Jerry Walls: What's Wrong With Calvinism, Part 1

In this edition of the Evangel University Guest Lecture Series, Dr. Jerry Walls of Houston Baptist University addresses the "What's Wrong With Calvinism." The lecture was made possible in part by a generous donation from the Society of Christian Philosophers.

© 2013 Jerry Walls. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[SillyChickens]

God has shown me how wrong Calvinism is when I asked Him for wisdom regarding His love for people here on earth. I am just glad I went straight to the source of love and hope rather than wasting time hearing men debate theologies they came up with. Praise God for his steadfast grace and love 💗

[bobfree]

Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them: 'As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'

[ajcrawshaw]

It feels like being gaslit when discussing theology with Calvinists. Thanks for helping me understand better why.

[rookandpawn]

I feel so lucky to have someone speak so coherently and cleanly on this matter. Thank you Jerry!

[ThaiyaWaronja]

All my thoughts well organized into a coherent presentation, keep on the good work Jerry Walls.

[pontificusmaximus]

57:24 According to Calvin, questioning Calvin is the same as questioning God: "No one can disprove the doctrine I have expounded except he who pretends to be wiser than the Spirit of God." --John Calvin (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.155 in the two-book collection "Calvin's Calvinism")

[loislane]

I was in a ministry with a guy that was a Calvinist. We discussed theology sometimes. Calvinism was one subject. I said John do you believe God tells the truth? Of course. He said. I said do you think your pastor tells the truth? And preaches God’s truth as in the Bible. Yes was his answer. I said then your pastor would stand up in the pulpit and say to his listeners some of you will go to Heaven and some will go to Hell and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.

[davidoltmans]

The Calvinist are the post modern gnostics. Instead of a secret handshake, we are offered up a warped view of God’s righteousness and our inability to make a decision by faith (like Abraham) to follow Him. This doctrine of election and predestination excludes “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” The very existence of a command is that the person who hears it will make a choice to do so or not. Knowing who will and who will not obey the command is superfluous because God knows the answer. It is the invitation that excludes excuses for not obeying and the judgement that follows for failing to do so.

[smking]

Both thorough and concise, not to mention astute and gracious, this is the best treatment of Calvinism I've found. I'll be referring people to this a lot, I think. Thanks a ton!

[radkonpsygami]

IF a woman is FORCED to love you without CHOOSING to love you, then it is not real love. Real love comes from freedom of choice - and man's freedom of choice is void in Calvinism. In Calvinism, those who are saved are robots.

[peterfox]

It seems odd that he would gloss over Total Depravity while talking about the importance of freedom in the rest of the presentation-- since the Calvinistic understanding is that man is born in a state where he needs to be made able to respond positively. Yes, pretty much all Christians agree that man is a sinful creature, but the Calvinists take it further by saying that sin blinds them to the truth unless enabled by God to see.

[sheilasmith]

To be a Calvinist, you must accept that God created humans unable to reason.
Not that humans can error in reasoning, but rather man is unable to reason.
Once one accepts that belief, any contradiction can be accepted.

[believein]

Wonderful, wonderful presentation .

Ambiguous Calvinism or Effervescent Grace is one of most heretical attacks on God’s character possible. You do more good than you realize with this video. Thank you.

[jenniferbacoka]

I am not overly committed to Calvinism, but the Bible certainly speaks on predestination. I watched this video in hopes that Dr. Walls would give scriptural evidence against Calvinism but he did not. If the Bible isn’t the basis for truth, then what is?

[brittanynguyen]

It's funny when I think about all of this. Biblically, Jesus Christ paid the penilty for all of our sin( eternal seperation from God in hell). I mean all of our sins( past present future), it would not makes sense if died for all but one. So when someone is saved, they are saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves but a gift from God, not by works lest any man should boast. I think this is pretty clear scripture on how a man is saved. If I am saved by the finished work of the cross, and I trust in Jesus Christ alone to take me to heaven when I die how can I lose it when I didn't work for it? How can I pay the penalty for sins when it is already been paid? I'm not saving me, Jesus is saving me. I am trusting on him to take me to heaven... I just don't understand why people have a hard time understanding this. Scripture also sperated salvation from service. Salvation is a gift, Service is working. You don't serve to get saved, you get saved to serve.

[mlsmith]

Very well done presentation. I better understand Calvinism now.

[Ransomonious]

His point that ends at 47:10...This is how Calvinism maintains its credibility; by using the rhetoric of universal love in a way that their theology does not support. Bunker busting bomb!

[ewallt]

As I see things the biggest problem with Calvinism is what it says about God, and the same thing could be said about any incorrect doctrine. All correct doctrine must harmonize with what we know about God as revealed in Christ, who said “When you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”

[djoseph]

Perfect factual information about the misunderstanding of Calvinist who misunderstand and misrepresent the word of god into their own understanding of scripture

[DarthBobCat]

I thought this sounded familiar. Then I realized that I had heard it all before from the excellent book "Why I Am Not A Calvinist." It's nice seeing the face of someone whose book influenced my own thinking.