Leaving Calvinism: Steven Hitchcock
Here is the short, simple testimony of a former Calvinist from Australia, Steven Hitchcock, author of Recanting Calvinism. I have not read his book, but there are some really good, concise points in this post.
Such as when he talks about the problems with Calvinism's view that God has a hidden Will which undermines and contradicts His revealed Will. As he points out, if we accept the idea that God has a secret Will that can override what He says in the Bible, then no one can know anything for certain.
If Calvinism is true that God can say one thing but mean another - such as saying He loves all people and wants all people to be saved but He really hates most people and predestines them to hell - then why can't He say (as Calvinists believe) that He elects some people to salvation ... but He's really elected no one at all? If He can't be trusted to say what He means and mean what He says in the Bible, how can Calvinists trust Him at all? What are they basing their assurance of election on if Calvi-god regularly deceives people?
He makes another good point when he essentially says that Calvinism exchanges a biblical faith in Jesus who saves for a "faith" in the idea that God is responsible for our salvation.
If Calvinists are elected by God to be saved before they believe and if they have to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit so that they can have faith ... then faith is an afterthought. It's non-essential really, because the person was saved and regenerated before they could ever have faith. And they could only have faith because Calvi-god caused it to happen.
What does this do the meaning of faith, the necessity of faith?
In Calvinism, faith is really not necessary for salvation and we have no part in it. It's the last, most insignificant part of a Calvinist's salvation, a mere "after the fact" formality.
This is directly opposed to the Bible which stresses again and again the crucial, necessary role faith has in our salvation. Calvinism has essentially, deceptively, downgraded faith to almost nothing, while looking like it holds it up so highly.
Just one more way Calvinism flips the gospel on its head and totally reverses what God said.
Calvinism is like holding a mirror up to the Bible, making everything reversed, the exact opposite of what God says. But instead of correcting the problem, the Calvinist simply learns to read backwards. And so they can't see anything wrong with their theology and don't even realize that it's not everyone else who's backwards, it's them.
Such as when he talks about the problems with Calvinism's view that God has a hidden Will which undermines and contradicts His revealed Will. As he points out, if we accept the idea that God has a secret Will that can override what He says in the Bible, then no one can know anything for certain.
If Calvinism is true that God can say one thing but mean another - such as saying He loves all people and wants all people to be saved but He really hates most people and predestines them to hell - then why can't He say (as Calvinists believe) that He elects some people to salvation ... but He's really elected no one at all? If He can't be trusted to say what He means and mean what He says in the Bible, how can Calvinists trust Him at all? What are they basing their assurance of election on if Calvi-god regularly deceives people?
He makes another good point when he essentially says that Calvinism exchanges a biblical faith in Jesus who saves for a "faith" in the idea that God is responsible for our salvation.
If Calvinists are elected by God to be saved before they believe and if they have to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit so that they can have faith ... then faith is an afterthought. It's non-essential really, because the person was saved and regenerated before they could ever have faith. And they could only have faith because Calvi-god caused it to happen.
What does this do the meaning of faith, the necessity of faith?
In Calvinism, faith is really not necessary for salvation and we have no part in it. It's the last, most insignificant part of a Calvinist's salvation, a mere "after the fact" formality.
This is directly opposed to the Bible which stresses again and again the crucial, necessary role faith has in our salvation. Calvinism has essentially, deceptively, downgraded faith to almost nothing, while looking like it holds it up so highly.
Just one more way Calvinism flips the gospel on its head and totally reverses what God said.
Calvinism is like holding a mirror up to the Bible, making everything reversed, the exact opposite of what God says. But instead of correcting the problem, the Calvinist simply learns to read backwards. And so they can't see anything wrong with their theology and don't even realize that it's not everyone else who's backwards, it's them.
