CALVINISM OFFERS NO HOPE TO THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE, by Dan Mayfield
How can a man be blamed for rebelling against God if that is the nature he was born with?

Every time I hear a Calvinist preaching, I hear him rebuking the sinful and unregenerate world and warning it of the coming righteous judgment of God because the world hated God and was guilty of sin. But the Calvinist says these same people have no hope. Indeed, judgment is coming, but the Calvinist is offering no hope, only judgment, because the world doesn’t understand what’s being said, can’t turn to God in repentance, and hasn’t even been selected by God for regeneration to have saving faith. Therefore, the judgmental words of the Calvinist are missing the options that the Gospel offers to all men.

To every soul, God offers the two paths, one is narrow and the other wide, so that men cannot say they didn’t know. God says He has made Himself known to all so that sinners are without excuse, Rom. 1. The Gospel is for all as Revelation says, “the Spirit and the Bride says, ‘Come’.” “Whosoever will may come”, is God’s invitation, without partiality, bias, prejudice, or respect of persons, because God loves the world and “desires for all to be saved and come to repentance.” These are not idle words.

But Calvinism has erased the invitation God makes to all men. Calvinism has erased the love Christ has for all to be saved if they believe. Calvinism is a deeply troubling doctrine. I have heard many lessons by Calvinists and they can be so very good and uplifting. But they always come to their doctrine of depravity and unregenerate. To these, there is simply no hope.

The Calvinists point out that the man sins and that God judges him to hell for his sins. But that misses the truth entirely. That is rather like saying that a computer runs software and is therefore accountable for doing so. No, the computer only runs the software that someone else put on it. The computer isn’t to blame. And in Calvinism, the man is blamed even though according to Calvinism the blame falls on entirely on Adam. If Adam’s sin made me utterly blind and hostile to God, well of course I’m going to sin. Like the computer running the software, I can’t do anything else but sin. Add to that insurmountable obstacle that Calvin puts on mankind the other teaching that God only selects a few from mankind to be regenerated, only after which is the sinner able to have faith and live different. This is a doctrine of demons and nothing less.

Is man sinful? Yes, we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God, Rom 3:23. But sinful man does not equate to mean man has lost his ability to see the truth. Man sees the truth and is accountable to God if he rejects it. Romans 1 shows that man is suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. It doesn’t say he can’t see it. He can and because he loves the world more, he suppresses the truth.

Calvinism is fatalistic. Fatalism says, “why bother if the die is already set?” And it’s true. Calvinism says every man is born, nay, is conceived utterly depraved, lost, and on the path to hell. And Calvinism says that some will be rescued from this path purely by lottery of specific souls who at some point in their life God will intervene and regenerate them to be a believer. These will go to heaven and all the rest will go to hell. That’s Calvinism.

In typical fashion, to justify his position, one Calvinist replied to me saying, “In Adam, all sin and die.” This was his way of proving everyone is guilty and doomed by inheritance. This is a misinterpretation of 1 Cor 15:22 and Romans 5:17-20. The Calvinists interpretation leaves the sinful man out of the equation for explaining his spiritual condition. He explains that it is Adam’s fault if he is sinful. It is God’s sovereign decree if he is righteous. The sinful man is sinful because of Adam. And the saved man is save because of God’s special favor granted to an arbitrary few. The sinful man himself has no say in it; he’s just the computer. But this is not what Paul means.

Take a look at the following text in Romans 5 which says,

“18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.” Rom 5.

Read that text with the understanding of free will and personal responsibility – which a righteous judgment on the last day will require – and it means that “we are guilty when we sin and follow Adam and we are righteous and saved when we follow Jesus Christ.” Therefore, in Adam, following his example of disobedience to God, the man is guilty of sin and lost. But also in Christ there is salvation so that if anyone believes and obeys Him he shall be saved.”

Calvinism is always straining to prove the impossible. Listen to Calvinist preaching and they are all the time lamenting the “Armenian” influence. Arminius believed Jesus died for all and that all men have free will to choose whether or not to believe in Jesus. But the Calvinist problem is not Arminius. His problem is with Scripture.

If a man has no say in his salvation, judging him for doing evil is a crime. “But God is the Potter and He fashions the clay into whatever He desires. You can’t talk back to God.” This is always used by Calvinists to prove that God is just to make a man go to hell if it demonstrates God’s power. This is a circular and false argument. God is sovereign to damn whomever He desires so that God can demonstrate His own power? In Romans 9 where this comes from, the clay is Israel and they are lost. Did God really harden Israel for these twenty centuries just so He could demonstrate His power and sovereign will? That is the conclusion of Calvinism and it is false! Romans 9 shows that Israel is lost because it is seeking righteousness by works instead of by faith. God did not harden Israel by anything but the wisdom of the Gospel Cross. “Jews seek for signs and Greeks seek for wisdom, but we preach Christ and Him crucified.” Jesus is God’s wisdom. Anyone can believe; and anyone who rejects is guilty. Man has say in his salvation. He either seeks God by his own righteousness or he seeks it by faith in Jesus Christ. God offers for all to be saved and God will judge the person who rejects.

I started this off by explaining the unfairness of a man’s doctrine that tells the world it is lost and has no hope of salvation. Why preach to those you Calvinists claim can’t hear you and can’t be saved? Why tell the world they are guilty when the guilt falls to Adam and the failure of the Sovereign Potter who made them to be vessels for destruction? Calvinism simply offers no hope top the majority of people.