TULIP Calvinism Explained and Refuted by C R Lord
The five points of Calvinism can be
remembered using the acronym TULIP.
T - Stands for Total Depravity
The belief in total depravity takes the view that sinfulness pervades all areas of life and human existence. Through the Fall of Man, humanity is stained by sin in every aspect: heart, emotions, will, mind, and body. This means people cannot independently choose God. They cannot save themselves. God must intervene to save people.
Calvinism insists that God must do all the work, from choosing those who will be saved to sanctifying them throughout their lives until they die and go to heaven. Calvinists cite numerous Scripture verses supporting humanity's fallen and sinful nature, such as Mark 7:21-23, Romans 6:20, and 1 Corinthians 2:14.
REBUTTAL - Since people are not able to independently choose God then they are mere robotic beings without free will and determination concerning any course of action they make. Free will is strongly denied by those who subscribe to this belief. Since there is no free will people are ordained to be damned irrespective of whether they might wish to repent or not. They are mere pawns in the game of life and God is a dictator who is also a hypocrite. Let me explain. 1 Timothy 2:4 states; "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." This speaks of God's will that all mankind would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. How then can any person objectively think that God created some specifically to perish? 2 Peter 3:9 also states; "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." According to Calvin's teaching God creates certain human beings with the specific purpose of being damned and who cannot repent while scripture says that God has the desire that all men would repent and that nobody should perish. Obviously both cannot be true. Which is it? Is Calvin mistaken or is God confused or lying to us or perhaps playing a sick game with us?
U - Stands for Unconditional Election
This Calvinist view says God chooses who will be saved. Because people are dead in their sins, they are unable to initiate a response to God. In eternity past God elected certain people to be saved. The saved people are called the Elect. God picks them based not on their personal character or merit, but out of his kindness and sovereign will. It also means that election for salvation is not based on God's foreknowledge of who would come to faith in the future. Since some are chosen for salvation, others are not. Those not chosen are the damned, destined for an eternity in the lake of fire.
Rebuttal - If God chooses who is to be saved because people cannot initiate a response to God then why would God call men to repentance through the Holy Spirit? Certainly the Bible declares that no man can come to God unless the Spirit of God draws them, however the drawing doesn't eliminate the free will to respond to the drawing or the call of God to salvation. But free will runs through the entire Bible. In the Old Testament we can read Joshua 24:15 "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord." If men have no free will Joshua would be asking them to do something they were incapable of doing; exercising free will to make a decision. We are not robots. We make many individual choices in life such as jobs, marriage, the house we buy or the car we drive. God doesn't force us to do those things without our input. We freely decide using our will and those who reject Christ do so as an act of their free will. Jesus called his disciples including Judas. Judas betrayed Jesus for a monetary consideration and Peter denied Christ three times while Thomas chose of his own will to doubt Jesus. God did not initiate any of those actions because the Bible is clear that God doesn't tempt men to sin. Is God's kindness in choosing the "elected" the same kindness that intentionally damns human beings forever. How could anyone who is objective believe God is loving but creates people deliberately to be tormented forever? It can't be both so which is it. Is God all loving or a respecter of persons?
L - Stands for Limited Atonement
Limited atonement is the view that Jesus Christ died only for the sins of the Elect, according to John Calvin. Support for this belief comes from verses that say Jesus died for "many," such as Matthew 20:28 and Hebrews 9:28. This point is one of the more controversial beliefs of Calvinism.
Those who teach "Four Point Calvinism" believe Christ died not for just the Elect but for the entire world. They cite these verses, among others: John 3:16, Acts 2:21,1 Timothy 2:3-4, and 1 John 2:2.
Here we reach the point of absurdity! Using Matthew 20:28 and Hebrews 9:28 to form a doctrinal position on a matter of such importance is ludicrous. The limited atonement view cannot be substantiated by scripture. Picking out a few verses that use the word "many" refutes the quality of research done by the Bereans which was lauded in the scriptures. The Bereans were praised for their thorough study of the scripture as they took all scripture pertaining to a subject before making a decision on what was being said rather than a few "pet verses" to prove a point.
While I don't subscribe to Calvinism as a whole I readily will agree to the "Four Point Calvinism" view that Christ died for the whole world. I believe that is the clear and precise teaching of scripture compared with scripture.
I - Stands for Irresistible Grace
Irresistible grace is the belief that God brings his Elect to salvation through an internal call, which they are powerless to resist. The Holy Spirit supplies grace to them until they repent and are born again.
Calvinists back this doctrine with such verses as Romans 9:16, Philippians 2:12-13, and John 6:28-29.
Rebuttal - Irresistible grace stems from the predetermined damnation of human beings because one must exist to prove the other. So consider what is being said. Mankind is going to be saved whether he wants to or not because those who are elected have no power to resist the call of God. Free will must be thrown out the window and men are once again mere robotic beings with no say in the matter of their salvation. The Bible openly declares that God is no respecter of persons and yet Calvin would have all of us believe that God indeed is a respecter of persons and proves it by picking and choosing who will be saved and who will be damned. How can we proclaim John 3:16 while denying Christ died for the world or all humanity? Philippians 2:12-13, in my opinion speaks more of God working with mankind and helping them in their efforts and not a dictator telling them how to live. The exhortation to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling tells me two things: First, that Paul is telling Timothy that he is responsible for his personal relationship with God which is an indicator of free will and self awareness. Second, if once saved always saved is true why should Timothy have any reason for "fear and trembling." Eternal security should produce joy with great confidence, not trembling. John 6:28-29 has nothing to do with irresistible grace. and further speaks about personal belief in God but nothing about God lording it over us.
P - Stands for Perseverance of the Saints
Calvinism teaches that the Elect cannot lose their salvation. Because salvation is the work of God the Father; Jesus Christ, the Savior; and the Holy Spirit, it cannot be thwarted. None whom God has called will be lost, they are eternally secure.
Technically, however, it is God who perseveres, not the saints themselves. Calvin's doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is in contrast to the theology of Lutheranism and the Roman Catholic Church, which hold that people can lose their salvation.
Calvinists support eternal security with verses like John 10:27-28, Romans 8:1, 1 Corinthians 10:13, and Philippians 1:6.
The TULIP acronym arranges the five points of Calvinism logically and progressively, with each point contingent on the other. If humans are totally depraved, then they are unable to make an initial response to God. God must call people to salvation through unconditional election. God must also provide the way of salvation by the death of Jesus Christ. He makes salvation secure by the effectual call of the Holy Spirit. He keeps his saved ones secure so they will inherit the eternal life he has promised them.
Rebuttal - Let's look at the proof text offered above. John 10:27-28 "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Three prerequisite things occur here: hearing Jesus' voice, him knowing the sheep and the sheep following him. So to have eternal life all three of these factors must be real in the life of any living person. What if any of these things is lacking in the believer's life. Are they eternally secure? They shall never perish applies to everyone who has these three things in their life, not to all believers. Some believers are hot, some cold and some lukewarm. It should be obvious that no man can take another man's life in the spiritual realm, but can a man revert to serving his own interests over the Lord's and by extension return to serving Satan?
Let's look at Romans 8:1. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." This is one of the things I have never heard taught in any church in all my Christian life. Condemnation is applicable to those who don't meet the condition of walking after the Spirit. People who live their lives after the flesh or the part of them that yearns for the things of this world, will be condemned if they die in that state. As it is with many promises of God, there are conditions to be met before the promise is fulfilled in anyone. This verse doesn't give Christians carte blanche coverage for their sins but creates a choice that each one must act on through free will to live out their lives in carnality or spirituality. Only those who choose to walk after the Spirit will not face condemnation.
Next is 1 Corinthians 10:13. This verse deals with temptation and God giving us ability to overcome it. God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able, however, we can move beyond that and allow temptation to overcome us anyway. Every honest person reading this know that all of us have run past the warnings of the Holy Spirit and perhaps more times than we would readily admit. God's promise here is contingent on our willingness to fight temptation with his help to overcome it. We can reject his help.
Philippians 1:6 is the final proof text of Calvin used in this case. "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." I believe this fits in with the following verse of scripture illustration of Jesus when he refers to the vine in John 15:1-8 where the condition has to do with any person abiding in Christ and bearing fruit or not abiding in Christ and being separated from the vine. But there is a much more compelling group of verses in scripture that destroys eternal security from what I have learned in my personal study, and I will be closing this rebuttal using this scripture and referring to similar scriptures. Let's go there and take an honest look at what the scriptures have to say.
Conclusion - Hebrews 6:4-6 "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall 'fall away.' to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the son of God afresh and put him to an open shame." These verses are loaded and irrefutable when taken at face value. The word impossible is not foreign to anyone who speaks English. It needs no interpretation but is like a hammer shattering what follows. The verse is speaking of people who have been "partakers of the Holy Ghost." There's no way that is not referring to believers. Unbelievers resist the Holy Ghost as do some believers but unbelievers do not partake of the Holy Spirit. That is reserved for those who Christ has redeemed. The words fall away mean that something existed in people that they moved away from and the scripture calls it falling. I get the picture of Lucifer falling from heaven as being similar to this human falling. Falling "away" from God's mercy and grace. Impossible to do what? Renew them again unto repentance. Here something existed through repentance (undoubtedly a relationship with God), and then fell away or went back to a life of sin. This is a departure from an intimate knowledge not a mere walking away. These verses explain it this way; "crucifying Jesus along with bringing him to open shame by denial of his saving grace and returning to serve Satan." This is the ultimate apostasy. Some of this is exposed and challenged in the letters to the seven churches of Revelation. Jesus calls on the Ephesian church to return to their first love. Evidently they left Jesus take a back seat to something else and he called them to repent of it or have their candlestick removed. Find out what that means.
Further scripture that supports this idea can be found in Hebrews 10:26-31. Some of the words in these verses to consider are "sin willfully, no more sacrifice for sin, fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, trodden under foot the son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, done despite unto the Spirit of grace, the Lord shall judge His people and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." These verses should cause a "holy fear" that will help us stand firm.
Many Christians believe we are to be free of all fear, and yet the Bible says differently in the words of Jesus who warned us, "Fear not him who can kill the body but can do no more, but rather fear him who can cast both body and spirit into Hell." This is God's words coming from the incarnate Christ who was God in human flesh. In the book of Proverbs we read the following: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." Proverbs 9:10 This is not the craven fear of one man for another but the holy fear of God himself. I believe as a Christians, I serve God out of fear and love, not one or the other. Fear knowing if I choose to depart from him after he saves me and refuse to return I will be damned forever in a lake of fire. Love and thanksgiving for his mercy and grace that delivered me from my own spiritual ignorance and has preserved me all these 48+ years when I failed him in so many ways so many times. It is of the Lord's mercies that I was redeemed from a wicked life where my arrogance and self-centered existence led me and which would have damned me.
One more note I feel will be encouraging. The scriptures in Psalms 128 speak of the man who fears the Lord and what comes of him. "Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways; For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands; Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee; Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table, behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord." NOW let me apply this to my life.
God has given me a very godly woman who has carried seven children into the world thus fulfilling that part of the verses above. All seven of our children have turned to Christ for salvation of their own accord without any coercion on our part. We sowed scripture, love and discipline in their lives and lived it in front of them and seeing our faith and life in Christ surely influenced them to follow our example. Our boast in this is in the Lord alone. Remember above; "No man can come to the Lord except the Lord draw him." God did the drawing. We have been happy and it certainly has been well with us in spite of some adversity which is good because it strengthened us in our resolve to serve the Lord no matter what. The children like olive plants around our table have grown from four married children to 14 grandchildren thus fulfilling that part of the promise of God concerning the man who fears the Lord. God can do the same for any couple who have dedicated their lives to the Lord. We are blessed and pray that in this study you will find blessing that will lift you above this life and into God's presence in this life and in the life to come forever.
C R Lord © 10/17/2021
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