Musings on Calvinism

A record of my journey exploring and ruminating on this issue. I strive to present the issues in as simplified a manner, in order to aid understanding. Great thanks especially to Leighton Flowers, Kevin Thompson, William Lane Craig, Tim Stratton, Braxton Hunter, Eric Hernandez, Michael Heiser, and the many posters and commentors on various FB groups whose insights and explanations (from many different viewpoints) have proven invaluable.

I have cleaned up and organized all my posts related to this topic. Click on this to sort for only those posts:

https://scottthong.wordpress.com/category/soteriology/

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The following are the most important ones that have to do with common proof-texts or arguments for Calvinism, as that is the crucial issue in my opinion:

*** 111. ROMANS 9 – SUPERPOST

230. Romans 9’s Potter Refers to Jeremiah 18

6. ROMANS 9 – A NON CALVINISTIC INTERPRETATION

15. YOU ACCEPTED THE GOSPEL? SO YOU THINK YOU’RE SAVED BY YOUR WORK?

20. VESSELS OF MERCY/WRATH

22. LIKE OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN VS LIMITED ATONEMENT

28. ROMANS 9 AND OLD TESTAMENT CONTEXT

31. JOHN 6 & DRAW

32. ROMANS 9 & JEREMIAH

36. ROLE-MANS 9

39. HOW WOULD THE ORIGINAL RECIPIENTS OF ROMANS 9 HAVE UNDERSTOOD IT?

43. DOES ACTS 13:48 TEACH UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION?

47. HEBREWS 12:2 AND FAITH NOUN/VERB

64. REGENERATION SO YOU CAN BELIEVE, OR BELIEF SO THAT YOU ARE REGENERATED?

67. WHAT CONTEXT ARE THE OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGES CITED IN ROMANS 9?

69. THE PROVISIONIST VIEW OF ROMANS 3:10

71. WHO IS THE INTERLOCUTOR OBJECTING TO GOD’S WAYS IN ROMANS 9?

74. ‘SOTERIOLOGICAL’ PSALMS IN CONTEXT

79. PASSAGES THAT UNDERMINE LIMITED ATONEMENT, GOING FURTHER THAN JUST ‘ALL’

83. BRAD SAAB ON CALVINIST & NON-CALVINIST INTERPRETATION OF EPHESIANS 1

84. EPHESIANS 1 AND PREDESTINATION – TO WHAT?

85. WHO IS PREDESTINED, AND FOR WHAT?

86. WILLIAM LANE CRAIG ON ROMANS 9 & 10, EPHESIAN 2 ‘FAITH IS A GIFT OF GOD’

87. FALLACY OF EQUIVOCATION: IS ACCEPTING SALVATION A ‘WORK’?

88. ROMANS 8 – THE GOLDEN CHAIN OF ADOPTION FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ACCEPTED CHRIST (NOT THE GOLDEN CHAIN OF SALVATION FOR THE TOTALLY DEPRAVED WHO ARE UNCONDITIONALLY ELECTED)

90. 1 CORINTHIANS 2:14 – ABOUT UNREGENERATE UNBELIEVERS, OR IMMATURE BELIEVERS?

91. ROMANS 8:29-30 – PAST TENSE OLD TESTAMENT?

94. LIMITED ATONEMENT – LIMITED IN ACCEPTANCE BY CALVINISTS

108. N.T. WRIGHT ON ROMANS 9 & ELECTION TO PURPOSE

116. DOES JEREMIAH 19:9 TEACH DETERMINISM?

119. ARE DICE ROLLS ANALOGOUS TO HUMAN WILL?

130. REFORMED SCHOLAR CHARLES CRANFIELD – ROMANS 9 IS ELECTION TO HISTORICAL FUNCTION, NOT SALVATION

133. LAMENTATIONS 3 – THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD WANTING EVIL & GOD ALLOWING EVIL

139. JOHN 3:16 – GENERAL OR SPECIAL LOVE?

145. JOEL WEBBON STUMPED ON COLOSSIANS 2:12 BY LEIGHTON FLOWERS

148. POTTER PROOFTEXTS – TALKING BACK TO GOD & THE EUTHYPHRO DILEMMA

151. A TEXT WITHOUT CONTEXT IS PRETEXT FOR A (CALVINIST) PROOFTEXT

152. Man’s Steps From the LORD = Determinism?

178. Passages That Exclude Divine Determinism

181. COMPATIBILISM, LFW, REAL OPTIONS & 1 COR 10:13

208. PROVERBS 14:6 – GOD MAKES DAMNED PEOPLE?

211. SHORT EXPLANATION OF CALVINISM’S TULIP USING LOGICAL NECESSITY & ORDER

225. WWUTT’s Gabriel Hughes Stumped on Get Life to Get Christ To Get Life

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Or, browse by all post titles in chronological order below, with the above most important passage-related posts bolded:

1. Free Will & Never Sinning in Heaven

2. Predestination + Free Will According to Molina, William Lane Craig

3. Subsets of Condemnation & Justification

4. Acts 17 – A Passage Used by Three of My Belief Systematics

5. Do Babies Who Die Go to Heaven? Some Responses

6. ROMANS 9 – A NON CALVINISTIC INTERPRETATION

7. THE PARABLE OF THE WEDDING FEAST – NOT CALVINISTIC UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

8. HITLER RANTS AGAINST LEIGHTON FLOWERS

9. ACROSTICS FOR PROVISIONISM, MOLINISM

10. RESOURCES FOR COUNTERING CALVINISM

11. TULIP IS REDUNDANT UNDER DETERMINISM

12. AUGUSTINE’S BACKGROUND & TULIP

13. GUESS I’M A SYNERGIST

14. DETERMINISM & DEMON POSSESSION

15. YOU ACCEPTED THE GOSPEL? SO YOU THINK YOU’RE SAVED BY YOUR WORK?

16. WHICH PREMISE DO YOU REJECT?

17. ROMANS 9 SAYS STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME A CALVINIST

18. DOES YOUR WORLDVIEW FIT ALL OF SCRIPTURE?

19. LIGONIER MISSES THE KEY ISSUE ON KEILAH

20. VESSELS OF MERCY/WRATH

21. AN UNNECESSARY MYSTERY

22. LIKE OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN VS LIMITED ATONEMENT

23. CALVINISTS ULTIMATELY APPEAL TO THE SAME MYSTERY:

24. “I AM NOT A CALVINIST.” (William Lane Craig)

25. A WORLD OF (UN)HAPPY SLAVES

26. DIVINE FOREKNOWLEDGE DOES NOT NECESSITATE DIVINE PREDESTINATION

27. PEOPLE MUST BE DAMNED FOR GOD’S GLORY?

28. ROMANS 9 AND OLD TESTAMENT CONTEXT

29. INTERESTING STATEMENTS BY WILLIAM LANE CRAIG IN TWO DIFFERENT DEBATES

30. IS MAKING ANY ACTUAL SENSE AT ALL BIBLICAL?

31. JOHN 6 & DRAW

32. ROMANS 9 & JEREMIAH

33. LEIGHTON FLOWERS ON STRUGGLING WITH SIN AS A CALVINIST

34. CHURCH SONGS WITH THE CORRECT ROMANS 9 POTTER CONTEXT

35. PROVISIONISM IS THE BARE BASIC GOSPEL

36. ROLE-MANS 9

37. CALVINISTS & INTERPRETATION

38. THE FREE WILL WAGER

39. HOW WOULD THE ORIGINAL RECIPIENTS OF ROMANS 9 HAVE UNDERSTOOD IT?

40. NEVER TRULY SAVED? AS GOD DECREED

41. TIM STRATTON AS A CALVINIST NOT PRAYING FOR THE UNSAVED

42. TWO FORMER CALVINISTS USING CALVINISTIC PRESUPPOSITIONS TO JUSTIFY THEIR ATHEISM

43. DOES ACTS 13:48 TEACH UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION?

44. PAUL COOPER VS BRAXTON HUNTER DEBATE

45. PAUL COOPER INTERVIEW WITH LEIGHTON FLOWERS

46. A SORT OF VERTIGO SETS IN

47. HEBREWS 12:2 AND FAITH NOUN/VERB

48. A DIFFERENT GOSPEL

49. HARDENING, BLINDING AND DEAFENING – TEMPORARILY, FOR A PURPOSE

50. SEVERUS SNAPE & JIM CARREY DO A DEBATE

51. METICULOUS DIVINE DETERMINISM BIBLE PASSAGES?

52. DOES DETERMINISM ACTUALLY IMPACT ANYTHING?

53. ISRAEL AS THE NEW EGYPT

54. THE MESSIANIC SECRET (HEY DEMONS, SHUT YO’ MOUTHS)

55. THEY LEFT CALVINISM

56. OKAY FOR GOD, NOT FOR YOU, BECAUSE.

57. WHY A CORRECT BELIEF DETERMINISM CANNOT BE RATIONAL

58. DETERMINISM & EPISTEMOLOGY

59. FORCED WEIGHTY ARBITRARY DECISION

60. YOU THINK MAN’S FREE WILL CAN THWART GOD’S WILL?

61. THE EXISTENTIAL HORROR OF STORYBOOK CHARACTERS

62. JOHN PIPER ON CAPRICIOUSNESS VS SOVEREIGNTY

63. THE GOSPEL IS GOD’S GRACE, FREELY GIVEN FOR SALVATION TO ALL WHO WILL RECEIVE IT

64. REGENERATION SO YOU CAN BELIEVE, OR BELIEF SO THAT YOU ARE REGENERATED?

65. COMPATIBILISM & DETERMINED DESIRE

66. ON CHRIS DATE AND VIEWS OF EARLY CHRISTIANS

67. WHAT CONTEXT ARE THE OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGES CITED IN ROMANS 9?

68. LET’S SAY I GRANT THAT THESE ‘DEAD MEANS DEAD’ PASSAGES TEACH TOTAL INABILITY

69. THE PROVISIONIST VIEW OF ROMANS 3:10

70. SEMI-PELAGIAN IS A MEANINGLESS TERM ACTUALLY

71. WHO IS THE INTERLOCUTOR OBJECTING TO GOD’S WAYS IN ROMANS 9?

72. SUPER-REDEEMING THE PROBLEM YOU SET UP

73. SEMANTICS OF ISMS

74. ‘SOTERIOLOGICAL’ PSALMS IN CONTEXT

75. THEY HATE, BECAUSE THEY WERE HATED FIRST

76. PHILLIP MELANCHTHON – NON-DETERMINISTIC REFORMER

77. MICHAEL BROWN & LEIGHTON FLOWERS ON CALVINISM

78. HELP MY UNBELIEF?

79. PASSAGES THAT UNDERMINE LIMITED ATONEMENT, GOING FURTHER THAN JUST ‘ALL’

80. GOD IS NOT UNJUST, UNLOVING OR CAPRICIOUS – WHO ARE YOU, O MAN, TO MISTAKE GOD FOR SO?

81. PROVISIONISM’S VIEW OF THE GOSPEL AS THE HOLY SPIRIT’S GRACE

82. LEIGHTON FLOWERS ON MONERGISM

83. BRAD SAAB ON CALVINIST & NON-CALVINIST INTERPRETATION OF EPHESIANS 1

84. EPHESIANS 1 AND PREDESTINATION – TO WHAT?

85. WHO IS PREDESTINED, AND FOR WHAT?

86. WILLIAM LANE CRAIG ON ROMANS 9 & 10, EPHESIAN 2 ‘FAITH IS A GIFT OF GOD’

87. FALLACY OF EQUIVOCATION: IS ACCEPTING SALVATION A ‘WORK’?

88. ROMANS 8 – THE GOLDEN CHAIN OF ADOPTION FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ACCEPTED CHRIST (NOT THE GOLDEN CHAIN OF SALVATION FOR THE TOTALLY DEPRAVED WHO ARE UNCONDITIONALLY ELECTED)

89. GUESS I’M A SEMI-PELAGIAN

90. 1 CORINTHIANS 2:14 – ABOUT UNREGENERATE UNBELIEVERS, OR IMMATURE BELIEVERS?

91. ROMANS 8:29-30 – PAST TENSE OLD TESTAMENT?

92. JEFF DURBIN ON WHY PEOPLE REJECT CALVINISM

93. A MAN CHOOSES. A SLAVE OBEYS.

94. LIMITED ATONEMENT – LIMITED IN ACCEPTANCE BY CALVINISTS

95. MOLINISM LABE

96. SUPRALAPSARIANISM IN SWISS & ARAB FLAVOURS

97. ROMANS 9 & MIDDLE KNOWLEDGE

98. NO MIDDLE KNOWLEDGE = DETERMINISM

99. DETERMINISM: MY GLOCK CAN’T AIM ITSELF

100. MERE MOLINISM EXPLAINED IN 3 SUPERHERO SCENES

101. RATHER WEAK DETERMINISM THERE TBH

102. CHALLENGING KEY PROOFTEXTS HEAD ON

103. PLEASE DON’T GO AROUND SAYING ‘GOD DECREED RAPE’

104. GOD WILLS THAT EARTHLINGS HAVE AGENCY

105. OVER-EXTENDING THE USAGE OF FOREKNEW & PREDESTINE

106. LACK OF THE WORD SOVEREIGN BIBLICALLY

107. DETERMINISM & HYPER-EXCLUSIVISTS

108. N.T. WRIGHT ON ROMANS 9 & ELECTION TO PURPOSE

109. LIBET EXPERIMENT AND THE SOUL

110. ‘ETERNAL’ HELL, ANNIHILATIONISM & THE END OF SPACETIME

111. ROMANS 9 – SUPERPOST

112. DAN BARKER vs BRAXTON HUNTER on Free Will

113. GOD ACTS AS IF HE IS TIMEBOUND FOR OUR COMPREHENSION

114. CALVINIST CRITIQUES OF ATHEISTIC DETERMINISM SUFFER FROM TU QUOQUE

115. CALVINISTIC ‘GUNK’ IN YOUR THINKING

116. DOES JEREMIAH 19:9 TEACH DETERMINISM?

117. NON-CALVINISTS THINK THAT WE ‘BIRTH OURSELVES’?

118. ‘HATING’ ROMANS 9?

119. ARE DICE ROLLS ANALOGOUS TO HUMAN WILL?

120. HOW DOES PRESUPPOSITIONAL APOLOGETICS DEAL WITH PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE BIBLE?

121. COMPATIBILISM – DETERMINISTIC VS LIBERTARIAN MODELS

122. WHY GOD AS THE ‘FIRST CAUSE’ MUST HAVE FREE WILL

123. WANTS SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED

124. AUGUSTINE OVERTURNING WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVED ABOUT THE SUPERNATURAL

125. STEPHEN BOYCE (CALVINIST): THE WORD LEADS TO SAVING FAITH

126. HEBREWS 4:6 & SOTERIOLOGY

127. THE GOSPEL AS PART OF PREVENIENT GRACE?

128. DR BEN WITHERINGTON ON ARMINIANISM (REMNANT RADIO INTERVIEW)

129. CAN I AFFIRM MOLINISM YET NOT UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION?

130. REFORMED SCHOLAR CHARLES CRANFIELD – ROMANS 9 IS ELECTION TO HISTORICAL FUNCTION, NOT SALVATION

131. EVOLUTION OF SPURGEON’S VIEWS

132. LEIGHTON FLOWERS: “WE ARE SAYING IT WOULD BE UN-CHRIST-LIKE”

133. LAMENTATIONS 3 – THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD WANTING EVIL & GOD ALLOWING EVIL

134. CHANGE MY DETERMINISTIC MIND

135. FREE THOUGHTS, BUT NO FREE WILL?

136. GOD, BATMAN & PROFESSOR X

137. PELAGIUS WAS A HERETIC!!!

138. DETERMINISTIC CALVINISM, OPEN THEISM & ATHEISTIC FANG

139. JOHN 3:16 – GENERAL OR SPECIAL LOVE?

140. UNDER COMPATIBILISM, WHY DID ADAM & THE DEVIL FALL?

141. William Lane Craig on Different Views of the Atonement

142. MAKE MORE MODEST CLAIMS

143. LOW WILLPOWER VS TEMPTATION

144. Pelagian & Other Waters Off the Back

145. JOEL WEBBON STUMPED ON COLOSSIANS 2:12 BY LEIGHTON FLOWERS

146. PLAIN PROVISIONISM

147. IF I ACCEPT THE CLAIMS OF CALVINISM, HOW DREADFUL THAT ACCEPTANCE IS!

148. POTTER PROOFTEXTS – TALKING BACK TO GOD & THE EUTHYPHRO DILEMMA

149. TULIP & EVANGELISM

150. RC SPROUL JR – GOD DESIRES TO MAKE MANKIND SIN SO HE CAN SHOW WRATH UPON THEM

151. A TEXT WITHOUT CONTEXT IS PRETEXT FOR A (CALVINIST) PROOFTEXT

152. Man’s Steps From the LORD = Determinism?

153. I Stand at the Door and Breach-and-Entry

154. My Soteriological Memes

155. ONLINE GAMING, GOD & SIN – PREFERENCE & CONCESSION

156. Logical Fallacies Used by Calvinists

157. An Offer You Can’t Accept

158. Tim Stratton’s New Book on Molinism Memes

159. GOD DECREES RAPE, SO WHAT?

160. FINE TUNING, MIDDLE KNOWLEDGE & GROUNDING OBJECTION

161. Dilbert Was Decreed To

162. ERIC HERNANDEZ QUESTIONS THE QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD’S KNOWLEDGE

163. Reprobation Explained in Pop Culture Quotes

164. EISEGESIS LEADS TO BAD ADVICE FOR THE NATURAL MAN

165. Responses to Tyler Vela’s ‘Argument Against Libertarian Freedom From God’s Impeccability’

166. Phenomenological Language & God Knowing in Genesis 18

167. BELIEVING LOYALTY

168. Good Works Are Evidential, Not Instrumental

169. Deterministic Infinite Regression of God’s Knowledge

170. Calvinism is Unliveable in Daily Living

171. James White, the Provisionist

172. CALVINISM: It Just Works

173. How Do You Violate the Inviolable?

174. YES, GOD IS SOVEREIGN… SO CAN HE NOT SOVEREIGNLY DELEGATE?

175. Adventures in Over-Literalism #1 – John the Baptist

176. Judas and Libertarian Free Will

177. MICROSOFT TEAMS ANALOGY FOR GOD SOVEREIGNLY GIVING LIBERTARIAN FREE WILL (LFW)

178. Passages That Exclude Divine Determinism

179. Why Have Crucifixion if Only Christus Victor?

180. EVERYTHING IS FATALISM (TROLL POST)

181. COMPATIBILISM, LFW, REAL OPTIONS & 1 COR 10:13

182. Sye Ten Bruggencate on Giving ‘Logic Guns’ to Unbelievers

183. My Manga & Anime Soteriology Memes Collection

184. 100+ SOTERIOLOGY MEMES

185. WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THE GOSPEL AND YOUR NEIGHBOR DOESN’T – BACKFIRE IN OTHER CASES

186. TULIP IS HARD TO ACCEPT, THEREFORE IT IS TRUE!

187. AN ILLUSTRATION OF WHY I THINK COMPARING LIVING, BREATHING UNBELIEVERS TO LITERAL CORPSES BACKFIRES STUPENDOUSLY

188. Dr Michael Heiser on Names in the Book of Life

189. James White Refuting James White (on John 6:44)

190. PRESUP & BIBLE VERSIONS

191. SUPERHERO ANALOGIES FOR HOW GOD ACHIEVES HIS PLANS IN DIFFERENT SYSTEMATICS

192. …Why can’t God just MAKE us understand what justice is, again?)

193. Western Superhero & Comics Memes

194. IMPROV ACTING ANALOGY FOR MOLINISM

195. THE TULIP WAGER

196. DR MICHAEL HEISER’S VIEW ON FOREKNOWLEDGE = DR STRANGE + BATMAN? (PLUS SOME PROF X)

197. A SONG ABOUT PUPPETS ON STRINGS, THAT ISN’T ACTUALLY ABOUT DETERMINISM

198. CHART: RANGE OF HUMAN NATURE & LFW ACCEPTANCE OF THE GOSPEL

199. Two Summaries That Reflect My View of Molinism, Soteriology

200. GOD’S KNOWLEDGE IS GREATER UNDER LFW THAN COMPATIBILISM

201. FREE WILL & DIRECTED PATHS

202. ON MIDDLE KNOWLEDGE + ‘OMNI-CARING WHAT WE THINK’

203. TOTAL DEPRAVITY & ARGUMENT FROM OBJECTIVE MORALITY?

204. PAUL’S USAGE OF ISAIAH 29:16 IN ITS ORIGINAL CONTEXT

205. WHY I REJECT TULI- IN MEMES

206. DETERMINISM = EDWARDIANISM

207. HOW ENOCH LED TO A DR STRANGE MEME

208. PROVERBS 14:6 – GOD MAKES DAMNED PEOPLE?

209. LEGAL MINUTIAE AND BELIEVING LOYALTY AND THE TRINITY

210. OPEN THEISM & PROPHECY

211. SHORT EXPLANATION OF CALVINISM’S TULIP USING LOGICAL NECESSITY & ORDER

212. JOHN WESLEY’S ‘WORSE THAN THE DEVIL’ SYLLOGISM

213. DIVIDING TWO CATEGORIES OF ‘-ISMS’

214. James White on Leighton Flowers & Textual Variants

215. James White ‘Refuting’ Molinism

216. 500+ MEMES, STARTING MY PATREON, AND STILL DUNKING ON CALVINISM

217. DISCUSSIONS, REVIEWS & FOLLOW-UPS TO THE CRAIG / WHITE DISCUSSION ON UNBELIEVABLE

218. MAKE MORE MODEST CLAIMS: A KJV-ONLY ANECDOTE ON JAMES WHITE AND WILLIAM LANE CRAIG ON UNBELIEVABLE

219. ESSENCES, COUNTERFACTUALS OF CREATURELY FREEDOM, JUDAS, MARY AND TRANSWORLD DAMNATION

220. WHY I AM SO INCLUSIVE – CONSISTENCY

221. JORDAN PETERSON IS THE GATEWAY DRUG TO CHRISTIANITY

222. WHEN YOUR REFORMED BRAIN-GEARS GRIND TO A SCREECHING HALT BECAUSE OF YOUR OWN CALVINISTIC ILLOGIC

223. WLC & MSH: ROMANS 5 ON ADAM’S IMPUTED GUILT

224. Less Like Drowning, More Like Slow Disease

225. WWUTT’s Gabriel Hughes Stumped on Get Life to Get Christ To Get Life

226. Memes Where Calvinism Totally Inverts Plain Bible Passages

227. FORESHADOW – SEEING THE SHADOW ‘FORE IT IS CAST

228. ‘THEY’ REALLY DO THINK I THINK THAT?

229. DENYING LFW LEADS TO DENYING MIDDLE KNOWLEDGE?

230. Romans 9’s Potter Refers to Jeremiah 18

Tags: Arminianism, Calvin, Calvinism, Calvinist, Doctrines of Grace, Molinism, Provisionism, Soteriology, TULIP