Calvinist (Bad Logic) Comment #2: Evil Comes From ...

2.  The Calvinist says:  "Under Calvinism, evil comes from the sinful nature of man that resulted from Adam's sin.  Evil actions are subordinate to God and always under God's authority and control.  Anything that happens (even the rape of a child, the hideous act of Hitler) could have been prevented had God wanted to do so, as God has the power and authority to do what He wants ... God's sovereign over all things, even evil things."

My (Heather's) note before I look at a reply:  Notice the truths that he stated here: that evil resulted from the Fall, that evil is subordinate to God and under His control, that God has the power to prevent bad things if He doesn't want them to happen, etc.  All of this is true.  But you must remember that in Calvinism, God isn't just "in control" over all things; He controls (causes) all things.  Therefore, those evil things (child rape, Hitler's actions) were not just allowed by Calvi-god (it's not just that he chose not to stop them); it's that he preplanned those events and caused them to happen just the way he planned, and nothing different could have happened.  Big, big difference!  But Calvinists will constantly try to hide their idea that "God controls/causes all things" in a cloak of "God allows things, He is 'in control' over all things."  But that's not what they believe!

TS00 (anti-Calvinist) replies:

“Under Calvinism evil comes from the sinful nature of man that resulted from Adam’s sin.”  (quote from the Calvinist)

This is such a silly, evasive statement.  More accurately, under Calvinism, ‘Evil comes from Calvi-god, who supposedly cursed men with a twisted nature that could do nothing but sin, as punishment for the sin of their father, which was determined by Calvi-god as well, presumably so he could have an excuse to introduce the ‘sin nature’.  This would cause endless sin and suffering, but, hey, it will all bring Calvi-god some kind of sick, twisted glory in the end, so what’s a few million people cast into eternal perdition?

Round and round the Calvinist goes, pretending like Adam’s sin was not predetemined, that the so-called ‘sin nature’ was not predetermined and forced upon man by Calvi-god and on and on.  If evil comes from the ‘sinful nature’, guess who came up with that little beauty (in Calvinism)?  It sure wasn’t Adam, who had no power to force anything upon his progeny, or to do anything that had not been decreed before he was created.

All this silly talk.  There are really only two possibilities: evil was God’s intentional plan or it wasn’t.

If God predetermines all things, evil came from him, was his idea, desire, will, etc. Period.

If God does not predetermine all things, but gave humans the freedom to make choices, then evil could arise, apart from God’s will (but not knowledge), upon the free choice of humans to rebel against God’s will.

Any talk of various ‘means’ is simply blowing smoke.  Either God deliberately came up with evil, or he allowed the possibility that free men might.  Which, no, is not the same thing.  One is deterministic and the other is that dratted ‘mere permission’ Calvin so despised.

It is futile to try and distance a deterministic Calvi-god from the sin of Adam, the curse of the sin nature, or ANYTHING that occurs within his meticulousy controlled creation.  Remember ‘whatsoever comes to pass’?  What lies outside of that?  Nothing, absolutely nothing.  It is time we stop letting Calvinists pretend otherwise.  If they don’t like God being the author of evil, they are going to have to step outside of their deterministic paradigm.


(For all the posts in this series, see the "Intro ..."  Or look for "'Calvinist Bad Logic' Series" in the labels on the side-bar.  Or find the whole series in one post, "When Calvinism's 'Bad Logic ' Traps Good Christians.")