The Confidence of Choice

Calvinism's great appeal is its theology about the sovereignty of G-d and the security we have in his saving grace. The way Calvin frames salvation is both its attraction and its weakness. According to Calvin, we are depraved human beings incapable of being good on our own. Our confidence in salvation is the way G-d works to our change our hearts from being depraved to being good. And we can be secure in our salvation because G-d has chosen us. Knowing our own weakness and depending on G-d for grace expresses a certain humility that is very good, and I agree with the basics.

However, the draw backs I see are that Calvin's G-d is a wrathful G-d, ready to destroy anyone who is not chosen. Calvin's view of G-d creates an undercurrent of fear that I don't believe is dispelled by generous grace given to the chosen. Especially since the only confident knowledge one can obtain of being chosen is the changes that G-d makes in the chosen one's heart. Fear can change people's actions, but it closes down the heart. If I am in continual fear, I am less likely to be open to a loving relationship which is the whole purpose of salvation. If I am in fear, I am more likely to hold onto my shame, which is what G-d's grace is suppose to remove. If fear motivated changes, then there is doubt that G-d's grace is in my life and that I really do have salvation. If I fail to see changes in my life that I expect or that someone else expects, then the failure creates doubt in my salvation or election, which leads to further fear. So the fear creates doubts that the security of G-d's sovereign election is suppose to alleviate.

This view of a wrathful G-d is part of Calvin's understanding of total depravity. While the purpose of Calvin's doctrine of total depravity is to elevate the beneficent and omnipotence of G-d, he does so by minimizing the value of human beings. The view that humans as totally depraved is one that is full of self loathing and shame. And instead of emphasizing G-d's goodness and power, the doctrine elevates the power of sin or the devil to that of G-d by making sin able to undo the good G-d created within us.

The shame is further compounded by helplessness because Calvin refuses to acknowledge that humans have the ability to choose. Without the ability to choose we become mere puppets or robots responding to stimuli. Neither puppets nor robots are responsible for their actions but their creator or manipulator is. If humans are not able to choose then either our creator is responsible for our sin which by definition of G-d is not possible, or the devil is and thus becomes as powerful as G-d which is also not true. If a person is responsible then they had to have had a choice to begin with. Calvin puts his followers in a double bind by giving them responsibility for their sin, but disallowing them the power to do anything about their sin. In denying our ability to choose, he is also denying our ability to love because foundational to the ability to love is the ability to choose. We failed to love G-d when we chose to eat the forbidden fruit. Jesus commends us to show our love to him by choosing to act according to his direction.

In contrast to Calvin, the Bible tells me I am a good creation. In Romans, Paul talks about how sin enslaves us, but our slavery does not undermine the original goodness G-d made. Instead it is like a trap or entanglement that ties one up so one can't swim and therefore drowns. Paul goes on further and talks about the power of G-d to transform the consequences of sin into something for good. So not only does G-d make us originally good, but he takes the entanglement of sin and turns it into something good as well. This power of G-d to work in us, to transform our lives, has to do with the choices we make to follow him.

The Bible speaks to me of a loving G-d who will go to any lengths to express his love and forgiveness for his creation. It speaks to me of a G-d who empowers me to do right, but does not overpower my choice to do wrong. I can have the confidence that G-d grace will flow through my life as long as I am choosing to follow him whatever mistakes I might make. I know I am forgiven and no longer have to hold onto my shame because I feel his love. And it is his love that frees my heart from shame and motivates the changes in my heart. Even when I feel his absence, I can rest on his saving promises because I know I am choosing to do what he commands me to. The freedom from shame allows me to open my heart to his revelation. By knowing my own heart and choices I am free from doubt. By opening my heart to his revelation, I can know who G-d made me to be, I can choose through his power to live into all the good that he made in me.