Zach Hoag, "Jesus shows me that God is a Father I can trust"

After my last post (Link), I remembered one more post which I think is helpful in discussing the difficulty of trusting God as Calvinists portray Him.  This one is from Zach Hoag (whose testimony out of Calvinism I included at the end of the last post).  In particular, Zach points out something I also found, that in Calvinism, "God's version of justice can't be known". (For me, this is a big problem).

Here are two excerpts from near the end of his post (which can be read in full here):

This is where God becomes the worst Father of all. Not only is he overwhelmingly and ferociously angry – but he is fundamentally untrustworthy. 

How does a belief like this square with Jesus’s own words about the fatherhood of God? 

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13).

If we resist squeezing this into some kind of Calvinistic soteriological system and simply let it stand, the message is startlingly simple: Jesus wants us to trust that God is a good Father. He is not messing with us. He is not filled with anger toward us (and everyone). And in his trustworthy, loving disposition he gives good gifts to his children and doesn’t demean their own sense of justice when they ask for something. Rather, he works in total concert with it. The Father is not fundamentally unlike us in his sense of justice, but just like us and even better than us with perfect, patient fairness and equity! 

[...] 

No, the wrath of God is the anger of a good, trustworthy, and just Father when he encounters anything that may harm his beloved children and his good world. It’s the anger of a Dad whose daughters are in danger. It’s the anger of a Father whose precious child has been defrauded, demeaned, desecrated. And this anger is shown not in active or passive decrees without reference to the actual actions and choices of human beings, but is a response to those real, authentic actions and choices. It is a divine acknowledgment of those choices and the consequences that they inherently produce. God is no respecter of persons, indeed. He answers all who call upon him, and grants honor and eternal life to all who patiently do what is right. He understands the difference between a lie and genocide, reads the hearts of those who make choices because they were first abused by others, works restorative justice into the lives of those he loves rather than kneejerking into wild retribution. He will put the world to rights. 

Jesus, of course, is the one who shows us this. He is the express image of God. He only did what the Father was doing. His anger is God’s anger. His justice is God’s justice. His love is God’s love. His sacrifice is the covenant-restoring mercy of God, his resurrection the healing victory of God’s grace. 

Thus, Jesus shows me that God is a Father I can trust.

Related posts:

• “What’s contributing to the increase in x-Calvinists and some testimonies”
• “Thomas Grantham, Christ did, in the place and stead of mankind, fulfil the Law by which the whole World stood guilty before God”

What’s contributing to the increase in “x-Calvinists” and some testimonies

What’s contributing to the increase in “x-Calvinists”?

We have seen a number of testimonies recently of Christians abandoning Calvinism.  The latest that I have seen is from Leighton Flowers, adjunct Professor of Theology at Dallas Baptist University, who shared his testimony on his website www.soteriology101.com.  William Birch, who blogs at I, Jacob Arminius, has noted, “The more stories like this we are reading over the last two years is indicative of a trend: the historical ebb and flow of Calvinism is ebbing.”  

A few bloggers have suggested reasons which I believe help to explain this shift and which resonate with my own story.  Here are two:

1. Calvinism is not as deep and robust a theology as its leaders portray...

Of course, the main reason there are more x-Calvinists is because there are more Calvinists.  While this might seem obvious, hear me out. This comment from Internet Monk, though in another context, stood out to me:

[Reformed theology] is often a first step away from generic evangelicalism, especially for more analytical types. It was for me when I left Bible college and at times during my seminary career and throughout periods of my ministry. Michael Spencer also embraced a form of calvinism for a time until he came to see its limitations...

(Link)

This was certainly true for me: Calvinism was a good first step into a deeper study of theology, but I know now that it was only a step.  When I first embraced Calvinism, the impression I had was that Calvinism was the end of the road, or the top of the theological mountain. Eventually, however, I was forced to confront its implications, particularly for the character of God.  As more Christians study their Bibles through a Calvinistic lens, I expect that more will also be convicted of the inconsistency between Calvinism and the God of the Bible, just as I was.

When I began reading the testimonies of Arminians, I was surprised at how many are former Calvinists (including Arminius, himself).  If you are beginning to see Calvinism’s limitations, I want to encourage you to keep climbing.  (I hope to compile a recommended reading list in a later post, but for now I would recommend A.W. Tozer, especially The Pursuit of God, Knowledge of the Holy, and That Incredible Christian, and be sure to check out the resources available from SEA and Baptist Centre for Theology and Ministry).

2. Young Calvinists are growing up...

A second reason, also true of my own story, was suggested in a post by Roger Olson:

It’s pretty easy for a young, unmarried or not-yet-parent Young, Restless, Reformed person to embrace double predestination, but when he has a child and gazes on it as his own beloved son or daughter he [begins] to change (or should if his love is real and deep). Could this beloved child be predestined by God our Father to eternal torture in hell? Sure, some very iron clad Calvinists will not let that sway them, but many will. (Link)

I left Calvinism soon after the birth of my second child.  The question facing every Calvinist parent, if they will allow themselves to face it, is “Does God desire my child to be saved (1 Tim 2:4), or does He desire their destruction for His glory?” (at least if you hold to a Piper/Edwards view of Calvinism).

A. W. Tozer wrote, “If our faith is to have a firm foundation we must be convinced beyond any possible doubt that God is altogether worthy of our trust” (Link).  The Calvinist depiction of God with a “secret will” which often contradicts His Word[1] is a far stretch from “the humble, other-oriented, self-sacrificial God revealed in Jesus Christ”[2].  (In his sermon on Romans 9, Greg Boyd discusses this same objection in his own journey away from Calvinism, Link).

Here are some of the testimonies which have especially stood out to me since I left Calvinism:

• Leighton Flowers, The five points that led me out of Calvinism;
• Former PCA pastor Keith Coward, Calvinist Pastor Turns from Calvinism to Arminianism after 20 Years as a Calvinist and Intensive Study;
• Scot McKnight, Calvinism: My History 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7; and see his comments on Keith Coward’s story, here;
• Zach Hoag, Breaking Wesleyanabaptist: A Story of (Resistible) Grace;
• Arminius: see William Birch’s sketch of Arminius (and his own testimony) here;
• X-Calvinist Corner includes a number of testimonies;
• And of course, take a look at Austin Fischer’s testimony in his book, Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed: Black Holes, Love, and a Journey In and Out of Calvinism.

Also check out:

• Zack Hunt, Dear John (An Open Letter To John Calvin)

Endnotes:

[1] I think especially of passages like Ezekiel 18:32: can God take "no pleasure" in that which brings Him the most glory?  Or put another way, can God take "no pleasure" in that which He decreed/ordained, and rendered certain because it brings Him the most glory?

[2] This is a quote from Greg Boyd’s endorsement of Austin Fischer’s book.

* On the second reason, also take a look at: William Birch, A Love Greater Than That of God Himself.

** John Piper, a prominent Calvinist leader, has addressed this regarding his own children (Link):

But I am not ignorant that God may not have chosen my sons for his sons. And, though I think I would give my life for their salvation, if they should be lost to me, I would not rail against the Almighty. He is God. I am but a man. The potter has absolute rights over the clay. Mine is to bow before his unimpeachable character and believe that the Judge of all the earth has ever and always will do right.

Notice how painful this is to his conscience: in Piper's view, at the end of the day if his sons are not believers it is not because they have rejected the Gospel, but rather it is because God has rejected them.

Related Posts: 

• "Zach Hoag, Jesus shows me that God is a Father I can trust" (Feb 8, 2015)
• “Where Did All These Arminians Come From?” (Feb 27, 2015)