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A Cut and Paste article:
Posted : 18 Apr, 2011 07:59 AM
Actually It is not necessary to cut and paste, but well you know.
by: Allan Turner
There are five main pillars upon which the superstructure of Calvinism rests. These are technically known as "The Five Points of Calvinism."1 In this section, we will make a critical examination of each of these, holding them up to the light of Scripture. It should be understood that the Five Points are not random, isolated, nor independent doctrines. Rather, they are "so inter-related that they form a simple, harmonious, self-consistent system."2 Calvinism, although terribly flawed, is amazingly logical in its parts. If one were to concede that the first point of Calvinism (viz., "Total Depravity") were true, then all four of the following points would necessarily follow. Of course, the opposite is also true. Prove any one of the Five Points of Calvinism wrong and the entire system must be surrendered.
Total Depravity
In the Westminster Confession, the doctrine of Total Depravity is stated as follows: "Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto."3 For obvious reasons, many Calvinists call this the doctrine of "Total Inability" or, as we will see in a moment, the doctrine of "Original Sin." In his book, The Bondage of the Will, which argues that man's will is bound as a result of the fall of man and its effect, Martin Luther said that man is born with a "total inability to will good."4 According to this position, all mankind is totally depraved. The essence of this false doctrine is the total inability of man to do anything truly good in God's sight, especially the inability to do anything toward receiving salvation. Again, this total depravity is not acquired, as non-determinists teach, but innate. Therefore, "to become sinful, men do not wait until the age of accountable actions arrive. Rather, they are apostates from the womb."5
Although the doctrine of Total Depravity is crucial to all forms of determinism, whether Augustinian, Lutheran, or Calvinistic, it is not really as important to the general system of Calvinism as it is to the Five Points. As we observed previously, if the doctrine of Total Depravity is defeated, all of the other Points are defeated. Nevertheless, the more important concept to Calvinism is the Sovereign's "Eternal Decree." In other words, contrary to what Calvinists want us to believe, Calvinism does not have as its "starting point the fact that all mankind sinned in Adam."6 Calvinism starts with the Eternal Decree, which the Westminster Confession explains thus: "God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass."7 In other words, the essence of Calvinism is its doctrine of Predestination. About this, Calvin said: "Predestination we call the eternal decree of God, by which He has determined in Himself, what He would have to become of every individual of mankind. For they are not all created with a similar destiny; but eternal life is foreordained for some and eternal death for others. Every man, therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say is predestined either to life or to death."8 Therefore, the supposed bondage of man's will is the direct result of an alleged Eternal Decree, and only secondarily the result of an argument for Total Depravity. This point was made earlier in the sections on sovereignty and free will, and I do not intend to rehash it here. I mention it only because the problem of Total Depravity causes some real sticky problems for determinists, particularly when the salvation/damnation of infants is raised. The Augustinians handle it one way, and the Calvinists handle it another. The way the Calvinists deal with the problem proves that Calvinism does not begin with the doctrine of Original Sin.
The Thorny Issue Of Infant Salvation
In formulating the doctrine of Original Sin, Augustine taught that, since the fall, all men are born totally depraved. According to him, a child who died before reaching the age of accountability was lost because of the "sinful nature" he inherited from Adam. Believing, as he did, in the idea of baptismal regeneration, Augustine believed only a "baptized" infant could be saved. He said, "As nothing else is done for children in baptism but their being incorporated into the church, that is, connected with the body and members of Christ, it follows that when this is not done for them they belong to perdition."9 Thus, the practice of infant baptism was begun. Roman Catholicism, which proudly claims Augustine as its own, has been instrumental in keeping this erroneous doctrine alive down through the centuries. Of course, the idea of infants being eternally lost in hell was so repugnant to most people that it was eventually "determined" by the Roman Catholic Church that unbaptized infants did not really go to hell at all. Instead, they went to a special place called "Limbo," which was not heaven, but it certainly was not hell either. In this way, when it came to the subject of dear, precious infants dying and going to hell, the shocking and horrifying consequence of Total Depravity was lightened somewhat by the doctrine of Limbo, which was never more than the figment of some Catholic cleric's imagination.
On the other hand, Calvinists "solved" this problem by appealing to the doctrine of Predestination. Yes, they said, infants inherit Adam's sin all right, but if God has predestined or eternally decreed that an infant would be saved, and this apart from anything the infant would or would not do, then the infant would be saved by the same unmerited grace that saves an adult. Remember, unlike all determinists, Calvinists believe that all men, apart from anything they will or will not do, are predestined or foreordained to be eternally saved or eternally lost. Speaking to this, Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield said: "Their destiny is determined irrespective of their choice, by an unconditional decree of God, suspended for its execution on no act of their own; and their salvation is wrought by an unconditional application of the grace of Christ to their souls, through the immediate and irresistible operation of the Holy Spirit prior to and apart from any action of their own proper wills...This is but to say that they are unconditionally predestinated to salvation from the foundation of the world."10
The Westminster Confession says, "Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ."11 This left the impression with some that there are non-elect infants, who, dying in infancy, are lost, and that the Presbyterian Church teaches this as their doctrine. In denying this, some have said: "The history of the phrase 'Elect infants dying in infancy' makes clear that the contrast implied was not between 'elect infants dying in infancy' and 'non-elect infants dying in infancy,' but rather between 'elect infants dying in infancy' and 'elect infants living to grow up.'"12 In order to correct any misunderstanding, in 1903, the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. adopted a Declaratory Statement which reads as follows: "With reference to Chapter X, Section 3, of the Confession of Faith, that it is not to be regarded as teaching that any who die in infancy are lost. We believe that all dying in infancy are included in the election of grace, and are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who works when and where and how He pleases." Calvin's view of this is explained by Dr. R. A. Webb in the following paragraph:
Calvin teaches that all the reprobate 'procure'�that is his own word�their own personal and conscious acts of 'impiety,' 'wickedness,' and 'rebellion.' Now reprobate infants, though guilty of original sin and under condemnation, cannot, while they are infants, thus 'procure' their own destruction by their personal acts of impiety, wickedness, and rebellion. They must, therefore, live to the years of moral responsibility in order to perpetrate the acts of impurity, wickedness, and rebellion, which Calvin defines as the mode through which they procure their destruction...Consequently, [Calvin's] own reasoning compels him to hold (to be consistent with himself), that no reprobate child can die in infancy; but all must live to the age of moral accountability, and translate original sin into actual sin.13
So, there you have it, any child who dies in infancy is saved! With this, Calvinists avoid the heart-rending idea of little babies dying in sin and going to hell. Therefore, Total Depravity is really not the starting point for Calvinism. However, it is now time to turn our attention to a critical examination of the doctrine of Total Depravity.
The Doctrine Stated And Refuted
The doctrine stated: Calvin, as had Augustine and Luther before him, argued that all mankind sinned in Adam. In one of their catechisms it is stated like this: "All mankind...sinned in him [Adam], and fell with him in that first transgression... The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consisteth in the guilt of Adam's first sin."14
The doctrine refuted: But, the Bible teaches that everyone bears the guilt of his own sins, not the sin of Adam: "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself."15 The Bible makes it clear that one obeys the gospel in order to have his own sins blotted out, not the sin of Adam: "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out."16 Furthermore, when we all "appear before the judgment seat of Christ," we will give an answer for what we have done in the flesh, not what Adam did.17 Finally, it is our own sins, not Adam's, which separate us from God.18
The doctrine stated: "Fallen man...lacks the power of spiritual discernment. His reason or understanding is blinded, and the taste and feelings are perverted."19 Denying that man has free will, and affirming that he cannot, without having been predestined by God, choose to do good or evil, Loraine Boettner went on to say: "Hence we deny the existence in man of a power which may act either way, on the logical ground that both virtue and vice cannot come out of a moral condition of the agent... He is incapable of understanding, and much less of doing, the things of God."20 The argument is that unregenerate man is "dead in sin," and like anyone who is physically dead is unable to perform anything physical, the spiritually dead man is completely unable to perform anything spiritually.
The doctrine refuted: Yes, the Bible teaches that before we are regenerated, born again, raised, or made alive, we are "dead in trespasses and sins."21 But the Bible just as clearly teaches that the unregenerate man can indeed "obey from the heart" the form of doctrine that he has been taught, that is, the gospel.22 In Colossians 2:12-13, the apostle Paul said it this way: "Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Faith, of course, comes by hearing the gospel.23 Then having heard the gospel, one must believe it,24 repent of his sins,25 and confess with his mouth that he believes Jesus is Christ.26 But in doing all this, one has done that which the Calvinists teach an unregenerate man cannot do. That baptism is clearly under discussion in Colossians 2:12-13 cannot be denied. That this passage teaches that one is not "raised" (verse 12) or "made alive" (verse 13) until he has submitted to baptism also cannot be denied. That the expressions "raised" and "made alive" refer to being regenerated should be just as clear. In fact, there seems little doubt that the "washing of regeneration" mentioned in Titus 3:5 is referring to baptism. The fact that one could be doing something "through faith," as Colossians 2:12 clearly teaches, before being regenerated flies in the face of Calvinist claims. This, no doubt, is why Calvinists deny that water baptism has anything to do with being regenerated or born again.
The doctrine stated: Speaking of the "depth of man's corruption," Boettner argues: "It is wholly beyond [man's] own power to cleanse himself. His only hope of an amendment of life lies accordingly in a change of heart, which change is brought about by the sovereign re-creative power of the Holy Spirit who works when and where and how He pleases."27 Without this direct operation of the Holy Spirit, man "cannot be convinced of the truth of the Gospel by any amount of external testimony."28
The doctrine refuted: The "gift" or "renewing" of the Holy Spirit comes after water baptism,29 which, again, goes against the theological grain of Calvinism. Furthermore, the Bible says the Holy Spirit is given to all those who "obey" the Lord,30 something the Calvinists say cannot occur without a direct operation of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it should be clear that what Calvinists teach about Total Depravity is totally false.
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