If I’m a Calvinist, Why Do Calvinists Sometimes Annoy Me? tagged: , , ,

If I’m a Calvinist, Why Do Calvinists Sometimes Annoy Me?

Posted by in Baptist Life, Bible & Theology

Okay, I’m going to make a confession.  I’m a Calvinist.  I believe that salvation starts in the heart of God not the will of a human being.  I believe that God is sovereign in salvation.  But I have been reluctant to publicly identify myself as a Calvinist.  And there is a reason for that.  I’m annoyed by the attitudes and behavior of a lot of Calvinists in the SBC.

God’s Sovereignty:  It Seems Clear to Me!

I don’t see how some people can read the pages of the New Testament and come away with a belief that salvation is rooted in man’s free will, not God’s sovereign purpose of grace.

1 John 4:19 tells us that “We love because he first loved us.” The passage probably describes the love we are to have for one another, but it makes a clear point – that our spiritual life roots in the love God has for us, not in our choices or responses to him.

Look at Ephesians 1:4-5.  “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ…” Why have we become holy and blameless?  Because he chose us.  Why are we adopted as sons?  Because he predestined us.  When did all this take place?  Before the foundation of the world.   Seems pretty clear to me.

Paul told Timothy (2 Timothy 1:9) that God saved us “not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”  We are saved not because of what we do, but because of the purposes of God and the grace he showed as he worked out those purposes.

Verses like this are hardly unique in scripture.  In fact, the evidence is pretty consistent that salvation begins with God.  We respond to what he does.

I’d love to hear a non-Calvinist adequately explain Acts 13:48.  “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” The Gentiles heard the gospel and rejoiced.  Then, those who were appointed to eternal life believed and were saved.

And, of course, there’s Romans 9.

So, I affirm the core truth of the Calvinist system; that salvation starts in God’s choice before in results in our choice.  I don’t buy into the whole Calvinist system; I reject paedobaptism, struggle with limited atonement, don’t subscribe to the “Reformed” system, am suspicious of the creedalism that many exhibit, and can’t buy into the Covenant theology and the eschatological systems based on it.

And Now, to Offend the Calvinists

Having said all that, I often find myself annoyed and uncomfortable with Calvinists.  It seems to me that proper theology ought to lead to proper behavior.  And frankly, I see a lot of behavior in my fellow sovereign grace adherents that I do not really agree with.

I’m going to spell some of that out.  Let me say clearly that what I am saying here does not apply to all Calvinists, perhaps not even to a majority of them.  “Some of my best friends are Calvinists.”   But here goes, my fellow-Calvinists.  Here’s some things I’ve seen that really annoy me.  I can only imagine the offense I’m going to cause, but I think that we, who believe in God’s sovereign grace need

Perhaps many of you will add one more.  “Calvinists who write blog posts about what annoys them about Calvinists.”

1)  “Cage-Phase Calvinists” make huge messes.

I don’t know who came up with that designation, but it is tremendously accurate.  When people first discover the “doctrines of grace” they often go through a phase in which it would be best to keep them in a cage so that they do no damage to the body of Christ.

Those who knew me in college can probably remember some heated argument I got in with somebody about predestination.  It happened all the time.  I’m not sure I convinced anyone of the election, but I’m sure I turned a few folks off about it during my cage phase.

There are several passionate anti-Calvinists at my current church.  This is the flotsam of a cage-phase Calvinist who blew through the church staff a couple of years before I came on board.  He offended pretty much everyone he did not convert.  Now, there are people who recoil at the mention of the name John Piper and even have a visceral reaction to the word theology.  He moved on (probably to productive, post-cage-phase ministry) and left all this turbulence in his wake.

Al Mohler recognized this phenomenon when he admitted in his debate with Paige Patterson that he knew Calvinists who would walk across the country to debate one of the points of Calvinism but wouldn’t walk across the street to share the gospel.

Maybe those of us who are more mature in our faith and theology (a nice term for old-fogey) can help those who newly discover these beautiful doctrines to maintain perspective and avoid the damage that some do.

2)  Some Calvinists are arrogant.

Let’s face it.  We who are Calvinists believe we have discovered a biblical doctrine that is crucial that others have yet to make peace with.  We believe that our doctrine honors and glorifies God.   If properly understood, Calvinist doctrine is humbling to the standing of human beings – giving all credit to God for the work of grace.

In fact, Calvinists will sometimes brag about the humility that this doctrine produces!

Unfortunately, we do not always live out our testimony.  We act as if we are the spiritual elite, the keepers of true knowledge whose job it is to instruct all the uninitiated.

In one of my early pastorates, I had a “full-gospel” friend.  We had some wonderful fellowship, but he felt as though I was missing out on a blessing I could have if I would just open myself to the knowledge and experience he had attained.  The condescension I felt from him was annoying.

I think we sometimes give that attitude to those who do not see soteriology exactly as we do.  We are the theological elite who have attained a superior knowledge that some lesser thinkers have not yet attained.

Let’s not be those people!

3)  Some Calvinists have a hidden agenda.

There has been a lot of debate about whether Calvinists ought to reveal their theological predilections to the pulpit committees of churches.  I was called to be pastor of Southern Hills Baptist Church in 2005 and the question of whether I was a Calvinist was not even raised.  I don’t feel bad about that.

We should reveal our agendas plainly to committees.  My agenda was to preach the Word, to try to seek healing for the wounds resulting from a church split, and to lead the church to find its biblical purpose.  It was never my intent to make SHBC into a “reformed” Baptist church, so there was no reason for me to bring that up.

I know of a really good church that hired a pastor who kept his agenda completely secret.  It was, evidently, his agenda to see that church became an SBC Calvinist outpost.  The music program was reformed – Calvinist hymns only!  Elder-rule replaced the more traditional polity.  The Sunday School material had to be Calvinist.  The invitation became a memory.

Here’s the thing.  I don’t really have a huge problem with any of that.  My problem is that had the pastor candidate told these people what he intended to do, he would have never become pastor.  He knew exactly what he planned to do when he applied, but he did not tell anyone.

The result was conflict, chaos and hurt.  Plus, it annoyed me!

4)  Some Calvinists are spiritual eggheads.

I love God’s Word and think that doctrine is crucial.  But I’ve known some Calvinists who acted as if any spiritual enthusiasm was somehow “charismatic” and ungodly.  A passion for knowledge and truth is only a good thing if it is a passion for the knowledge of one who is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

One very close Calvinist friend used to always get nervous when I talked about a “personal relationship with God in Christ.”  I read a book on worship by one well-known Calvinist author which condemned any emotional worship as modern-day Gnosticism.

Our faith is rooted in historical truth and biblical doctrine.  But it produces a passionate and personal relationship with God in Christ.  Experientialism is not the basis of truth, but having an experience is not contrary to truth.

Too many modern “theologians” are spiritual eggheads who excise experience and passion in pursuit of theological knowledge.  Theology is useless if it does not produce an experiential knowledge of God.  Theology as an end in itself is damaging.

5)  Some Calvinists disdain those who disagree with them.

I’ve had a few friends who judged the worth of a teacher or preacher solely on the basis of his acceptance of or rejection of Calvinism.

Just because someone is not a Calvinist would not mean he is a heretic, or is unworthy to hear, or has nothing to say.

6)  Calvinists often tend to engage in hero-worship.

It’s a strange phenomenon – a doctrine that is supposed to glorify God leads to hero-worship among its adherents.  Do you know anyone whose entire library consists of Piper and Sproul?  I know, its an exaggeration.  But not by that much.

I love John Piper’s books and sermons.  But I know people who cringe at his name because others acts as if every word he says is the very word of God.  We had some friends in a previous pastorate whose theology basically consisted of “whatever Sproul said.”  If you disagreed with R.C. you were a heretic.  (Yes, they actually bandied that word around for the most insignificant of theological offenses).

And for goodness sakes, folks, read some people who do not tow the Calvinist line.  Dr Howard Hendricks said that if you only read the books of those who agree with you, you will not learn.  You will just reinforce your personal prejudices.  To learn, you need to read and interact on a meaningful basis with those who disagree with you, who think your viewpoint is wrong.

I could continue, but it would seem like piling on.

In Fairness…

You could say a lot of the same things about non-Calvinists.   Non-Calvinists often twist and pervert the doctrines of grace in an effort to refute them.  They often define the middle by the extreme.  Are there Calvinists who believe, “If God wants people saved, he will save them?”  Yes.  I have personal experience with people who believe that way.

But that is the extreme position.  It is not fair to condemn the doctrine because someone abuses it.  If you want to reject Calvinism, fine.  Just reject what we believe, not what someone who did not understand Calvinism says we believe.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would make some suggestions to my (now perhaps former) Calvinist friends.  First, let’s show a little of the humility we talk so much about.  Let’s realize that maybe our system doesn’t have all the answers, that there are a few mysteries still out there.  Let’s open our minds and hearts to those Christians who love Jesus but not our doctrine.

Let’s realize that the unity of the Body of Christ is important, even with people who do not buy into what we offer.  It is okay to welcome someone as a brother in Christ who has not yet seen the Calvinist light.  We really can love and fellowship with people we disagree with.

And let’s show some perspective.  This doctrine matters.  Let us continue to proclaim what we believe.  But let us also realize that some pretty good people don’t go along with this.