Calvinism doesn’t rescue any sinner from hell. Because the elect were never on their way to hell, never at risk of going to hell at any point in time ... and the non-elect can never be rescued from hell because Calvi-Jesus never died for them and because Calvi-god made it impossible for them to believe.
All Calvinism does is convince some people that they’ve always been saved without ever having to do anything about it, not even choosing to believe in Jesus (because in Calvinism, we can't choose to believe), while convincing others that they can never be saved, that God doesn’t love them, that Jesus didn’t die for them, and that there’s no hope for them.
A lie from the pit of hell. Destroying the evangelical church from the inside out. And it will cost people their souls.
[A comment I left on the Soteriology 101 post "(Re)Thinking through Romans 9", with a few small alterations. And of course, not all Calvinists will word things this way. They will try to soften it, cover it up, or deny it. But it's what their theology inevitably teaches.]
To clarify: Calvinists do say that people have to repent and believe to be saved. But the difference is that in Calvinism, the elect repent and believe because they are saved... but in the Bible, we repent and believe in order to be saved. In Calvinism, being saved leads to believing... but in the Bible, believing leads to being saved.
That's a big difference!
You don't believe me that they teach this?
Then read what famous Calvinist Loraine Boettner wrote in his book, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination:
"A man is not saved because he believes in Christ; he believes in Christ because he is saved."
But does that sound like what Scripture clearly, plainly, repeatedly says!?!
"... Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31)
"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved..." (Mark 16:16)
"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12)
"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit." (Ephesians 1:13. Believe first... then get included in Christ, saved, sealed by the Holy Spirit.)
So what do you think?
Is Calvinism true to God's Word? Or is it just another version of "Did God really say...?"
You can understand the above verses very clearly and plainly for yourselves. You don't need me to tell you how to read them or what God meant to say through them.
But in order to attempt to understand Calvinism (which contradicts the plain, commonsense understanding of God's Word), you must seek the counsel of Calvinist pastors, and go through Calvinist Indoctrination Classes (often called "Bible study" using books by Grudem, MacArthur, Piper, Packer, Sproul, etc.), and study the Calvinist writings of other men, reading huge Calvinist theology books over many months (which are so big because they're struggling to fix the problems, contradictions, conundrums, and messes their theology creates) ... all while silencing or ignoring any red flags that pop up in your spirit (often by convincing yourself that if you're having trouble accepting Calvinism's teachings, it must be because there's something wrong with you, not with Calvinism).
