Calvinism Revisited

The words jumped off the age at me. Affirming words of confirmation! 

“You are of eternal worth.”

Okay in order for you to get a better sense of why these five amazing words are so significant for me let me digress a bit.

The year was 1978. I had just entered my first year if seminary and was settling in for a long three years plus of academic preparation for pastoral ministry. Then it happened: I met the guy who introduced me to a brand of the Christian faith known as Calvinism.

What I remember about him the most is that he was so sure of what he believed. His doctrinal system was constructed on the Calvinists acronym TULIP (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints).

The TULIP is a neat little acronym that represents the five points of Calvinism. 

I became what I call a half-baked Calvinist when I look back on my experience. I became a believer in some parts of Calvinism while also feeling really uneasy with other parts. 

I guess I was an ambivalent Calvinist for a long time. 

I happily embraced the Preservation of the Saints part of the TULIP, also known as the once-saved-always-saved understanding of salvation. But I was taught this from an early age in my former Baptist tradition, so this was nothing new for me.

Yet I could never quite swallow the idea that Jesus died only for the elect, or the saved. That just didn’t make any sense to me no matter how much my friend insisted that it did or how many Scripture verses he used to support this belief.

Does God have the right to choose whomever He wishes? Well I kind of suspended judgment on this, believing that God can do whatever He wishes to do. 

But does he?

Is Grace so irresistible that humans can’t say “no” to God? 

Whatever happened to the notion of free will?

Most Christians do not concern themselves with such theological intricacies as the TULIP! They love God and feel loved by God and that’s all that really matters, as well it should.

But the part of Calvinism that is relevant for this article is the Total Depravity part. 

The idea that we humans are totally depraved is taken to the extreme in many Calvinistic belief systems. Churchgoers are bombarded each Sunday with messages telling them how depraved, sinful, and wretched they are or how there is absolutely nothing good in them, producing incredible amounts of personal guilt.

Those who believe in Total Depravity insist that unsaved people can do no good because they are so corrupted by Sin.

So who wants to get beat up with such horrific messages each Sunday? Who wants to sit in church for an hour and sing hymns and listen to liturgies and sermons telling folks how sinful they are and all they have to do is say some formulaic prayer and suddenly their lives become meaningful to God?

Or who wants to pray a prayer of confession each and every Sunday? I thought Jesus’ death on the Cross took care of my sins?

“You are of eternal worth.”

What if each and every life really does matter?

Well actually each and every life does matter to God and is of incredible value to Him. How can I make this claim?

Because the method God uses to measure the value of every living human is grace! This is so different from the ways we humans measure value in other human lives.

So when I attend church now I prefer to hear a message espousing how blessed we are, whether we are saved or not. I want to worship a God who is big enough to value each and every person sitting in that place of worship. I want a God who values all people, including people from other faith traditions (yes even Muslims).

Yes we are of eternal worth to God. Each of us is created in God’s image and we have this incredible potential to live our lives as God intends for them to be lived. No magic prayers necessary, no denominational criteria required, no churchy hoops to jump through, and no belief systems to embrace.

Your value to God is not in what brand of Christianity you profess, or what political party you support, or what nation you pledge allegiance to, or what the color of your skin is, or on what part of the economic ladder you currently are, or how much education you have, or whether you live in a gated community or in government subsidized housing.

Your value is grounded in the unconditional love and grace of God. 

Period!

Trust God for the value you possess in the His eyes.