Lighthouse Trails Research Journal
13
Salvation Vs. Calvinism—continued from previous page with water; but . . . he shall baptize you with
• God has given everyone a free will.
• Everyone already has the God-given abil-
ity to choose whether or not to live for God.
• Our destiny—Heaven or Hell—is our
choice, but if we choose Heaven, we must
choose to do it God’s way as we cannot trust
(i.e., be saved) in our own righteousness.
• God takes no pleasure in sending
people to Hell. It is not His choice but
our choice to make.
• God is “equal” in His dealings with all of
mankind. He is not a cruel or unjust God. It is
those who depict God as cruel and unjust (as
one who delights in sending people to Hell)
who are “not equal”—or perhaps it is better to
say blasphemous. Even the apostle Peter said
that God is “no respecter of persons” (Acts
10:34), and Paul said, “there is no respect of
persons with God” (Romans 2:11). (See also
Ephesians 6:9 and Colossians 3:25.) In other
words, both Peter and Paul are in agreement
with Ezekiel in that God is equal and fair in
His dealings with all people. But John Calvin
opposed this truth in saying, “All are not cre-
ated on equal terms, but some are preordained
to eternal life, others to eternal damnation.” 1
• Repentance 2 is a pre-conversion experi-
ence. It precedes the grace (indwelling Holy
Spirit) that God gives to live a godly life.
Next, let’s consider the ministry of John
the Baptist. Jesus said of him, “Among those
that are born of women there is not a greater
prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is
least in the kingdom of God is greater than
he” (Luke 7:28). Scripture also says of him,
“Behold, I send my messenger before thy
face, which shall prepare thy way before thee
[Jesus] . . . John did baptize in the wilderness,
and preach the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins” (Mark 1:2, 4). Though
the religious leaders stayed away, many un-
converted sinners came to John and partook
of this baptism of repentance. As is indicated
here, historically they repented as a prelude
to later receiving Christ as their Savior. John
the Baptist said of Jesus, “I indeed baptize you
VOLUME 8—NO. 1
the Holy Ghost and with fire” (Luke 3:16).
But, while these people were yet sinners, God
made repentance available to all who willed
it through the ministry of John the Baptist.
Then in Acts 16:30, the Philippian jailer
asks of Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I
do to be saved?” to which they respond,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).
For the Calvinist, any testimony of a
conversion experience may be questioned
and scrutinized. In fact, except for this being
in Scripture, they would tell you that such
a testimony is totally unacceptable. From a
fatalistic, predestinate viewpoint, neither the
jailer nor his family could have any choice in
the matter, so most likely they would all go
to Hell. Also, beyond their lacking any free
will in the matter, they are fully degenerate
to the degree that they are unable to repent
or believe. Such is the predicament for the
Calvinist who is fully indoctrinated into
Calvin’s teachings. It is a large pill to swallow,
and it is to be swallowed whole.
From a biblical perspective, the conver-
sion experience is not forced or manipulated
but initiated of a person’s own free will as
the Holy Spirit draws him (remember John
12:32 where Jesus says He will draw all
men). The individual repents (i.e., changes
direction) and believes, then is “born again”
of the Holy Spirit. From the Calvinist per-
spective, one must be born again first before
one can repent and believe, but this is Scrip-
ture turned upside down and backwards.
Perhaps the act of becoming a Christian
can best be explained by illustration: It is like
a person walking down the wrong path; the
person then stops and turns around (repen-
tance), then looks to the right direction (faith).
(This is what God requires to be born again.)
To be born again means to be indwelt with the
Holy Spirit as Paul indicates that Christians
have God’s Spirit in them (Romans 8:9).
Now with the Holy Spirit abiding within, the
person begins walking in the new direction. It
should be noted here that biblical repentance
does not mean that we must clean up our
act before we can come to Christ. Rather, it
is an admission of our guilt and of our need
of a Savior to begin transforming our lives to
the image of God’s Son. Walking in the new
direction, then, is subsequent to first repent-
ing and believing. Then, as we will never be
perfect in this life, we will continue to live a
life of faith and repentance as the Holy Spirit
continually transforms us to be like the Son.
In conclusion, it is important to realize
that we will never understand all of Scrip-
ture perfectly, but the fundamentals of the
Gospel can be readily comprehended. God
is love and will not turn away whosoever
comes to Him. Unfortunately, many come
to Calvinism because, on the surface, it
appears to offer comfort and assurance of
salvation. But, like Catholicism, there is
no real assurance of salvation in Calvinism
where salvation is deemed to be predes-
tinated and therefore inaccessible by our
choice or will. Once fully indoctrinated into
Calvinism, the Calvinist is left wondering
for the rest of his life if he is one of the elect.
This is not a walk of faith but of doubt, and
it is totally unscriptural. Scripture says that
we can walk in assurance of eternal life:
These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the
Son of God; that ye may know that
ye have eternal life, and that ye may
believe on the name of the Son of
God. (1 John 5:13; emphasis added)
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God. (1 John 5:1;
emphasis added)
ENDNOTES:
1. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Reli-
gion, Vol. 3, (Orlando, Signalman Publishing, from
the 4th edition, 2009, Kindle edition), Chapter 21,
section 5, Kindle location 17221; also available at
Christian Classics Ethereal Library (https://www.
ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.v.xxii.html).
2. Harry Ironside: “To repent is to change
one’s attitude toward self, toward sin, toward
God, toward Christ.”
SPRING 2020