I want to use the blog tonight to expose a major false doctrine—Calvinism. While the Bible teaches that man is created upright (Ecclesiastes 7:29), Calvinism teaches that man is born totally depraved, without the ability to do any good, at least in the spiritual realm. This would include the ability to believe in Jesus.
It is interesting how one false doctrine almost always leads to another. Calvinism is a great example of this. Because of the false doctrine of total depravity, Calvinism teaches that the only way a person can believe in Jesus is by God working on his heart miraculously. In other words, faith can only come after a miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit, enabling a person to accept Christ. Listen to this Calvinist theologian.
“Reformed theologians…place regeneration before faith, pointing out that the Holy Spirit must bring new life before the sinner can by God’s enabling exercise faith and accept Jesus Christ” (Allan R. Killan, “Regeneration,” The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 2, 1449).
Calvinists like to quote Ephesians 2:8 to prove their position, claiming that faith is a gift from God. There, Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” However, they are mistaken about what the gift is in this passage. It is not faith, but rather, salvation to which Paul refers. The Greek grammar in this verse demands such a conclusion (“faith” is a feminine noun while “gift” is a neuter adjective; thus, faith cannot grammatically be the gift).
The Calvinistic teaching that God has to miraculously work on our hearts for us to believe in Christ robs God of all mercy and compassion. It means that God demands faith (John 3:16; 8:24), knowing that we cannot have it unless He gives it to us, and then punishes all those to whom He does not give it. This is why I often refer to Calvinism as a devilish doctrine. There is no way to reconcile such teaching with the love of God.
How does faith come? Paul tells us plainly in Romans 10.
Romans 10:17 (ESV)
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Not only is this truth taught consistently in the Word of God, but we see this playing out in examples of conversion throughout the Bible.
Acts 2:36-38, 41 (ESV)
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Notice, that these people received the Word of God, and obeyed it, without any special outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon their hearts. We even have an example of this process in the Old Testament. Remember when Jonah finally obeyed God and preached to the people of Nineveh? The Bible tells us that they turned from their evil ways (Jonah 3:6-10). What made them do it? Not God working on their hearts directly and miraculously, but the Word of God preached to them by Jonah. That has always been the method of God to save people, and no false doctrine, no matter how popular, will ever change it.
As you wind down for the night, think about these things