'An Independent Baptist Church'

   TULIP (5pt Calvinism)

Is the Theological system known as 'Calvinism' or 'TULIP' as held by Presbyterians, Reformed Churches, and Primitive 'hardshell' Baptists CORRECT according to the Bible?

We do not believe so.  This Theological system is summarized by 5 points known as TULIP and we believe all 5 points of this TULIP or 'Calvinism' as taught by John Calvin ARE WRONG.

Here is a summary of these points of TULIP:

(1) TOTAL INABILITY - This is wrong. The Bible DOES teach TOTAL DEPRAVITY...that is, that all men are lost, unable to save themselves, and unable to come to Christ on their own...WITHOUT the drawing power of the Holy Spirit ENABLING them to come to Christ!  However, Calvinism's TOTAL INABILITY as taught by John Calvin says that only the ELECT are given the ability to come to Christ, while some people (those who are not ELECTED by God in times past) are not even able to come to Christ!  This is NOT true!  All people have been given the ability to come to Christ if they only WILL...because the verse below shows that the Holy Spirit gives every person the chance to come to Christ if they only will!

(John 6:44)  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

(John 12:32)
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

(2) UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION - This is wrong. John Calvin says in his Institutes, Book III, chapter 23, 

   "...Not all men are created with similar destiny but eternal life is foreordained for some, and eternal damnation for others.  Every man, therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say, he is predestined either to life or to death."

The Bible does not teach that God DETERMINES a person's salvation or damnation BEFORE that person is even born!  It is not true that God in His Sovereign Will and Choice 'elects' some people who will be given the ability from the Holy Spirit to respond and come to Christ, while others He 'passes over' and does not 'elect'..thus they will never be given the ability from the Holy Spirit's drawing convicting power to respond and come to Christ!  The Bible declares anyone who wants to come to Christ can come to Him!

(Romans 10:13) For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

(Revelation 22:17) And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Now it is true that God in His FOREKNOWLEDGE knew ahead of time, in times past, who would trust Christ and who would not, and those who would trust Christ when they were alive on earth. 

He already termed them as the 'ELECT'.

And those who trusted Christ as Savior, God 'PREDESTINED' or 'predetermined' that these would be, eventually, like Jesus someday, when we all get to heaven!  Just remember that God's 'predestination' always refers to believers and deals only with people who are saved...It never in the Bible refers to unsaved people.  It deals with the Believer's blessings!  Never in the Bible do we see God PREDESTINE someone to hell!  It always  refers to what special things await the believer!

(1 Peter 1:2) Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

(Romans 8:29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

God is not willing that ANY should perish!

(2 Peter 3:9) 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.

(3) LIMITED ATONEMENT  This is wrong.  By this, Calvin taught that Jesus died ONLY for the ELECT, but the Bible clearly teaches that Christ died for the sins of the whole world....saved and unsaved, the elect and those who are not the elect!

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

(John 1:29) The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Jesus died for EVERYBODY!  His death was sufficient for ALL... but EFFICIENT only for those who TRUST Jesus as Savior!

(4) IRRESISTIBLE GRACE - This is wrong. By this, Calvin taught that those who are 'called' to be saved ...will respond and be saved ...and cannot RESIST!  This is why Presbyterian/Reformed Calvinistic Churches do not have altar calls, revivals, or personal Soulwinning where they urge or compel people to be saved.  They believe the 'elect' will be saved anyway, and the NON-ELECT have no choice in the matter..they can't be saved, because, remember, God 'passed them by' and the Holy Spirit does not 'draw' them and enable them to come to Christ! Thus, they believe there is no need then for altar calls and revivals. That is what Calvinism teaches and it is not right. The Bible does not teach that type of thing.  People CAN resist God's grace when it is offered!

(Matthew 23:37) O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

(John 6:40) 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

(5) PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS - This is wrong.  We are saved and kept eternally secure...once saved, always saved...because of what Jesus did at Calvary!  It is not because of our 'perseverance' which Webster defines as 'our persistent effort'!  Friends, we do not make it to heaven because of our perseverance or persistant effort, but because of what Jesus did at Calvary.  It is a free gift, not by our effort of persevering!  The Bible does not teach the 'Perseverance of the Saints' but it does teach the "Preservation by the Saviour"!!!

(Psalms 37:28) For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

We are saved because of what Jesus did...not because of what we do from now on!

(Hebrews 10:14) For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

In fact,the Bible teaches that many Christians will not 'persevere' and stay faithful to the Lord!  Some will backslide morally, others doctrinally! The Bible says some will go 'shipwreck' in the faith; others will 'err' from the faith; some will 'deny' the faith; and these passages are all talking about Christians!  The Bible even speaks of those who persist in a backslidden state to the point that God calls them home through premature death!

(1 Corinthians 11:30) For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

Now if EVERY believer persevered as Calvin taught, we would not have this situation where God just calls erring believers home through premature death!  We would not have the 'Sin unto Death' for believers as taught in 1 John 5 and James 5!

(1 John 5:16) If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

(James 5:19,20) Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

I believe all 5 points of Calvinism are WRONG. I worry about  any movement with a man's name behind it!  Stick to the Bible itself!  Calvinism is a deadly, I believe, Satanic teaching that kills evangelism of the lost!  It is a deadly teaching from hell that does not give altar calls, or hold revivals to win the lost, or compel people to come and be saved!