[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2020.]
Our concept of just judgment is based upon the belief that someone who does wrong, could and should have done otherwise, or else if they could not have, then there would be a mitigating factor.
What do Calvinists believe?
James White: “…since God judges on the basis of the intentions of the heart, there is in fact a ground for morality and justice.”<sup>214</sup>
Our reply:
Dave Hunt: “Yes, God judges ‘the intentions of the heart,’ but Calvinism falsely says that He causes the intentions He judges.”<sup>215</sup>
So while Calvinists wish to portray divine judgment in some way in relation to what we do, Calvinism nonetheless teaches that whatsoever we happen to do is based upon what is unilaterally decreed for us, and which ultimately boils down to this: In Calvinism, people are held accountable simply because a higher power requires it. In this way, Calvinism sucks the justness from divine justice. [Editor’s note: Coords is pointing out here that, on Calvinism, God judges us and holds us accountable for what he irresistibly causes us to intend and do (no matter how he brings us to intend and do what we do) and what we cannot help but intend and do or avoid intending or doing, which is at odds with true, biblical justice.]
_________________________
214 Debating Calvinism (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2004), 320.
215 Debating Calvinism (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2004), 327.
