On Calvinism

Okay, I just HAVE to post this person's comment, it is utterly brilliant and I believe spot on. WOW. He is on Facebook, and his name is Stephan Joseph. He's just a regular guy posting in forums, I only mention him as a source. For those who are not aspiring theologians, Calvinism is one of the first branches of Christianity that broke from the Catholic Church in the 16th century. For the record, I do really like a lot of Reformed preachers, but this is just AWESOME. 

"Calvinism is cancer. With few exceptions of a couple brothers I met online everyone I know that’s a Calvinist personally had a profound emotional breakdown at some point and then either left the faith or backslid into complacency, pride and ineffectiveness. 

Why is it that Christians just talk about Jesus constantly and Calvinists talk about Calvinism? 

You will notice it. They are infamous for it. Men like Piper or McArthur and RC Sproul have absolutely cult like followings that hold them and even men of the past like Luther and Calvin up as new Apostles. 

There’s no room to disagree with them not substantively. 

The root of it all is a concept called Divine Determinism which is the spiritual equivalent of atheism. 

The Muslims, Gnostics, Calvinists and Atheists all hold that man cannot freely decide his fate but that ultimately God decides because man is not free from his nature. 

Now an atheist can hold to morality but has NO logical reason to do so. A Calvinist can hold to hope but has no grounds for it. He may or may not be “elect” he may or may not be “predestined” and I use quotes around those words because they utterly redefine them from the Jewish application in Scripture regarding Gods purposes for and in Christ and for Israel etc in rejecting Ishmael/ Edom and accepting Issac. It’s a denial of what an ordinary person means when they say free will. It’s a denial that God actually loves every person in the world the same way and impartially. It’s logical denial that man can be responsible for sin because God has made man born unable to respond! 

It’s filled with innumerable horrors and iniquities in history, abuses of reason, denial of plain scripture.

It was based on the ignorant ramblings and renderings of a man in the 5th century named Augustine that had no knowledge of Greek, or of Jewish culture or context, that was interpreted by a lawyer in the 1500’s and you get Calvinism. 

It’s a philosophy that makes God untrustworthy and double minded in that He offers salvation to those that cannot reach out for it. It makes Satan more single minded in his hatred of mankind than God is in His love for us. Satan desires that ALL damned and God does not desire that all be saved. 

In short it’s an exaltation of Gods Power over His Love when the Scripture never said “God IS Power” but rather Power belongs to God. It does say “God IS Love” 

But other than that it’s fine."