Calvinism – Dangers Of:

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The Dangers of Theistic Determinism in Calvinism

The central tenet of Calvinism (TULIP) & Reform Traditionalism is to admirably exalt God’s sovereignty, glory, and majesty, by stressing His absolute control over all creation, defined as His predetermination of all things. However, it is as Ironic as it is precarious that this tenet dangerously hinges on:

1. The Character Assassination of God

Despite any denial in the Westminster Confession, the path of TULIP can lead to no other destination then one that concludes in the falsehood that God is the author, creator, and the cause of evil. The very conclusion that the namesake of Calvinist doctrine, John Calvin himself stated when he said: “From this it is easy to conclude how foolish and frail is the support of divine justice afforded by the suggestion that evils come to be not by [God’s] will, but merely by his permission. Of course, so far as they are evils, which men perpetrate with their evil mind, as I shall show in greater detail shortly, I admit that they are not pleasing to God. But it is a quite frivolous refuge to say that God permits them, when Scripture shows Him not only willing but the author of them” – The Eternal Predestination of God, 176).

A similar conclusion is expressed by Mark Talbot in his essay published in Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, a volume edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor. Talbot writes:: “God … brings about all things in accordance with His Will. In other words, it isn’t just that God manages to turn the evil aspects of our world to good for those who love him, it is rather that he himself brings about these evil aspects for his glory and his people’s good. This includes as incredible and as unacceptable as it may currently seem — God’s having even brought about the Nazis brutality at Birkenau and Auschwitz as well as the terrible killings of Dennis Rader and even the sexual abuse of a young child”.  

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2. God is Rendered Either Arbitrary or Partial 

The Westminster Confession states:  “Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, hath chosen, in Christ, unto everlasting glory… out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto.“

Arbitrary

The language of the Confession is unmistakably clear. Nothing within the individual moves God to elect one person rather than another:

• Not foreseen faith.
• Not obedience.
• Not a unique ability
• Not perseverance.
• Not moral character.
• Not intelligence.
• Not ethnicity.
• Not appearance.
• Not humility.
• Not sincerity.

Indeed, the Confession goes even further by excluding “any other thing in the creature” as a condition or cause of God’s choice. The reason for God’s choice lies wholly within God and His “secret counsel and good pleasure.” While the Confession rightly insists that God’s choice is purposeful and not governed by chance, it simultaneously removes every objective criterion within the individual by which one unbeliever is chosen over another.

This leads to an important observation. According to the every dictionary definition and conventional understanding, something is arbitrary when it is determined solely by one’s own discretion or will rather than by any objective criterion within the object being chosen. That is precisely what the Westminster Confession affirms. Since it explicitly denies that God’s choice is moved by foreseen faith, works, perseverance, or “any other thing in the creature,” the distinction between the one elected and the one passed over cannot reside in either individual. The choice rests solely in God’s own will and good pleasure.

Therefore, while Calvinism claims to reject the notion that God’s decree is random, the Westminster Confession nevertheless describes election in every practical sense of the word as arbitrary. That is, God’s choice is not conditioned upon anything within the individual being chosen but rests entirely upon His own sovereign discretion. Whether one wishes to use the word arbitrary or not, this is the very conclusion to which the Confession itself commits its adherents. Simply denying the implication, redefining the term, or refusing to acknowledge the conclusion does not alter the logical consequence of the Confession’s own words. If nothing within the individual distinguishes the one elected from the one passed over, then the choice is, by definition, arbitrary with respect to the individual.

Or Partial

If one remains adamant that the Westminster Confession does not render God’s election arbitrary, then a significant logical question remains: Upon what revealed basis does God distinguish one unbeliever from another? The Confession itself expressly denies that the distinction is grounded in foreseen faith, good works, perseverance, or “any other thing in the creature.” If no distinguishing characteristic exists within the individual, then the choice is necessarily arbitrary with respect to the individual. If, however, there is some distinguishing characteristic by which God chooses one unbeliever over another, then the Westminster Confession has misstated its own doctrine by excluding every possible condition or cause moving God to elect.

Scripture repeatedly teaches that God is not partial (Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; James 2:1–9). Partiality involves making distinctions between individuals. Consequently, the Reformed position appears to leave only two logical possibilities. Either God’s choice is unconditioned with respect to the individual, making it arbitrary in the ordinary sense of the word, or there exists a distinguishing basis for God’s choice that the Westminster Confession itself expressly denies. Appealing to God’s “secret counsel” does not resolve this tension, because the question is not whether God has reasons, but whether Scripture or the Confession identifies any revealed distinction between the individual elected and the individual passed over.

Click to open or close: God Cannot Be Partial

God cannot be partial

God’s Righteousness Requires Absolute Impartiality

The act of Partiality is favoritism or bias. To show favoritism is to give preference to one person over others with equal claims. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines partiality as “favoritism”, “unfair”, “inequity”, and “unjustness”  and gives example of the injustice of partiality, “The former judge had been accused of gross neglect of duty, gross partiality and oppression in office, lack of proper temperament and failure to supervise her office, according to a petition by John Kane, the chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court”.

Scripture explicitly teaches that God’s righteousness is inseparable from His impartiality (Romans 2:11, Genesis 18:25). If God were partial—favoring one person over another without a righteous basis—He would cease to be:

• just
• holy
• true
• righteous

This aligns with the doctrine of divine justice: God’s judgments are always consistent with His own perfect nature. God’s Impartiality Applies to Both Judgment and Grace. Scripture applies God’s impartiality in two directions:

1. Impartial in Judgment (1 Peter 1:17)
   • God does not:
     1. overlook sin
     2. excuse sin
     3. minimize sin
     4. judge based on status, ethnicity, or privilege
     5. Every sin must be punished.
2. Impartial in Grace
   1. Grace is offered to all on the same basis:
      • “Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish.” — John 3:16
      • “There is no distinction… the same Lord is Lord of all.” — Romans 10:12
   2. Grace is not dispensed based on:
      1. merit
      2. background
      3. worthiness
      4. personal qualities

Grace is given in Christ, not in the creature. 

This aligns with divine love and divine righteousness working in harmony.

God’s Impartiality Creates a Problem for Fallen Humanity

If God must judge impartially, then:

• • all sin must be punished
  • no one can escape judgment
  • no one can earn righteousness
  • no one can claim special treatment

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” — Romans 3:23

This means:

• • God cannot simply “forgive” without justice
  • God cannot overlook sin
  • God cannot be partial toward sinners

If He did, He would cease to be righteous.

The Cross Is Where God’s Impartial Justice and Impartial Grace Meet

Paul explains this with precision (Romans 3:26):

At the cross:

• • God’s justice is satisfied
  • God’s wrath is poured out
  • God’s righteousness is upheld
  • God’s grace is offered impartially

This is the harmony of justice and love.

Grace Is Impartial Because It Is Offered “In Christ,” Not in the Creature

God does not dispense grace based on:

• • human worth
  • human effort
  • human goodness

Grace is dispensed in Christ alone.

“By grace you have been saved… it is the gift of God.” — Ephesians 2:8–9

This means:

• • God is impartial because all must come the same way
  • God is righteous because Christ bore the penalty
  • God is loving because He provides salvation freely

This aligns with union with Christ as the basis of salvation.

Impartiality Continues Into Glorification

God does not glorify believers based on:

• • spiritual performance
  • earthly status
  • personal merit

All believers are glorified in Christ, not in themselves (Romans 8:30)

Glorification is:

• • impartial
  • guaranteed
  • rooted in Christ’s righteousness
  • the completion of God’s plan

This aligns with glorification as participation in Christ’s life.

Summary: God’s Righteousness Requires Impartiality

Putting it all together:

• • God cannot be righteous and partial
  • God cannot be loving and unjust
  • God cannot forgive without satisfying justice
  • God cannot dispense grace based on favoritism
  • God cannot overlook sin without violating His nature
  • God cannot glorify apart from Christ

Therefore:

God’s impartiality is not a limitation—it is the expression of His perfect righteousness. The cross is the only way God can remain righteous while saving sinners.

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3. The Stumbling for Unbelievers

The doctrines summarized by the acronym TULIP have presented a significant stumbling block for many unbelievers. Upon encountering Calvinism’s understanding of God as absolutely deterministic in all things, some have concluded that God appears morally unjust, emotionally distant, or incompatible with the biblical portrait of divine love. For such individuals, these conclusions have become a reason to reject not merely Calvinism, but Christianity itself.

It is important, however, to make a distinction. Those who believe in or teach Calvinism are not responsible for another person’s unbelief or rejection of Christ. Each individual is accountable for his own response to the gospel. The concern here is not with the sincerity, character, or motives of Calvinists, but with whether certain doctrinal claims may create unnecessary obstacles for those seeking to understand the Christian faith.

To be fair—and intellectually honest—Calvinism has also attracted many people to Christianity. Its strong emphasis on Scripture, its focus on the sovereignty of God, and its historical influence have made it appealing to countless believers throughout history. Its impact can be seen in several important areas:

Political Thought: John Calvin emphasized the importance of limited government and decentralized authority, ideas that contributed to the development of constitutional and democratic principles in the West.

Education: Calvin established a theological academy in Geneva that helped shape Protestant education. His influence extended throughout Europe, encouraging literacy and learning for the purpose of studying Scripture.

Theological and Social Influence: Calvin’s emphasis on moral discipline, vocation, and personal responsibility left a lasting mark on Western civilization, influencing education, social reform, and public life.

Therefore, the issue is not whether Calvinism has produced positive effects. It undoubtedly has. The question is whether a doctrine should be judged primarily by the benefits it produces or by whether it accurately reflects biblical truth.

For the sake of argument, suppose that for every eight unbelievers drawn to Christianity through Calvinism, two others are driven away by it. Some might argue that such a ratio alone would justify supporting the system. Yet if numerical success becomes the standard by which we evaluate doctrine, we risk prioritizing results over truth.

The Christian’s responsibility is not merely to present a message that attracts the greatest number of people, but to present the truth as faithfully as possible. If an unbeliever rejects Christ, let it be because he rejects the truth of the gospel itself, not because he has stumbled over a theological error that Christians have attached to it.

For this reason, some argue that debates concerning Calvinism are not salvation-critical. In one sense, that is true. A person’s salvation does not depend upon whether he correctly understands every aspect of election or predestination. Yet the question remains: for whom is this issue not salvation-critical? It may not be critical for the believer who has already come to Christ, but what about the unbeliever whose understanding of God, grace, and salvation is shaped by these doctrines before he ever embraces the gospel? If a theological system presents God in a way that discourages faith rather than encourages it, then its implications deserve careful examination.

Click to open or close: qualitative testimonies revealing Calvinism as contributing factor in deconversion or rejection of Christianity

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The following are just a few real examples of the thousands of qualitative testimonies posted on line by unbelievers who claim Calvinism as contributing factor in deconversion or rejection of Christianity. This reiterates the question: For whom is this topic not salvation critical? 

Allow me to clarify that there is no justifiable cause, reason or excuse – including the teachings of Calvinism – for the rejection of God.  However, while it is one thing for an unbeliever to reject God because we as believers spoke of God’s truth, it is an entirely different thing for an unbeliever to reject God because we spoke falsehood of God’s truth. We as believers (Calvinist, Reformed Traditionalist, non-Calvinist and non-Reformed Traditionalist) should all want to continually reaffirm that what we are teaching of God’s word. is true to God’s word.   

1. Former Calvinist describes “God creates some for damnation”

“It really was impossible to understand why God would save some and damn others, and yet hold the damned accountable.”
Source = https://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/excalvinist.htm

This is a direct deconversion testimony from a former Calvinist who identifies the moral tension of predestination as a major crisis point.

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2. Childhood exposure to Calvinism causing moral objection

“I saw the injustice in the belief that God creates ‘some for glory, and some for damnation.’” 
Source = https://new.exchristian.net/2017/10/the-de-conversion-of-calvinist.html

This reflects a common theme in deconversion narratives: Calvinist doctrine is perceived as morally troubling even at an early age.

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3. Rejection of God’s goodness due to predestination logic

“If God brings people into this world… and then die only to end up in hell, I reject the teaching that he is good.” 
Source = https://new.exchristian.net/2017/10/the-de-conversion-of-calvinist.html

This shows a direct link between Calvinistic predestination concepts and rejection of God’s moral character.

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4. “Calvinism made belief in God harder” 

From an ex-Calvinist discussion thread:

“Predestination is the thing that mostly led me to start de-converting… Is it possible to want to be a Christian but not be because God didn’t choose you?” 
Source = https://www.reddit.com/r/exchristian/comments/cis6f8

Here the struggle is not intellectual alone, but existential—uncertainty about divine choice undermining assurance and motivation.

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5. Calvinism described as “Expletive word” leading to loss of free will confidence

“Calvinism is a huge “Expletive word” and I don’t recommend anybody believe in it… I didn’t feel like I had free will for a while.” 
Source = Will not post the source for the protection of young or sensitive viewers

This reflects another recurring theme: psychological distress from determinism/predestination frameworks.

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6. Rejection based on moral intuition about God

“Calvinists are just honest about it being predestined… it just happens to also be one of the most miserable ways to be a Christian.” 
Source = https://www.reddit.com/r/exchristian/comments/1plsp01/calvinists_are_just_honest_about_it_being

This illustrates how some deconversions are driven by emotional and moral resistance to the perceived implications of Calvinism, even when acknowledging its internal consistency.

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4. The Stumbling of Believers

Another aspect of TULIP that can become a stumbling block, particularly for believers, concerns how Calvinism explains those who once appeared to respond to God’s grace, profess faith in Christ, and yet later fall away from that profession. Within the framework of TULIP, such an outcome presents a serious difficulty. If God’s sovereignty is understood as deterministically governing all things (including thoughts and beliefs), if grace is irresistible, if election is unconditional, and if the saints necessarily persevere, then the ultimate apostasy of a genuine believer should be impossible.

To address this apparent paradox, some Calvinists appeal to passages such as 2 Thessalonians 2:11–12, arguing that God may send a delusion upon certain individuals, causing them to falsely believe that they belong among the elect when they do not. According to this explanation, some who profess faith in Christ were never truly saved but were instead under a divinely ordained deception concerning their spiritual condition.

The difficulty with this interpretation is that it appears to involve both a questionable reading of the text and a problematic line of reasoning. A “strong delusion” that causes someone to believe what is false would seem, in its most direct sense, to involve the rejection of Christ and the acceptance of falsehood, not the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. Moreover, Scripture teaches that all people, apart from Christ, are born in sin, unbelief, and spiritual corruption. If depravity, unbelief, and delight in unrighteousness are sufficient grounds for God to impose such a delusion, then the question naturally arises: why would this principle not apply universally?

Absolutely, there are people who confess Christ – not with their heart – but only with their mouth. People who believe they are saved when indeed they are not, but despite what TULIP otherwise teaches, such delusions are self imposed and do not come from God. 

Ironically, the very doctrines that Calvinism presents as a source of confidence and assurance can, when taken to their logical conclusion, produce uncertainty. If God sovereignly determines all beliefs and if some professing Christians can be divinely given over to a false assurance of election, then what basis remains for any individual Calvinist to be certain that his or her own faith is genuine rather than delusional? How can one know that their confidence in Christ is not itself part of the very deception they believe God may impose upon others?

In response, Calvinism often teaches that assurance is found, at least in part, through the observable evidence of regeneration in the believer’s life. Good works, perseverance, obedience, and spiritual fruit are viewed as signs confirming one’s election and salvation. There is certainly biblical warrant for recognizing that genuine faith produces visible fruit. Scripture repeatedly teaches that transformed lives bear witness to the reality of God’s saving work.

However, Scripture consistently presents these works as the result of faith, not the foundation of assurance. The believer’s ultimate confidence rests in God’s promises, fulfilled through the substitutionary death, resurrection, and saving work of Jesus Christ. Assurance is grounded first and foremost in faith in Christ and His promises, while good works serve as evidence of that faith.

The concern, therefore, is that within a deterministic theological framework—particularly one that allows for the possibility that God may cause individuals to believe they are among the elect when they are not—the believer’s confidence in God’s promises is undermined. If one’s faith itself could be part of a divinely ordained delusion, then faith alone can no longer function as the basis of assurance. The result is that assurance is increasingly sought through self-examination and the observation of one’s works rather than through trust in the promises of God. In this way, the practical effect is a shift away from assurance grounded solely in Christ and toward assurance grounded in works. (cf. Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 3, “Of God’s Eternal Decree,” and related discussions on assurance).

5. The Questioning of the Need for Evangelization

Again, to be fair and intellectually honest, Calvinism is not inherently anti-evangelistic, but one could argue that its doctrines—especially election and sovereignty—can in practice lead some people to reduced urgency or altered motivation. Calvinists, strongly reject this conclusion and see evangelism as a necessary and commanded instrument of God’s saving work. While Calvinism may strongly affirm evangelism and missions, the concern comes not from Calvinism’s formal doctrine towards evangelizing but instead the concern is with how certain emphases can be perceived or applied by the individual Calvinist in practice:

• “The elect will be saved no matter what I do”
• “Evangelism doesn’t ultimately determine outcomes
• human evangelistic effort cannot ultimately affect conversion
• persuasion or urgency seems less necessary
• outcomes are already fixed
• human participation feels secondary or instrumental only
• evangelism became less emphasized than doctrinal precision or church order
• confidence in “God will save His elect anyway” led to passivity
  • strong assurance of God’s saving plan
    vs.
  • urgency to evangelize the lost

One might ask what difference this makes as long as the individual evangelizes. In return I submit the rhetorical question of which doctor would you prefer to be under the care of:

• The doctor whose motivation is just to do his job and fulfill a commitment?
• The doctor who is motivated with an urgency to provide care?  

In comparing how Arminianism (Not that I am promoting Arminianism – I am not) and Calvinism differ specifically in their “logic of evangelism,” the real contrast becomes clearer. In Calvinism, evangelism is not about “making salvation possible,” but about “carrying out God’s means.” In Arminianism, the individual may accept or reject the gospel, and their response has eternal consequence. So evangelism is about “presenting a genuine offer that must be personally received.” This presents the question of which produces a more “decision-centered” urgency. The answer to this question lies with the honesty of the individual Calvinist. Do you feel an urgency to evangelize?

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