How Calvinism Undermines God’s Intervention

Dr. Leighton Flowers, Director of Evangelism and Apologetics for Texas Baptists, explains how Calvinism undermines God's intervention in the world. If God has ultimately decreed everything that comes to pass, is He genuinely intervening?

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[chriscasillas]

Undermining the times God does sovereignly intervenes…that’s an incredible point.

[PETERJOHN]

If every action is predetermined, why would God need to blind anyone?

[makedisciples]

Great video. Why would a Calvinist pray for intervention? That would be a contradiction. No hope, no forgiveness in Calvinism. Why even pray for the lost? So sad.

[noahsoundz]

Remember to all in the comments Calvinist are still your brothers and sisters in Christ . We are one body .. so please proceed with love correction with grace . At the end of the day this is a open handed issue.

[hudsontd]

Great video Leighton, you should do a interview with Ryan Mullins who wrote a book called "end of the Timeless God"

[tmagda]

James 1:13-17

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed

[biblicaltheologyexegesisan]

Yes Leighton why would God intervene because everything was already determined. Why would you want to undetermine something that God already determined?

[robertrodrigues]

The man speaking sounds like James White. God bless you Dr Flowers

[ndBirth]

This was really interesting. I can't stand Calvinism, it's completely against God's character.

[guests]

Free Will, you may eat of any tree that is in the garden but of the tree of knowledge of Good and evil you must not eat... From the very first time I read this scripture 55 years ago I knew it was a choice that was given Adam it never entered my mind that this was premeditated predetermined until I was exposed to Calvinism and from the first time I heard about tulip I knew it was heresy

[Campoobs]

Hi Leighton, I love your videos and I have been tuning in a lot as a newly saved (10 months) and trying to understand soteriology and how it works. I wondered if you could help with 2 verses I am having real difficulty reasoning the word world and reconciliation to Christ / not imputing sins in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19. I read 1 John 2:2 and see this plainly as the whole world (everyone) but these verses seem to confirm Calvinism. Any help here would be very much appreciated. God bless you!

[richardcoords]

0:30 is key. Did God cause/determine/decree the evil "thoughts" of Joseph's brothers?

I polled the Calvinists at Soteriology101 and they unanimously answered "no, " although later, one particular Calvinist answered in the affirmative. This, of course, would be logically consistent for a deterministic Calvinist who espouses EDD, but is completely contrary to the nature of God, as revealed in Scripture. (Habakkuk 1.13, James 1.17) Calvinists, however, can become highly nuanced in their statements, such as God causing evil in such as way so as to establish liberty, which is double-talk.

Calvinists will acknowledge that God "uses" the evil thoughts and intentions of evildoers, but are more cautious when faced with the question of whether God *causes" the intentions that He *uses*. God redeems good from evil, but not that He causes the evil that He redeems--a point that Leighton frequently raises.

[theidolbabblerthedailydose]

Proverbs 16:9
A man’s heart plans his way,
but the LORD determines his steps.

In other words…

A human determines his/her plans, but God determines whether such plans happen or not.

[santanasquared]

Please help me to better understand this quote. “God COULD stop any wrong doing if He chose to. However, He doesn’t choose to do so every time. So He sovereignly allowed it.”

That’s correct right?

[thm]

- No one:

- Absolutely nobody:

- Not even the hyper Calvinists:

- CCalvinism: If God created Adam with a mouth and didn't make him a palm tree, then he necessarily wanted him to sin.

It doesn't matter if he later judges, condemns and recriminates. God doing one will of his (decretive) FRUSTATES HIS OTHER WILL (prescriptive).

At the level of reasoning that boy is unique.

[Tiger]

"If you believe your book is true, and you believe God sovereignly and unchangeably brought about all things, including the writing of your book, then how is your book significantly or meaningfully different than the Scriptures?" This conflates the separate works of providence and inspiration. If God decrees me to write a book and I believe what I am writing to be true, He does it in the same way He decrees me to, say, meet my wife. Through sovereign providence, God brings about this event. The inspiration of Scripture is God actively providing His own breath to breathe Scripture out. He brings about the production of the Scriptures through sovereignly ordained events, but the very Scriptures themselves come from the essence, or the "breath" of God.

That I do not believe this "book" I write to be brought about in the very same manner as the Scriptures would be demonstrated in the fact that I can charitably allow you to disagree with me without ruling you a heretic. It can be demonstrated in the fact that I do not hold my own writing to be any kind of authoritative, whereas I do hold the Scriptures as authoritative. It is demonstrated in the fact that God rules His very own Scriptures as divine, final and authoritative; while my writings are fallible, lacking authority.

[fightthegoodfightoffaithmi]

1 Corinthians 14:2
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

Revelation 14:3
And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

[matthewjebb]

As God is the creator of all things he has to be ultimately responsible for all of it. There has to be a sense in which God is responsible for Hitler because he created him. This I believe is why the Westminster confession talks about first and second causes. It isnt only Calvinists who have to grapple with this, Provisionists and Arminians have the same problem.

[denr.p.]

Yes but let’s simplify it. Calvinism claims you must endure to the end or your lost. Let’s stat with Solomon, he fell big time & it’s clear he wasn’t lost. Let’s do lot, wow everyone knows about him having physical relationship with both his daughters. Let’s do Sampson, Oh he endured to the end ok. When he cried out to God for vengeance & the temple collapsed & killed everyone including himself. I could go on & on why Calvinism is wrong.

[integrationalpolytheism]

Was there more discussion on this? I'd have liked to have also heard the pro Calvinist reply, or the comment that elicited this in the first place.

There IS chapter and verse for predestination. Paul mentions it more than once, check Romans 8:29-30 or Ephesians 1:5 or Ephesians 1:11.

In fact it's not just Paul, many scriptures refer to believers in Christ being chosen (Matthew 24:22, 31; Mark 13:20, 27; Romans 8:33, 9:11, 11:5-7, 28; Ephesians 1:11; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Timothy 5:21; 2 Timothy 2:10; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1-2, 2:9; 2 Peter 1:10).

So if this aspect of the world is predestined, according to Christians, its difficult to see how people's individual actions aren't also God's decision as well. Once you add in the Christian doctrine that God is all knowing, all powerful and all compassionate, the game is over, because God would have arranged it for us all to just believe in him correctly if so and avoid all the pain and suffering which, to an all powerful God, is surely unnecessary. Why does this God allow it all to continue? For entertainment value, like in Islam? It doesn't make any sense otherwise.

What have I missed here?