So I’m a Calvinist

Until four years ago I was a member of an Independent Baptist Church. During my time there I was expected to believe the typical IFB doctrine. I had no problems with most of what was taught, and I still don’t. However, there were a few of the issues I had a real problem holding on to as I studied the Bible and examined the doctrines I had been taught. One of them, obviously, was King James Onlyism. I have said much on that subject before, and won’t go into it now. I also had disagreements over issues such as music, but that really wasn’t that important to me. The issue which I really had a problem with was Calvinism.

Now, I didn’t consider myself a Calvinist back then, but I had been studying the Bible a good bit. Also, I had been reading a lot of the works of Charles Spurgeon. Charles Spurgeon is referred to in the IFB circle a good bit, and is very well respected. However, IFB preachers seem to ignore the fact that Spurgeon was a defender of Calvinism.

One thing that  is funny about the IFB movement is the way they love to attack the doctrines which they don’t agree with, but they rarely ever make any attempt to actually understand those doctrines. In the case of Calvinism, I have heard IFB preachers make statements such as, “If I believed that, I would leave the ministry, get a real job, and spend my evening sitting on the porch eating Moon Pies and drinking R.C. Cola.” Or, “If I believed what they believed, I wouldn’t be able to tell a sinner to come to Jesus, because I wouldn’t know if he could.” And, “I hate Reformed theology,” and “Calvinism is a lie of Satan to keep sinners from coming to Jesus.”

I was programmed to believe that Calvinism really did oppose Evangelism. I thought all Calvinists were against sharing the Gospel. Well, as I read the works of Spurgeon I learned that wasn’t the case. Spurgeon preached the Gospel clearer than anyone, and yet he stated “…there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism…. Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.”

So, Spurgeon believed Calvinism was the gospel, and he didn’t spend his days sitting on the porch eating Moon Pies? Huh!

As I went on in my studies I discovered other men such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, William Carey, Jim Elliot, and David Brainerd were also Calvinists. I had heard stories of these men, and how they were faithful to preaching the Bible, and of the thousands of lives they reached for Christ. Yet these men were Calvinists. Amazing!

As I studied Calvinism more, I began to realize that it wasn’t so easy to refute when you actually dealt with Scripture. I found that it was clearly taught in the Bible, and when you accept all five points of the TULIP, the disturbing contradictions between free will and predestination disappear. I saw Calvinism is taught in the Bible, and it is logical and consistent.

Over the years I read several books from both sides of the debate, and I always sensed that the Calvinist position was much more consistent with Scripture. I was also encouraged by the Calvinist teachers of today. These men defend the Bible. They defend expository preaching. They oppose modern day liberalism. They don’t build doctrines out of irrelevant issues. And most importantly, they place the Gospel and the Glory of God above everything else.

No, I don’t agree with everything that Calvin taught. And, no, I don’t agree with everything that today’s popular Calvinist leaders teach, but I agree with what nowadays is called Calvinism, and I agree with Spurgeon, that “Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.”

In my next post I plan to deal with the doctrines of the TULIP a bit, and explain why I agree with them.