LBM Podcast 0065 | Review of Kevin Thompson's video 'Calvinism = Synergism'

In this podcast Jason and Michael Venter critique the video put out by Kevin Thompson entitled "Calvinism = Synergism".

[daveme]

There is a book out now called, “The Foundation of Augustinian Calvinism.”

Supposedly, Augustine when first saved was in line with most Non Calvinists today.

So when Augustine got stuck against Pelagius, he went back to his Gnostic beliefs. It is just too bad they do not know how and why Augustine left his Gnostic religion.

[hudsontd]

Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

this means that Believing is NOT a Work!

[attheriver]

Really enjoying this Video, Im 30 mins into this.

I have a question, (I am a Calvinist btw) would Calvinism be considered a second hand issue? If a person doesn't understand predestination, would be considered damnable? Looking forward to replies!

[JohnQPublic]

I am a basic Bible believing Christian who would love nothing more than having an honest dialogue. I am encouraged by the fact that you claim to believe in honest dialogue. What troubles me is the fact that the apologetic of reformed theology repeatedly contradicts itself as it struggles to explain itself.

Reason is the only tool available to man by which man is able to discover truth. Reason is a diagnosis machine through which all claims declared to be factual are proven true or false through cross-examination. There are rules that dictate the course of reason. Truth can only ever be arrived at through the use of GODs gift of reason to man.

So I would love to dialogue with you or your guest through the use of reason.

A “straw man” is an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument. Calvinists like to make this claim against those who are critics of Calvinism. The problem is that the apologetic of reformed theology is a quagmire of contradiction. From our vantage point of carefully listening Calvinists are claiming [knowingly or unknowingly] they believe in two views that are diametrically opposed to one another. So we must dialogue out the contradictions within Calvinism in order to discover whether something is actually a straw man or not!

If the contradictions cannot be rationally explained away then the criticisms aren’t a straw man.

So in order for Calvinism to not be fallacious it must be consistent, coherent and non-contradictory.

Before any examination of whether Calvinism is rightly dividing the Word of GOD correctly, or not, Calvinism must pass the tests of whether it is consistent, coherent and non-contradictory *FIRST!*

The way we do that is by cross-examining the veracity of the explanations of the beliefs and doctrines of reformed theology’s apologetic.

No, or very little, scripture is needed for that.

Your guest asks why we presuppose libertarian free-will. The answer is very simple.

The Bible is GODs autobiography. The entire Bible is GODs meticulously narrated story of HIMSELF dealing with man and man’s indelible propensity to do the exact opposite of what GOD desires and wills them to do.

Calvinists want us to believe the sovereign Calvinist god decrees his chosen people do the exact opposite of what he spends 6000 years beseeching and longing for them not to do!

From that it is easy to determine that either man has libertarian free-will or the Calvinist god is a socio-psychopath!

That in itself is enough to debunk Calvinism and prove it fallacious.

But lets start from the beginning and dismantle Calvinism by examining what the doctrines of reformed theology want to teach us to believe.

Why did the sovereign Calvinist god impersonally and whimsically discriminate against the un-elect goat people and condemn them to Hell for all eternity, for his own good selfish glory, and his own good sadistic pleasure, *PRIOR to CREATION, * when the un-elect goat people are 100% incapable of being anything other than what the sovereign Calvinist god decreed them to be!?!

Thanks,