NOT Calvinist, but Christian.

“They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.” - Jeremiah 7:31

First things first. My objective in this article is not to attack people, but to attack ideologies that could lead people astray from the God of the Bible. All ideologies that are against what is not Sola Scriptura (only the scripture). That’s my main reason to write this small essay. If you’re Christian and feel offended by the contents disclosed here, that was not my intention. I would like to highlight what the Bible says and what it doesn’t say, and explain why I believe modern Calvinism doesn’t accurately interpret the Bible's message.

My second point is that I believe the vast majority of Calvinists have the best intentions; they genuinely love God and try their best to follow Jesus’ way, assuming they are rightly interpreting the Bible, and fighting others who, as they judge, are not. I also don’t think Calvinism is a secret evil movement with bad intentions. Still, I believe they have lost their way and become overly entrenched in their theology, forgetting what they are supposed to preach in the first place. Additionally, I think that people who claim to be Calvinists often don’t fully understand the implications of this label. I appreciate that Calvinists are fighting against man-centered theology in favor of a God-centered theology, and that the whole point of the Reformation was to oppose man-made rules; however, they may have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

In his famous book “Against Calvinism”, Roger E. Olson shows that “many Calvinists do affirm that even sin and evil are parts of the foreordained divine plan and are rendered certain by God to fit into God’s purposes for history.”

It’s like taking one verse from the Bible and shaping an entire theology around it without considering the broader context. The principle against Calvinism is very simple: It’s very unlikely that God, who is love, would be the One who brings sin to people and ordains them to commit it. You can get around this statement in multiple ways, but ultimately, you can’t get rid of it because that’s exactly what Calvinism implies. To ordain someone to throw their own sons and daughters into a fire and offer them to some false god cannot be ordained by the very same God YHWH, who said the exact opposite in Jeremiah 7:31. And again, that is exactly what Calvinists think God did. Not only that. For Calvinists, God ordained the holocaust, the 9/11 event, school shootings, rapes, murders, and everything bad that humanity did. As Olson puts it, “Admittedly, some untutored people who think they are Calvinist may not believe in this, but every Calvinist theologian going back to Calvin himself affirms it.” Calvinism directly contradicts that God is love.

It is written that God knows everything and He is sovereign. However, they elevate this to the ultimate level, removing human choice from the picture, without considering the whole Bible message about repentance. They pick and choose some verses and transform God into the author of sin. I’m sure that the vast majority of people who claim to be Calvinists have never read the Institutes, or have only read some parts, at most, to pass their tests, but have never truly and deeply studied them. Because if they do, they’ll see that what leads to the conclusion of Calvin’s teaching is not exactly what some Calvinists preach today. Later developments in Calvin’s writings exacerbated the situation, giving rise to the “Five Points of Calvinism” (TULIP, explained below), a sharper focus on predestination and reprobation, and a more rigid logical system of divine decrees.

Some Calvinists don’t admit that God is the author of sin without realizing where their theology leads, or they say contradictory logical things, such as God determined everything you do, but you still have free will. How? This is called a conundrum, and they can’t get away from it. Or things like “you cannot lose your salvation, and if you do, it's because you were not saved in the first place”, but how can they tell it? I’m aware of 1 John 2:19 that says, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” But this verse doesn’t mean that it applies to everyone other than that specific group, or it would invalidade Hebrews 6:4-6 where it says “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” Why Calvinists skip that verse? Moreover, I was reading an article in the Tabletalk magazine from Lingonier ministry, a (very) Calvinist group, and when they defend cessationism, only to write that “The Reformers and English Puritans believed that the signs and wonders wrought through the hands of Apostles had ceased but the living God continues to work providentially in the lives of His people - even in ways that can be considered supernatural or miraculous.” I could only laugh. What’s the point of defending cessationism if they might believe God continues to perform miracles?

Another major problem with the Calvinist view is the fact that Jesus Christ represented God here on Earth. When Philip asked Jesus, "Show us the Father", Jesus answered, "...Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:8-9). Now, since Jesus is God, can you imagine Jesus making people suffer on purpose? The Calvinistic argument falls apart with this question; we don't even need to go further. Moreover, Jesus asked people what they wanted or requested further clarification from them (Mark 10:51 52; Luke 18:41 43; Matthew 20:32 34; John 5:6 9; Mark 9:21 24; Luke 7:44 50; John 9:35 38). It seems to me that God wants our participation in His blessings, and that's the whole point of prayer. Jesus "couldn't" heal in his city, Nazareth (Mark 6:5), because of their lack of faith. This could be better understood as Jesus didn't want to perform miracles where people didn't believe in Him. It's not a matter of forced determinism but of choosing not to act without people's participation, self-limiting His actions on purpose. I'm not implying here that salvation comes through people's participation, because salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and faith comes from God giving you faith. However, God calls and lets you decide whether to choose Him or resist. That's why Jesus said to the church of Laodicea, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20). You can hear the voice, but you can also choose not to open the door. It is up to you. Jesus didn’t break down the door, did He?

Perhaps, there is also a subtle pressure in Protestant churches today to adopt Calvinism as the only truth, as a means of social acceptance, making people believe that there’s no alternative, and this is what scares me. Just for the sake of the argument, it’s the same thing that happened with science. If you want to be a scientist, you absolutely must agree with postulated theories. You cannot challenge the status quo, for instance, by agreeing with Darwin and the theory of evolution, even though there is absolutely no proof of its existence. If you question it, you’ll be automatically excluded and can say goodbye to your career at any University. The same happened in Physics and the Superstring theory. You either agree with that idea or prepare to be excluded from any possibility of an academic career. Calvinists believe the term “reformed” refers to the adoption of the five points of Calvinism, and that only TULIP is true and biblical, which is far from the truth. Thus, my call here is to reevaluate Calvinism and adhere to the Bible message, rather than selectively choosing verses and constructing a doctrine based on them. By the way, why say I’m Calvinist instead of saying I’m Christian? Is John Calvin greater than Jesus? It reminds me of Paul saying “What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:12-13). Isn’t it the same thing that Calvinists are doing today? Aren’t they saying I’m following John Calvin’s idea?

Let’s analyze what Calvinists say, in case people are not aware of the TULIP, or the five points of Calvinism.

The TULIP requires some explanation.

To understand where the TULIP contradicts the Bible, take note of these verses:

T: Total Depravity. The idea that humans are totally unable to respond to God or choose faith without being first regenerated by the Spirit.

Scripture consistently calls all people to choose, repent, and believe — implying genuine ability (through prevenient grace or moral responsibility) to respond. Depravity shouldn’t mean inability. That’s what Calvinists confuse the two terms.

• Deuteronomy 30:19 – “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life…”

• Isaiah 1:18–20 – “Come now, let us reason together… If you are willing and obedient…”

• John 5:40 – “You refuse to come to me to have life.” (Not “you cannot.”)

• Root verb: θέλω — to will, wish, desire, want, choose.

• Semantic field: expresses intention or decision of will.

• Contrast: Greek has verbs for ability — e.g., δύναμαι (“can,” “be able”).
  Jesus does not say οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν (“you cannot come”), but οὐ θέλετε (“you will not / you do not want to”).

Thus, the verse speaks to the refusal of will, not the incapacity of nature.

• Acts 17:30 – “God commands all people everywhere to repent.”

• Romans 2:4 – “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.”

Also, it raises the question: What happens when babies die? If you are like John Calvin, hell is the ultimate destiny, because he believed you are born with sin. Since Ezekiel says we don’t pay for the sins of our fathers, how can they explain that?

“Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die.” - Ezekiel 18:19-20.

Again, the solution from Calvinism is to simply bypass this verse because it doesn’t fit their dogmas. What if we were born with a sinful nature (Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:3) but not with sin, and sin enters our lives when we know about the word of God and decide not to obey? Why did Jesus say then, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” — Matthew 19:14. Or Romans 7:9, where Paul says, “I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.” Paul said he died when he knew the law, not when he didn’t. Can we skip that, too? What about James 4:17: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” I’m just asking questions here.

U: Unconditional Election. Before creation, God chose some individuals for salvation and others for damnation — not based on foreseen faith, but solely on His secret will.

Scripture presents election as conditional on faith in Christ, not an arbitrary decree; God’s desire is for all to be saved.

In the story Jesus told about the Wedding Feast in Matthew 22:1-14, by the end of the story, Jesus says, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (verse 14). This word “many” is explained in the NIV Application Commentary series as everyone:

“Many” (polloi) without the article is a common Semitic universalizing expression, which is normally translated “everyone” or “all” (cf. 20:28). In Psalm 109:30, for example, the Hebrew rabbim becomes polloi in the LXX, indicating an inclusive reference for “all” in the congregation. Similarly, in the Qumran literature, rabbim is a fixed inclusive title for all those in the Congregation (1QS 6:8 - 11) or all who exercise jurisdiction as leaders in the Congregation (e.g., 1QS 6:1). By the expression “many are invited,” Jesus points to a universal invitation to the kingdom of heaven.

• 1 Timothy 2:3–4 – “God our Savior… wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

• 2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord… is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

• John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son…”

• Romans 10:13 – “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

• Matthew 23:37 – “How often would I have gathered your children… and you were not willing.”

L: Limited Atonement. The idea that Christ died only for the elect, not for all humanity.

Here, not even well-known Calvinists agree with that, including theologians August Hopkins Strong and Millard Erickson, who both believe Christ died for all mankind.

The New Testament explicitly states that Christ died for the world, all people, and even for those who perish.

• 1 John 2:2 – “He is the atoning sacrifice… not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

• 1 Timothy 2:6 – “Who gave Himself as a ransom for all.”

• 2 Peter 2:1 – False teachers “deny the Master who bought them.”

• Hebrews 2:9 – “That He might taste death for everyone.”

• John 1:29 – “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

I: Irresistible Grace. Calvinists believe that when God calls the elect to salvation, they cannot resist His grace; His call is effectually saving.

The Bible illustrates how God’s grace and Spirit are resisted, quenched, or rejected by human will.

• Acts 7:51 – “You always resist the Holy Spirit.”

• Matthew 23:37 – “I wanted to gather… but you were not willing.”

• Luke 7:30 – “The Pharisees and lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves.”

• Hebrews 10:29 – Those who “insult the Spirit of grace.”

• John 12:48 – “He who rejects Me and does not receive My words has one who judges him.”

Again, it seems to me that Calvinistic ideas selectively choose some words and verses they want to support their way of thinking, while overlooking the rest that contradict their claims. They use John 6:44 to defend the claim that God acts irresistibly toward the elect, drawing them to the faith. The word “draw” they use when reading “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:44) doesn’t mean draw or compel, but rather to call. As many Calvinists insist that it means “draw” as irresistible, they also tend to forget John 12:32, where the very same Greek word used as draw (ἑλκύσῃ - helkysē) says, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw (ἑλκύσω) all people to myself.” Thus, Jesus will die for everyone in His own words, because He will draw everyone!

The preferred verse to support the wrong idea of irresistible grace comes from Paul in Galatians 1:14-16: “I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.”

Let's examine why this was misinterpreted: The earliest indication of Paul’s divine calling can be traced by examining each instance in which he refers to himself as “called”:

• Romans 1:1 – Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.

• 1 Corinthians 1:1 – Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and our brother Sosthenes.

• 1 Corinthians 15:9 – For I am the least of the apostles and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Notice that in Romans 1:1, Paul uses the same expression for being set apart—the Greek term ἀφωρισμένος (aphōrismenos)—which conveys the idea of being specifically appointed or marked off for a unique purpose. This type of calling is not about salvation but about being commissioned for a distinct mission.

In the case of prophets and apostles, their divine appointments were often foreordained. Yet, the period of direct supernatural revelation through such individuals ended once the complete message of the gospel had been proclaimed (cf. Zechariah 13).

To confuse our general call to follow Christ with Paul’s extraordinary apostolic calling—accompanied by miraculous authority—is to misunderstand Galatians 1:15. Paul emphasizes that he was personally chosen and commissioned by the risen Christ Himself. His apostolic calling stands apart from the general invitation to discipleship, which human beings may accept or reject (Galatians 1:6). Blurring the distinction between the unique prophetic/apostolic calling and the universal call to follow Jesus often leads to theological confusion. The extraordinary spiritual gifts that accompanied the apostles and those they ordained are not the same as the believer’s ongoing calling to faithfulness and perseverance—a calling in which we must remain steadfast and active (2 Thessalonians 2:13-15).

P: Perseverance of the Saints. All true believers will inevitably persevere in faith and cannot fall away.

Scripture gives real warnings about falling away, shipwrecked faith, and losing salvation, not hypothetical ones. I found at least 85 verses telling about it. Here are some:

• Hebrews 6:4–6 – “Those who have once been enlightened… and then fall away.” -> No Calvinist ever talks about this verse because it is clear that you can lose by rejecting what God gave to you.

• 2 Peter 2:20–22 – “If after escaping… they are again entangled… their last state has become worse.”

• 1 Corinthians 9:27 – “I discipline my body… lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

• John 15:6 – “If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown away like a branch.”

• Galatians 5:4 – “You have fallen away from grace.”

• Revelation 3:5 - “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels”. The simple fact that you can have your name removed from the book of life means that your name was there once and was removed later.

The Bible presents God’s sovereignty and human responsibility in tension, not contradiction — a tension Calvinism resolves artificially by removing genuine choice.

My call here, again, is to go back to the Scripture and see the whole message of repentance, love, and the character of God expressed through Jesus Christ. And I recognize many things in the Bible are very hard to explain, but this is exactly the point here. We can’t know God’s mind, and efforts to interpret things too closely lead to conundrums, such as the TULIP above. Ultimately, Calvinism led to contradictions, like “I (Calvinist) believe in free will and the total sovereignty of God. Humans are 100% responsible for their choices and God 100% causes them”. How? You can’t appeal to “mystery” because this is not a mystery; it is a logical fallacy. Bear in mind that mystery is not contradiction.

Conclusion

Thus, to the brothers and sisters who were involved in thinking Calvinism is a good idea, I want to say that God doesn’t cause sin, nor does He force you to do anything, nor did He create you for damnation. You do have a free choice to either choose Him or not. That’s the whole Bible message. Otherwise, why bother, or why did Jesus cry over Jerusalem? “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it” - Luke 19:41. Also, God is good, God is love, and God is justice. You need Jesus Christ because you have sinned, and you cannot escape this, because God is just and must do justice. Someone must pay the price of your sin, and the price is death. Jesus died for you (and for me and for everyone in the entire world who freely chooses Him), so you can be saved. Again, you have a choice—you can choose Him or not—but bear in mind that I believe God is the initiator of this process. You cannot save yourself, and that’s why God calls you. He calls; you respond by not rejecting Him, and He gives you faith. I believe He calls everyone without exception. God already knows what everyone would choose, but that doesn’t mean He causes it or forces an outcome on people. It is simply nonsense, and there is no such passage in the Bible. The famous passage in Romans 8:29, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”, in Scripture, foreknowledge usually refers to divine foresight or God’s prior awareness of those who would freely respond to Him. προέγνω (proegnō) – “foreknew”. Root verb: ginōskō = to know, to recognize, to understand. Prefix pro- = before. So, proegnō means “knew beforehand” — not “pre-loved certain individuals only.” προώρισεν (proōrisen) – “He predestined”. Root: horizō = to determine, set a boundary, appoint. Prefix pro- = before. Means “to appoint beforehand.” The object of this predestination is not who will believe, but what believers will become: “…to be conformed to the image of His Son.” So predestination in this verse concerns the destiny of believers, not the selection of who will believe.

How to reconcile God's sovereignty and human free will, then? Many theories could be postulated, such as divine self-limitation in Arminianism or middle knowledge in Molinism. Still, from my understanding, they all fail in some way or another; we simply cannot know how God works. What we do know, though, is that God doesn't cause anyone to sin, and any theory that leads to that conclusion is not interpreting the Bible accurately. God also cannot sin (James 1:13; Habakkuk 1:13; 1 John 3:5; Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21). This conception of “domesticating” God to serve our understanding should be discouraged, because it leads to false conclusions due to our human limitations.

Evaluating new possibilities when a conundrum happens is also desirable when confronting arguments that portray God as the author of sin, which is clearly incorrect. Thus, about Romans 9-11, the Calvinist’s pillar about predestination, in “The Freedom of God: A Study of Election and Pulpit”, a book by the Reformed James Daane, he states that “Romans 9-11 does not form a biblical commentary on the truth of individual election. Rather, it is a commentary on the fact of the inviolability of God’s election of Israel as a nation.” It makes sense, since Romans 11 closes with Paul talking about Israel: “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.” Romans 11:25-26a.

Another good alternative explanation to Calvinism comes from the book of the theologian Dr. William W. Klein, who wrote, “When it comes to the provision of salvation and the determination of its benefits and blessings, the language of the New Testament writers is commanding. God decreed in his sovereign will to provide for salvation, and then he set Jesus on a course to secure it through his human life, death, and resurrection (Heb. 10:9-10). He purposed to extend mercy to his people and to harden and punish unbelievers. He predestined or predetermined what believers will enjoy by virtue of their position in Christ. We may trace salvation and all that it entails solely to the pleasurable will of God.

God's will does not determine the specific individuals who will receive that salvation. The language of "willing" embraces all, not a select number. God's will is not restrictive; he wills all to be saved. Yet, people can procure salvation only on God's terms. Though Jesus desires to reveal God to all, only those who come to him in faith find God and the salvation he offers. That some fail to find salvation can be attributed only to their unwillingness to believe —to their preference for their own way rather than God's. If God desires salvation for all, he wills (in the stronger sense) to give life to those who believe. These are not incompatible. They place the initiative with God for providing salvation and the obligation with people to receive it on God's terms —faith in Christ. God has done more than merely provide salvation; he "draws" people (Jn 6:44) so they come to Christ. In fact, people come to Christ because God enables them (Jn 6:65). However, these actions of drawing and enablement are neither selective (only some are chosen for it, nor are they irresistible. Jesus crucifixion was God's means of drawing all people to Christ (Jn 12:32). It was God's provision for their salvation. All may respond to God's overture, but they must do so by placing their trust in Christ, Since God draws all via the Cross, and he desires that all repent of their sins and find salvation, it is not God's will that determines precisely which individuals will find salvation. Though God surely has always known who they will be, and though he chose them as a body in Christ, individuals must repent and believe for God's will to be done.”

• William Klein, The New Chosen People, 281-82

Again, the idea here is not that a person can initiate their own salvation or contribute to it in any way. The idea is that God initiates His own salvation call, and the person has to respond in faith, not resisting the call. The action would be to resist and reject God’s salvation. The inaction is to trust God and, therefore, allow God to save them. That’s why evangelical synergism is not considered action, and thus is not a person contributing to their own salvation; rather, it involves trusting God and doing nothing to resist Him. It is like you are drowning, and God takes your hand to pull you out of the water. You just need to let God take you, in faith, trusting He will save you and let Him do it. Ultimately, all credit is due to God.

On the other hand (pun not intended), you can resist and take your arm back to you, rejecting the salvation. We could consider God’s self-limiting power, perhaps allowing Him to let you go if you do not want Him. He does that because He loves you and respects your decision. Whether this is self-limiting, driven by love, or something else, we do not know. What we do know is the fact that God loves you, and love doesn’t coerce.

To finalize my argument, if you are a Calvinist —or think you are one —and didn’t know the hard implications of your ideology, it is time to study further and reevaluate your beliefs. I urge you to do so and adhere to the Bible, identifying yourself not as a Calvinist or an Arminian, but as a Christian. That’s what we all need to be, not from Paul’s or Apollo’s but from Jesus, Who died for you.

In the physics world, Einstein, one of the most respected scientists of his time, once argued with Niels Bohr about the state of Physics back then, claiming that nature couldn’t be probabilistic, as Bohr was proposing, but rather had deterministic laws. Einstein’s famous statement to Niels Bohr was, “God does not play dice with the universe.” The brilliant response from Bohr was “Stop telling God what to do.” Ultimately, Einstein was proven wrong, and nowadays we refer to this probabilistic world as quantum physics, a field in which we still don’t understand much. Still, it is the way it is, nevertheless.