Calvinism Refuted
By Thomas Taylor
Irresistible Grace
Calvinism says-
Irresistible Grace
The result of God’s Irresistible Grace is the certain response by the elect to the inward call of the Holy Spirit, when the outward call is given by the evangelist or minister of the Word of God. Christ, himself, teaches that all whom God has elected will come to a knowledge of him (John 6:37). Men come to Christ in salvation when the Father calls them (John 6:44), and the very Spirit of God leads God’s beloved to repentance (Romans 8:14). What a comfort it is to know that the gospel of Christ will penetrate our hard, sinful hearts and wondrously save us through the gracious inward call of the Holy Spirit (I Peter 5:10)!
The above statements were taken from the following source: http://www.reformed.org/calvinism/ It is understood that not all Calvinists would agree completely with each of their statements.
Irresistible Grace is a subcategory of Total Depravity. Please read the Total Depravity refutation before reading this to see proof that man does have a free-will. Once you understand that man has a free-will, this point about Irresistible Grace becomes completely non-existent. However, some of the statements and Scriptures used for Irresistible Grace will be examined briefly here. The verses John 6:37 and 44 have already been explained in the previous section on “Limited Atonement“. Therefore, they will not be discussed here.
Salvation comes by grace through faith. Grace is God’s part; faith is man’s part.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Both grace and faith are God’s gift to us. Grace is God’s unmerited favor. He had mercy on us so that He could save us because of His great love. However, you will never see in the Bible anything called “Irresistible Grace”. By that, Calvinism says God will save whomever He chooses through this mysterious Irresistible Grace and man has no choice in the matter. Those that were predestined for salvation have no choice but to be saved and every one of them will be saved. Those predestined for reprobation (appointed for Hell) have no way out but will go to Hell regardless of their choices. However, we know that man does have a free-will therefore there is no such thing as Irresistible Grace.
God’s will does not always happen in this world. God’s will is that everyone be saved (Joh 3:16,17; 1 Tim 2:4; 2 Pet 3:9) but we know that that will not happen. If God was really in control as Calvinism claims, we have a serious problem. Considering all the evil in this world, God must be evil, apathetic, or psychotic. If God causes people to murder, rape, steal, destroy, hate, and sexually violate children, then I do not want to worship such a God. In fact, that sounds like the devil himself. Calvinism makes it seem like Satan sits around watching while God destroys the human race for him. If God is not evil, then maybe He is apathetic; He just does not care what happens to us. Or maybe He is like a child with a magnifying glass burning ants on the ant hill, just destroying for the fun of it. Any of these pictures of God is not the God of the Bible. We just need to use some common sense to see that the God we call Love is not in complete control as Calvinism claims.
God gave man control over his own life. THAT is why there is so much evil in this world. THAT is why bad things happen to good people. Man chooses to do evil. God even gave control of this world over to man. Man in-turn sinned, committing high treason, giving the power of this world over to Satan. This is the only complete explanation of evil in this world and it is the explanation given in the Bible. When something bad happens to us, we want to point the finger at God. But the Bible teaches that it is man’s fault through sin, not God’s.
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Man had dominion over all of God’s creation on the earth as well as the over the earth itself. All things come from the earth therefore man had dominion over all things here. Man became the god of this world. God gave man dominion therefore God does not do as He pleases; He always uses man and goes through man to do His will on the earth. God is Lord over all but God has chosen to use man to exercise that Lordship. That is God’s way. However, man gave part of his dominion to Satan:
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Satan became the god of this world when man sinned. Man still has authority over his own life which is his free-will but sin gave this world’s dominion away to the devil. However, Jesus got it back for us when He was given all power in Heaven and earth by the Father God:
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
That is part of the redemption story. Jesus not only redeemed man but He also redeemed the earth from Satan’s power and gave it back to God’s people ““ the Church. It is now our duty and right to exercise the authority we have been given in the name of Jesus! We can take back what the devil stole from us, hallelujah!
Mat 28:19, 20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Mar 16:15 – 18 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Calvinism sits back and lets the devil run rampant over God’s people. When the devil tries to destroy them, they do not know their rights in Christ. They figure, “Hey, it must have been God’s will that this cancer destroyed my child’s body. Praise the Lord! Thank you God for giving my child cancer. I’m sure I’ll learn something from this valuable lesson.” The only thing you learn from cancer is that it kills. There are no spiritual lessons to be learned from death, at which point it is too late to do what you should have done ““ which is take your Jesus-given authority over the devil and cancer and cast it out. Sickness and disease is not God’s will for anyone and God will heal us every time if we simply believe Him at His Word.
Sin was not God’s will but we know it happened due to man’s choice. But Calvinism claims that God actually set man up to sin! He planned it and made it happen because “He’s in control.” Again, that is not the God of the Bible. Calvinism has a distorted picture of God. He would never make us sin, and then send us to Hell for doing what we could not help but do.
God is sovereign. He is Lord of all. He ultimately had control over all things and through His wisdom and omnipotent power He gave authority over this earth to us. However, even with our authority, He is still the owner of this earth. Man is only leasing it for a short time. Evil is something He permits because He permitted us to have a free will. He would prefer, however, that we make better choices and not sin; this is His perfect will. When man sins Calvinism would say that God caused it and is responsible. But the Bible teaches that when man sins man is the cause and is responsible, which is why he is punished. It is as simple as reading your Bible. Any doctrine, no matter how learned the teachers are that teach it to you, which does not agree with the whole Bible should be discarded. Calvinism should have been discarded long long ago.
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Calvinism Refuted: Introduction
Calvinism Refuted: Total Depravity
Calvinism Refuted: Unconditional Election
Calvinism Refuted: Limited Atonement
Calvinism Refuted: Irresistible Grace
Calvinism Refuted: Perseverance of the Saints
