Post 83: The Shaky Foundation of Calvinism

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. (Psalm 127:1)

In the construction industry, there is a running joke among contractors that when the

architects and engineers design something that doesn’t quite work, where the parts don’t quite align together properly, their solution is simply to write a note on the plans that says, “PTF” - “Pound to Fit.” In other words, do whatever it takes to make it work.

Often, the misalignment of the parts begins with a faulty foundation. Certainly, if the foundation of any structure is flawed, the work that follows will necessarily suffer because each trade is dependent upon the integrity of the trades that precede it. If the foundation is not level, the walls won’t be plumb. And if the walls aren’t plumb, the doors and windows won’t operate properly, etc.

Similarly, a faulty foundation of a theological doctrine can cause us to have to "pound to fit" in order to reconcile the contradictions it creates. Unfortunately, rather than reexamine the structural veracity of their foundation, many proponents of such doctrines will try to convince us that we’re just going to have to live with windows that stick, plumbing that clogs, and a roof that leaks. They will often refer to these “inconveniences” caused by their distorted doctrines as “mysteries” or “tensions” or “paradoxes”.

A Faulty Foundation

Reformed theology/Calvinism is built on the faulty foundation of a corrupt understanding of the doctrines of election and predestination. This causes Calvinists to have to “PTF” in order to make their wobbly doctrinal structure withstand the weight of the truth of Scripture.

The foundational error of Calvinism, called "unconditional election", is evident in John Calvin’s "Institutes of the Christian Religion":

All [people] are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death (3.21.5)

Based on Calvin’s understanding of election and predestination, every person has been

predetermined by God for one of two paths. For those who were “preordained to eternal life”—the elect—there is a wonderful gospel of hope, an assurance that their lives have purpose and meaning, and their future in heaven is secure.

For those who have been preordained to eternal damnation—the non-elect—the act of

simply being born is a sinister curse upon their hopeless lives, which, per Calvinism, are lived

only for the purpose of revealing God’s glory in his wrath.

Yet, in what can only be described as a cruel hoax, in Calvinism even the non-elect are to be offered the “good news” of the gospel—a futile appeal of salvation guaranteed to fail since, by God's decree, they will reject it because their eternal condemnation was predetermined and unchangeable.

An Unbiblical House

The unbiblical belief that God, before the foundation of the world, divided everyone into two groups, is found nowhere in Scripture. A theology constructed on top of such a corrupt

foundation necessarily will result in an unbiblical and unstable doctrinal structure and a deity that has little resemblance to the benevolent God of Scripture. The resulting theology, in fact, produces a sinister god of whimsy and caprice who has ensured a life of utter hopelessness and despair for the vast majority of God’s image-bearers.

A House Built by God

I propose that such is not the nature of the house that God is building. When we allow God’s word to speak without the taint of the Calvinism, we see that the doors of the house being built by the true God are open to everyone, and that the loving, gracious and merciful God of the Bible "desires that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4). Indeed, God has gifted everyone with all that is needed to know him, to respond to his grace, and to choose life.

In contrast to the doctrines of Calvinism, the true God has issued no mysterious decree from before the foundation of the world as to who will be saved and who will be lost. Indeed, unlike the unstable house that reformed/Calvinistic theology has constructed, God's house is being built on the firm foundation of biblical truth as presented to us by the apostles, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone (Eph 2:20).

Final Thought

Finally, a theology built on the faulty foundation of Calvinism will fail. But a theology

built on the strong and stable foundation of the truth of Scripture will develop naturally,

assembling itself organically, into a beautiful structure; a church—a body of devoted believers able to withstand all intellectual scrutiny and any winds of false doctrine. The various parts will support and complement each other without having to bend them, twist them, or “pound to fit”.

In short, we need to avoid man-made false doctrines like unconditional election and simply let God build the house, lest we labor in vain.

Next Post: TBD