Calvinism Thoughts

If any Calvinist dares get mad at me or even thinks I'm stupid for posting my thoughts on this, remember, God is sovereign over every last thing that happens, and has every bit of everything that's happened, is happening, and is going to happen planned out in advance. So God predestined and ordained that I would be doing this in the first place.
Then again, He also predestined whether or not you would be mad or think me stupid for this as well, right? ;)

Anyways, just a few thoughts. My Calvinist friend said something about human responsibility (ie if God has predestined who's going to be saved and who isn't, why bother preaching the Gospel? Because He told us to.). Which is weird, because "responsibility" by definition requires free will because when one has a responsibility, one can choose to do or not do what they are responsible to do.

The thing that really caught my attention was this website explaining predestination http://www.orlutheran.com/html/trelect.html. He's pretty thorough, I think. Though it looks like he believes in free will with everything except getting saved. Odd for a Calvinist, who typically believes in no free will whatsoever due to God preordaining everything that's ever going to happen.

He's pretty straightforward and explains everything well, except for the very last parts.

Predestination is intended to be a teaching of the greatest comfort for Christians - but only for Christians. Not predestination, but "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" is to be preached to the lost. It is most foolish to talk to non-Christians about predestination, for this teaching is not intended for them. Rather, unbelievers should be pointed to "Jesus Christ and Him crucified," to the Gospel that says that God offers reconciliation, forgiveness, and eternal life, to everyone who believes, regardless of their social status, race, sex, or past life (See John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 John 2:1-2; Galatians 3:27). "He died for all" (2 Co. 5:15) is the message the non-believing world needs to hear.


To be honest, I find that just a tad bit hypocritical. Believe that God is only going to save some people that He's already chosen beforehand, yet teach non-Christians that Christ died for all? Hide the doctrine of predestination, then reveal it when they're ready? Say, "God died for all people in every nation, His blood can save you today," then, "God only died for a certain group of people, of which you are lucky enough to be a part of. I only told you He died for all so that you would get saved."

Why not tell non-Christians that God only died for those He'd already chosen? I believe it ruins people's want of salvation. When a non-Christian hears God only died for the elect, he can very easily say, "I'm not part of the elect; I am not going to be saved." And the Calvinist is stuck there because obviously God preordained those people to say that. If people started hearing that, much fewer would get saved, I think. And those who would, being young Christians, probably would not go around telling other people about it because hey, if other people are gonna get saved, He's already predestined them to, so nothing I do or don't do can alter His plans! So I think Calvinists want people saved, but know their doctrine is too dangerous for a non-believer to hear, otherwise Christianity would likely fall.

Though to be honest, my biggest problem with Calvinism is that it totally rips love out of the equation. Oh, it tries to keep it in there by saying God choose who He choose out of love. But the problem is, I believe God created mankind so He could have someone to love Him back. Calvinism teaches God created us solely for His glory. But He's got innumerable angels doing that already. I believe God wanted love, not glory. Sure, He gets glory out of it, but it wasn't the main purpose. Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. What gave Him joy? Knowing He'd get more glory, or knowing that because of what He'd done, He would be able to finally have a bride to love Him? Here's what I think could answer the question: do you find joy in being glorified or being loved? I believe it would come from being loved, and I'm willing to bet the same answer will go for God.
Calvinists (for the most part) claim humans have no free will. If we don't, and we truly have no choice about whether or not we're going to be saved, then we can't really be loving God back. Love implies a choice to either love or not love. Love is never forced. This is also tried to be covered up, by saying we will love Him when we do get saved, but if He decided we will, is it really love?
Again, I ask you: Would you rather your spouse be a robot who loves you but has no choice to do otherwise, or have one who loves you even though they have the choice not to? I think anyone would choose the ladder. Why? Because it's more real that way.

I could be all wrong, but that's how I see it.

One last food for thought: Couldn't Calvinism be refuted entirely if one could prove God doesn't actually know the future? ;)
(Not to say God can't make extremely educated guesses or can't know whether His prophecies will come true or not. His prophecies will come true because those are special events that He wishes to happen and will happen because His will is dominant and can override anyone else's.)


J-Lindo