Why is Calvinism so dangerous? #5 (Seek or no seek?)

 [In this series, I'm breaking the long post "Why is Calvinism so dangerous?" into bite-sized pieces.]

5.  
The Bible says ... God expects us to seek Him in order to find Him, to find new life in Him.

But Calvinism says ... God commands us to seek Him but no one can seek Him unless He makes them seek (and He only makes the elect seek/find/believe in Him).

Deuteronomy 4:29: "But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him, if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul."

Hebrews 11:6: "... anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Jeremiah 29:13: "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart..."

1 Chronicles 22:19: "Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God."

Psalm 14:2: "The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God."

Isaiah 55:6: "Seek the Lord while he may be found ..."

Proverbs 8:17: "... those who seek me find me."

Those verses seem pretty simple and straight-forward, right?

If God tells us to seek Him, He expects us to seek Him, meaning that we can and should seek Him.  If God says "seek," you seek.  Simple, right?

But Calvinists don't do simple and straight-forward.  (It's not "theologically-elite" enough for them.  And why would anyone come to them for answers if we can all understand Scripture on our own?)

Calvinists think that just because God commands us to seek Him doesn't mean we can seek Him.  In fact, they think it's impossible for man to seek God, which is why He has to make the elect do it.  And they have at least two big mistakes that led to this wrong thinking:  

1. They think "spiritual death" is the same as physical death.

2. They interpret Romans 3:11 - “no one seeks God” - as "no one can seek God," as if it’s impossible for people to seek God (because they are "spiritually dead like a dead body") unless God causes them to.  [But that's not what the verse says.  Look it up in context and read the whole chapter, and look up the context of the original, first-use of it.  Is it talking about mankind's inability to seek God, or about something else?]

But do you really think God would tell us over and over again to seek Him (and believe in Him and obey Him) if He made it impossible for us to do so - and if He made the non-elect never able to do so?  Is He deceptive like that, pretending we have a choice when we don't?  Does He play word-games and mind-games with us?

Calvinists think so.  

The "Dead Men Don't Seek" fallacy:  Calvinists "prove" their idea that no one can seek God by saying that we are "dead people" spiritually, and like physically-dead bodies who can't do anything except lay there all dead, we can't do anything spiritual either except lay there all dead.  "Dead people" can't seek God.  They can't even want God or think about God - and they definitely can't believe in God - unless and until He makes us do it.  (And Calvi-god will only make the elect do it!)

Do not let Calvinists convince you that they believe in the "depravity" of man, which is a biblical concept, as in "we are all separated from God, we all sin, and we cannot save ourselves."  

What they actually believe in is "Total Inability" (but they call it "total depravity," making it sound more biblical).  They believe that at the Fall of Adam and Eve, we became "so depraved/so dead" that we lost the ability to think any good things and to make any spiritual decisions on our own (find me the verse that teaches this!).  And so now we are born "so dead" spiritually that all we can do is sin all the time and resist God/godly thoughts.  It's impossible for us to want, seek, or believe in God unless He first regenerates us with the Spirit (changing our dead spirit to a living one) and then causes us to do those things.  Well, the "elect" only, that is.  God will only cause the elect to want Him, seek Him, and believe in Him.  

And everyone else is predestined to remain dead, only able to sin and reject Him, and to go to hell.  Because God predetermined it to be that way.  Because Calvi-god gets glory by deliberately putting people in hell, with no chance of salvation.  [See "Is Calvinism's TULIP Biblical?"]

It's garbage!  It really is.  Calvinism's "spiritual death is the same as physical death" analogy is simply a ridiculously bad, terribly wrong analogy.  Go ahead and try to find one verse that says this!  You can't.  Because it's not from Scripture.  Calvinists made it up based on their own presuppositions, bad definitions, and their wrong ideas of how God works, of man's condition, and of what God "meant" to say in verses that they took out of context.  Don't buy into this nonsense!  (If you accept their definition of "spiritual death," you are on your way to becoming a Calvinist.)  

[Let me interrupt here with a warning: Calvinists have a very tightly-woven theology where if you accept one point they make, you have to accept them all, because they all interlink.  They lead you one step at a time into Calvinism.  Such as, if you accept that "spiritual death" means "total inability," then you agree that man has no ability to seek God on his own, and so then you have to agree that God has to cause people to seek, which means that those He causes to seek have to seek/believe but those He doesn't cause to seek can never seek/believe, which means Calvinists are right about predestination, which means Calvinism is true, which means you have to accept that "God is sovereign" means that He controls everything, including our sins and whether we go to heaven or hell, and that everything that happens is because He wanted/planned/caused it to happen and that nothing different could have happened, and that He causes it all for His glory and so "Who are we, O men, to question Him?"  

They hook you with one little worm, and then reel you in bit by bit.  But you need to go back and examine the worms.  You need to question their idea of "spiritual death" and compare it to Scripture to see if it's right.  Because if the foundation is wrong, it's all wrong, regardless of how tightly-woven and interconnected their points are.  Always go back and examine the worms!]  

We are not physically dead, just spiritually dead, which means we are separated from God because of sin.  But our brains still work, and God expects us to use our living brains to seek Him and find Him.

Acts 17:27:  "God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us."

[Besides, if we're so totally dead (unable to do anything, even think or decide) before Calvi-god brings us to life, then the non-elect can't reject God or rebel against Him or be disobedient either - because "dead bodies" can't hate, rebel, or disobey.  They can't do anything, remember?  And so, therefore, when Calvi-god sends the reprobate to hell, they are being punished for doing nothing.  Because "dead people" can only do nothing.  

Of course, Calvinists will then backpedal and say that the non-elect do make decisions - according to their nature - to sin, reject God, disobey, do evil, etc.  As long as it's choosing evil, the non-elect make all sorts of decisions.  In Calvinism, we are able to decide lots of things, except one: to choose Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  It's satanic crap.  (Not sorry.)] 

Do you know why God can expect us to seek Him, even if we are spiritually separated from Him because of sin?

Because He created us with the knowledge of Him in our hearts, and He has put enough of Himself in nature to point the way to Him, to show us He's real and that we need Him, and the Holy Spirit convicts us all of sin, and Jesus draws all people to Him (though most resist Him).

"... [God] has also set eternity in the hearts of men." (Ecc. 3:11)

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20) 

“When he [Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:” (John 16:8, also see "The Holy Spirit and 'dead people')

"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32)

God gives us every opportunity to know He's real, to seek Him, to find Him.  Because He wants us to.  All of us.

"This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

"... He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)  

"Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live...'" (Ezekiel 33:11)    

How much clearer could God have made it!?!  I don't even have to tell you how to interpret those verses because you can all see it for yourselves, as plain as the nose on your face.

"Dead men can't seek God," so says the Calvinist.

Yeah, well, "Seek me and live ...", so says God in Amos 5:4.   

God says "Seek me and live," which means they are not alive yet, which means they are "dead."  God is telling "dead people" to seek Him, to find life in Him.  And God expects "dead people" to seek Him because He knows that our brains still work.  I guess "dead people" can seek.  God says so.  

And likewise, Deut. 30:15,19 says "See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction... Now choose life..."  If they have to choose life then it means they are not "living" yet.  Therefore, they are "dead."  And God told these "dead people" to choose life.  I guess "dead people" can choose to live.  God says so.

  

[Calvinists will simply say that God commands the non-elect to seek/believe in Him (even though He made it impossible for them) so that they (appear to) break His command, giving Him "just cause" to punish them for their sin.  Basically, Calvi-god needed/created a legitimate-sounding reason to send them to hell (they "disobeyed" his command to seek him, repent, and believe, and so now they must be punished) - even though he predestined them to hell before they were even born and prevented them from believing.  Sure sounds legit to me!]

If we're gonna try to find a meaning for "spiritually dead," then let's use the Bible as our guide instead of our own philosophical ideas.  And in the Bible, "dead" people are told to seek God, to choose life.  And it's possible to do this because "spiritually dead" doesn't mean brain-dead; it just means we are separated from God by sin.  And God tells us how to bridge that gap: by choosing to seek Him, to believe in Jesus, to accept Jesus's sacrifice for our sins.  

            

Calvinism says "dead people can't seek," but God Himself commanded "dead people" to seek.  So we cannot be that dead; we're just "mostly dead." 😉 

If God tells us to seek, but Calvinists say we can't seek, who do you think is right and who do you think is wrong?  Who are you gonna listen to?

[For more on this, see "Things my Calvinist pastor said #2: 'You're like a dead body'".]

[Another verse to consider, added 2023: "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life... he has crossed over from death to life.  I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live." (John 5:24-25).  Notice that the people get life after hearing and believing, which means before hearing/believing they are "dead," which means "dead people" can hear and believe, and then after believing they are brought to life (not before, as Calvinists say).  And as best I can tell, considering what the concordance says, the first two uses of "hear" in those verses are merely about sensing the words that hit our ears.  So "hear and believe" is about sensing the words and then believing them.  And "the dead will hear" is about spiritually-dead people sensing the words that hit their ears.  Therefore, spiritually-dead people (which we all are, at first) can hear the Word and believe.  But, according to the concordance, as best I can tell, the third use of "hear" - "those who hear will live" - is a different kind of "hear."  It means to yield obediently to the voice we hear - not just to sense/listen to the words, but to really hear, to take it in, to accept it and abide by it.  So taking all this together, these verses don't mean, as Calvinists think, that only certain "elect" people can sense the voice/call of God (after the Holy Spirit brings them to life first) and understand the Word and believe in it; it means that all dead people can "hear" the Word, the call of God, but only those who choose to believe in it, to yield obediently to it, will be saved (and only after believing are they brought to life, given eternal life).  This contradicts the Calvinist view that dead people can't hear/believe and that only certain preselected people are brought to life before hearing/believing in order to make them hear/believe.]

[Note, regarding Romans 3:10-11: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."  

That verse says that sinful men don't seek God, not that it's impossible to seek God.  When read in context, Romans 3 is saying that we are all sinful and that sinful mankind is self-centered and won't generally desire/seek the things of God.  It's saying that all of us - Jews and Gentiles - are separated from God because of sin, and so all of us need a Savior.  It's saying that we can't do anything to save ourselves, that we have no righteousness of our own to earn our salvation, and neither can our bloodline save us.  

(Specifically, this is a warning to the Jews of that day, informing them that they are just as sinful and separated from God by sin as the Gentiles are, and that their bloodline and obedience to the Law will not save them.  They too need Jesus.  That's the message of most of Romans.  But Calvinists change Romans into a tale about "the elect," about God predestining certain people to heaven and the rest to hell.  If you let them tell you how to read Romans, you will be a Calvinist.)  

And since mankind is sinful and self-centered, God had to be the one to get our attention, to make Himself known, to call all people to believe in Him, and to make salvation possible.  He wants us to see what's missing in our lives, to desire Him, to seek Him, and to accept the gift of salvation He offers to all.  And if we refuse Him - even after all He's done for us and all the chances He gave us - He will hold us accountable for our rejection of Him, because He has made Himself abundantly clear through His creation, and so no one has an excuse for why they don't believe (Romans 1:20).  

(But if you were non-elect and couldn't believe, you'd sure have a great excuse, wouldn't you!)]

About "God calling people":  To sound biblical, Calvinists will agree that God calls "all people" to believe in Him.  But they believe He gives two different kinds of calls: an irresistible "save your soul" call for the elect that they have to respond to ... and a general call to the non-elect that they cannot respond to.  (But He called, they refused, and so they "deserve" their eternal punishment in hell.)  

So do not misunderstand what Calvinists mean when they say "God calls all people to repent and believe."  They want us to think they are saying that it's possible for all people to hear/respond to God's call, that it's possible for all people to repent and believe (which is biblical).    

But what they really believe is that God calls to all, but only the elect will respond because He causes only the elect to hear, respond, repent, believe.  But the non-elect will resist the call because He does not give them the ears to hear it.  He hardens their hearts so that they can't respond, so that they don't want Him.  He gives them the unregenerated-nature that makes them "want" to reject His gift of salvation, and so that's all they can do.  But because they "wanted" to do it, they are responsible for it, not Him, thereby "earning" their punishment in hell.  

So Calvi-god calls to people who don't have ears to hear!?!  He hardens the hearts of those he created unable to believe in the first place!?!  They "reject" a gift that was never really offered to them!?!  And he punishes them for wanting to sin even though he made them want to sin!?!  

And yet Calvinists are surprised that we "don't understand Calvinism."

But if you have to make up two of everything to make the Bible fit your view - two loves, two wills, two sources of sin, two different calls, etc. - then it's because your view is wrong and it contradicts the clear, simple teaching of Scripture.