Intro to "Calvinist Bad Logic" Series (with links)
(In this "Calvinist Bad Logic" series, I will be breaking up "When Calvinism's 'Bad Logic' Traps Good Christians" into smaller, bite-sized posts. It will take up all of December. To find all the posts in this series, click on the "'Calvinist Bad Logic' Series" label in the side-bar on this blog.)
Calvinism ... I'm just gonna come right out and say it ... is built on bad logic. Really, really bad logic!
Calvinism is not build solidly on Scripture as it was written; it's built on their own presumptions, assumptions, and misconceptions about who God is and how they think He has to act in order to be the kind of "sovereign" God they think He is. It's built on their own ideas of what verses must mean if they perceive God to be a certain way, totally missing what the verse is really saying because God is really not the way they think He is.
Calvinism is about as stable as building a house of cards on a foundation of Jell-O.
But ... Calvinism is so convincing because no one stops to question the bad logic that it's built on - the presumptions, assumptions, misconceptions, and twisted Scripture.
And if you buy into the foundational "bad logic" then you're lost already!
You see, people trust that a Calvinist who seems so educated must be right. People trust Big Names, feeling like they can't dare question what a Big Name, Highly-Educated Theologian says, even if it doesn't seem to fit with Scripture. And if people do question what the theologian or pastor is saying, they simply convince themselves that they themselves must be misunderstanding something, that they are not smart enough, that they "just don't get it." (You know who else were "Highly-Educated, Big Name Theologians"? The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. And look how blind they were to the Truth. Even when He was standing right in front of them.)
In fact, baby Calvinists are taught that it's humble to accept the illogical inconsistencies and contradictions of Calvinism, to not question them or look too deeply into them because that would be like questioning God Himself and doubting His Word. They're taught that "truth is truth, and you don't have to like it but you do have to accept it." They're taught that these illogical inconsistencies and contradictions are "mysteries" that belong to God, and "Who are we to try to understand the deep mysteries of God that He alone has the right to know!?!" They're told that questioning Calvinism shows that you don't want to submit to God, that you want to be in control. But that accepting this nonsense without qualms, without "talking back" to God ... well ... that shows you are humble and trusting and submitting to God's sovereignty.
And this traps so many good Christians who just want to honor God and do right by Him.
It's satanically brilliant! It really is!
How else can you get a whole bunch of God-fearing, well-meaning Christians to buy into a completely backwards theology that twists Scripture, flips the Gospel on its head, and destroys God's character, convincing them that it's humble to "simply accept it without question," to defend it, and to spread it to others!
Satanically-inspired garbage!
(I know what you're thinking, "Gee, Heather, tell me how you really feel!")
Anyway, what I want to do in this series is look at some of the bad logic Calvinists use to manipulate good
Christians. How they trap others, sucking them into their philosophical views of God and faith and the Bible. (Their views really shouldn't be called "theological." They should be called "philosophical" - because it's all built on their own ideas and reasonings, on their own thoughts of how things "should be" when their own beliefs are used as the foundation for their theological views.)
[I'm not saying the Calvinist is consciously trying to trap others. Sadly, the Calvinists themselves fully believe the garbage they're teaching. And they think they are being "good, obedient, God-glorifying Christians" to spread it to others. And that's almost scarier than if they were deliberately lying. Because people can generally tell when they are being lied to, and they resist it because they know it's a lie. But if someone truly, passionately believes the falsehoods they're spreading ... well, that can be convincing to a lot of people.
FYI: I will not cover the other ways they trap Christians, such as blocking opposing views, forming small group studies of Calvinist theology books (Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology), shaming and manipulating people into not disagreeing with them, convincing you that their beliefs are all about upholding God's glory, etc. (How glorifying is it to God to believe that Jesus didn't really die for everyone, that God doesn't really love everyone, that God causes sin but punishes us for it, and that He created most people specifically so that He could hate them and send them to hell because it "brings Him glory"? Yep, that sounds pretty glorious and God-honoring to me!) But if you want, you can find out more about this in these posts: Predestination Manipulation and Why Is Calvinism So Dangerous? and What's The Best Way To Make People Agree With Your Calvinist Views?]
(Also, I want to highlight a post from Hoppers Crossing Christian Church which I think is excellent: Why Are Calvinists Afraid To Answer Simple, Straightforward Questions? Read these slowly and thoughtfully. It gives a great look into Calvinism's illogical nonsense and how it can't fit with Scripture.)
And so in the following posts, you'll find various examples of Calvinism's deceptive "Bad Logic," the stuff that traps good Christians into a false "theology."
For easy reference, here are the posts in this series (I'll add them as I post them):
... #14: Why Pray?
