I'm Failing All Calvinist Students

From 11/07/07. One of my favorite posts - not because my original post was all that well written, but because it produced some feisty responses. In fact, would you believe that a few students decided to "boycott" my talk to the Minister's Association here because of this stuff?? Militant Calvinists are funny that way.

Honestly, there's a small part of me that likest to stir up a little bit of trouble and I wish we had more lively discussions like the one that followed this post. You can see the original thread here.

Also, this thread produced on of my favorite quotes of the past year: "Theology degrees are over-rated. Most of the nitwits espousing bad theology have one." Thanks, Craig.

I'm Failing All Calvinist Students

At least that appears to be the rumor lately.

Good grief. Either the grapevine has grown and wildly distorted a class discussion the other day, or some of my students weren’t paying a lick of attention to what I was really saying. Let’s set the record straight. Here’s a short summary of what I said in class…

When dealing with hurting people, counselors and ministers have to confront the issue of personal choices. There is an issue of volition (free will and choosing) that must be addressed. There are two positions that some Christian people-helpers take that are not particularly helpful.

Position #1 – All personal problems are the result of personal choice. People choose their problems. They need to choose differently. They need to stop what they are doing and choose to be obedient to God.

This approach overemphasizes the role of volition. Telling a depressed person to just choose different behaviors isn’t particularly helpful. Nor is telling the woman struggling with anorexia to “just eat something.” Nor is telling the man addicted to pornography to “just stop it.” We have to do more than that.

Position #2 – Choice is an illusion. People do not really make choices. God is sovereign and ordains (causes) everything that happens.

This approach rejects the role of volition. But neither will this approach suffice. It will not do to blame God for our bad decisions. This is a brand of hyper-Calvinism that may work for some in their academic offices, but is not effective in helping people overcome their problems.

To clarify the problem with this position, it was at this point I suggested that any student who holds this position (that choice is an illusion) could come by my office after class. I would immediately give them an “F” for the course. I went on to explain that I was sure they would feel unfairly treated and would quickly go to the Vice President to register a complaint. But here’s the problem…the person who holds this position has no right to complain about my “choice” as a professor. If they are unhappy with the “F” that seems arbitrary, their position insists that they actually see it as God-ordained and they should take up the issue with Him, not me.

Obviously I’m not really going to fail anyone just for being a Calvinist. Or an Arminian.

A dispensationalist? Maybe.