Calvinism

In a nutshell, Calvinism is the teaching of John Calvin, who borrowed much of his theology from the Roman Catholicism and their theologian Augustine. It is the fatalistic notion that God arbitrarily chose for some of the people He created to go to Hell. Contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture, it teaches that Jesus did not die for those people. It teaches that there is no possible way they could be saved because God chose not to save them, as if He wanted them to go to Hell. It teaches that He created them for the express purpose of sending them to Hell. This is a false perversion of Scripture. It is very rare to see a Calvinist with a passion for winning the lost for Christ. (There are some notable exceptions, but they are rare, indeed).

There are 5 distinctive notions that Calvinists adhere to. These 5 notions are sometimes referred to as "TULIP," since each notion begins with one of the letters of the word tulip.

Calvin also followed many teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, including baby "baptism," burning heretics at the stake, a the creation of a State Church.

Most Calvinists seem to believe that they are the only ones who believe in the Sovereignty of God or in True Grace (they call it "sovereign grace." In reality, they are the only ones who believe in their perversion of the doctrine of the Sovereignty of God.

All Calvinists believe they were hand-picked by God to be saved because He loved them, and that He he actually hated the people He didn't hand-pick. Just like the cultists, they think they have superior knowledge of God and His Word.

Very few Calvinists hold evangelistic services, and rare indeed are the Calvinists who engage in Personal Evangelism. This is why Calvinism is a dangerous false teaching in the churches - it kills Christians' zeal for winning the lost to Jesus. That is just what the devil wants.

5 Things Calvinists Believe Sometimes the basic teachings of John Calvin and his disciples are referred to by the acrostic "TULIP." Total Depravity of Man The Calvinist spin on this is that people do not even have the capacity to want anything to do with God. They teach that, since a lost person is dead in trespasses and sins, he cannot want anything to do with God or salvation. Somehow they don't think he is too dead to hear the Gospel, however.
	Unconditional Election This strange unscriptural notion teaches that "God didn't so love the world," that He only loved the people He arbitrarily picked for salvation. He created most of the human race for the express purpose of sending them to the torments of Hell forever. According to this theory, God doesn't want everybody to come to Christ. In fact, He won't let everybody come. Of course, everybody who believes this claims to be one of God's Elect. This false teaching is a direct contradiction of many Scriptures, including John 3:16, 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9.
	Limited Atonement The theory of Unconditional Election would lead a person to this conclusion, regardless of what the Scriptures say. Calvinists teach that, since God arbitrarily chose only a percentage of the population to be saved, Jesus didn't die for the others. He only died for the ones God chose. This teaching is a direct contraction of the Bible (Heb. 2:9, 1 John 2:2).
	Irresistable Grace According to this teaching, if God chose you to be one of His elect, you have no choice in the matter. When God calls you, you are going to get saved, no matter what. God will force you to believe. This is another strange teaching that contradicts the Bible. (John 5:40; Acts 7:51; Rom. 10:21).
	Perserverance of the Saints According to Calvinism, saints will persevere as Christians because they were predestinated to believe and persevere.

Articles Examining the Errors of Calvinism

Foundation Scriptures of the "Five-Point" Position
Robert L. Sumner
An excellent article examining the proof texts used by the followers of John Calvin.

Convicted Sinners Can Reject Christ
Dr. John R.Rice
In this article, Dr. Rice examines the strange Calvinistic notion of "irresistable grace."

An Examination of TULIP - Dr. Robert L. Sumner
Another look at the unscriptural teachings of Calvinism.