The above is the second (and shortest) of the 16 videos mentioned in my previous post, in which RC Sproul answers questions relating to various aspects of Reformed or Calvinist theology. It is only half a minute long, in which he attempts to answer the question, “What is Reformed Theology?” The full transcript of the video is as follows:
“At the heart of the Reformed faith is the phrase Soli Deo gloria, to God alone goes the glory. And I know of no other system of thought that consistently honors God, and gives the whole glory to God, no glory to us, than what we call Reformed theology, or historic Calvinism. That to me is the one that is most consistent with the biblical approach to honoring God.”
The truth of course is the exact opposite. Calvinism does nothing of the kind. It dishonors God more than any other theological system around. It dishonors God in several different ways. It dishonors God first and foremost by attributing evil to God. It teaches that all the evil in the world, including all the sinful actions, choices, desires, and decisions of man have been predestined and predetermined by God, which makes God ultimately the source of all the wickedness and evil in the world. It defines “divine sovereignty” in terms of meticulous predestination and predetermination of all future events, including all the evil desires, motives, and actions of man, which of course is not biblical. The Bible teaches that God is holy and just, and the source of all good. He is entirely good, and no evil originates from God:
Genesis 1:
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Exodus 34:
6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Nahum 1:
7 The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
1 Chronicles 16:
34 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psalm 5:
4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.
Psalm 25:
8 Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
Psalm 33:
5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Psalm 34:
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Psalm 92:
15 To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Psalm 100:
5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Psalm 106:
106 Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psalm 107:
1 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
• • •
8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
Psalm 119:
68 Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.
• • •
137 Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments.
Psalm 135:
3 Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.
Psalm 136:
136 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psalm 143:
10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
Psalm 145:
8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
John 3:
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
1 John 1:
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 4:
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
James 1:
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
James 1:
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
God is not the author of evil, contrary to what Calvinism teaches. Another way that Calvinism dishonors God is that it makes God a “respecter of persons,” which the Bible says that he is not. The Bible teaches that God is “no respecter of persons,” meaning that he does not discriminate, he does not have favorites. He treats everyone alike, on an equal basis. He punishes the wicked according to their wickedness, and rewards the righteous according to their righteousness:
Acts 10:
34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
Romans 2:
11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
Ephesians 6:
9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
Colossians 3:
25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.
1 Peter 1:
17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
The Calvinistic doctrine of “unconditional election” makes God a “respecter of persons,” which is unbiblical, heretical, and false, and dishonors God. It teaches that God “unconditionally” and arbitrarily “elects” who will be saved and who will be damned, without any regard to their foreseen merits, or good or bad actions, which is 100% contrary to the Bible, which teaches that “God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:34–35). Calvinistic “unconditional election” is the direct opposite of that, and therefore it is heretical and false.
In the above video RC Sproul uses a vocabulary and terminology that needs to be defined. What he means by giving “all the glory to God,” and “no glory to man,” is making God the determiner of all the choices, decisions, and actions of man; and depriving mankind of every ounce of freewill. To grant man any degree of “freewill,” according to his theology, you are taking away glory from God, and giving it to man; which of course is utterly unbiblical, heretical, and false. Nothing is taught more clearly in the Bible, explicitly and implicitly, that man is free to choose good and evil, to obey or to disobey God, and be rewarded or punished accordingly:
Deuteronomy 30:
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Joshua 24:
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Calvinism turns people into robots, whose every actions (good or bad) are predestined and predetermined by God (in spite of their protestations to the contrary). Calvinism’s “Compatibilist freewill” is nothing more than a false pretense, a sham, and a fake freewill, which is no “freewill” at all. It dishonors God by turning him into a hypocrite, for demanding from, and punishing people for all the evils that he has predestined and predetermined them to have and do, and over which they had no control. Calvinism dishonors God on a grand scale, on every front, like no other theological system does. It is the biggest heresy that has arisen in Christendom since Christianity came into existence.
As I said before, I think that RC Sproul was a very gifted, talented, and able theologian, and everything he taught wasn’t wrong. I believe he was sincere in his beliefs. He was deceived by the culture of the time. He lived at a time when Calvinism was in the ascendance; and all the renowned theologians of his time, whom he considered to be his mentors, such as John Gerstner and J I Packer etc. were Calvinists. I don’t think that that is going to affect his salvation any. On judgement day, no one will be judged according to their “theological beliefs” (unless they have knowingly and intentially attempted to deceive and mislead others, which I don’t believe he did); they will be judged according to how they lived their lives in the world. But theological errors are still errors, and need to be corrected.
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