First off I want to say that this is my story and this is only the worldview I possess created by my personal experiences, so feel free to disagree with me but I will be taking in loose generalities during this post.
If it upsets you I am sorry but this is what I have lived through and can attest to all I say herein.
Massive Problem
In my humble opinion this topic is the most underrated and least understood topic in all of Protestant Christianity today.
How do I know?
The short blunt answer to this question is: because of the surge in popularity of the Reformed/ Calvinistic doctrine today.
This is the fastest growing and largest denomination in the Protestant church and they are incredible well funded.
How does this have anything to do with Believing Loyalty? It has everything to do with believing loyalty because in the calvinistic doctrine there is absolutely no room for believing loyalty to exist.
The Reformed doctrine of Calvinism is described by the acronym TUPIL which stands for Total Depravity (to be crystal clear Total Inability), Unconditional Election, Perseverance of the Saints, Irresistible Grace and Limited Atonement.
Besides these Reformed Theology also holds these two things to be selfevident:
1. God is Sovereign over all things (i.e. meticulously controls all things)
2. Election and Salvation are one and the same, meaning they are synonyms, which can be and are used interchangeably.
There is absolutely no room for the idea of a person being capable of adhering to an allegiance pledged constantly to a deity in this worldview.
Root of the Issue
The problem lies within the Calvinistic system itself, in that the very nature of this particular systematic opposes any thought that one would be able to place their belief in God nor anything else for that matter.
My conclusion is that no one can have a believing loyalty worldview and hold to a consistent belief in Calvinism proper defined as Tulip.
Why?
Because they are wholly incompatible. Let me explain how:
T
While most Christians adhere to a belief of Total Depravity defined as people are depraved and cannot save themselves i.e. everyone is in need a savior (which fits into a believing loyalty worldview). The reformed tradition ups the ante by saying people can’t believe. In this system people absolutely cannot place a believing loyalty into anything, that is with out God Sovereignly making them to do it.
U
This thought is expounded in the unconditional election (defined as salvation) doctrine. Were as most christians believe that we cannot do anything and I mean anything, not one iota to inherit salvation, since that work was done on the cross, and by placing a belief in Jesus it is applied to you, this systematic pushes to teach that God unconditional saves whoever He arbitrarily pleases and passes over the rest of humanity.
L
This same thought is expounded by Calvinist interpretation of Limited Atonement. There is only a limited number of people who Christs blood will atone for and believing loyalty has nothing to do with it whatsoever. In the end limited atonement teaches that Jesus’ work of redemption is not available to all humanity but only a select few who are lucky enough to have been found favorable in the eyes of their creator.
I
Irresistible grace makes you believe regardless of your loyalty to Him and there is nothing you can do about it because one cannot resist it.
P
Perseverance of the saints (once saved always saved) leaves a person with no need to consistently pledge an allegiance to a God for He saves whoever He pleases no matter what. According to this systematic, if one doesn’t believe then they never did in the first place even though they may have thought they were before.
This is not a Joke
I may have sounded a little tongue in cheek above (which admittedly was) only because of the absurdity of this worldview, when parsed against a doctrine like believing loyalty.
My Own Story
Now here is where my story starts. I have been a church planter in asia minor for almost 9 years now. When I arrived all those years ago we set out to start up a church with some really sweet friends.
I knew they were calvinists and I not having studied the subject at all, was really naive to the prospects of us working well together. The longer we worked together the more I noticed that my friends and I had differing views of what the Gospel is.
This lead to many a conversations and after much discussion I was and now still am convinced that you cannot both hold to the true Gospel, saved by grace through faith in the work of christ, and consistently hold to Calvinism proper.
The Calvinistic Gospel
For example when if someone fell away by placing their believing loyalty in something other than Jesus, in Calvinism they really were just not saved to begin with.
If one were to place a believing loyalty in Yahweh, they can’t be sure it is real “faith” because it wasn’t a decision they made but something God did to them and its only truly known that one is saved when they are made to persevere to the end.
There is no rational point to share “the gospel” since in the calvinist worldview it cannot cause you to “believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”. The only reason to share ends up being the fact that people are commanded to (even though it literally cannot do anything unless God has saw fit from the creation of the world to choose that person) and why waste your breath since God will save them if they are to saved.
The whole faith logically goes out the window and people are left with a frail shell, not able to be confident in anything, except proving they are in Gods good graces by your actions.
My Experience
In my experience people who adhere to this belief system end up in legalism since its the only vestige of proof you may be saved left. Being a worker among Muslim’s it behooves me to point out how strange of bedmates Calvinism and Islam are.
Repeatedly I have see Calvinists determine ones salvation based not on where their believing loyalty is placed but by their actions and deeds.
With this litmus stick the church is turned into a witch hunt for those who do not show the proper signs of their “election” by their actions. Of coarse this is overlooked when the shoes is on the other foot and the leaders sin is found out amongst their ranks, but God is faithful to swiftly make them to repent and then its back to who among you has not proven their elect statues as of late.
Hear These Peoples Stories
I digress but lastly I ask that you would look up some of the more well know calvinists who have rejected the faith and give an ear to hear their struggles. Derek Web, talks about how if God truly wants Him back then its is Gods responsibility to make Derek come back to the faith (at least he still adheres consistently to these doctrines).
This is where the rubber hits the road for me, when any biblical doctrine is subverted (perverted in my opinion) there will be consequences.
Unfortunately with this topic any reasonable sense of how one could truly and whole hearty be confident that they are saved by placing their believing loyalty in the work of Christ alone, is replaced with a need to constantly take innovatory of their works to make sure they weren’t tricked into a placebo faith for which they really never could possess.
Peace and Blessings
Biblical Doctrine Derives From the Biblical Text
Check out Soteriology 101 for more information on the dangers of this systematic
The Unseen Realm Course
This is a response I wrote to a question that was asked durning my semester of The Unseen Realm 101 Course. I highly recommend this online course for anyone who is interested in the topics that are covered here on Critical Thinking Aloud. To see a course overview and a schedule for when the classes start click here
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