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发帖数: 712 | 1 CALVIN BELIEVED IN INFANT BAPTISM
Calvin said, "Baptism is properly administered to infants is something owed
to them."
CALVIN BELIEVED IN SACRAMENTS EQUAL TO GOD'S WORD
"Therefore, let it be regarded as a settled principle that the sacraments
have the same office as the Word of God: to offer and set forth Christ to us
, and in him the treasures of heavenly grace."
CALVIN BELIEVED IN AMILLENNIALISM AND WAS AGAINST PREMILLENNIALISM
Calvin said, "But a little later there followed the Chiliasts, who limited
the reign of Christ to a 1000 years. Now their fiction is too childish
either to need or to be worth a refutation. And the Apocalypse, from which
they undoubtedly drew a pretext for their error, does not support them. For
the number 1000 does not apply to the eternal blessedness of the church but
only to the various disturbances that awaited the church, while still
toiling on the earth."
CALVIN BELIEVED IN PREDESTINATION TO HELL
Calvin said, "We call predestination God's eternal decree, by which he
compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not
created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is foreordained for some,
eternal damnation for others. Therefore, as any man has been created to one
or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestined to life or death."
CALVIN BELIEVED IN BEING A DICTATOR IN GENEVA
Calvin was forced to flee his native France and eventually found refuge In
Geneva. A man of tremendous political and organizational talents, he
manipulated himself, and his fellow refugees, into absolute control over the
city which gave them protection against the Catholic Inquisition. What came
to be known as Calvinism grew out of the policy and writings of John Calvin
after he became the ruler and dictator of Geneva, Switzerland (1541-1564).
CALVIN BELIEVED IN RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
The outstanding work of Calvin, from a practical point of view, was his
municipal dictatorship in the city of Geneva. The literature on the subject
is exhaustive. Striking instances of discipline in Geneva are these:
A man was banished from the city for three months because he heard an ass
bray and said jestingly, "He prays a beautiful Psalm."
Three men who had laughed during a sermon were imprisoned for three days.
Three children were punished because they remained outside of a church to
eat some cakes.
A child was whipped publicly for calling his mother a thief.
A girl who struck her parents was beheaded.
A person was imprisoned for four days because he wanted to call his child
Claude (the name of a Catholic saint) instead of Abraham.
It can be seen from the above that many of the persecutions which John
Calvin endured were not for "well doing" (1 Peter 2:15): they were for
carrying on like a fool engaged in trying to "bring in his Kingdom."
In Geneva, a secret police was forged under the name of The Consistory.
Every home was compulsorily examined and searched. The City was divided into
districts and committees of the Consistory were empowered to search and
interrogate all residents without previous notice. Attendance at public
worship was commanded and watchmen were directed to see that people went to
church. The one thing that Calvin did not endorse was religious liberty.
From 1541 to 1546, John Calvin caused 58 people to be executed and seventy
six were exiled. His victims ranged in age from 16 to 80. The most common
capital offense was the opposition to infant baptism. Today, baptism only
for accountable believers, is a Baptist distinctive. In Calvin's time it was
punished either by drowning, a drawn out and slow burning at the stake, or
beheading. All this was done in public, with city residents compelled to
watch the butchery. The executions were spaced out so as to exert a
continuing policy of fear and terror. Others were killed for advocating
local church autonomy; opposing the tie-in of church and state: and
preaching that Christ died for all sinners (unlimited atonement). Press
censorship continued in Geneva until the eighteenth century.
THE KILLING OF MICHAEL SERVETUS
It is Servetus1 religious views that we are now concerned with, for that is
what got him killed. He was premillennial and rejected Calvin's doctrine of
predestination. So far so good. Servetus was also strongly anti-Catholic. He
referred to the Mass as "a Satanic monstrosity and an invention of demons."
To these sentiments the Reformers could agree. So what was the problem with
Servetus? His trouble was twofold: rejection of infant baptism and holding
unorthodox views of the Trinity.
According to Servetus, infant baptism was "a doctrine of the Devil, an
invention of popery, and a total subversion of Christianity." He wrote two
letters to Calvin on adult baptism and exhorted him to follow his example.
The marginal, notes against infant baptism that Servetus wrote in Calvin's
Institutes were used as evidence against him during his trial. Servetus
admitted at his trial that he had referred to infant baptism as a "
diabolical invention and infernal falsehood destructive of Christianity."
Regarding the Trinity, Servetus was not a Unitarian but had a strange view
of the Trinity in a great measure peculiar to himself. Now although Servetus
' Trinitarian views were not orthodox; they were by no means criminal.
Calvin wrote in a letter, "Servetus lately wrote to me... He takes it upon
him to come hither, if it be agreeable to me. But I am unwilling to pledge
my word for his safety, for if he shall come, I shall never permit him to
depart alive, provided my authority be of any avail."
While in Geneva, Servetus made the mistake of attending church on Sunday
where he was recognized and arrested. It was on Calvin's information to the
magistracy that Servetus was put in prison, which fact Calvin did not deny.
The trial lasted over two months and Calvin himself drew up a document of
thirty-nine accusations against Servetus.
On the way to the stake, Servetus besought God to pardon his accusers. On
account of the use of green oak-wood, Servetus suffered for half an hour.
His last words were: "Jesus Christ, thou Son of the eternal God, have mercy
on me!" At twelve noon on October 27, 1553, Servetus passed into his eternal
destiny. Nine years afterward, Calvin still justified his actions.
The strongest recorded statement from Calvin on the Servetus affair is a
1561 letter from Calvin to the Marquis Paet, high chamberlain to the King of
Navarre, in which he says intolerantly:
"Honour, glory, and riches shall be the reward of your pains; but above all,
do not fail to rid the country of those scoundrels, who stir up the people
to revolt against us. Such monsters should be exterminated, as I have
exterminated Michael Servetus the Spaniard."
The respected Lutheran historian, Mosheim (1694-1755), judged in favor of
Servetus. The historian Gibbon remarked: "he was more deeply scandalized at
the single execution of Servetus than at the hecatombs which have blazed in
the Auto da Fes of Spain and Portugal. The zeal of Calvin seems to have been
envenomed by personal malice, and perhaps envy."
A man who would burn another man at the stake for disagreeing with him
doctrinally is not a man to be emulated or followed or admired.
WHAT DID CALVIN BELIEVE?
Calvin's Institutes just what it is claimed to be: a Protestant Reformed
theology. If you want to know the truth about baptism, the Church,
dispensations, the Millennium, or the Second Coming of Christ: don't waste
your time looking for them in Calvin's Institutes. One of the few books in
the Bible that Calvin never wrote a commentary on was the Book of Revelation
- he acknowledged that he couldn't understand it.
The Reformed Faith is an amalgamation of biblical Christianity, Roman
Catholicism, and allegorical speculations. When Loraine Boettner wrote his
book The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, he told the plain truth: "
predestination in the Calvinistic system is a Reformed doctrine just like
the Catholic Mass is a Catholic doctrine."
THE HARM DONE BY CALVINISM HERESY
Among Baptists, the Five Points of Calvinism are often called the "Doctrines
of Grace" to remove the stigma of being associated with the baby-sprinkling
John Calvin.
In dealing with the Five Points of Calvinism, It is certainly fitting that
five is the number of death, so the Five Points of Calvinism will kill
anything near it. Just as it takes no keen intellect to see that five is the
biblical number of death, so no insight is necessary, other than an ability
to read the Bible, to see the flagrant perversion that the Five Points of
Calvinism make of Holy Scripture. Satan, the angel of death is the fifth
cherub (Ezek 28:14) and has the power of death (Heb 2:14). The first man
dies in Genesis 5:5. In Acts 5:5, Ananias dies after being asked five
questions about his sin ("The wages of sin is death" [Rom 6:23]). Paul was
whipped five times (2 Cor 11:24). Jesus Christ had five wounds. In
Revelation chapter five, we see the Lamb that was slain (Rev 5). During the
Tribulation, locusts will torment men for five months (Rev 9:5) until they
seek death (Rev 9:6). When the fifth seal was opened, John saw under the
altar the souls of them that were slain (Rev 6:9). There were five men
stoned in the Bible that died. The "sin unto death" is in First John chapter
five. The greatest chapter in the Bible on death, describing two men whose
deaths affected billions of people, is Romans chapter five.
The Five Points of Calvinism are the sum and substance of the Calvinistic
system: it is the distinguishing mark which separates Calvinists from all
other Christians. This is stated in no uncertain terms by the Calvinists
themselves. Boettner says, "The Calvinistic system especially emphasizes
five distinct doctrines. These are technically known as the Five Points of
Calvinism, and they are the main pillar on which the superstructure rests."
Calvinism goes into a realm of human philosophy. It is NOT a Bible doctrine,
but a system of human philosophy appealing somewhat to the proud mind.
Consider first that what we are discussing is called "Calvinism." Dr.
Loraine Boettner says, "It was Calvin who wrought out this system of
theological thought with such logical clearness and emphasis that it has
ever since borne his name". How strange that, after 1,400 years of
Christianity, practically no one had understood the Bible to teach Calvin's
doctrine of predestination until he formed the philosophy! What a strangely
hidden doctrine, that New Testament Christians could go for nearly for 1400
years until the days of the reformers, when Calvin developed the doctrine
fully. It is obvious that great groups of Christians have always found
salvation by grace in the Bible. The Bible is very clear on that. It is also
clear on every other great doctrine.
A doctrine cannot be unscriptural without doing actual harm. God's way is
right; man's way is wrong. And when the doctrine on the matter of salvation
is wrong, it is certain to hinder the cause of Christ. So the human
philosophy of Calvinism, the doctrine that every detailed event that happens
in all the world was foreordained of God and had to happen, every sin was
ordained of God, every act of a Christian or of a sinner, and that everyone
was either foreordained to be saved before he was born, without having any
free choice in the matter, or was damned without any possibility of his
being saved-that doctrine is hurtful and has done great harm to the cause of
Christ.
CALVINISTS ACTUALLY HINDER AND OPPOSE SOUL WINNING
If it seems shocking to accuse any group of opposing Gospel preaching and
hindering soul winning, a little thought here will show that Calvinists must
inevitably oppose soul-winning activities of those who try to get every
sinner to repent, of those who offer salvation freely as purchased on
Calvary for every person.
One shocking example deals with a Baptist preacher who could easily preach
two hours on predestination, but his own grown sons were unconverted, and
the father was not only totally indifferent about that matter, but insisted
that no one else should try to win them to Christ.
Of course there will be exceptions. Some people who are Calvinists do love
Christ in their hearts and so feel His moving of concern for sinners. And
most Calvinists will profess that they believe in the preaching of the
Gospel to all the world. But in actual practice. Calvinism cuts the nerve of
soul winning on the foreign mission field as it does at home.
Did a great foreign mission program arise through the teaching and preaching
of John Calvin? Many Calvinists will regret this fact. But the simple truth
is that today those most active and most burdened about soul winning on the
foreign field among Presbyterians are not those who believe in Calvin's
doctrine of predestination. In fact, nine out of ten Presbyterians do not
believe it, and the great mission program of Presbyterians was not built by
Calvinists.
As the Wesleyan revival spread in England, of course it affected many others
besides Methodists and many besides Arminians. Most of the Bible-believing,
soul-winning Christians in the world are NOT Arminian. But very few soul
winners are unreserved Calvinists. Calvinism does not produce a passion for
soulwinning.
Calvinism appeals to those who think that it is the only answer to
Arminianism. There are very many Christians that are soulwinners, love God,
seek the salvation of the lost and yet ARE NEITHER Calvinists nor Arminian.
BIBLE DOCTRINES SHOW THAT CALVINISM IS MORALLY IMPOSSIBLE
God could not predestinate one to do right and another to do wrong, one to
be saved and one to be lost. Those who believe that God predestined some
people to be saved by God's coercive grace, and that others are predestined
to be lost and cannot be saved because of God's deliberate choice, are
foolishly wrong. They are wrong in having a doctrine that goes totally
against so many emphatic Scripture statements inviting all to be saved,
showing that Christ died for all, that God is not willing that any should
perish. The Bible pictures man as a free moral agent capable of choice, he
is morally responsible.
There is the nature of man as it is pictured in the Bible and as it actually
exists. God breathed into Adam's nostrils and he "became a living soul." He
was made in the image of God. And what is this about man that is God-like?
He is a reasoning creature with a moral responsibility, a conscience toward
right and wrong, with the freedom of choice in right and wrong. The simple
truth is that men can make a computer which can go through complicated
mental processes of adding, subtracting, remembering, judging, hundreds of
times faster than man can do it! But the computer has no will, no conscience
of right or wrong. Hence it has no personality. It lacks the God-given
moral nature of man.
Why did God allow Adam and Eve to fall, and so bring a curse on the whole
human race? It was inherent in the kind of being that God created; man must
be allowed to choose. But knowing man sometimes would choose wrongly, God
planned with His Son before the world began to offer an atonement for the
salvation of sinning men! So Christ is "the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world." | l*****a
发帖数: 38403 | | s***u
发帖数: 1911 | 3 Calvinism is wrong
owed
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【在 j*******u 的大作中提到】
: CALVIN BELIEVED IN INFANT BAPTISM
: Calvin said, "Baptism is properly administered to infants is something owed
: to them."
: CALVIN BELIEVED IN SACRAMENTS EQUAL TO GOD'S WORD
: "Therefore, let it be regarded as a settled principle that the sacraments
: have the same office as the Word of God: to offer and set forth Christ to us
: , and in him the treasures of heavenly grace."
: CALVIN BELIEVED IN AMILLENNIALISM AND WAS AGAINST PREMILLENNIALISM
: Calvin said, "But a little later there followed the Chiliasts, who limited
: the reign of Christ to a 1000 years. Now their fiction is too childish
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