Calvinism

     DIBS is non-Calvinistic. The following points briefly highlight differences between the general position of DIBS and Calvinism:

1. Total Depravity. Calvinism teaches that man is so depraved he cannot believe to be saved. We believe man is so depraved he must believe to be saved. People are lost because of their personal sin and rebellion against God. Their sin makes them lost, but it does not render them incapable of all spiritual responses. While the Bible does describe the lost as dead in sin, it also describes them as weak (Romans 5:6, "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly") and as sick (Luke 5:31-32, "They that are well need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance"). When the Bible says that the lost are dead in sin, it means that they are without the life of God, without eternal life. It does not mean that they are incapable of spiritual response. Without capability, there can be no accountability. The rest of the points of Calvinism depend heavily on their view of the inability of the lost to believe.
        
2. Unconditional Election. Calvinism teaches that God chose to save certain people and to not save others, and that He made that decision without taking into account whether they would trust Christ as their Savior. We believe that God in His sovereignty gave man the capacity to make genuine choices ("free will") and that He chose (elected) to save all those whom He foresaw would trust in Christ. Since Calvinists believe that the lost cannot believe, they must conclude that election could not be conditional on foreseen faith. Rather, they hold that foreseen faith must be based on unconditional election. They do not believe that "whosoever will (wants) may come" but that "whosoever may will come." In the book of Romans the argument is not whether election is conditional or unconditional, but whether it is conditional on faith or on works. Election is of grace (Romans 11:5, "there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace"), and therefore it must be of faith to be by grace (Romans 4:16, "It is of faith, that it might be by grace").
     
3. Limited Atonement. Calvinism teaches that Jesus Christ's death was only for the elect, that He did not die (in any effectual sense) for the non-elect. We believe, however, that the death of Christ makes it possible for anyone to be saved, so long as they accept Christ as their Savior. When we give the gospel of people and tell them that Christ died for their sins so that they could be saved, we do not have to add a footnote that says, "as long as you are one of the elect." The offer of salvation by grace through faith is valid and genuine for all. When someone dies and goes to hell, it is not because Christ did not die for him (because He did), nor is it because he was incapable of believing the gospel (because he was capable), but because he wilfully chose reject God and not to accept Christ.
        
4. Irresistible Grace. Calvinism teaches that unregenerate people cannot trust Christ as their Savior. Both sides agree that, since salvation requires faith, God must draw someone to Himself and enable him to believe. However, Calvinism holds that God only draws the elect in a way that can lead to salvation, and that when He does draw them by His grace, they cannot and will not resist. While we do agree that lost people cannot come to God unless He draws them, we believe that He draws all people to Himself. But we also hold that people can and do resist Him. People are lost, not because God has not drawn them to Himself. They are lost because, in spite of His wooing of them, they have willfully rejected Him.
      
5. Perseverance of the Saints. Calvinism teaches that, once someone is saved, he will persevere in the faith and will not fall away from faith in Christ. Some people mistakenly think that the perseverance of the saints refers to eternal security--the doctrine that saved people cannot lose their salvation. It does not (at least not directly). Rather, it refers to the view that believers will not backslide and stay in that backslidden state. While some Calvinists will grant that believers might backslide, they argue that such people cannot have assurance of their salvation while in that state. Other Calvinists argue that if a person backslides it is proof that he was never saved in the first place. Some of them argue that if it were possible for a believer to abandon the faith that he would thereby lose his salvation. In this regard some Calvinists are theoretically in agreement with those who say you can lose your salvation. Some Arminians hold that you do lose your salvation if you do not persevere in the faith, while some Calvinists agree that you would lose it if you could abandon the faith. In contrast to this teaching, we believe that salvation cannot be lost; that while living a godly life is the expected norm for believers, believers can and do at times abandon the faith; and that assurance of salvation is based on the promise of the gospel, not on one's works or perseverance in godliness.

The differences between Calvinism and the position of us at DIBS is great and profound. Those differences extend beyond just these five very important points. They have an impact on one's view of what God is like and what man is like. They have extensive ramifications on such diverse areas as personal responsibility (people are lost because they have chosen to reject God, not because God has chosen to reject them), the nature of salvation, the focus of Scripture and how it is to be interpreted, and the prophetic program of God (premillennialism versus a- or postmillennialism). Additionally, the differences impact the nature of one's motivation for evangelism and sanctification (my choice of whether to do those things can make an eternal difference). But perhaps the greatest impact these differences have in the lives of believers (at least of some believers) is on their personal fellowship with God. Christians who have conscientiously rejected Calvinism find the image of God they see in Calvinism to be at odds with the loving God with whom they have fallen in love.