I entered his office to interview for a position as a Christian counselor. This was a unique opportunity as I had never worked for someone in this field. I like Dallas, TX and working in a nice office building with “Christian minded” professionals seemed like a really good thing. The interview was unlike what I expected. I had anticipated being asked about my training. You know, where it was done and what my experience was and so forth. Instead, we began the conversation with question about our shared beliefs. This should be refreshing. Right?
It seems Calvinists can be as stubborn about their beliefs as I can be zealous about mine. I’m sure many of my readers today are familiar with John Calvin’s TULIP acronym. The T stands for Total Depravity. The interviewer was steadfast in his belief that all people inherit the guilt of Adam’s sin. And, since everyone is guilty of that sin, everyone is conceived as lost and spiritually dead. Now, here is what I asked him. “If all people are conceived as spiritually dead in sin, Adam’s sin, then what happens to aborted babies?” He told me, “Yeah. That’s something I wrestle with.” That’s pretty much where I lost my job opportunity.
My argument with the Calvinist counselor was an emotional one yet very true. When John MacArthur and all the other false teachers out there who espouse this horrible doctrine say we inherit the guilt of our father Adam, they imply all aborted babies go to hell when they die. First, because the doctrine holds we inherit the first man’s sin and second because humanity begins at conception. I’m not going to run through all the passages claimed to support Calvinism. The following verse is very popular:
“Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Romans chapter five highlights a lot of what is claimed. The thrust of the teaching of Total Depravity is summed in saying that the guilt of Adam’s sin is upon the head of every soul coming into this world. However, the truth is not the spiritual death of every soul but the physical death of every soul. The human nature we all have is the same as that with which Adam was created. Temptation comes with free moral will. Oh, but the Calvinist doesn’t believe in free moral will. (That’s another article.) Jesus came into this world with a human nature (Romans 1:3) but he never committed a sin. I have never understood how Jesus could have come into this world as a descendant of Adam and yet have not have inherited original sin in accordance with Calvinism. The doctrine seems messed up there.
(1) Scripture says it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18).
(2) It is impossible for Jehovah to be a source of evil because He cannot sin.
(3) According to Zechariah 12:1, God forms the spirit within man.
(4) Therefore, God cannot form an evil spirit within man.
(5) God creates man.
(6) The only intrinsic evil is sin.
(7) Therefore God creates man’s spirit good without any guilt of sin.
In Adam all die but in Christ all are made alive, in that Jesus is the hope of eternal redemption. Surely everyone has committed sin but everyone also has the opportunity to act on the Gospel call (see Romans 3:23 and Acts 22:16).
I don’t claim to know everything, as none of us do. One thing I do know is that interview I had is indicative of a host of lies the Devil has told many biblically illiterate people. I assure you friend, the stillborn babies and the aborted babies do not go to hell. Satan just wants to use a scare tactic to terrorize you.
Donny Weimar
