A Bible-Based Argument Against Calvinism

Chapter one of this text provides a general introduction to the five points of Calvinism and for the acrostic, TULIP. The intent, whenever possible, has been to share direct quotes from Pastor John Calvin on each of the points as a way to let him speak for himself. When that was not possible, the intent was to find and present consensus on the given point by other professing Calvinists. Their comments were provided along with the Bible verses that they had used to defend their position. The main premise of Calvinism is that God chooses those who will be saved and those who will be lost. So chapters four through ten identify four criteria that will be used to argue against the views of Calvinism. The first criterion is that a person does not have to know the literal Incarnation name of Jesus or anything about Him to be saved. That is not meant to be a heretical statement. The fact is that Abraham did not know anything about Jesus or about His future death on the cross. But Abraham was still saved. The second criterion is that the Lord probably did not speak out loud to anyone after Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden of Eden. The reason that those two criteria are important is because the whole idea of refuting Calvinism is to show that anyone can be saved even with no biblical knowledge. Again, Abraham had no biblical knowledge. Neither did Noah or Jacob or Joseph. The third criterion is that the Lord wants to save all people. In fact, He is longsuffering because He does not want anyone to die lost. The fourth criterion is that He can let a person be involved in his or her salvation decisions without giving up His sovereignty. That is important because Calvinists assume that the Lord is in control of everything all of the time without any exceptions. Some people have argued that human involvement in the salvation process means human sovereignty over God. So that is an important topic that must be handled in this text. After all of that, in chapters eleven through sixteen, the conclusions about each point will be presented. The verses that were identified in chapter one as proof for each point will be examined based on the discoveries of the preceding seven chapters. The whole idea is that if Calvinism is wrong, then it should be possible to show why and how it is wrong. It should also be possible to provide some more accurate interpretations for the verses that they use. When one understands from the Bible how people actually enter into a salvation relationship with God, it becomes clear that Calvinism (TULIP) is almost certainly wrong in its teaching that God chooses those who will and will not be saved. This study has produced some unique ideas from the Bible that are not normally considered when one puts together a Bible-based argument against something like Calvinism. So those ideas will probably lead to a whole variety of different opinions. There is one note, however, to be made with respect to the organization of this text before concluding this introduction. Something that the reader might find useful is boxes throughout that show the different passages that are being referenced at the times and in the places where they are being referenced. That way, he or she will not have to jump all over the place or get into or out of the scriptures to locate a particular reference. Hopefully that inclusion will help the reader in trying to understand the various events and to also quickly put them into their right context. So it is hoped that that addition will make this text easier to read and that the Lord will receive the praise, honor, and glory that He rightfully deserves.