The Litmus Test weblog

On 12/30/04 6:25 AM, Gloria wrote:

My sister joined an independent KJV bible teaching church. It is a very small congregation. He scares them to death, in my opinion.

He believes and preaches Calvinism and the TULIP doctrine. If I understand her correctly, deeds do not matter as there are chosen people, and only those will be given eternity, but, still, one must study the Bible, go to church 3 times a week, go to Bible Study

Very, very negative, and impossible to comprehend, in my opinion.

Religion ought not to be that cerebral………..I think it is a cult, almost, by the fact that he tells them how to dress, how to wear the hair, no television, no acknowledgement of Christmas.

I think pastors like this guy are harmful and dangerous. She buys it all, and claims this is the true church, all others practically are doomed because they are “wrong.”

She drives 300 mile every weekend to attend this church.

Gloria, thanks for writing back.
So where does Calvinism fit into any of this? Good question.
Calvinism and the TULIP doctrine, from our point of view, is greatly in error.

TULIP is an acronym summarizing John Calvin’s five points:

• T - Total depravity.
• U - Unconditional election
• L - Limited atonement
• I -I rresistible grace
• P - Perseverance of the saint

As you point out, they believe that God actually chose to create a select few (the “elect”) in such a way that they HAVE to be saved….and all other people (the vast majority) were created, in their view, for the express purpose of being cast into the Lake of Fire. No one can in any way alter this “predestined” judgment, by anything they choose to do, or not do, according to such doctrine.

According to them, everyone on earth is totally depraved, completely evil…apart from the few elect that “get saved” as they were predestined to do, through believing their Calvinist doctrine.

It is beyond us, just as it is beyond you, to understand or explain such a thing. To us, it is pretty simple; God sent His Son to save us from our sin….our selfishness; and He wants us to forsake our selfish, sinful ways, and surrender ourselves completely to live a life of loving each other just as Jesus loved His disciples. We have the ability to choose life by choosing His Way, or to choose death, by remaining in our selfish ways.

From our point of view, His Way is outlined by His Life, His Words, and His commands in the Gospels…and the Way He forsook everything to live for, and to die for, His disciples; then commanding those who would follow Him to be willing to give up everything to love each other in just the same way.

In short, the Gospel is a challenge to trust God enough, and His Son enough, to pay the high price of loving as He did, by the grace and faith that He supplies.

If the “gospel” we have believed is not bearing the fruit of love….then we can be sure we are deceived.

One of the biggest deceptions of Calvinism is the idea that God provides only two eternal destinies for mankind; that all people are either going to be found among the very few “saved”; or else they will be among the vast majority who are “damned” to eternal torment. We don’t believe that at all. The God we serve is not like that.

What about those billions of people who have lived and died without ever even hearing the Gospel? According to Calvin, they are all damned without exception…they are all totally depraved and deserving of eternal torment.

We don’t believe that, Gloria. We believe that among the billions who have never heard the Gospel, are many righteous people…people who have spent their whole lives striving to obey their conscience, rather than kill it; and we believe such people will find mercy before God. Here are the links to a couple of articles that you may find interesting about this subject that we call The Three Eternal Destinies of Man. Let me know what you think about them.
What about the Heathen?
Deception of Only 2 Eternal Destinies

I am sorry your sister is involved in such a church. The Spirit of God cannot dwell in such a place.

The externals are not the problem, though, in our view. God’s People do have a common culture of dress and grooming. And certainly, avoiding television, and involvment in Christmas (which is, in fact, a pagan holiday) is not a bad thing to do. But the real Litmus Test for whether a group is truly following the Son of God, is whether they are loving each other just as He loved His disciples (John 13:34,35, 1 John 3:14,16), laying down their lives for each other.

But as long as there is life, there is hope. So please don’t give up hope. And thank you for your interesting question.