What Does Calvinism Really Teach?

Even if God was not real. We still have limited free will. Sure we can make choices, but 100% of our choices are determined by factors. Sure, there is a complexity to all the things that influencing our decisions, genetics, environmental factors, how you learn to think and so on. But if you could predict and trace every influence, you could know the end of a person's life from the beginning, including everything they will say or think.

Being destined to die to go either here or there doesn't line up with scripture. For God so loved the world that he sent his only son, that "whoever" believes in him shall "not perish" but have "everlasting life". Or. "And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." So man clearly has some freewill choices to make here. Also, I don't think God, at my earnest request, would turn me into a God loving robot for the sake of saving my soul, don't think it works like that. It's coming to the realization that we flat out need his grace, for without it we are all lost.

If one subscribes to both: (1) double predestination in their theology and (2) a social contract involving the rule of an absolute sovereign in their political philosophy, does this mean that they are a follower of Calvin & Hobbes?

I’m sure since Hank has transitioned to orthodoxy he would answer this question very differently now. Calvinism is not an in house debate. It’s a direct assault on the goodness and nature of God. Calvinism makes God the author of evil and He gets great pleasure in doing so. This is very twisted and not orthodox Christian understanding of the nature of God. Read the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Calvinism is modern day Gnosticism.

That if you are not elected. You are doomed. The elect are the 144,000 from Israel. They say you cannot knock at the door and be accepted. Yet God says. All who knock. I will answer.

WHY NO ANSWER. YOU HAVE CHANGE SINCE WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG. NO RAPTURE FOR FOR YOU ANYMORE.. HOW ABOUT SINCE YOU BELIEVE IN CALVINISM NOW N GOD CONTROLS WHATSOEVER , WILL GOD MAKE A CHRISTIAN SIN? GOD IS HOLY HOLY HOLY .JESUS TOLD THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY---GO SIN NO MORE

PLEASE SHOW ME A VERSE THAT CLEARLY SHOWS GOD MAKES A CHRISTIAN TO SIN. IF U ARE WRONG THAT IS CALLED BLASPHEME.

The principal of Calvinism is not something you study and choose to be! It’s something you become after much study.. Calvinism is not a doctrine but rather a level of understanding that puts man under the sovereignty of God not God subservient to man’s Will.

This would be an intriguing idea to show an atheist or any other religious follower

God does not want ANYONE to perish! NUFF said!

Calvinism is Greek philosophy brought in by Augustine and plastered over scripture. It’s the most presuppositional man-made doctrine out there.

I like the equivocation and agree it's an inhouse debate. Personally I think Calvinism is repugnant.

The irony of Calvinism, is that in seeking to maximise God's Glory by its 'overkill' view of human inability and depravity, it actually depreciates it.

Yes without God we cannot know God.
God in Christ did what we could never have done, and without His grace we would all die in our sin. But the 'ins and outs' of how the Lord initially and undeniably reveals Himself to us within the personal story of our individual lives (often through no effort of our own), differs from person to person, and ultimately remains a mystery: an unresolved tension between Divine Sovereignty and human free will within a coplex universe.

But faith comes by hearing... and hearing by the word of God.

What is clear, is that God does not unilaterally and arbitrarily choose some to heaven... and some to hell.

We are depraved... But not totally
(we bare His Image)
Our election is conditional
(upon our response of trust 'In Christ')
Christ died for all equally
(He represented all of humanity)
We may resist His grace
(even almost irrisistablly powerful grace)
We must persevere to the end
(Salvation is not a 'thing'... But a Person)

Though the godly use of our will and our constant choice to repent (as believers inspired and enabled by the constant influence of Divine Grace of course), we clearly have 'a part' to play on our journey of salvation. This 'cooperation' (Gk: synergeia) is as clear a teaching of Paul's as any other, and actually brings maximum joy to the heart of our Creator - In Who's Image we are made. This cooperation also being clear in both the entirity of Scripture, and in our daily experience of faith.

We are not saved / justified by the works of the Law. Neither by our own good works outside of the pure Gift of His Grace. But we are not "justified by faith alone" (James 2:24). We travel on the path of righteousness by the outworking of our faith (sourced in the faithfulness of Christ) - through love. We work out what He works in, and in so doing, we do not "drift" and "ignore" our great salvation - Christ our true life - in Whom we are to be "found".

God is our 'prize' !

We are saved by grace, through faith, in Christ, and are "created to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to walk in". We will all be judged according to our works because what we do with our minds is what we end up doing with our bodies (we are not 'dualists' - we are soul and body united). What we DO (or not) with what He has DONE (the finished work) - how we cooperated (or not) with His Spirit, will be clearly shown and known on that day.

What did we really want ?
How did we treat His gracious treasure ?
He alone gives us the desire for Himself !
But it is possible to lose it.

"Not everyone who says to Me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom... but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven".

God does not 'force', He inspires and draws and guides us. To all who receive Him, to those who believe in His name, He gives power / the right to become sons of God, and from that point on, He (apart from Whom we can do nothing of any eternal worth) continues to give us His
power as we "Partake of the divine nature".

"For those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God"

"Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked; a man reaps what he sows: the one who seeks to please the flesh, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who seeks to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life"

"For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live"

"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life"

"IF you remain in Me, and I in you"
"IF My word abides in you"
"IF you eat My flesh and drink My blood"
"IF you continue in your faith... not moved from the hope held out in the Gospel"

And so, as obedient children who are in the process of learning and growing up into Him Who is our Salvation, WE "choose life"; WE "work out our salvation with fear and trembling"; WE "build ourselves up in our most holy faith" and "offer our bodies as a living sacrifice" IN RESPONSE TO THE ONE WHO FIRST LOVED US. (we cooperate) "for it is God Who works in us - to will and to do, according to His purpose" "as we wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life"

We must "abide".
Simply keep the connection.
Trust and obey.

We are not eternally secure, untill we are securely in eternity

Call and response... Call and response... Call and response...

Isiah 45:7 and proverbs 16:4 sorry calvins on to something

Is it the best thing for God to do to create people who are predestined to go to Hell? Or were we better off not existing? If God truly wants to be good, he has to do what is best for everyone.

Many are called, few are chosen.

Calvinism is a cult.

As an Orthodox this is not an issue/problem of Orthodoxy. Calvin could only impose his own papist-like interpretation of Holy Scripture apart from Holy Tradition through the egg that Rome laid: Protestantism.

Peter said, "No Scripture is of private interpretation," and yet Calvin after Calvin responds to this video with ,"Calvin," was onto something and the like. Yeah..and the same was said by the followers of Arius, Nestorius, Apollinaris, Dioscorus, etc... the list goes on throughout the subsequent years and centuries. These men were all condemned as heretics and so is John Calvin. His teaching like all of denominationalism is, and sadly, outside of Holy Tradition and has precipitated a seemly never ending fragmentation because they are continuing in trying to "reform," or "define," what The Church is Dogmatically in its Catholicity. There is a movement that is shaking Protestantism especially in this current religious and political quagmire that has upon the whole world. Many are longing for Truth and they are researching and going back to the beginning and they are finding out about The Orthodox Church that has the Fullness of Faith: Unbroken and Unchanged, keeping The Traditions that were handed down by The Apostles and living out that Faith in holiness and faithfulness in hope faith and love with fear and trembling. I've been in fellowship with quite a few former Calvinists who are coming home to the One True Holy Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church!! I look forward to celebrating with them!

As a provisionist, I find that a LOT of Calvinists and Arminian’s ARE divisive over it and get hateful about it. (Looking at James white)

I agree that Calvinism is a cult. They are modern day Pharasies. White washed tombs. No fruit of the Spirit. In fact they grieve the Spirit with their constant condemnation of anyone who ever called themselves a Christian. Including Dr Martin luther king. I listened to this show and this poor man called and was practically crying because he backslid and thought he was never really called or saved ever. Calvinist hate the parable of the prodigal son. Or of Luke 12:42. There are 4 different outcomes. Calvinist will get the SEVERE Beating. BTW. I AM A ROMAN CATHOLIC. 😛

Hank Hanigraff has since gone into false gospel of Greek Orthodox Church

Unfortunately this “in-house debate“ has allowed Calvinism to take over the church. Calvinism should not be an in-house debate because it is actually another gospel in another God. I was a calvinist for 17 years and my life was flipped upside down when I realized I had been missed lead for that long. The Bible open my eyes to the truth and that is that God creates all with hope for eternal life and offers it to anyone who believes not just a select special few. This changes the character of God as well as the work of Jesus because he died for the whole world not just for those select few. It is not an in-house debate everyone to stop just settling for that! We must proclaim the accurate character of God to the world and the accurate work of Jesus to the world!

What debate is Hank referring to.... who debated who ?

More like, “What did John Calvin really believe?”
“No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief.” - John Calvin
The Synod of Dort was 54 years after John Calvin’s death!

So where's the debate? If they teach people are predestined to be in hell before they were born, what makes them think they won't end up there even after getting to heaven? The very thought of a god who claims to be love, gets kicks out of sending people to hell just for existing, is obviously not a god anyone can trust at anytime... PERIOD! The whole notion of the teaching advocates god as a evil being. Perhaps Lucifer didn't rebel at all then?... it was God who decided for him before he was created, yet kicked him out anyways? This shouldn't even be debatable AT ALL, otherwise the point of Jesus sacrifice was for nothing but for needless pain and suffering. It's stuff like this that actually KEEPS people from believing and go their own ways. Many of todays so-called christians, are not only stupid, but add to the evil they claim they're against... go figure? Just when you think people can't be anymore hypocritical here comes calvinism... a teaching obviously straight from hell itself.

The LORD has made everything for His own purpose even the wicked for the day of doom. Proverbs 16:4. WOW!

When it comes to Calvinism people hate it, because they think God is unfair, people hate that God does what he wants. When you read the scriptures it isn't that hard to see it there, people just don't like it, so they'll gather people around them or teachers to try to help them feel better, because they don't want a God that chooses who he will save and who he will not! We just can't stomach it that God isn't what WE want or think he should be!

Was the questioned answered?

If my Salvation were up to me, I would have lost it shorty after becoming a believer✝️🩸🙏🏻❤️.

Hank didn't answer the question...!

Where are these verses? They dont exist. He's quoting Calvin.

Calvinism produces such groups as Westboro Baptist and folks like it, I can certainly have no fellowship with such.

I know a lot of Calvinist’s who divide over this unfortunately

well then , in view of the fact that Calvin was a murderer and in all probability never saw the error in his actions where must we assume his soul resides?

The parable of the tares and the wheat reveals to us the mystery of predestination. Calvin was right, of course. And God's words, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated strengthen the view of original predestination.

Calvinism is NOT part of the Body of Christianity as it mischaracterizes God and turns him from a loving father, who wants that none should perish to a demon who created billions of souls that he never had any intention of offering Salvation. To say that it is not a point of division is absurd. This is a doctrine of devils and needs to be called out as such.

I totally agree with Alana

If i was going n love with someone snd he didnt love me, if i forced him to love me that wouldnt be love.

Calvanist are right up there with athiest scientist. The believe there is no free will also.

What if one of the people you love like your son ir daughter was predestinef to hell. How you feel about that?

It’s really not an in house debate. There’s only one holy Catholic and apostolic Church, and that doesn’t include those outside of Orthodoxy. Calvinism is contrary to the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church’s Tradition, which includes Scripture.

I don't have a problem understanding that some people are doomed to go to hell, "no matter what they do". An individual decides to accept Jesus or not, but God knows beforehand how he will decide. God sees human history like it's spread out on a table. He sees the beginning, the end and everything inbetween at the same time. He is eternal and doesn't live in time like man does. So he knows (or has preordained) who will be saved and who not, if you put it that way.

Dont have fun

As a non-theist, I can particularly appreciate Calvinism, and I grasp the potentially inexorable reality that I myself have more than likely been predestined for damnation from the beginning. I will still be open to religion, as I always have been, in case I am wrong about that, but it certainly helps to understand why many of us can never seem to ‘find” God, despite genuinely looking. 🤷🏼‍♂️🪦🔥

The Calviniist view that Christ died only for the elect is heresy. Christ died for every human being. The Gospel is Good News--not just for a select group of people. Christians who believe that Chr ist died only for the elect may still be Christians, but they are terribly mistaken. They preach another Gospel.

How is making God the author of evil an in-house debate. What could be worse than making God into something the isn't. If God is the author of evil we are all in trouble.

It is an "in-house" debate if the house is one on the edge of an eroding cliff. Praise God that Hank found his way to Orthodoxy, away from that house on the sand and toward the rock.

Fun facts about Calvinism....
Fun Fact #1. Calvinism is not biblical. Calvinism denies Scriptural Authority. I was a Calvinist for over 20 years who followed all of the biggest false teachers of Calvinism-Sproul, McArthur, Piper, etc. I was 100% convinced that Calvinism was true, and that Calvinism and Scripture were perfectly harmonized. Since then, I have discovered that Calvinism contradicts the Scriptures at every TULIP point and contradicts Calvinism's distinctive teachings. Under scriptural authority it can be proved with 100% certainty that Calvinism is false. It is a dangerous heresy because it has another god, another christ, and another gospel.

Historically, Calvinism is rooted in Maniachian Gnosticism, Pelagian presuppositions of free will, and Augustinian views of predestination and election. It is a man-centered religion, a religion of pagan philosophy, the traditions of man, and embodies the spirit of antichrist. It has absolutely nothing to do with biblical Christianity. Calvinism is in fact a spiritual parasite that uses biblical Christianity as it's host, and it cannot survive without biblical Christianity.

Calvinism is a wicked and demonic heresy that perverts the very character and nature of God and turns God into a narcissistic, psychopathic monster that controls everything, makes man a puppet without free will, creates moral evil, and casts human beings into Hell for all eternity for no reason whatsoever except for the Calvinist god's own pleasure and glory. That's not the God of the Bible. The Calvinist god is a worthless idol, a golden calf, and Calvinists are caught in a strong delusion. They actually think that their sick and twisted deity is Holy, righteous, just, and worthy of worship. In reality, human beings made in the image of God generally reject murderous psychopaths who enjoy torturing people for no good reason, and we rejoice when such psychopaths are caught and punished for their crimes.

Fun Fact #2. Calvinism enslaves people into becoming Calvinists. Calvinists are slaves to Calvinism every bit as much as Mormons are slaves to Mormonism. Calvinism turns people into what I call "Calvinist Zombies." It robs people of their identity and turns them into arrogant know-it-alls who think that only Calvinists know the deep secrets of God and the universe.

Calvinist Zombies can't think or reason for themselves. They just regurgitate the same stupid Calvinist words, the same boring Calvinist jargon, the same cringy Calvinist slogans, the same tired Calvinism proof texts, and they use the same moralistic, manipulative Calvinist tactics on non-Calvinists over and over again, ad nauseum. They have nothing new to offer. No different perspectives. They can only parrot what they have been taught by other Calvinists. They can only think within the confines of their own constricted and irrational ideology, unable to read the Bible any other way other than how they have been taught by Calvinist false teachers.They can't be convinced that Calvinism is false using Scriptures, and when their beliefs are challenged, they brazenly reject what the Scriptures clearly in order to protect their cherished Calvinist beliefs.

Calvinists are addicted to Calvinism just like heroin junkies are addicted to heroin. Calvinism is the Calvinist's dopamine fix, and every day they must fill their heads with Calvinistic thoughts and speak Calvinistically whenever possible in order to get their Calvinism fix. In fact, it is impossible for a Calvinist not to think about Calvinism every single day. They urgently seek others, whether they are "for" or "against" Calvinism, in order to communicate and express their pent up Calvinist urges, because talking about Calvinism with others increases the dopamine fix better than just thinking about Calvinism.

I like to think of Calvinism as a personality disorder-Calvinism Personality Disorder-because Calvinism permeates and changes a person's thoughts and behaviors from before they became a Calvinist to a degree that they become archetypes of Calvinism that embody and emote Calvinism's core tenets. Calvinists are highly manipulative, and they employ deception as Calvinism's primary defense and propagation methodology. These changes in a person brought on by Calvinism are not superficial. They are deeply ingrained patterns of thinking and behaviors that result from prolonged exposure to Calvinist false teachers, as well as their associations with other Calvinists and Calvinist in-groups.

Fun Fact #3. Calvinism spreads through Calvinist false teachers. Nobody ever read the Bible and became a Calvinist. That's because Calvinism is not Biblical. The only way that a person can ever become a Calvinist is if they are taught Calvinism by Calvinist false teachers. With prolonged exposure, a person might become a Calvinist Zombie.

Calvinism finds its roots in Saint Augustine, a 4th century Roman Catholic monk heavily influenced by Maniachian Gnosticism. Maniachian Gnosticism is not Christianity. Maniachian Gnosticism had a profound influence on what we call Calvinism today. 16th century French theologian John Calvin was heavily influenced by Saint Augustine, and Calvin derived the vast majority of his theology from Saint Augustine in what is known as Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion". [Calvin was not a nice man. Rather, Calvin was a sadistic psychopath who enjoyed when his critics like Michael Servetus were slowly roasted alive at the stake. Is it just a coincidence that the Calvinist god is much like John Calvin?]

In Calvinism there are many so-called, "Giants of the Faith", whose teachings must never be challenged. Historical figures like Saint Augustine, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, Johnathan Edwards, Huldrych Zwingli, Lorraine Boettner, etc. are considered Giants of the Faith. ironically you can not be considered a Giant of the Faith if you disagree with Calvinism.

Calvinism spreads like a Zombie Cancer in Christ's church, and these "Giants of the Faith" have given rise to many "cult of personality" Calvinist false teachers of today. RC Sproul, John McArthur, John Piper, Steve Lawson, Albert Mohler, Voddie Baucham, Jeff Durbin, James White, Sinclair Ferguson, and others. These are the malignant cancer cells that spread Calvinism. The teachings of these false teachers are never challenged by Calvinists, since what they teach is considered authoritative, and their teachings are accepted uncritically. These false teachers are extremely popular and attract many followers. They are adored and worshipped by their followers, along with the so-called, "Giants of the Faith". In their minds their teachings are as authoritative as the Scriptures themselves and what they teach must never be questioned. Calvinism trickles down from the big name false teachers in Calvinism to the level of the local church, and eventually infects individuals, causing them to become brain-dead Calvinist Zombies, eager to spread Calvinism.

Fun Fact #4. Calvinists don't have a sense of humor. When they are confronted with the ugly truths of Calvinism, they will be in complete denial. They will protest like your typical Calvinist Zombie, aggressively defending their precious Calvinism at all cost, throwing Scriptural authority under the bus and abandoning all common sense and reason in the process.

If you are a Calvinist, please comes to your senses! Be honest with yourself, be a good Berean and search the Scriptures to see if Calvinism is true or false. I can help any Calvinist who sincerely desires to examine the truth claims of Calvinism. I can show you how Calvinism denies scriptural authority. May God give you eyes to see how you have been fooled by Calvinist false teachers into believing the retarded, irrational, and unbiblical truth claims of Calvinism.

Way to push your magazine Hank.