Why Are CALVINISTS So MEAN??

Dr. Leighton Flowers, Director of Evangelism and Apologetics for Texas Baptists, answers a listener-submitted question about why some Calvinists are mean-spirited.

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[Soteriology]

I am baffled by the number of people who commented on this video without watching it first, while assuming they knew how I would answer. Amazing.

[Zomfoo]

Arrogance would be the word I’d choose.

[festushaggen]

I've had some discussions with calvinists. My sincere questions and Biblical challenges are usually responded to with sarcasm and insults from them. It's always a bad sign when people can't defend their beliefs without getting hyper emotional and lashing out in return.

[Habitation]

My sister is a Calvinist and no one can talk to her because she is very hateful and arrogant when she discusses how I'm not a real christian because I am not a calvinist. I have tried and now when she starts I just won't be part of her conversation. It's sad.

[GoldStandard]

My experience with some (not all) Calvinist friends is that everything is good until their theology is threatened. I've been snapped at more than once for asking a tough question. This never happens when discussing other theological viewpoints.

[matthewj]

It's not meanness it's called pride. They just think they are better than everyone else, and it can come across as being mean.

[nathanprophet]

I was cornered, surrounded by some Calvinists and goaded into a heated debate during a Bible study. They came at me coldly and arrogantly where things quickly became argumentive. As they and myself weren't moving with our positions, I suggested we all respectively agree to disagree. They smirked as if they won referring people like me as semi- palagionists. My experience with Calvinists has not always been pleasant or in the love of Christ. I don't hold these brethren with malice, but it was very disappointing.

[sampowellmusic]

a hard core calvinist who was an elder in my church, spewing calvinism all over the place once told me i was being disobedient to the church by not believing the "doctrines of grace". our email exchanges consisted of his emotional rants with lots of capital letters while mine were scripture based and with what i felt was a calm loving demeanor. God in his sovereignty removed this person from the fellowship and calvinism no longer had a hold on the church.

[DamonNomad]

The system of Calvinism naturally encourages narcissism among those who hold to it, as well as being attractive to those who are naturally narcissistic. However they try to sugarcoat it, the unavoidable fact is that they believe God hates and rejects the vast majority of human beings, who are evil from before birth and inherently worthless. At the same time, they also believe that God, for reasons known only to Himself, chose them before the foundation of the world and loves them and regenerates them, to the neglect of the rest of humanity. This system is tailor-made to breed an overpowering arrogance that even the most obnoxious atheists cannot match, while at the same time giving the one with that arrogance a false sense of humility to hide it behind. That said, not all Calvinists are arrogant, or cruel. That failing is far more common either among their leaders, of the Piper, MacArthur and James White crowd, or the swarms of internet Calvinists Leighton discussed in this clip, than among the average, rank-and-file low-info Calvinist churchgoers, many of whom are no worse than their counterparts in non-Calvinist churches.

[primeobjective]

"Why are Calvinists so mean?"
Pride. Just like the Pharisees.

[lauracheever]

There's definitely a spectrum. I had a Calvinist flippantly say, (after I miscarried my baby, ) "Why should we mourn the deaths of the unelect?" The violent urges I felt in response to that comment definitely weren't Christlike. On the other hand, my best friend is a Calvinist and she's one of the kindest people I've ever met in my life. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[thesimplyagapeproject]

Calvinists I know are prideful because they believe they have hidden knowledge or gnosis. And we are not smart enough to understand it. This is truly more than people think. Tim Wirth

[ellisrowe]

Having come from a family that had many Calvinists in it I can speak from experience. They were the coldest, most arrogant group of people I've ever been around. You would think the elect would be rejoicing but they were sour.

[newmedia]

That’s what happen when you believe you were chosen over others. One Calvinist even said, God does not love sinners”. So I told him, “we’ll God loved you didn’t He?”. You could hear a pin drop after that.

[dannymcculloch]

It's their pride. "The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than what unites them" (John Buchan) That's a Calvinist.

[lonelyguyofficial]

The thing that  got me to question Calvinism over the past year or so, was just how fleshly or carnal I realised most educated Calvinist apologists are.
I became a "Christian" in early 2018, and a Calvinist in early 2019, but actually saved in 2020. I only began realising their arrogant disposition almost, and prideful aura, beginning in 2020, but even more so in 2021 especially, and it just struck me: Why on earth is there seemingly this inherent fleshliness in calvinists when defending calvinism, if Calvinism is indeed a fundamentally Spiritual Truth of God in His Word?
Wouldn't the Holy Spirit impart a heavy amount of His Fruits in the person, when they seek to defend God's Truths? Why the constant and overbearing fleshliness around Calvinists and Calvinism? If it's Spiritual, why so much fleshliness and carnality?

And by fleshly and carnal, I specifically mean how arrogant, high-minded, condescending and just Pharasee-like they can be, when defending calvinism specifically.
Trying to catch people in their words through certain unfair questions, and avoiding actual fair questions themselves.
Calling non calvinists either not "as mature as us calvinists", as if you're a 2nd class christian not yet truly sanctified by the Spirit at best, or even just say you've "not yet been regenerated (born again)", by the Spirit of God giving you a New Heart to truly know and seek God to be Saved, if you say you would never worship God if he predestined all, at worst.
Implying calvinist churches are solid, while yours which is not calvinist, is "unstable" and "disconcerting" to them.

I know Christians can be fleshly when giving the Gospel, or defending certain doctrines of the Gospel, but it's usually easy to see how the Gospel itself doesn't cause or contribute to it.
But with Calvinism & Calvinists, it's very difficult to not see the doctrine as being the source of the fleshliness itself.

Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruits.". I don't know about you, but I find it very sus and unsettling that there seems to be this much bad fruits among Calvinists. Both Calvin himself historically, and modern defenders of the man and Calvinism on it's own.

Bad fruits don't disprove a position themselves, but it's should cause a critical look at the situation around a certain position, especially when it claims to be of God.

[myinternetname]

I guess they were predetermined to be so. 😂

[DansplainingTheBible]

If you look at how John Calvin responded to disagreement, it is not really surprising that many modern day calvinists seem unusually hostile. It’s very difficult to read Calvin’s (or anyone else’s) theology without picking up his attitudes.

[mastershake]

My experiences with calvinists have always been online and they always question my salvation. They always accuse me of doing works for salvation. Every single time.

[randallhatcher]

A Calvinist ask me how I know I'm saved . I said because the word of says I am . He said you might not even be saved .