Correcting One Of My Friends About Protestantism

[ICTHUS]

Recently, on our youth group retreat, one of my fellow youth group leaders made a comment about Calvinism as a system of grace that was grossly incorrect. Having debated Calvinists before, I thought I would send her an email correcting what she said, in the interests of intellectual honesty. The other reason why I wrote this letter was to show that where Calvin was right - i.e. that faith is a gift from God, and is granted to us apart from any merits on our part - he was wonderfully right, and the Church, as well as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, agree with him. This is what I wrote. I saved it as a draft in my email. Anyone care to comment?

Dear B......,

I hope you'll forgive the underhanded method of getting into contact with you (I found your email on a mass email from M........), I just find that on complex matters, it's easier to write than to speak, since I can organise my thoughts in a logical and coherent manner.

You mentioned Calvinism on our retreat. Having debated a few Calvinists in my time since my reversion to Catholicism from non-denominational Protestantism, I have learned quite a bit about their theology, and thought I might first correct a misunderstanding inherent in your comment about Calvinism as a theological system, and then to give my own thoughts on John Calvin's system of thought, and what I have learned from it. I normally wouldn't do this, except that soteriology (that is, the branch of theology that deals with how exactly God effects our salvation in Jesus Christ) is, I consider, the most important branch of Theology, and there is some truth inherent in Calvinism which the Catholic may agree with, which is an absolute bombshell truth in understanding the way God effects our salvation. However, I digress, because I'm getting ahead of myself. (Also, I would have said something at the moment you made the comment, except that I didn't think it appropriate to the general line of conversation at the time, as I likely would have succeeded in drawing arguments and confusing a lot of people!)

You said, (I'm paraphrasing you, because I don't remember exactly what you said)

"There's a Protestant system, thought of by John Calvin, wherein one has no choice whether or not you go to Heaven or Hell! Those people must be so depressed all the time."

You are correct that Calvin (actually, Calvin was French, and his French name was actually Jean Cauvin - he changed it when he moved to England) taught that God, through an immutable choice of His Will, predestined some men to Heaven and some to Hell.

You are, however, incorrect in saying that Calvinists are depressed all the time because of this doctrine. They actually find it liberating and energizing, and here's why:

Calvinists believe that man has nothing whatever to do with his own salvation. They believe, based on Scripture, that man is totally depraved and unable to come to God of his own willpower, but rather, that God must give His Grace to those whom He has chosen to inherit eternal Life, so that they may have faith. Because of this, they owe their salvation wholly to God's mercy, and not to themselves, and thus their eyes are constantly drawn to God for His glorious mercy in saving them, when apart from His mercy, they would have perished in sin. (You may wonder why I'm describing the system so favorably - I'll get to that later) However, the downside of the Calvinist system is that it denies something the Catholic Church has taught since the beginning - Free Will.

While the particulars of Calvinism are too numerous to describe in the space of this email, I'll give a brief synopsis of the belief system. The following are taken from the Westminster Confession of Faith, the major Calvinist catechism:

Total Heriditary Inability: Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.

Unconditional Election: III. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.

IV. These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.

V. Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, has chosen, in Christ, unto everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto; and all to the praise of His glorious grace.

Limited atonement: VI. As God has appointed the elect unto glory, so has He, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power, through faith, unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only.

Irresistable grace: I. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed time, effectually to call,[1] by His Word and Spirit,[2] out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ;[3] enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God,[4] taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh;[5] renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good,[6] and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ:[7] yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.[8]

II. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man,[9] who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit,[10] he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.[11]

Perseverance of the Saints: They, whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.[1]

I apologise for the length, however, a short email does not suffice even to describe the basics of Calvinism.

Now, on to what I said earlier: the bombshell truth which Calvin hit on, but got greivously wrong in a couple of crucial places.

Predestination is a thoroughly Biblical doctrine. It is taught explicitly in Holy Scripture, most notably in Romans 8-11. As such, the Catholic Church is obligated not to ignore it, since it is absolutely without doubt part of the Deposit of Faith she is sworn to protect. The difficulty is that Scripture also teaches free will (implicitly, or not - it seems to be assumed throughout, for instance, in Deuterotomy 30:19-21, among other places):

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

If there was no free will, God is, in essence, presenting an impossible choice before the Israelites - if they can't choose Him, how the heck does He expect this to be a fair choice? Free will has been taught by the Church from the beginning. 'Nuff said.

The other major problem with Calvinist thought is that the concept of Limited Atonement contradicts the Scripture itself. Hear the Word of the Lord.

"And he is the propitiation (sin offering or sacrifice) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2).

"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).

"Who (speaking of Christ) gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Timothy 2:6).

"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead" (2 Corinthians 5:14).

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30).

"Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life (Romans 5:18).

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9).

So, you're probably asking "What *did* Calvin get right?". Well, he got the part about faith being a gift, and totally undeserved on our part and granted to us apart from any merit - that is, anything we could do to earn it - according to God's mercy.

Hear the Word of the Lord

Ephesians 2:8-10

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

So, B......, your faith is a gift from God. You did not deserve it (sorry for being so blunt, but neither did I, nor anyone on this earth, deserve this gift!), and you have God to thank that you were born into a Catholic family wherein you were baptised, raised in the Faith of Christ, and that He, by His Holy Spirit, allowed you to believe in Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Similarly, I have Him to thank for my baptism, for my grandparents, and for the trials which broke my spirit so that I was able to turn to Him in faith.

This teaching is reiterated by St. Augustine of Hippo in numerous places in his writings, and it is explicitly stated in the Catechism

153 When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come "from flesh and blood", but from "my Father who is in heaven".24 Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.'"

However, I should note that it is a truth of the faith that we may resist the grace to have faith by sinning, if we choose.

Similarly, a person who had commited a mortal sin would be just as dead in their sins as a person who had not been baptised. God is holy, and He would be perfectly justified in leaving that person to their own devices, dead in their sins and condemned to Hell. It is only because of His mercy that He prompts the sinners conscience, urging him to repent of his sins and seek absolution through the Church. Left to his own devices, the wretched sinner would be left to perish, and it is only the awesome mercy of God that allows him to come to repent.

As for Predestination per se, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine of Hippo (both of whom are my patron saints ) put forward their own theories of how exactly predestination works, and neither of them denied free will - they just defined it the way Scripture does, namely that all men have Free Will - that is, all men are free to do good or evil according to their consciences, and the Law which God has written on their hearts (see Romans 2:10-12) but only the Redeemed - Christians - have Liberty - that is, freedom from sin and the freedom to love God and neighbor with no other reason than because God has loved them first. Also, we have the power to resist grace if we so choose, but we cannot actively accept it.

I'll provide some links on the subject of predestination by respected Catholic scholars, so that you may peruse them at your leisure.

[url="http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ120.HTM"]http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ120.HTM[/url] (This is an excellent article drawing on the writing of Dr. Ludwig Ott, author of "Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma" which is a book used in many seminaries.)

[url="http://web.archive.org/web/20030604155026/http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ474.HTM"]http://web.archive.org/web/20030604155026/...smus/RAZ474.HTM[/url] (about 1/3 of this article is totally irrelevant to the topic at hand, scroll down to "II. Augustine, Predestination, and Human Free Will")

[url="http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/tulip.htm"]http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/tulip.htm[/url] This is an article which I found immensely helpful in sorting out my own beliefs on this subject. It goes through and compares the Calvinistic beliefs of Predestination, and compares the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas on the subject, with the Calvinistic thought.

Thanks for listening to me rant, B....... I hope this email drives home to you both the reason why I was so moved to tell you this, and the depth of God's mercy, that we, who were totally undeserving of His Mercy, dead in our sins and transgressions (Ephesians 2), were granted the gift of Holy Baptism and faith, apart from any previous merit on our part.

Grace and peace be with you.

Pax Christi,
Ryan Hill

Edited May 31, 2004 by ICTHUS

[Anna]

You are one absolutely brilliant young man.

God Bless.

Pax Christi. <><

[Brother Adam]

Excellent email. Recognizing both mans depravity and man's free will are both genuine doctrines is not easy to logically pull together for most people. It is recognizing that the Holy Spirit moves in us enough to allow us the freedom of choosing to remain in Him (if we are baptized) or to become children of God (if we are unbaptized adults).

Calvin’s' system, while brilliant in some areas is definitely erroneous in others.

[ICTHUS]

[quote name='Anna' date='May 31 2004, 01:05 PM'] You are one absolutely brilliant young man.

God Bless.

Pax Christi. <>< [/quote]
I only use the gifts God's given me for His glory, O Matriarch of Phatmass.

[quote name='Bro Adam']Excellent email. [/quote]
Why thank you, sir!

[phatcatholic]

i'm wondering if she'll appreciate all of that info or not.

you went way beyond the call of duty there, so i'm just wondering if the short answer is better or the long one.....

[ICTHUS]

This is one of those topics where it's hard to make a short reply. But I'm all ears for what to cut out...

[cmotherofpirl]

I don't think you can cut anything out. Just make sure all terms are clearly defined.
Can this go in our apologetic section?

[ICTHUS]

Wow, you really think it has apologetic value?

[ICTHUS]

Also, I realized I forgot to affirm Total Inability from a Catholic perspective..

[ICTHUS]

I fixed it, and I sent it off to her. All 44 KB of it (If anyone doubts how positively huge that is...in hotmail...it's......huge!)

[ICTHUS]

And Anna, I'm thrilled that you think my work actually has apologetic value.

[phatcatholic]

[quote name='ICTHUS' date='Jun 1 2004, 06:30 PM'] And Anna, I'm thrilled that you think my work actually has apologetic value. [/quote]
icthus, i dig it

post the updated version in the apo board and i'll quote it in the salvation entry

[ICTHUS]

To be honest, I didn't really modify it that much - any modifications I made were inconsequential, as I realized that I affirmed it (total inability) by saying that an unbaptised person or a person who had commited mortal sin was dead in their sins. Posting it.

[Dave]

Let us know how she responds!

[ICTHUS]

She hasn't yet, Dave.