Alana L: 3g (surprised God saves ANYONE)
This series is based on this 14-minute video from Alana L.: 5 Signs Your Loved One is Becoming a Calvinist
Point #3:
G. Alana talked about how Calvinists claim to be "surprised" (happy, thrilled, thankful) that God has enough grace to save anyone at all, because we're all so bad and deserve hell.
You'll hear this over and over again in Calvinism, such as these quotes from my Calvinist ex-pastor:
... From his October 12, 2014 sermon: "After thousands of years of [human] rebellion, that God would be willing to elect any rebellious sinner to eternal life shows tremendous love and grace and mercy."
... From his February 1, 2015 sermon on unbelief: "... Now your question might be this: 'Why doesn't God draw everybody? And why doesn't He save everybody and open the eyes of every sinner and have mercy on them all?'... He does not. He does not. (*see the note below) You know what: When we ask that question, we are forgetting the biblical doctrine of sin. In light of the Bible's graphic description of our wickedness and cruelty and rebellion, the question, friends, is 'Why does He save anybody?'... And the fact that God has mercy on anybody should cause all of us to fall on our knees in thanksgiving... The doctrine of election was not designed to cause controversy. It was designed to cause thanksgiving and to cause praise in God's people.... That is why the gospel is called 'good news' [for the elect only, but it's very bad news for the non-elect.]"
[*Note: It's interesting that he says God doesn't draw all people or have mercy on all people.... because the Bible says otherwise. John 12:32: “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” John 16:8: "When [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment." Romans 11:32: "For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all."]
... From his June 28, 2015 sermon on hell: "When you begin to pile up the evidence and even get a glimpse of the depravity, wickedness, rebellion, and evilness of the human heart, ladies and gentlemen, the real question is not 'Why will so many go to hell?' The question really becomes 'Why will anybody go to heaven?' [Deflection. Manipulation.] That's what we are missing when it comes to questions like [hell] or predestination. We want to ask, 'How come God isn't fair and gives everyone a chance?' [But] when you stack up the biblical evidence against the human race, the issue on that isn't 'Why didn't God give everyone a chance to go to heaven,' it's 'Why did God elect anybody?'... Doctrines like predestination or salvation are designed to drive us to our knees in thanksgiving that there is a way left [for the elect only], that He does have mercy on some. Otherwise, we're all toast, literally."
... From August 16, 2015: "Once you begin to understand [how wicked we are], the question is not ‘Why aren’t more people elect? Why isn’t everyone going to heaven?’ What’s the real question? ‘Why is anybody elect? Why is anybody going to heaven?’ … But on the contrary, election does not make God look bad; it makes God look good [gaslighting].… Election is designed not for theological debate [manipulation to make you fall in line, to make those who push back look like bad Christians]. It is designed to drive God’s people to their knees in humble thanksgiving and praise to their Maker.… When we see God in His glory in election and predestination, it’s actually a God-entrenched theology that exalts who God is and makes God the center of the universe and not us."
... From June 9, 2016: "[Given our horrible sinfulness and rebellion against God], the question is not ‘Why doesn’t God choose everybody?’ The real question is ‘Why does God choose any of us?’"
... From June 26, 2016, in answer to "Is God unjust for electing some but not others": "Once you realize [how wretchedly, utterly depraved we are] the question is not 'Why doesn’t God elect everybody?' The question becomes 'Why does He elect anybody? Why does He have mercy on anybody?'"
... From July 8, 2018: ""God is not unjust to have mercy on some and not others - because of the wickedness, depravity, and innate rebellion of mankind... He's dealing with a planet of rebellious, sinful, wicked human beings. And so anything He does for them is merciful.... [Here he goes on and on about how wicked, depraved, and rebellious humans are.] Once you grasp the...wickedness, evil, corruption, rebellion on the human heart, the real question is not 'Why didn't God elect everybody?' The real question is 'Why does He elect anybody?' When you preach on [predestination], there are usually 3 responses to the doctrine of predestination: anger... avoidance... appreciation... Appreciation is the fact that if you are saved, God chose you, had mercy on you, turned you around, gave you a new heart, put His Holy Spirit in you, and then dumped a boatload of blessings on you, promising you eternal life on a new heaven and new earth - it's staggering. That's what election is designed to foster: thanksgiving and worship. [As long as you pay no attention to the fate of the non-elect.] Because God owes it to nobody."
[Yeah, it got annoying to hear over and over again in person too, and there's more than this. And incidentally, it's a proven fact that the more we hear something, the more we tend to believe it.]
And he's not alone. Here's Wayne Grudem ("Election and Reprobation" in Systematic Theology): “Sometimes people regard the doctrine of election as unfair... [but] we must remember that it would be perfectly fair for God not to save anyone…. But if he does save some at all then this is a demonstration of grace that goes far beyond the requirements of fairness and justice.” [Uhh, sure, if you think it's "justice" to damn people for a decision they had no control over!😕]
Beeke and Smalley ("Help! I'm struggling with the Doctrine of Predestination"): "We do not understand why God has chosen some and not others. However, Why didn’t God choose to save everyone? is the wrong question to ask. In light of man’s heinous rebellion against his Maker, we should ask, Why didn’t God damn everyone to hell? The astounding fact is not that God damns sinners to hell, but that he saves and reconciles sinners to himself. Unconditional election is the friend—not the enemy—of sinners, for without it no one would be saved. In the end, however, we must bow before God’s rights as our Maker....The Creator has the right to do what he pleases with his creatures."
Eric Cramer ("Is God glorified when people go to hell?"): "We need to not give ourselves more importance than we really deserve. God is totally justified and glorified if He threw all of us into hell as punishment for breaking His law... God is glorified when a sinner repents of his or her sins and places their faith in Christ and Christ alone for salvation.... He is also glorified when a sinner is punished and sent to hell because it upholds His holiness and justice."
David Mathis, 9Marks ("Hallelujah over hell? How God's people rejoice while their enemies perish"): "We plainly don't think of hell as a reason for God's people to rejoice... The idea that we might someday enjoy God's justice and power on display in his judgment - the idea that hell might provoke our Hallelujah - seems almost imponderable... Yet [in the end]...we will rejoice in his power on display in the destruction of the wicked [wicked by Calvi-god's decree and orchestration - a very critical point!]. Even now, we can shape our hearts to rejoice appropriately in those truths... To begin, we would be wise to beware pretending our moral compass is better than God's. Some Christians today may reluctantly think about hell, Well, God said it. I’ll believe it, but I don’t like it... While we might admirably profess to hold to God’s Word, our 'not liking it' is no evidence of maturity. In fact, it’s an expression of moral immaturity, if not error or sin. The admission that we do not like something that God says, does, or commands presents us with an opportunity to grow emotionally in our likeness to Christ..... We want to mature in this by meditating on the happiness of God’s people not despite but because of God’s destruction of the wicked... As God's horrific judgments fall one after another on the wicked, the torments of the damned in hell cannot diminish the delight of the saints in heaven... God's people rejoice because they know themselves to be recipients of his grace... Divine judgments against the wicked are for you. [Say what!?!]... When we get to glory, we’ll find eternal joy in the God of lavish mercy and uncompromising justice... While we may struggle now with how the eternal destruction of the wicked [whom Calvi-god ordained to be wicked] could be a cause for joy, we won’t struggle forever... [In the end] We will not cringe. We will cry hallelujah."
Matthew McMahon (The Two Wills of God, pg 349): "The saints should delight in the reprobation of the wicked... We come to understand and praise God concerning the damnation of other people. We understand that we could have been what they are. We contemplate their eternal destiny, and bow before the throne to praise the Creator and the Father we have. How awesome is that grace which He bestowed upon us in His Son!"
Terrance Tiessen ("God's great grace to the non-elect") "... since by definition no grace is 'deserved,' no one has ground to complain about how God treats them... how very gracious God is to everyone, including the non-elect. Admittedly, all God's grace serves to increase the guilt of those who reject it or who take it for granted, but this does not diminish the intrinsic goodness of the kindness God shows to all undeserving sinners." [So he calls it "great grace" for the non-elect even though it's only meant to make them more damnable!?! That's sick and twisted. Like fattening up a pig for slaughter! And I bet Calvinists wouldn't be so quick to call Calvi-god so great, gracious, loving, and kind if they were one of the non-elect. And for the record, although Calvinists teach that God is kind to the non-elect to show them a little pseudo-love and pseudo-grace before sending them to their predestined damnation, the Bible itself tells us why God shows kindness to the unrighteous: "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4). This is very different. God intends for His kindness to lead stubborn, unrepentant, storing-up-wrath-against-themselves sinners (verse 5) to repentance, to salvation. He intends for unrepentant people to see His kindness and, consequently, to turn to Him, repent, believe in Him, and be saved. That is His intention for all sinners, all unrepentant people. He does not intend for anyone to go to hell. He has not predestined anyone to hell. He desires that we – all of us sinners - see His goodness, seek Him, turn to Him, and be saved, not that most people burn in hell for all of eternity because He only really loved the elect enough to save them. (Oh, does Calvinism make me mad!!!)]
Randy Alcorn ("Hell: Eternal sovereign justice exacted upon evildoers"): "Hell is morally good, because a good God must punish evil. [Yes, but is Calvi-god really "good" if he first preplans and then causes that evil?] Hell will not be a blot on the universe, but an eternal testimony to the ugliness of evil that will prompt wondrous appreciation of a good God’s magnificence... It saddens me to think of people suffering forever. But if there were no Hell, that would diminish the very attributes of God that make Hell necessary and Heaven available... Just because I don’t like the idea of Hell doesn’t make Hell unjust." [Yeah, but the problem in Calvinism is how people end up in hell. That's what makes it unjust! And the bigger problem is the damage it does to God's character and Truth, how untrustworthy, unrighteous, unloving, unjust, and evil it makes Him!]
An atheist (Godless Granny) asked a Calvinist named Joe this question: "If you found out that God chose not to save one or more of your children, how would you feel about that?"
Elected Joe answers "It means He's God. You see, God is a bigger being than I am. He's higher than I am. And I sure hope that God has chosen my children...but if God chooses not to save my children, that is His prerogative because He is God and I am not God. He decides who's in His heaven. He decides who's in His hell."
Godless Granny then points out that the odds are that at least one of Joe's children is predestined to eternal torment in hell, and she asks "And you don't have a problem with that?"
And Elected Joe responds "Okay, we've got two ways to look at this. This is a glass half-full or half-empty. Either I can rejoice that God chose a wretched sinner for salvation, which is me [Enjoy this 2-minute video featuring Calvinist Tyler Vela and Beaker from the Muppets, called "Me, me, me." FYI: Tyler recently left the faith. Apparently, he had "evanescent grace."] or I can worry about God's choices with other wretched sinners. [Translation: "Don't care if others are damned to hell, just be happy that you're one of the elect."] When I realize that the human nature and the human position against God is that I've sinned against an almighty God and that everyone deserves His judgment, I should be mystified, shocked, and stunned whenever He chooses anyone, not surprised when someone doesn't get chosen."
This is the glorious end of Calvinism, where it leads to! (Oh, how this must hurt his children's hearts! Watch the video of this conversation at Soteriology 101's "Warning: This may be the CRINGIEST video you watch about Calvinism".)
To justify their doctrine of election/reprobation, Calvinists always say things like "We're all sinners who deserve His judgment, no one deserves heaven, so we should just be happy that God saves anyone at all." [Nevermind that Calvi-god deliberately created most people to burn in hell for all of eternity for his pleasure and glory!] They use this to justify why they think it's okay for Calvi-god to elect some lucky people to heaven but send the rest to hell with no chance to be saved: "Well, none of us deserve heaven anyways, we all deserve hell, and so there's nothing wrong with God predestining people to hell."
But first off, this is a false, unbiblical inference. Just because "we are all sinners who deserve hell" in no way means that God must predestined sinners to hell, or that He does not and cannot offer salvation to all people, or that He must pick only a few to save while damning the rest. Calvinists make a huge unbiblical leap from "everyone deserves hell" to "and so therefore God must send some to hell; He cannot offer salvation to all people but must reprobate the non-elect to hell." This is not in the Bible, but it's in their own heads, according to their own philosophical, unbiblical theology.
And second of all, think about this... I mean really think about it (something Leighton at Soteriology 101 also alludes to): What does it say about the kind of god Calvi-god is if Calvinists are "mystified, shocked, stunned" that he loves anyone at all?
We'd be shocked to find out that a cannibalistic serial killer who tortures, kills, and eats a victim a day has any real love for anyone - but why should it shock us that God loves people? God (but not Calvi-god) is love. It's in His nature to love, to be gracious, to be merciful, to be forgiving, to be compassionate - in an abundant, extravagant, self-sacrificial way. He is patient and long-suffering, slow to anger and rich in love, restraining His wrath and the just punishment of the wicked as long as possible, giving us many chances and years to repent.
If He would forgive a whole city full of wicked people for the sake of one good person (Jeremiah 5:1), and spare a whole city of wicked people from destruction if only ten righteous people could be found in it (Genesis 18), and plead with a whole city of wicked people to repent so that they didn't have to be destroyed (Nineveh, the book of Jonah), and give a world full of severely wicked people 120 years to repent while Noah built the ark and preached to them, and ask for forgiveness for those who crucified Him even while He was dying on the cross (Luke 23:34), then what makes Calvinists think that He is so quick and eager to dish out damnation and "justice" (as they define it), to send people to hell?
Calvinists are far quicker to consign huge swaths of people to hell than God ever was.
(And just wondering, but why would God warn "non-elect" people and patiently wait for them to repent if He made it impossible for them to repent and if He predestined them to hell for His glory? And if He predetermined to get glory from their destruction, then He's working against His own glory to call them to repentance, isn't He? It doesn't make sense. Calvinism doesn't make sense.)
It shouldn't surprise us that the God of the Bible truly loves all people, all sinners, and that He wants all people to be saved, even wicked people, and that He offers salvation to all people, to all sinners. It would surprise us if the patient, loving, forgiving, merciful, gracious God of the Bible didn't truly love someone and want the best for them - because His love, His mercy, His grace is so big and far-reaching. The exact opposite of Calvinism's god.
Calvinists accuse us of hating Calvinism because it doesn't worship mankind enough or because we want our free-will or because we don't want God over us (*see note below). But that's not why we hate it. We hate it because of what it does to God's character. And Alana hit the nail on the head when she said that Calvinism "totally twists the heart of God." This is the biggest problem I have with Calvinism: It destroys God's character!
As Alana says later "God is not a trickster. He is honest and trustworthy." But Calvinism turns Him into a God who says one thing but means another, a God who preplans/causes all sin and evil and unbelief but then punishes people for it, and a God who is pleased with and glorified by evil and putting people in hell. This is NOT the God of the Bible. Calvinism completely destroys His good, loving, honest, just, trustworthy character.
And if we don't have a good, loving, honest, just, trustworthy God, then we've got nothing - no reason to trust Him or anything He says in His Word or any of His promises. (And ironically, this means that Calvinists have no reason to trust that they are truly elect and will get the eternal life promised to them. After all, they could have gotten "evanescent grace" instead, the kind Calvi-god gives some non-elect people to trick them into thinking they are truly elect, just so he can take it away later and punish them even more severely in hell.)
[*Note: Notice some of the accusations Calvinists throw at those who reject Calvinism, as if the problem is us and not their theology (from my "9 Marks of a Calvinist Cult #6 (fear, coercion)"):
From A.W. Pink's Doctrine of Election (emphasis added in all these quotes): "The doctrine of election is so grand and glorious that to bear any opposition at all it must be perverted. Those who hate it can neither look upon nor speak of it as it really deserves... False inferences are drawn, grotesque parodies exhibited, and unscrupulous tactics are employed to create prejudice. By such devilish efforts do the enemies of God seek to distort and destroy this blessed doctrine... [and] when those who profess to be His friends and followers join in denouncing this truth, it only serves to demonstrate the cunning of that old serpent the devil, who is never more pleased than when he can persuade nominal Christians to do his vile work for him. Then let not the reader be moved by such opposition. The vast majority of these opposers have little or no real understanding of that which they set themselves against. They are largely ignorant of what the Scriptures teach thereon, and are too indolent to make any serious study of the subject. Whatever attention they do pay to it is mostly neutralized by the veil of prejudice which obstructs their vision... They take a one-sided view of this truth: they view it through distorted lenses: they contemplate it from the wrong angle." [In another place, Pink also calls us "merit-mongers."]
From John MacArthur's God's Absolute Sovereignty: "No doctrine is more despised by the natural mind than the truth that God is absolutely sovereign. Human pride loathes the suggestion that God orders everything, controls everything, rules over everything. The carnal mind, burning with enmity against God, abhors the biblical teaching that nothing comes to pass except according to His eternal decrees. Most of all, the flesh hates the notion that salvation is entirely God’s work. If God chose who would be saved, and if His choice was settled before the foundation of the world, then believers deserve no credit for their salvation."
R.C. Sproul, in "God's Sovereignty", took a different approach and accused the seminary students in his class who didn't accept the Calvinist definition of God's sovereignty of being "atheists" - and he did this in front of everyone. (And it's ironic because when he asks them if anyone is an atheist, he says that no one will shame them if they admit they are. But apparently, there's major shame for being a Christian who doesn't accept the Calvinist definition of "sovereignty"!)
[And which side do you think most of those students would join: "us good Calvinists" or "them bad atheists"? It would take a very strong person indeed to stand up against that kind of shaming from a professor in front of all your peers who are now staring at you and judging what kind of Christian you are. Sproul ought to be ashamed of himself!]
The author in the article "Why do some people so passionately hate Calvinism" says that those who strongly oppose Calvinism do so because "they hate the idea that they are not in control... Simply put, they want to think that they are fully in control of their own eternal destiny."
An article from a reformed (Calvinist) seminary - "3 Reasons People Reject Total Depravity" - says that people who reject Calvinism's idea of "total depravity" (which is rejecting Calvinism itself) do so because "It presents a low view of man. Human nature loves to be coddled. Men and women love to be told of their self-worth, self-importance, and innate goodness. Total depravity destroys all that... Total depravity is rejected by man because it presents a low view of man. God is not gushing over us like a high school crush but 'has bent and readied his bow' because 'If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword.'" (Wow!)
A.W. Pink, in Doctrine of Man's Total Depravity, says that people often consider the Calvinist doctrine of election "a most unpalatable doctrine." And why don't we like it? Because "the unregenerate love to hear of the greatness, the dignity, the nobility of man. The natural man thinks highly of himself and appreciates only that which is flattering. Nothing pleases him more than to listen to that which extols human nature and lauds the state of mankind."
And more from his Doctrine of Election: "when the mind perceives what the Scriptures reveal thereon [about the doctrine of election], the heart is loath to receive such an humbling and flesh-withering truth. How earnestly we need to pray for God to subdue our enmity against Him and our prejudice against His truth." Manipulation!
"Saint" PJ says in his 9Marks article that Calvinist pastors are "burdened by [the] biblical and theological illiteracy" of those who don't believe in Calvinism.
The Calvinist author in this article says that if we agree with the non-Calvinist view of the Bible, we are "unsuspecting and uneducated."
The author in this 9Marks article says that anti-Calvinists are only anti-Calvinists because when we researched Calvinism online, we put our trust in ourselves and in strangers online ["internet hotheads"].
I guess Papa John Calvin taught them well: "As I have hirtherto stated only what is plainly and unambiguously stated in Scripture, those who hesitate not to stigmatise what is thus taught by the sacred oracles, had better beware what kind of censure they employ. If, under a pretence of ignorance, they seek the praise of modesty, what greater arrogance can be imagined than to utter one word in opposition to the authority of God... Such petulance, indeed, is not new. In all ages there have been wicked and profane men, who rabidly assailed this branch of doctrine." (Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 1, chapter 18, Section 3)
Calvinists have come up with many ways to discredit the opposition, to make our arguments seem illegitimate and unreasonable from the very beginning, as if there's something wrong with us that we're unable to accept Calvinism, such as that we're biblically ignorant, prideful, have a problem with authority, insecure and need coddling, or that we're having an overly-emotional reaction to things we don't like hearing. In their minds, it couldn't possibly be that the problem is with them and their theology!
And if this is the kind of attitude that underlies Calvinism, if Calvinists are taught to have almost no respect for those who oppose Calvinism and to completely distrust their judgment and to think the worst of their hearts and motives, if this is the kind of manipulative-shaming and gaslighting that's taught from the pulpit... then is it any wonder that most people in the congregation will side with the Calvinist pastor, will ignore and silence the alarm bells going off in their spirits, and will look at those who disagree with disdain, scorn, or pity?
Calvinists are taught to have no respect for those who oppose Calvinism, to completely distrust their judgment and to think the worst of their hearts and motives. And when this kind of manipulative-shaming and gaslighting is taught from the pulpit - when this attitude underlies Calvinist theology - it's no wonder that most people in the congregation side with them and silence the alarm bells and red flags going off in their spirits.
It takes a very strong, wise person indeed to refuse to be manipulated by this kind of garbage, to stand up in the face of these kinds of accusations and to oppose Calvinism anyway in front of everyone, taking the risk of being labeled all these terrible things that Calvinists call them.
Amazing job, Alana! You're one of those few strong, wise people willing to do this. And we thank you for it and are inspired by it.]
[The posts in this series will be added to the "Alana L." label as they get published.]
