Normally, I listen to the entirety of what I post, but Michael Brown, a former Calvinist so nails it in his introductory statement that I don’t have any reservations of posting this now, and try to listen to the rest when I have more time.
I read the Bible on my own before I heard about Calvinism. Man’s responsibility is so completely consistent throughout that when I heard about Calvinism it seemed like a bad mathematical deductive reading of Scripture. I was blown away that anyone could come up with T.U.L.I.P. out of what is written. This is nuts!:
Total Depravity (also known as Total Inability and Original Sin)
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement (also known as Particular Atonement)
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints (also known as Once Saved Always Saved) (source)
In this debate, Bruce Bennett may actually give away why Calvinism is popular with so many. Calvinism gives those who aren’t overcoming a false sense of comfort in their willful sin. Calvinism is the great cop-out:
“If it comes down to my walk, a lot of people are in trouble — if it’s dependent upon me.” – Bruce Bennett (at the 2-hour 16-minutes mark)
Calvinists celebrate the idea of God’s sovereignty to the point of absurdity, claiming they are giving God more glory, but they’re really demeaning God’s character, His fairness. They believe God alone decides who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. God choses us. We can’t even respond. He does it all. It’s all up to Him. Yuck!
I had a professor in seminary who actually taught us that we think we have a free will, but we really don’t. That’s how sovereign God is. I would say that’s how wrong the theology is, when what is clearly stated in scripture is trumped by hypothetical theory that makes no sense, as Michael Brown fully points out.
jeff
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“From Genesis to Revelation, the Scripture says: choose whom you will serve. You’ll be commended for choosing rightly and condemned for choosing wrongly. This is God’s sovereign choice.”
– Michael Brown
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Gets good at minute-30
Who Makes The Final Choice in Salvation, God or Man? Dr. Michael Brown vs. Pastor Bruce Bennett
