Calvinism has always been the system of beliefs that upholds God’s sovereignty over every other belief. This is of great value to the Christian – for in seeing more of God’s glory, man is edified. But when it comes to seemingly competing revelations of God’s nature Himself, picking one to the denying of the other does not do justice to all of Scriptures.
Calvinism’s strength does lie in its logical consistency – there are reasons connecting every belief tenet and where there aren’t any, Scriptures lend itself to the same implication thereby passing off at least as a theological mystery. So it’s been difficult to refute any part of calvinism given its cohesive wholeness – for to find fault in one part requires finding fault in every other associated part which in essence is the presentation of an entire belief system as the alternative.
Arminianism rose to fill that role. Looking at the origins, calvinism erred in concluding upon the validity of predestined condemnation or reprobation of man and Arminianism was to provide course correction to this error. But Arminianism, while upholding significant truths, came with their own set of inconsistencies and this protestant division has remained since.
The Appeal
The appeal to calvinists now is to revisit their theological arguments so as to renounce the doctrine of predestined condemnation, allowing for peace with the Arminians – more importantly, to accept all of God’s revelations as seen in the Bible. There are logical fallacies and contradictions within the calvinist system which have been presented in this series, and the alternative is to adopt the Reconciled View in Single Predestination.
This must not be seen as a threat to the system, rather a further refining of what’s already been a work of God. At minimum, the disposition of the Calvinist and the Arminian must be to desire such a reconciliation – for all things being equal, being united is better than being divided. The only reason to stay divided should be owing to a disappointing contradiction found in the reconciled view, which I am confident in the Lord is not so. But I am fallible man myself who need not and should not be trusted – so test it with goodwill yourself, reminding yourselves of your own fallibility and leaning upon the Lord to find it in you to accept what’s presented.
When calvinism lays down this one toxic doctrine, it would pave the way for the arminians too to unite without fear of accepting something of God that they clearly see is untrue. Again, to be clear, the toxicity of this doctrine is not in what it implies of man – but what it implies of God. And all of us are desirous of seeing God’s holiness upheld in every single way.