The Fall of Calvinism

by Gene Taylor

The five tenets of Calvinism are so tightly and logically knit together that if you accept one, you must accept them all. Conversely, if you deny one, you must deny them all.

• The child of God can fall from grace (Galatians 5:4; Hebrews 6:4-6; Acts 8:9-24). The Perseverance of the Saints is not a valid doctrine.
• If a child of God can fall from grace, then God's grace must not be irresistible so the doctrine of Irresistible Grace falls.
• And if God's grace is not irresistible, then a person must be free to choose whether he will accept that grace or not. So the doctrine of Unconditional Election falls.
• And if a person is free to make the good choice to accept God's grace, we cannot say that Christ died only for the elect. We must say, along with the apostle Paul (I Timothy 2:6), that He died for the sins of all people. So the doctrine of Limited Atonement collapses.
• And if a person can make a good choice, he must not be "wholly defiled in the all the faculties of soul and mind." Therefore, the doctrine of Total Hereditary Depravity falls.
• The whole system of Calvinism comes crashing to the ground when one applies the Truth of Scripture to it.

[This basic idea is from "Three Simple Scriptures," Phil Roberts, Plano Provoker, August 22, 1974]