Calvinist interpretations
Scenario No.1
A woman has 5 children. She tells them all to eat their food. Only one child eats his food; the other four do not eat their food.
Calvinist interpretation: “The woman makes one child eat his food and makes the other four not eat their food. Because she never intended to feed them all, she only provided food for the one that she made to eat. She didn’t provide any food for the other four because she never intended feeding them in the first place, even though she told them all to eat their food.”
MacArthur says, “God did not intend to save everyone. He is God. He could have intended to save everyone. He could have saved everyone. He would have if that had been His intention. The atonement is limited.” (The Doctrine of Actual Atonement, Part 1)
Thus the woman never intended to feed them all. She is boss. She could have intended to feed them all. She could have fed them all. She would have if that had been her intention. The feeding is limited.
Scenario No.2
A man is walking past a well into which three boys have fallen. The boys cannot reach the top of the well, and will drown if not rescued. It is impossible for anyone to get out without help from above.
Normal solution: A man who is passing by rushes over and realises that if he jumps in, he too will be trapped. The water level is a long way below the top and the man cannot reach any of the boys. He tells the boys to stretch up their hands so he can reach them in order to pull them out. All who reach up are then rescued, one by one.
Calvinist solution:
Either 1/. The man reaches down, selects one of the boys, and tells him to reach up and grab his hand. The man drags the boy out and delivers him safely to his parents. But what of the other two boys? He left them there to drown, regardless of whether or not they raised their hands. That man could have saved all three, but chose to save only one.
(Is he a saviour or murderer? Did he, by merely ignoring the other boys, effectively become the cause of their deaths? Of course, if that man had tried to save the other boys but they had refused to grab hold of his hand, then the responsibility for their deaths then falls upon those boys left in the well. The man remains saviour for that one boy who was rescued, but only if he also offered the same salvation to the other two. Even if they refused, the man remains saviour to the boy who was saved, and a potential saviour to the other two who could have been saved if only they had accepted it.)
Or 2/. The man refuses to even notice whether any actually want to be rescued. He randomly chooses one boy, and with a hook he lifts that boy out, telling him that he is special enough to be chosen to be wonderfully rescued. He leaves the other two boys to drown regardless of whether or not they wanted to be rescued; they were not special! He has decided, end of story! No-one else may change his mind, for he rules! He doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, either.
Calvinism teaches that Jesus only died for those whom God chose for salvation. Any who was not chosen for salvation can never go to heaven, even if he wants to, because his sins can never be forgiven by the calvinist Jesus who didn’t die for his sins.
MacArthur says, “God did not intend to save everyone. He is God. He could have intended to save everyone. He could have saved everyone. He would have if that had been His intention. The atonement is limited.” (The Doctrine of Actual Atonement, Part 1)
MacArthur also says (in that same document) that he would no longer feel special if Jesus died for all mankind without exception. “I don’t feel very special if you say to me, “Christ died for you, He loves you just like He died for the millions in hell.””
MacArthur’s god would follow calvinist solution 2/. above. He would force one to be rescued, and leave the other boys in the well, and walk away without pity.
God’s solution: Christ was not a calvinist! He died for all mankind without exception (1 John 2:2) in order to rescue any who would call upon His name to be saved. Not one person who cries out for help will ever be ignored and left to die! (Romans 10:13)
Scenario No.3
A person buys a supermarket with all its stock.
Calvinist application: He decides that he doesn’t want it all, so in spite of paying a price sufficient to buy all the stock, he chooses some of it and dumps the rest at the local rubbish tip. He paid enough to buy all the stock yet only chose to use some of it, thereby wasting the rest.
Calvinists often say that Jesus’ payment was of infinite value and certainly sufficient to be able to pay for all sins, yet God chose to make it efficient only for the few that he chose for salvation. But, isn’t it the height of absurdity to be able to pay for all yet refuse to do so simply because he didn’t want to? So, calvinists, if your God could have paid for all, then why didn’t he?
MacArthur says, “God did not intend to save everyone. He is God. He could have intended to save everyone. He could have saved everyone. He would have if that had been His intention. The atonement is limited.” (The Doctrine of Actual Atonement, Part 1)
God says: “3For this [is] good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)
Scenario No.4
A debtors’ prison is full of people who are unable to pay their debts. It was common in the past to send such people to prison until their debts were paid. Jesus even taught about this in Matthew 18:21-35. One particular debtors’ prison has 100 people locked away. They will remain there until their debts are cleared.
Calvinist solution: A rich man has pity on them and pays an amount sufficient to be able to cover all their debts. But he decides to apply this payment to just one of the prisoners. His payment could have made it possible to set all the prisoners free but instead he chose only one to be set free. Even though his payment could have paid for the rest, he chose to leave them in prison.
Most calvinists preach that the atonement was infinite in value, sufficient for all, yet efficient for only the few who are chosen. They generally explain this by saying that while Jesus’ death was of sufficient value to be able to have paid for all sins of all mankind, yet it was only efficiently applied to the lives of the unconditionally elect of God.
The calvinist Jesus supposedly paid an infinite price on the cross, yet used it to only save those whom he had chosen to go to heaven. Even though he could have set others free (and even if they wanted to be set free), he decided that they would go to hell instead without any option at all for heaven.
And again MacArthur says, “God did not intend to save everyone. He is God. He could have intended to save everyone. He could have saved everyone. He would have if that had been His intention. The atonement is limited.” (The Doctrine of Actual Atonement, Part 1)
However, God says that He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
It is God’s intention that all should be saved; it is man himself who refuses God’s offer of a free pardon for all sin for all time. God desires that all should repent and be saved. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
Here’s an excellent comment from https://anticalvinistrant.blogspot.com/ regarding Scenario No.4 above. Please consider its logic very carefully.
“The only thing I would add to the Calvinist Interpretation to make it even more representative of Calvinism is that the rich guy who paid enough money to get all the prisoners out of prison but who only chose to free one man is also the very reason they are in prison to begin with. Because in Calvinism, God causes us to be the way we are and to do the bad things we do which land us in prison in the first place, and then He “graciously” frees one person while letting the others face the penalty for “their” crimes (crimes they had no choice over, crimes they had to commit because He pre-ordained it for them). That’s even worse than simply passing over the ones He chose not to free. It’s sad that most Calvinists do not draw out their beliefs to the logical ends, to see what damage Calvinism does to the Gospel, God’s character, and Jesus’s amazing sacrifice for mankind.“
For more interesting and informative information about the dangers of calvinism, I strongly recommend https://anticalvinistrant.blogspot.com/.
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