{"id":279,"date":"2011-07-04T09:57:09","date_gmt":"2011-07-04T16:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/144.208.71.131\/~shinethru\/palmquists\/blog\/?p=279"},"modified":"2015-02-20T12:27:21","modified_gmt":"2015-02-20T19:27:21","slug":"calvinism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/palmquists.glorifyJesus.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/calvinism\/","title":{"rendered":"The glory of God’s sovereign love"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GlorifyFor most of my life, the topic of Calvinism was not much of a concern to me. The arrogance of a Calvinist friend in High School had little influence on me, and certainly seemed to me not to be something I could attribute to God’s “glory.” Calvinist Harold Camping<\/a>‘s false prophecies<\/a> about the rapture and\/or the return of Christ (dating back to 1984) didn’t help my impression of Calvinism, and I certainly saw no reason to glorify God for them. I was grieved by Camping’s deceptions, especially because it brought harm to Family Radio<\/a>, the ministry my father Richard Palmquist began (which he was forced to leave in 1965, leaving Camping at the helm). The passion which characterized most of my father’s life was bringing glory to God, and he passed that passion along to me.<\/p>\n

But the time that Calvinism really hit home for me — when I really began to see it as a poison — was in 2002, after meeting with local pastors to explain the vision for my book God’s Plan: Transforming the Gates of Hell into the Gates of Heaven<\/a> (and the vision for related ministries such as the Elizabeth League<\/a>). A key element of this vision related to our concept of “pregnancy evangelism,” which involves applying the concept “God loves you and has a special plan for your life” to both the pregnant mother and her baby. (We switched to using the word “special” instead of the original word “wonderful” after considering some legitimate objections<\/a> from Evangelist Ray Comfort.)<\/p>\n

One of the pastors we met with had been at the forefront of pro-life activities in Bakersfield for many years. I hadn’t heard much from him in recent years, but that didn’t concern me until, when I called him back to get his response to what we had shared, he told me that he couldn’t agree with our “pregnancy evangelism” concept.<\/p>\n

“You see,” he explained to me, “I don’t believe that God has a ‘wonderful plan’ for every baby in the womb. As a Calvinist, I believe that God has ordained many of these babies for destruction.”<\/strong> I no longer wondered why I didn’t see him at pro-life events anymore. \u00a0I am not even aware of one person from his huge congregation coming out to pray for any 40 Days for Life<\/a> campaigns (although, sadly, I must confess that I am aware of members of his congregation who have come in to abort their babies). \u00a0Nevertheless, his church continues to be “pro-life” in name, and strongly supports a local pro-life pregnancy center.<\/p>\n

I was speechless when this pastor of whom I had thought so highly told me that he believed that God Himself intended for many of these babies to be aborted. What deception was responsible for this disgrace?<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, some dear friends have begun vigorously advocating Calvinism. At first, I listened with interest and even found myself agreeing with their Biblical analysis. After all, the essence of Calvinism seemed to be the essence of what mattered most to me: bringing glory to God. Certainly I agreed that salvation is an act of God and not an act of man, not something that any of us can boast about. Certainly I understood that He chose us before we chose Him. I even agreed as Calvinists pointed with great accuracy to many “evil” things God ordained throughout Biblical history, such as the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and the crucifixion of Jesus. Obviously these “evils” were an essential part of God’s plan. But could I see God in His sovereignty ordaining all of history, from beginning to end, ordaining every sin, every evil, all because in the end it resulted in bringing Him more “glory”?<\/strong> (And I cannot dispute the fact that in the end, all of these evils do work together for God’s glory.)<\/p>\n

The very foundations of God’s Word helped me break through the deception. Reading Genesis chapter 1, the very first chapter of the Bible, I saw that after creating the world, and creating man and woman in His own image, God “saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). There is no room for evil in God’s “good.”<\/strong> This inspired Scripture’s statement that it was “very<\/em> good” indicates to me that the first man and woman were also “very good.” God did not create them with a sin nature. But just two chapters later, in what seems to be a very short period of time, this same man and woman disobeyed God, bringing sin into the world as a result (and passing along that original sin to all of mankind to follow).<\/p>\n

“Was the sin of Adam and Eve part of God’s plan?” I asked my Calvinist friends.<\/p>\n

The response came without hesitation. “Yes, because it brought Him more glory in the end, because it made it possible for Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.”<\/p>\n

So God took this perfect, innocent, man and woman and subjected them to the serpent’s deception, all because it brought him more “glory”? That thought made me sick! To me this belief is, by its very definition, satanic, because it involved God handing over His own precious, innocent children to Satan<\/strong>. As a father, I just could not imagine doing that to my own children.<\/p>\n

But as a father, it made perfect sense to me how the design of God’s original creation<\/strong> — even in view of the sin which entered the world<\/strong> — was all about God’s glory<\/strong>. As a father, I gain joy by seeing my children’s creativity, and especially by seeing them willingly obey me<\/strong>. If I must force them to obey, virtually all of the joy vanishes (though as a father, it is sometimes necessary for me to claim such “sovereignty” over my children). That means that they are often put into a position where they can choose not only to obey me, but they can also choose to disobey me. The possibility of rebellion is unavoidable. But without that possibility, there is no joy. There is no glory.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

God is absolutely sovereign. Calvinists are right about that. The only time God cannot be sovereign is when He chooses not to be. Jesus showed us that it is in His very nature to sovereignly choose to surrender His sovereignty<\/strong> (Philippians 2:6-8). This is part of the mystery of the Incarnation.<\/p>\n

When Calvinists reject John 3:16 and claim that the scriptural truth that “God is not willing that any should perish” (Matthew 18:14, 1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9, Ezekiel 18:23, etc.) only applies to the “Elect” this does violence to the very nature of the Gospel. So when a few days ago I saw Evangelist Ray Comfort proclaiming these same words “God is not willing that any should perish” to a man who was clearly heathen and uninterested in God, I was puzzled. My friends had led me to believe that Ray Comfort was a Calvinist. When I asked for clarification on this, Ray responded:<\/p>\n

Tim,<\/p>\n

Please pass this on to your friends. I\u2019m not a Calvinist.<\/p>\n

I also believe that liars will not inherit the Kingdom of God….<\/p>\n

God bless, Ray<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(One dear Calvinist friend, even while denying that they ever said Ray Comfort was a Calvinist, responded “And I still believe that Ray Comfort at very least leans towards calvinism. He may not want to be characterized that way though, which is why he told you he’s not. Many people believe calvinism to be true but don’t want to be labeled as calvinists because they may be looked down on.”)<\/p>\n

Well, the label of “Calvinism” really doesn’t bother me (1 Corinthians 1:11-12 notwithstanding) — what matters to me is Truth (primarily the Truth of God’s Word). I am particularly concerned about how that Truth relates to saving the innocent who are targeted for destruction by the devil.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some Calvinists, such as John Piper, seem less inclined to negate the clear teaching of the entirety of God’s Word. Piper explains that God has “two wills,” and that while in one sense He is not willing that any should perish, His will also decrees that some of these same people must perish.<\/p>\n

…both Calvinists and Arminians affirm two wills in God when they ponder deeply over 1 Timothy 2:4. Both can say that God wills for all to be saved. But then when queried why all are not saved both Calvinist and Arminian answer that God is committed to something even more valuable than saving all. The difference between Calvinists and Arminians lies not in whether there are two wills in God, but in what they say this higher commitment is. What does God will more than saving all? The answer given by Arminians is that human self-determination and the possible resulting love relationship with God are more valuable than saving all people by sovereign, efficacious grace. The answer given by Calvinists is that the greater value is the manifestation of the full range of God’s glory in wrath and mercy (Romans 9:22-23) and the humbling of man so that he enjoys giving all credit to God for his salvation (1 Corinthians 1:29). –\u00a0From\u00a0Are There Two Wills in God? by John Piper<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(For clarification, I don’t consider myself to be Arminian, although I would tend to agree with Arminians on this particular point. Calvinism and Arminianism are both structures man has imposed upon the Bible. Neither Calvinism’s TULIP nor the 5 points of Arminianism are enumerated in the Bible.)<\/p>\n

So if, as Piper outlines above, the choice is between emphasizing sovereignty or love, I ask “which does the Bible emphasize?<\/strong>” Here are a few scriptures which come to mind:<\/p>\n