never was one and have never seen compelling reason to become one.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same reason I am not an amillennialist (in spite of the fact that many of my evangelical peers in the theological guild are)\u2013I grew up premillennial and I\u2019ve never seen sufficient biblical evidence or heard or read sufficient arguments to make me change my mind.\u00a0 My premillennialism has evolved; it\u2019s no longer of the dispensational variety.\u00a0 But I cherish the belief in a future,\u00a0earthly messianic reign of peace, justice\u00a0and prosperity.\u00a0 The German theologian Juergen Moltmann has become my main guide in this area of eschatology.\u00a0 He is a premillennialist with a difference (from, say, dispensational premillennialism of the Tim LaHaye variety).<\/p>\n

Second, I am not a Calvinist because (hold on!) IF I WERE A CALVINIST I would have trouble distinguishing between God and the devil.\u00a0 Some Calvinists have misinterpreted this saying.\u00a0 They think I\u2019m accusing them of worshiping the devil.\u00a0 Nothing could be farther from the truth.\u00a0 All I am saying is, if I were a Calvinist, being of the bent of mind that I am (striving for logical consistency as much as possible), I would have trouble clearly distinguishing between God and the devil in my own mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To my Calvinist acquaintances who take umbrage at this, all I can say is\u2013please just consider it my own intellectual failure if you wish.\u00a0 I am not aiming this saying at you.\u00a0 I am admitting my own failure (from your point of view, I\u2019m sure).\u00a0 But it does hold me back from joining the ranks of the \u201cyoung, restless, Reformed\u201d (not all of who are young, by the way).<\/p>\n

The point is\u2013God\u2019s character.\u00a0 IF God elects people to salvation unconditionally and IF God\u00a0IS love (1 John) why doesn\u2019t he save everybody?\u00a0 IF I could be a universalist, I could be a Calvinist.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care about free will for its own sake or for any humanist reasons.\u00a0\u00a0Hell is the sticky issue.\u00a0 The Calvinist God could save everyone because his election to salvation is unconditional and his grace is irresistible.\u00a0 Apparently, he purposefully chooses to \u201cpass over\u201d some (which is in effect the same as foreordaining them to hell).\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 For his glory?\u00a0 Some Calvinists say hell is necessary for the full manifestation of God\u2019s attribute of justice.\u00a0 I ask what that says about the cross-was it not a sufficient manifestation of God\u2019s justice?<\/p>\n

The devil wants everyone to go to hell.\u00a0 The God of Calvinism wants many to go to hell.\u00a0 Is that enough of a difference of character?\u00a0 Not to me.\u00a0 The God of Jesus Christ is absolutely, unconditionally good.\u00a0 The God of Calvinism, from my perspective, is not absolutely, uncondtionally good and, in fact, has a dark side that includes willing that people perish eternally (contrary to 2 Peter 3:9 and 1 Timothy 2:4).<\/p>\n

Next year Zondervan will publish my book-length explanation of what I see wrong with Calvinism.\u00a0 This is just a hint at that.\u00a0 But let me say here and now that, in spite of my serious qualms about Calvinism, I do consider Calvinists my fellow evangelicals.\u00a0 I would never say or suggest that someone is defectively evangelical because he or she is a Calvinist.\u00a0 What I think is that Calvinists are confused insofar as they believe God is love (as Scripture clearly says) and yet hold onto their belief in unconditional election, limited atonement and irresistible grace.<\/p>\n

What really bothers me at a personal as well as professional level is the present, on-going attitude of superiority and even exclusiveness\u00a0being fostered among many of the young, restless, Reformed Christians.\u00a0 It reminds me of the attitude displayed by many of the followers of Bill Gothard in the 1970s\u2013they believed they had found the magical key that unlocked the secrets of true spirituality to the exclusion of those poor, ignorant folks who had not yet attended a Basic Youth Conflicts seminar.<\/p>\n

I do NOT claim that Arminianism is the be-all and end-all of biblical, evangelical faith.\u00a0 It is one way of interpreting Scripture and, for now at least, I believe it is the most accurate way among all the known options.\u00a0 (One reason I believe that is that it is the closest Protestant theology to the soteriology\u2013doctrine of salvation\u2013among the Christians of the first four to five centuries.\u00a0 I don\u2019t find anything like Calvinism appearing until Augustine in the early 5th century.)\u00a0 But I suspect \u201cWhen we all get to heaven\u201d (the title of a good old gospel song) we will all find out that our \u201clittle systems\u201d fell short of the fullness of truth.\u00a0 As Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote: \u201cOur little systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be.\u00a0 They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, o God, art more than they.\u201d We would all do well to take that to heart.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People often ask me what is my single most serious problem with Calvinism.\u00a0 Why am I not a Calvinist?\u00a0 First, I like to point out that nobody is obligated to be one.\u00a0 Some evangelicals are under the mistaken impression that Calvinism is the norm for all evangelicalism and that if you\u2019re not a Calvinist you\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe problem with Calvinism is...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"People often ask me what is my single most serious problem with Calvinism.\u00a0 Why am I not a Calvinist?\u00a0 First, I like to point out that nobody is obligated\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2010\/08\/the-problem-with-calvinism-is\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The problem with Calvinism is...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People often ask me what is my single most serious problem with Calvinism.\u00a0 Why am I not a Calvinist?\u00a0 First, I like to point out that nobody is obligated\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2010\/08\/the-problem-with-calvinism-is\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Roger E. 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