Continued from Part 2
"We bring down arguments and every pretension against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Reason for the Exposé
The purpose of this site is to expose the false doctrines of Calvinism and Reformed theology. The object here is not to shoot the messenger. The object here is to shoot down the message - Calvinism. Calvinism is such a heinous lie that it needs to be exposed to everyone.
Calvinist and Arminian Attitudes
Calvinists often have a very bad habit of labelling anyone who does not ascribe to their belief system as an 'Arminian'. He does this because he fancifully perceives that Arminian or Pelagian doctrines are the only other explanations possible to predestination. However, it can be said that Arminianism does little or no damage to the true gospel. Arminianism is simply an attempt to understand certain passages concerning predestination and election in light of the true gospel. As such, these attempts found in Arminian theology can sometimes be wrong perceptions of predestination and election but these wrong perceptions do not affect their overall view of the gospel. Unlike Calvinists, predestination and election do not form the core of the Arminian belief system.
Calvinist Predestination Colours Everything
In Calvinism, their doctrines concerning predestination are so important to them that they intentionally colour all their interpretations concerning other matters with the same Calvinistic brush in order that everything might conform to TULIP. You generally will not find this type of approach occurring in Arminianism. In Calvinism, Calvinistic doctrines are core beliefs where Arminianism is a peripheral set of beliefs. Unlike Calvinists, non-Calvinist people in Christendom, do not go around classifying themselves as Arminians unless they are contrasting Arminian theology about predestination with Calvinists. If you ask a Pentecostal, for example, what he believes, he will not say, "I am an Arminian." If predestination is not in view, Arminianism is the furthest thing from his mind, although he may indeed subscribe to it. But if you ask a Reformed Baptist what he believes he might indeed say, "I am a Calvinist." So we need to understand that Arminians are not a group of people who have Arminian theology as the center of their beliefs. Arminianism is simply a peripheral theology employed by some non-Calvinists when they discuss predestination and only when they discuss predestination.
Not an Arminian-Based Book
The articles on this website are purposefully not Arminian based so as not to distract from the core gospel. There is absolutely no attempt whatsoever in this book to conform anything to the Arminian system. The object here is to believe and accept what the Bible says on the matter in light of a correct interpretation of the pertinent Scriptures. If you understand Arminianism, you may see articles in this book which do not conform to classic Arminian theology, especially the interpretations of passages which discuss predestination and election. I do not believe Arminians will find these interpretations offensive in any way and most Arminians will probably find them to be most interesting and perhaps delightful.
No Malice Intended Here
In this day and age it may seem too much to label any person a false teacher if he has good intent. But we find very often in the Bible Yah'shua (Jesus) and his apostles referring to false teachers. And they were not doing this because they did not love these persons or want to cause the masses to be hateful toward them. They were identifying them as false prophets because of their teachings so that the masses would not be deceived by their teachings. A false prophet is one who mispresents the truth of the gospel and promotes another gospel, and he is a false teacher whether or not his intentions are to teach the truth. Hence, we find many, many exhortations in the Bible to watch out for false teachers. I believe that we can be sure that the apostles would have said about a false teacher, "He is a false teacher and here is why." This is what we intend to do here on this website. But the apostles did not do so with malice and neither is malice intended here. Their intention as shepherds of the gospel and the people of Elohim (God) was to protect the sheep from being led astray and even perhaps to turn these false teachers from their ways. And so that is the intention here.
The Calvinist's View of Other Christians
Calvinists are false teachers, false prophets. Of course, they do not believe they are false teachers as if they are scheming to spread falsehoods throughout the world with the express purpose of confusing the people of Elohim (God). The very reason he teaches what he teaches is because he believes what he teaches is true. Indeed, they themselves refer to all others as false teachers who teach a false gospel. However, it does not matter if he believes he is teaching the truth if he is teaching false doctrines and if he is promoting false doctrines, he is a false teacher. That a Calvinist might have good intentions when he preaches his false gospel does not excuse him from accountability to his doctrines. So here we hold him accountable.
Not All Reformed Christians are Calvinists
Now we must also understand that not all people who attend Reformed churches are true Calvinists. Many are born into this tradition and simply go to these churches because this is how they grew up. Others attend these churches because they might find good fellowship and they are not very concerned at all about the gospel of Calvinism. Rather, their beliefs are more tailored toward living their life for Elohim (God) and loving their neighbours rather than promoting Calvinism or getting themselves immersed in the theology of five-point Calvinism. It would not be fair to understand such people as false teachers simply because they attend a church with these doctrines. Rather, here we focus upon those individuals who are immersed in the theology of Calvinism and promote its false doctrines.
Exposing the Deception, Not the Deceiver
On some articles on this site, it will be demonstrated how some Calvinist arguments are designed to deceive people. You need to understand very clearly that no one is saying any of the Calvinists that you might know intentionally devised these deceptions. Calvinists do not deceive with the intention of deceiving anyone. When they are employing deceptions they do not know themselves they are using deceptions. For example, when they use trickery of words or logical fallacies they are unaware they are doing so. They use this kind of argumentation only because they believe it works for them. So here, when we are exposing these deceptions, you must realise that we are exposing the deception, not the Calvinist doing the deceiving. He does not likely realise, in his mind, that he is deceiving anyone.
Our Twofold Purpose Here
As such, the purpose here is not to spread malice against Calvinist people, but concern over the spread of this deception into which Calvinists themselves have fallen prey. We cannot allow their beliefs to go unchecked. Here the intent is to expose these false teachings so that others do not fall prey to this deception and even perhaps that some Calvinists will turn from the errors of their ways.
Using the Resources Here
If you personally know any Calvinists, please pray unceasingly for them. And if you have a chance to discuss their errors with them please use any of the articles on this website to do so. If you know anyone being deceived by this deception, rise up and show them why this teaching is a heinous error. Please feel free to copy and distribute any of the articles on this site.
"Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of Elohim (God) for profit" (2 Corinthians 2:17).
Continued in Part 4
