Charles Pogue
Every tenet of the sad system of Calvinism is 100 percent in conflict with the natures of God, man, sin, salvation, and with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God is no respecter of Person (Acts 10:34-35). Thus, unconditional election is false. Anyone can come to salvation (Rev. 22:17). Therefore, the doctrine of the limited atonement is error. Man chooses to obey God or rebel against Him (2 The. 1:8- 9). Consequently, irresistible grace is against the truth of God. Sin is the transgression of the law of God (1 John 3:4), so, since an infant cannot transgress the law of God, they are not born in a depraved condition.
Over the past thirty or forty years much error, including Calvinistic error has crept into the churches of Christ. Some, for instance, claim that once a person has obeyed Christ, that he no longer has free will, but no will at all! Unless we miss our guess, sprinkling them with rose petals and calling it a baby dedication is a mere half step from sprinkling them with water and calling it infant baptism.
Calvinism is having success without any help from those who know it is a false system. We must make sure that our interpretation of Scripture does not assist the proponents of Calvinism or even imply that Calvinism may be true. The devil has enslaved enough people in that error without any help from us.
Consider, for instance, Romans 5:12. Brethren have debated over whether the “death” in this Romans passage refers to physical death or spiritual death. Those who insist that Adam and Eve died spiritually when they sinned in the garden, hold that Romans 5:12 refers to spiritual death. Romans 5:12 states: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Notice that the death that entered into the world and passes unto all men was the consequence of the sin of one man, Adam. If the death that passes to all men as the result of Adam’s sin is spiritual death, then all are born spiritually dead, the Calvinist is right, and we should accept infant baptism. But the death, Paul refers to is physical, not spiritual death. Verses 13 and 14 bolster this interpretation.
Someone asks why did Adam and Eve not die the day they ate the forbidden fruit? Genesis 2:17 says, “in the day” they ate they would die, not on the day. In other words, in the day Adam ate of the fruit, the consequences came into effect, not that he would die in that twenty-four hour period. Calvinism is a deadly doctrine with widespread acceptance without incorrect interpretations giving them support.
