Calvinist Corner - August 2013

Calvinism is not Biblical Doctrine. It's a human philosophy that appeals to proud-minded individuals.

Author's note: Though you the reader see these posts every month on the 15th, it has actually been quite a while since I wrote one. Most of them were written in early 2012. This was written in early 2013. It is good to be back in the saddle.

Why do I write these? 
Because so very many Calvinists are militant in nature. They seek confrontation. They attempt to bully others into yielding to their ways. They do not act as Christians should. Strictly speaking, Calvinism is not Christianity. It does not promote Christianity. But why is that?

Origins
Every cult is destined to be like its founder. Why? Simple human psychology. A group attracts like members. Those who are proud, but have no accomplishments of their own accord, seek other reasons to be proud. Especially, they will seek intangible reasons. But what about the foundations of Calvinism? Why does their founder attract this sort? Where did it all come from?

Augustine
Let's start at the beginning. Augustine - a heretic and Bishop of the early Catholic church - mixed teachings from Manichaeism, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism into the traditional Catholic teachings. It is actually from Manichaeism from which Augustine adopted the concepts of "the elect" and "total depravity" - which are not Biblical in nature.

Augustine twisted the meanings of certain passages of scripture to fit his heretical viewpoints. He wrote volumes on the subjects, interjecting his heresies all throughout.

For the most part, these teachings were not well received into the Catholic church, and were generally regarded as an afterthought at most. Then came Martin Luther...

Luther
About 1000 years after Augustine, his teachings were revitalized a bit. Martin Luther was inspired, at least in part by the teachings. Luther was instrumental in bringing about the Protestant movement and so-called reformation. In his rebellion from the Catholic Church, he adopted some of the heretical notions of Augustine. To be sure, he was more clandestine in those doctrines than was Calvin...

Calvin
Here is a little article that details the life of Calvin. A life of rebellion. What Luther did to the Catholic church was not enough in Calvin's mind. Calvin "went full retard." John Calvin took each idea to an extreme. He formulated heretical doctrine that would later be reinterpreted as the "Five Points" (also known as "TULIP"). He didn't stray far from the heretical teachings of Augustine.

Calvin took things to an extreme, and that is an understatement. He killed those who didn't believe in his teachings. He called them heretics, and worse. Calvin further distorted scriptures to fit his agenda... rebellion. He sought public controversy. He longed for (and received) conflict. He tore at the very fabric of the church.

Those who believed in the Bible as written, led in part by Jacobus Arminius, published the Five Articles of Remonstrance. As written, these were simply restatements of Biblical teaching, almost exactly word for word from the Bible in context.

In response, Calvinists adopted five points of their own, which we now call "TULIP" and proceeded to try to ram this down the throats of the Christians.

Legacy
Calvinists today try to poison churches with their teachings, as their founder did.
Calvinists today present themselves as bullies to Christians, as their founder did.
Calvinists today are caught up in pride, as their founder was.
Calvinists today seek controversy, as their founder did.
About the only thing I don't see Calvinists of today doing is trying to murder Christians.

Why I do this
One does not wait for the enemy to strike. A wise man takes the fight to the enemy, on orders of magnitude harder than the enemy is prepared to handle. That is part of why I do this, to combat the militant Calvinists before they attack other Christians.

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