Why I am not a Calvinist!

I remember one time someone calling me a "Calvinist," and I remember being so angry. Never in my life have I been more offended than when someone labelled me with that horrid name. For to me there is no other doctrine more DISPICABLE than that of John Calvin. And I certainly don't want to be associated with that DICTATOR, and Bible Perverter. I find his doctrines not only un-biblical, but also illogical and unbelieveable. For this reason, I am not a Calvinist. And I wish here to go on record saying so. I've never believed in Calvinism, nor will I. It's an insane idea by an insane man.

However, there are many people out there, even in Independent Baptist Churches, who call themselves Christians yet they believe in the teachings of Calvinism and call themselves Calvinists. It is with these people with whom I dogmatically choose not to associate.

There are many reasons why I choose not to follow them in the error of their ways, and I will briefly explain some of their doctrines and teachings below and then tell why I do not wish to follow them in their anti-biblical doctrines.

THE "TULIP"

The teachings of Calvinism have been whittled down by many to an interesting acronym, that of "T-U-L-I-P." These letters stand for:

Total Depravity

Unconditional Election

Limited Atonement

Irresistable Grace

Preservation of the Saints

Now, let me publically state I'm not a 1 point or 2 point or 3 point, etc. Calvinist. I am a NO point Calvinist. That is, I don't adhere to ANY of these points, especially as John Calvin presented them.

Let's look at each one of these in a little more detail.

TOTAL DEPRAVITY

Although I agree with the "depravity" part, I don't agree with the word "total." Calvinists believe that men have no free will in and of themselves. And they further believe that man is SO depraved, that he can't even of his own free will believe on Christ. They teach, therefore, that God must first "regenerate" the man so that he can then believe on Christ.

I find this to be probably the DUMBEST, CRAZIEST, most RIDICULOUS teaching ever invented by man. For in our King James Bible, the word "freewill" appears 17 times! How on earth could a man who claims to be a Calvinist preach from a Bible that 17 times uses a word that he claims man doesn't have??? That's C-R-A-Z-Y! That's why I adamantly REJECT this teaching. Although man is depraved (that is he's a Sinner), he's not so depraved that he can't do anything of his own free will.

UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

This teaching is a real doosie. Calvinists teach that God has already chosen who is the elect and who isn't. In other words, men don't have a choice in the matter. They are either the "elect" or they aren't. If they are, they'll go to heaven. If they aren't, they'll go to hell. But where is man's choice in the matter? It's not there. Once again, Calvinists have done away with man's "freewill." And by so doing, they leave the choice up to God and not man. But this is silly. For God gave man free will to either accept or reject God, his teachings, and his doctrines. So to believe this would mean you have to accept a God who is "unfair" and who will not give certain people a chance to be saved.

But in the Bible, we find that today, everyone has an opportunity to be born again. It is by their CHOICE of either accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ. I therefore REJECT this teaching by John Calvin, for it does away with man's decision of choosing to be saved or not.

LIMITED ATONEMENT

This teaching to me is out right BLASHPEMY! For Calvinists believe that Jesus didn't die for everyone, only for a certain few, which call the "elect."

But what does the Bible say about this? It says that Jesus died for ALL MEN (1 Tim. 2:5,6). Why would Calvinists then say otherwise? It's almost as if they are denying the blood atonement as sufficient for the sins of all men, downgrading it, making it only good enough for a select few.

This is ridiculous! God is not "limited" in his power. His blood atonement was sufficient to pay for the sins of the entire world, and for every man woman and child that ever walked on the face of this earth, past, present, and future. So why would they desire to "limit" that efficacious atonment?

They limit it to only those who are saved. But then, they turn around and say they don't know who the saved are, and only God knows who's elect. If that be so, then they are so stupid that they can't tell you who Jesus Christ died for. But I know who Jesus died for. He died for ME! ANd not only me, for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2)!

What's further crazy, is that NO CALVINIST can ever tell you that they know for sure if they are saved or not. They can only "hope" they are one of the elect. This is silly. For in the Bible, you can KNOW you have eternal life (1 John 5:13). Calvinists, therefore, don't know who Jesus died for, don't know if they are one of the elect, and don't even know if they'll go to heaven when they die. Who would want to belive in such a ridiculous system?

IRRESISTABLE GRACE

This teaching is utter nonsense and I certainly disagree. For although I do believe in the "grace" of God, I can not believe that man must accept it against his own will. No, man with his FREE WILL, can reject it. For example, look at Acts 7:51. There we find the Jews "resisting" the Holy Ghost. Also we find that a Christian can "grieve" the Holy Spirit in Eph. 4:30.

I thank God for the grace of God, but I don't believe it's "irresistable." There have been plenty of people in this earth that God showed grace to, but they "resisted" it and did wrong. How could anyone believe in "irresistible grace?"

PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS

This last teaching of Calvinism has been changed over the years. Today many Calvinists call it the "preservation" of the saints. But that's not what John Calvin said it was. He believed in the "perserverance of the saints." In other words, he taught that you were one of the elect, ONLY, (and notice that word "only"), if you ENDURED to the end. For if you fell away, then you were immediately labelled by other Calvinist to be "LOST," and they were quick to point the finger at you and say you weren't one of the "elect." This set up strange system, in which the men in charge, who DIDN'T even know if they were part of the elect, could pass judgment and tell you that they KNEW for sure that you WEREN'T part of the elect! What a crazy system! It set men up as judges over others and they could point the finger anytime someone sinned. But they themselves didn't even know if they were saved. They only "hoped" they were. And because of this, there were many who thought that keeping the commandments and doing good works meant they were part of the "elect." In other words, they ended up trusting in their OWN WORKS, rather than faith alone in the FINISHED WORK of Jesus Christ.

To me this is inexcusable, and outright blasphemous. I do not believe ANY of the 5 points of Calvinism. Nor, do I want do. I also don't desire to follow Calvin! To me, John Calvin was a horrible example of a religous leader. He was a MURDERER! For he had Servetus burned at the stake. That's M-U-R-D-E-R! Who would want to follow a man like that?

Further, his doctrine was not Biblical. He tried to apply salvation only to the "elect," which he defined only as those who followed him and his teaching. However, the Bible says that the "elect" are those who of their own accord receive Jesus Christ as Saviour by trusting his shed blood atonement as sufficient to take them to heaven.

With that stated, let me sum it up as clearly as I can, "I'M NOT A CALVINIST, NOR DO I ADHERE TO ANY OF THE POINTS OF CALVANISM. I FUTHER THINK CALVIN DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IF HE WAS SAVED OR NOT, and I PERSONALLY WONDER IF HE EVEN WAS, AS HE COULD MURDER OTHER PEOPLE WITHOUT GUILT OR REMORSE!

For those who didn't get it, allow me to reiterate, "I THINK CALVIN WAS EVIL! AND I REJECT HIS FALLACIOUS TEACHINGS, AND VIEW THEM AS ANTI-BIBLICAL!"

Now, why am I so adamant about this? It's because I've had someone accuse me of being a Calvinist. Well, THEY ARE WRONG! And this article should prove that without any shadow of a doubt!

One thing I do appreciate, however, about modern Calvinists is their desire to print and distribute much literature. Although I don't agree with their doctrines, I have noticed that oftentimes, they do preach the Gospel of salvation by FAITH ALONE IN THE BLOOD ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST." For this they should be applauded. However, when they try to DIVERT people into believing that even though Jesus died that a person must believe what they teach in order to be one of the "elect," we should reject them and their heretical teaching of Calvin, and rather point sinners only to the word of God, and salvation by man's own FREEWILL of accepting Jesus Christ's sacrificial blood atonement by FAITH alone.

So this is why I'm NOT a Calvinist. It's because the founder of that movement was corrupt, and so are his teachings. And I want nothing to do with him or them. And although some of the modern followers of Calvinism might present the gospel clearly in their literature, and for this I praise God, I still reject them for their following the other doctrines of John Calvin.