Calvinism vs. the real John Calvin and the film Calvinist Pt. 2
This is the show from Wednesday, October 4th, 2017
SUMMARY:
Bob Enyart and Will Duffy conclude their discussion (click for Part 1) of the film Calvinist and John Calvin vs. what is usually presented to the public as true Calvinism.
* Duffy Challenges Producer Lanphere about Freedom to Sin: Will Duffy pointed out to Les Lanphere, the producer of the film Calvinist, that by the doctrines of Calvinism, men are not even free to sin. So he asked the producer, Does your film admit that Calvinism teaches that man is not free to sin? Afterall, John Calvin himself taught that men can only sin by divine decree and that they are unable to sin in any way other than how God created them to sin. Of course, Calvinists like Lanphere happily argue that men do not have free will, nor the freedom to choose God, nor the freedom to do right. Simultaneously though, they avoid discussion of the Calvinist teaching that men are also not free to sin, either. By Calvinist philosophy, men have no freedom to choose evil, or one sin over another sin, or to do anything outside of the divine decree. And because the eternal divine decree allegedly includes every thought, every desire, every action, and the history of every bit of matter, therefore by Calvinism men are not free to do good, nor to sin, and they can only do the wicked and perverse things that, before they were even conceived, they were decreed to do. (When Calvinists reply, Yes, but men sin just as they desire to, of course, by Calvinist philosophy, those men were unalterably created to desire and to commit the specific sins that they commit.) Lanphere responded but by avoiding the substance of Will's challenge. (Hear this at 16:30 into today's program and click here for Part 2 of today's program.)
* Ask a Calvinist, What Prevents a Man from Sinning Differently from God's Decrees? Will presents his second question to Lanphere (at 18 minutes into today's program) that likewise exposes the perversion of Calvinist doctrine. What prevents a man from sinning differently from God's decrees? Their only answer: God. By the corruption of Calvinist doctrine, the only thing that prevents a man from sinning other than how God decreed that he would sin is that divine decree itself. In duplicity when pressed, Calvinist will sometimes deny this. Then asking, "So you don't believe that God has decreed everything?", usually demonstrates their obfuscation. So if eternally decreed to rape a victim, they cannot instead murder that victim, and if decreed to murder, they cannot instead rape. (At 21 minutes into today's program, here this in audio from Reformed theologian James White.) Calvinism is not merely wrong. It is sinful, and brings reproach upon the holiness of God, trading away God's qualitative for His quantitative attributes, trading His goodness and love for how much change, how much knowledge, etc. (the OMNIs and IMs.)
* Today's Calvinist Film: Bob Enyart and Will Duffy discuss Lanphere's film Calvinist with audio from the movie and quotes from John Calvin himself. Calvin rejected the claim that God only permits wickedness and insisted that God is the author of sin. Now in heaven, he knows otherwise. The film however quotes still-living Calvinists who haven't learned as much as their namesake. From Paul Washer and R. C. Sproul (father of RCS Jr. who denies that God the Son took upon Himself a human nature), the film presents these comments, not to highlight their error, but affirmatively:
- "From the time a child in the United States enters kindergarten, he begins to be taught... a particular understanding of the nature of man, this concept of free will, that man is free to choose the good or evil, on either side. That's a blasphemous doctrine." (Like D. James Kennedy's N.T. prof in debate with Enyart, Sproul confuses "ability to accomplish" with one's "ability to decide")
- "The greatest heresy in the American, evangelical, and Protestant church is that if you pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart, He will definitely come in." (Calvinism denies the Bible's repeated teaching that one must believe to be saved, for by it's convoluted human reasoning it teaches the reverse, that you can't believe until after you are saved.)
* Quotes from Calvin's Institute, Book One: Consider these tragic claims by John Calvin from Chapter 18 which begins on page 228:
[Of] the Works of the Ungodly [God] Bends their Minds To Carry Out His Judgments.
"1. No mere 'permission'!"
"And now I have already shown plainly enough that God is called the Author of all the things that these faultfinders would have happen only by his indolent [lazy] permission." [That is, Calvin tragically but explicitly claims here that God is the "Author" of sin. Every obfuscating Christian should be asked to repudiate John Calvin's this teaching on this.]
"Therefore they escape by the shift that this is done only with God’s permission, not also by his will..."
"However, that men can accomplish nothing except by God’s secret command, that they cannot by deliberating accomplish anything except what he has already decreed with himself and determines by his secret direction, is proved by innumerable and clear testimonies."
"If the blinding and insanity of Ahab be God’s judgment, the figment of bare permission vanishes: because it would be ridiculous for the Judge only to permit what he wills to be done, and not also to decree it and to command its execution by his ministers."
"Therefore, whatever men or Satan himself may instigate, God nevertheless holds the key, so that he turns their efforts to carry out his judgments."
"man does by God’s just impulsion what he ought not to do"
"Great are God’s works, sought out in all his wills” [Ps. 111: 2; cf. Ps. 110: 2, Vg.]; so that in a wonderful and ineffable manner nothing is done without God’s will, not even that which is against his will."
"For it is easy to dispose of their first objection, that if nothing happens apart from God’s will, there are in him two contrary wills, because by his secret plan he decrees what he has openly forbidden by his law."
"not because he would teach impious and obstinate men to obey him willingly, but because he will bend them to execute his judgments, as if they bore his commandments graven upon their hearts; from this it appears that they had been impelled by God’s sure determination. I confess, indeed, that it is often by means of Satan’s intervention that God acts in the wicked, but in such a way that Satan performs his part by God’s impulsion and advances as far as he is allowed."
"As far as pertains to those secret promptings we are discussing, Solomon’s statement that the heart of a king is turned about hither and thither at God’s pleasure [Prov. 21: 1] certainly extends to all the human race, and carries as much weight as if he had said: “Whatever we conceive of in our minds is directed to his own end by God’s secret inspiration."
"Yet from these it is more than evident that they babble and talk absurdly who, in place of God’s providence, substitute bare permission— as if God sat in a watchtower awaiting chance events, and his judgments thus depended upon human will."
This is the show from Wednesday, October 4th, 2017
SUMMARY:
Bob Enyart and Will Duffy conclude their discussion (click for Part 1) of the film Calvinist and John Calvin vs. what is usually presented to the public as true Calvinism.
* Duffy Challenges Producer Lanphere about Freedom to Sin: Will Duffy pointed out to Les Lanphere, the producer of the film Calvinist, that by the doctrines of Calvinism, men are not even free to sin. So he asked the producer, Does your film admit that Calvinism teaches that man is not free to sin? Afterall, John Calvin himself taught that men can only sin by divine decree and that they are unable to sin in any way other than how God created them to sin. Of course, Calvinists like Lanphere happily argue that men do not have free will, nor the freedom to choose God, nor the freedom to do right. Simultaneously though, they avoid discussion of the Calvinist teaching that men are also not free to sin, either. By Calvinist philosophy, men have no freedom to choose evil, or one sin over another sin, or to do anything outside of the divine decree. And because the eternal divine decree allegedly includes every thought, every desire, every action, and the history of every bit of matter, therefore by Calvinism men are not free to do good, nor to sin, and they can only do the wicked and perverse things that, before they were even conceived, they were decreed to do. (When Calvinists reply, Yes, but men sin just as they desire to, of course, by Calvinist philosophy, those men were unalterably created to desire and to commit the specific sins that they commit.) Lanphere responded but by avoiding the substance of Will's challenge. (Hear this at 16:30 into today's program and click here for Part 2 of today's program.)
* Ask a Calvinist, What Prevents a Man from Sinning Differently from God's Decrees? Will presents his second question to Lanphere (at 18 minutes into today's program) that likewise exposes the perversion of Calvinist doctrine. What prevents a man from sinning differently from God's decrees? Their only answer: God. By the corruption of Calvinist doctrine, the only thing that prevents a man from sinning other than how God decreed that he would sin is that divine decree itself. In duplicity when pressed, Calvinist will sometimes deny this. Then asking, "So you don't believe that God has decreed everything?", usually demonstrates their obfuscation. So if eternally decreed to rape a victim, they cannot instead murder that victim, and if decreed to murder, they cannot instead rape. (At 21 minutes into today's program, here this in audio from Reformed theologian James White.) Calvinism is not merely wrong. It is sinful, and brings reproach upon the holiness of God, trading away God's qualitative for His quantitative attributes, trading His goodness and love for how much change, how much knowledge, etc. (the OMNIs and IMs.)
* Today's Calvinist Film: Bob Enyart and Will Duffy discuss Lanphere's film Calvinist with audio from the movie and quotes from John Calvin himself. Calvin rejected the claim that God only permits wickedness and insisted that God is the author of sin. Now in heaven, he knows otherwise. The film however quotes still-living Calvinists who haven't learned as much as their namesake. From Paul Washer and R. C. Sproul (father of RCS Jr. who denies that God the Son took upon Himself a human nature), the film presents these comments, not to highlight their error, but affirmatively:
- "From the time a child in the United States enters kindergarten, he begins to be taught... a particular understanding of the nature of man, this concept of free will, that man is free to choose the good or evil, on either side. That's a blasphemous doctrine." (Like D. James Kennedy's N.T. prof in debate with Enyart, Sproul confuses "ability to accomplish" with one's "ability to decide")
- "The greatest heresy in the American, evangelical, and Protestant church is that if you pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart, He will definitely come in." (Calvinism denies the Bible's repeated teaching that one must believe to be saved, for by it's convoluted human reasoning it teaches the reverse, that you can't believe until after you are saved.)
* Quotes from Calvin's Institute, Book One: Consider these tragic claims by John Calvin from Chapter 18 which begins on page 228:
[Of] the Works of the Ungodly [God] Bends their Minds To Carry Out His Judgments.
"1. No mere 'permission'!"
"And now I have already shown plainly enough that God is called the Author of all the things that these faultfinders would have happen only by his indolent [lazy] permission." [That is, Calvin tragically but explicitly claims here that God is the "Author" of sin. Every obfuscating Christian should be asked to repudiate John Calvin's this teaching on this.]
"Therefore they escape by the shift that this is done only with God’s permission, not also by his will..."
"However, that men can accomplish nothing except by God’s secret command, that they cannot by deliberating accomplish anything except what he has already decreed with himself and determines by his secret direction, is proved by innumerable and clear testimonies."
"If the blinding and insanity of Ahab be God’s judgment, the figment of bare permission vanishes: because it would be ridiculous for the Judge only to permit what he wills to be done, and not also to decree it and to command its execution by his ministers."
"Therefore, whatever men or Satan himself may instigate, God nevertheless holds the key, so that he turns their efforts to carry out his judgments."
"man does by God’s just impulsion what he ought not to do"
"Great are God’s works, sought out in all his wills” [Ps. 111: 2; cf. Ps. 110: 2, Vg.]; so that in a wonderful and ineffable manner nothing is done without God’s will, not even that which is against his will."
"For it is easy to dispose of their first objection, that if nothing happens apart from God’s will, there are in him two contrary wills, because by his secret plan he decrees what he has openly forbidden by his law."
"not because he would teach impious and obstinate men to obey him willingly, but because he will bend them to execute his judgments, as if they bore his commandments graven upon their hearts; from this it appears that they had been impelled by God’s sure determination. I confess, indeed, that it is often by means of Satan’s intervention that God acts in the wicked, but in such a way that Satan performs his part by God’s impulsion and advances as far as he is allowed."
"As far as pertains to those secret promptings we are discussing, Solomon’s statement that the heart of a king is turned about hither and thither at God’s pleasure [Prov. 21: 1] certainly extends to all the human race, and carries as much weight as if he had said: “Whatever we conceive of in our minds is directed to his own end by God’s secret inspiration."
"Yet from these it is more than evident that they babble and talk absurdly who, in place of God’s providence, substitute bare permission— as if God sat in a watchtower awaiting chance events, and his judgments thus depended upon human will."
