Better an Atheist than a Calvinist

Wesley said that, and he was right. Calvinism is evil. Really, really evil. It's also rooted in a bad reading of scripture, a very, very bad reading. I used to be more tolerant (blame society's liberal influence for that), but I'm becoming more “conservative,” which requires me to reject ideas that I find morally repugnant, like Calvin's thought. For those who don't know Calvin maintained that God, from eternity, determines before a person is born that they will be condemned to hell (This is different from knowing. The second is passive, while Calvin's damning is active) or "saved" to heaven. You would think that this would conflict with the confession that God is Love, wouldn't you? And isn't this is the central Christian confession? God forgives; God opens up the way of salvation to us. Why? Because God is Love. This is exactly what the famous John 3:16 tells us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” Pretty clear, unless you're a Calvinist.

J.I. Packer, a reformed theologian, and thus in inconsistent one, tells us that the confession “God is Love” is not the whole truth about God. This is true in that there are other things we can say about God. We can also say that "God is triune" is not the whole truth about God, but it names somethign about God's essence. It tells us something. However, this is a roundabout way of explaining that God isn't really love. I've heard many times that God is “Holy” Love”, which is another way of saying that God isn't love at all. If we cannot draw any parallels between love as we know it as humans and God's love, then there is no point in saying that God is Love. This is, in fact, just what the Calvinists do. Thank God they are wrong.

Of course, we have I Corinthians 13 to tell us what love is. We also know that Christian ethics are rooted in God's very person. We are to be perfect, just as God is (Matthew 5:48), merciful just as God is (Luke 6:36). But if God predetermines who goes to hell, and a person is judged according to the things he or she has done (Ezekiel 24:14, Revelation 20:12), then God must cause sin. This is what Calvinists must say, and have said. “Neither rape, nor adultery, nor theft, nor murder happens apart from the will of God.” If Calvin believed this, no wonder he did the things he did. Calvin was personally responsible for at least one death, that of Miguel Servantes, some one who dared to disagree with Calvin. Servantes sent Calvin a copy of his book, a letter outlining Calvin's mistakes, and a copy of Calvin's work “Institutions,” where the mistakes were pointed out. This outraged Calvin so much, that from that point on, he desired the death of Servantes. (We know this from Calvin's correspondences) Apparently, Calvin forgot to love his enemies, but I guess you don't have to do that when you don't believe that God is Love, but arbitrary power. Calvin's God is formed in the image of kings and emperors, who apply their will without reference to goodness, love, or justice. They do as they please. Calvin reasoned that God must be the same, forgetting to root his theology in the love of God. In fact, he easily brushes off God's love in his theological work. Why? It doesn't fit within his theological framework.

So, in this schema, God's not really love, and determines beforehand who will go to hell and who is lucky enough to go to heaven. Faced with a religion like this, atheism is the right response. Better no god, than a monstrous one. Fortunately, this is not our choice. Calvinism simply isn't Christian. It has nothing to do with Judaism, then or now, Jesus' own teaching on the matter, or Paul's. It's nonsense, and nothing more. God is not the author of evil, for the Bible bears witness to God working against evil, but if God wills evil, then God works against God's self. And as Jesus said in Matthew 12:25 that, “A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Abe Lincoln said that too, but he was quoting Jesus.) Paul also tells us that love does not delight in evil (I Corinthians 13:6), but if God wills evil, he must desire evil because God only wills what God desires. And if God desire evil, he must see some good in it because no one desires that which they don't think good. This would mean that God delights in evil since surely, we delight in that which we find good, right? Rather, God “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). Even the unrighteous are loved by God, for God loves those who do not love God, the very basis for our call to love our enemies. If we must love our enemies, how much more does God love them? And if God loves them, Calvinism is nonsense that must be purged from the Church. Jesus was a martyr who forgave, but Calvin was a murderer who had a man brutally killed for disagreeing with him.