"Now...he [God] arranges all things by his sovereign counsel, in such a
way that individuals are born, who are doomed from the womb to certain
death, and are to glorify him by their destruction." So wrote John Calvin.
A lady is struggling with a problem as she sits listening to three Calvinists who have been speaking at the conference she's attending. During the question and answer period, her turn comes to ask the question of the ages, the one that's been causing her pain. You can hear it in her voice.
As she stands before the audience and her theological heroes, two of the most well-known Calvinists, the elite experts in the field, you can tell shes craving the answer to what she's going to ask. Her voice is soft as if she's in awe of the two men. She quietly asks: "Is God's grace available to all?" What an excellent question that is. Good for her.
She goes on to give some biblical background to her query--she goes to Acts 17:30: "But now he [God] commands all people everywhere to repent.
This leads her to a follow up question: "Why would God command everyone to repent if they can't unless He causes them to repent." The reason she's asking this is because she's heard both men say that it is impossible for men to repent unless God regenerates them first and then gives them repentance and faith. So, why is God commanding all to do something that is impossible for them to do?
Let's go back to her original question: "Is the grace of God available to all?" At this point the two men, John MacArthur and R. C. Sproul could have said, "Let's all turn to Psalm 145:9 where we read, "The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works." They could have gone on to cite Titus 2:11: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people," Or could they not have said, "Romans 11:32 speaks to the point: " "For God has shut up all in disobedience, so that He may show mercy to all."
Then as a climactic text, they could have said, "John 12:32 answers your question: "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” Then, the piece de' resistance, I John 2:2: "And He Himself [Christ] is the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (It's important not to read over the word, "whole" which means everyone and emphatically so.)
The problem was that their system, Calvinism, made them answer her question, "No, the grace of God is not available to all."According to Calvin, there are those billions who are "doomed from the womb," so God's mercy is not available to those chosen to go to hell forever.
Now for the second question she asked: "Why does God command all to repent if it's impossible for them to do so?" The answer from MacArthur was, "We don't know the answer, but that's the way it is. you have to take it." Once again, for the Calvinist, it's 4th down and a hundred yards to to go, so he has to punt to the "It's- a- mystery-yard-line."
It was at this point that Sproul gave her an illustration which really didn't help and he asked, "Does that help?" Her answer was a weak, "Partly," as she sensed that really wasn't an answer. The audience laughed; it didn't help them either.
That's the way it is when people flock to these Calvinist conferences to hear their Hall of Fame preachers: they ask this same question and they get the same response, "We don't know, but that's the way it is. You have to take it."
We can pray that the dear woman will find someone who will direct her to John 12:32, I John 2:2, and Romans 11:32, Titus 2:16, and Psalm 145: 9 and there she'll find the answer.
They spend their money, their time, and the travel to come to such conferences to get the answer to that ubiquitous question, but they go home with the command to swallow the red pill.*
___________________________________________________
* "The red pill" is from the movie "The Matrix;" it means "face the hard reality instead of staying inside the comfort zone of fantasy."
No comments:
Post a Comment