Submitter
Follow @BibleSupport
SUPPORT TOPIC File Information
- Submitted: Jun 14 2013 02:15 PM
- Last Updated: Nov 06 2013 04:22 PM
- File Size: 5.31MB
- Views: 14032
- Downloads: 2,560
- Author: George Bryson
- e-Sword Version: 9.x - 10.x
Support BibleSupport.com
-
If our e-Sword and MySword modules have blessed you, please consider a small donation.
Your donation pays only for dedicated server hosting, bandwidth, software licenses, and capital equipment (scanners, OCR equipment, etc).
Other Modules By Same Author
- No modules found
e-Sword 9+ Module Download:
Download
Bryson, George - The Dark Side of Calvinism
14 Votes
Theology Apologetics / Evangelism Calvinism Copyrighted
3
Author:
George Bryson
e-Sword Version:
9.x - 10.x
The Dark Side of Calvinism
A biblically based examination, and refutation of the Reformed Doctrine of Redemption and Reprobation.
In The Dark Side of Calvinism, George Bryson has shined the light of Scripture and scripturally based reasoning upon some very important and disturbing problems with the distinctive doctrines of Reformed Theology. As George documents, John Calvin asserts:
By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of those ends, we say that he has been predestined to life or death.
Despite the unscriptural and radical nature of such a position, George demonstrates that this is the position promoted by the leading proponents of Calvinism today. While Calvinists are prone to accent the less negative features of Calvinism, even the best of what Calvin taught about salvation logically leads to the worst of what Calvinism teaches. While Calvinists prefer to talk about election, they know that the other side of unconditional election is a very troubling and unscriptural doctrine of unconditional reprobation.
The doctrinal distinctive of Reformed Theology cannot be reconciled with what we know about God from His holy Word. Scripture has taught me to believe that God is loving and absolutely just. Could and would such a God allow a man to be born who has no possibility to be saved? Would the God of love and Scripture have me tantalize unsavable men with the offer of salvation? Would the God of all hope punish a man for all eternity for rejecting the offer of salvation, if that man was decreed by God to reject that salvation in the first place?
According to Calvinism, it is futile to try to convert the lost who are not predestined to be saved. Perhaps this explains why so many Calvinists are spending so much time and energy trying to win the already saved to Calvinism. What this means is that Calvinists want other Christians to believe in their convoluted theology, which if fully understood, destroys the gospel to every creature.
No matter what your position on the subject of Reformed Theology, George is going to force you to think it through. This is a must-read for all who have wrestled with Calvinism.
Copyright
The Dark Side of Calvinism The Calvinist Caste System
Copyright © 2004 by George Bryson
Published by Calvary Chapel Publishing (CCP) a resource ministry of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa 3800 South Fairview Rd. Santa Ana, CA 92704
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.
First printing 2004
All Scripture quotations in this book, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NASU are taken from the New American Standard Bible © Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971,
1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible® Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972,
1975, 1977. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
1-931667-88-8
Printed in the United States of America.
Reviews
By Sid Salcido
I must admit upfront that as soon as I read the title, "The Dark Side of Calvinism: The Calvinist Caste System," I had immediately began to worry that this book was going to simply be a full-blown attack on Calvinist thought, somewhat like what I got from "The Other Side of Calvinism" by Laurence Vance. But as I began reading it, to see what he states since I am doing some research on the subject, I found out that Bryson has written a very informative and fair book on the issue, primarily, of the doctrine of reprobation and it being the "dark side" of Calvinism. Bryson states early on "Everyone seriously considering a theological move in the direction of Reformed Theology deserves to know about Calvinism's dark side before they make a commitment to Calvinism" (p. 22). This book goes into great lengths to highlight this problem in Calvinism.
What Bryson does best in this book, and also what can be seen as a liability, is he has an exhaustive conversation between Calvinists, quoting dozens of them throughout his long chapters (I believe he is more fair in this than Vance, for Vance seems to only deal with the negative material, while Bryson points out from time to time where a Calvinist got it right). I say that this can also be a liability because he is constantly belaboring point after point in order for the Calvinists to have this conversation. So it is a two edged sword: in one sense the reader should appreciate the vast resource of view points from Calvinist and Reformed writers that Bryson utilizes (which also comes out in his many citations: I first was surprised he simply kept the quotations going from 1 to 618, not separating them by chapter, which made me think he was doing that for the sake of showing off; but once I began reading the book, I found it very easy to go to the back and look up the quote because you didn't have to be lost in trying to first find the chapter--you just simply go to the quote); in the other sense, as you read you get a little frustrated that he says the same thing almost fifteen to twenty times in the chapter, which would have made the book an easier read if he were a little more concise; yet, it was understandable why he did it: he simply wanted to demonstrate that the view he was presenting was coming from the mouth of the Calvinists, not from his own opinion of them. So, though it made sense why he does belabor his points, it made it also a little redundant to read at times.
That being said, Bryson demonstrates a few important things in this book: one, he shows the problematic nature for some Calvinists to defend their position, especially when it comes to reprobation. These Calvinists he calls "Hypo-Calvinists," coming from the word, "hypo" meaning "less than normal," while another group of Calvinists he calls "Hyper-Calvinists" from the word "hyper" which means "more than normal" (see his explanation on pp. 55-56). The Hypo-Calvinists usually softens the "dark" views of Calvinism, or brushes over certain areas of it, even though he or she teaches the bright side of it without shame (the "predestination to salvation" part), while Hyper-Calvinists simply let the doctrine take them to the logical conclusions (that God foreordains both salvation and reprobation). Examples he uses of Hypo-Calvinists are Charles Spurgeon, R.C. Sproul, James White, John MacArthur, Jr., John Feinburg, John Piper, Jay Adams and others, while examples of Hyper-Calvinists are John Calvin, John Gill, Charles Hodge, Herman Hoeksema, Herman Hanko, Douglas Wilson, Edwin Palmer, and others. Bryson brilliantly goes from author to author in the Calvinist literature and shows the inconsistent defense made among them in trying to explain either the logical conclusion of Sovereign Election taught by Calvinism (in the form of double predestination) or in trying to explain non-Calvinist passages of Scripture (those passages which obviously contradict Calvinist assumptions).
The book is primarily laid out by one chapter presenting and explaining the Calvinist's position and another chapter to refute the particular position Biblically. Here, though, part of the redundancy comes out because it seems he carries over sometimes the same arguments from the "explanation" side to the "refuted" side as if he didn't feel he was finished explaining the things he over-explained in the previous chapters. But it is amazing to see how Calvinists attempt to explain away many obvious contradictions to their own position, debating back and forth on what the answer should be and showing that there is confusion in the particular thinking there. The Scriptures state that God is "not the author of confusion" (1 Cor. 14:33) and so such disconcertment in answering contradictions should bare red flags for any student of the Bible.
So, on the whole, this book is a valuable critique of Calvinism, more so than I was expecting. I like reasonable books which give critiques on Calvinism in fair and enlightening ways (such as "Why I am Not a Calvinist" by Walls and Dongell or "Arminian Theology" by Roger Olson), so I was skeptical of this book (I think he would do good to change the title a bit). But Bryson instead made a fair assessment of the dilemmas and utilized very clearly the Reformed, Calvinist position by his dialogue between their many authors.
One final critique, which is a small one, but I believe Bryson must remove: in chapter one he added a quote from the rabid false teacher Fred Phelps (pp. 52-53), because Phelps is also a Calvinist. The good thing is, he only mentioned him once, but I believe that he should simply remove this quote out of his book due to the fact that Phelps is a bad example of those who believe in Calvinism, which most are very fine and reasonable theologians. This quote really does nothing to add to the debate (it is another one to belabor the point) so it is worthless to down-grade this good work with the possible critique by Calvinists due to that one quote. I hope he takes heed to this when he updates this book.
(See more reviews)
Adam and Eve sinned, fell from grace. All born from their seed are born in sin destined for hell. There are none righteous, no not one. There are none who seek after God. God elects some through the preaching of the Gospel to be born again as faith comes from hearing the Word of God. That is Calvinism. The idea that God has chosen some to go to hell is a false premise. All are going to hell because we all sin, we all choose to sin, we all like to sin until God Sovereignly intervenes.
The scripture teaches that ALL men are justly condemned since the fall of Adam. ALL men are without God and without hope in the world apart from the saving grace of God. There is none good but God. There is none righteous before the Holy God. God alone is sovereign in His choice and just in His choosing. God elects whom He wills and none can stay His hand or say "What doest thou?" Nowhere does scripture teach an election or predestination to damnation. Predestination is only regarding the elect. Study the contexts in the original language and it will be very clear.
No person has ever converted another person by any means of their own or by any persuasion on their part. It is God alone who saves the dead, lost sinner. It is God alone who gives life to whom He wills. It is God alone Who has ordained the means whereby anyone has ever been saved. It is the Word of God and the Spirit of God which/Who alone does the saving. It is never the work of man. Men are born again BY THE WILL OF GOD alone (John 3.13) Horatius Bonar said it well "Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul; not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God; not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load. Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin; thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within. Thy love to me, O God, not mine, O Lord, to thee, can rid me of this dark unrest, and set my spirit free.." I don't know who the elect are, only God knows. So, as He has commanded, I preach the gospel to every creature and to all the nations and God does the saving of His elect. All men have enough revelation from God, and know God, yet have rejected that light they have been given and by that alone are justly condemned to eternal damnation, let alone they are all sinners by nature and choice and are under the wrath of God continually. (Romans 1, John 3.36)
.
George was warned not to write this book, and it's easy to see why. Basic concepts like Original Sin and God's sovereignty mean nothing in the world this book comes from (are the skies blue there?) The title and the premise made me laugh, as if Reformed theology has ever hidden the reality of God's justice and righteous anger. Are new-born babies innocent? Then why do they die, if not that they are already convicted as sinners from conception. This isn't a palatable discussion, but necessary to understand the overwhelming mercy of our Triune God in not only refraining from condemning all, but even in His choosing some in love before Creation - and the Biblical record makes it clear that quite a few of those chosen, David, Rahab, Abraham, etc. were anything but sinless. Nonetheless, He allows His Mercy to override His justice. Spurgeon felt, and I agree, that more will be saved than condemned, because Jesus Christ will have pre-eminence over all. Love is discriminatory (think about it...), and God is love. <><
Other files you may be interested in ..
- 8,222 Total Files
- 50 Total Categories
- 273 Total Contributors
- 5,878,129 Total Downloads
- Nabaza, William R. - Out Of Her Poverty by: Weblord William R. Nabaza Latest File
- weblord Latest Submitter
39 user(s) are online (in the past 30 minutes)
1 members, 26 guests, 0 anonymous users
Ronny Brumfield, Bing (7), Google (1), Facebook (4)
What about 'the dark side of Arminianism'? Isn't Arminianism the first step on the road to liberalism, low views of God, high views of man's supposed moral ability and the theological errors springing therefrom?
But, oh, I hear my non-Calvinist detractors say, that is an unfair charge to lay at the door of non-Calvinists (who like to call themselves 'Bible-believers'). You can't blame us for the health and wealth heretics (just because they are non-Calvinists), for the liberals (who are never Calvinists), for the universalists (who are almost never Calvinists). You can't make such a connection between the ability of man to choose God and the ability to choose God after death (Rob Bell etc). So unfair they say. Well some of us can connect dots even if you haven't.
I wouldn't write a book called the dark side of Arminianism. I think it's unhelpful. But come on you non-Calvinists - have you never made the connection? Are there really no problems on your side of this theological fence even as Calvinists can admit the danger of hyper-calvinism or a distortion of the doctrine of election?