The Detriment of Determinism

Part of the Calvinist/Reformed theological system relies on a view of God's Sovereignty called "Determinism." This view is not one-size-fits-all; instead, it works as a spectrum. You have soft-determinists who believe that humans do have the capacity for free-will choices; however, they think that our choices are determined by events surrounding us that have been pre-determined. On the other end of the spectrum, you have hard-determinists who take the belief to its logical conclusion that there is NO such thing as the free-will of man.

Wherever a Calvinist falls on the Spectrum doesn't matter. There may be a distinction in Semantics between a Soft-Determinist and a Hard-Determinist, but it is not a distinction with a difference. Ultimately, all determinists believe our actions have been "determined" before the foundation of the world. Whether we are being led to those decisions through our 'free will' by outside stimuli, (as in the soft-determinist view), or we have no free will at all, (like the hard-determinist believes), everything happening in the world has already been decided by God beforehand. Ultimately our free-will has no bearing on how our life plays out or how the future is created.

Famous Calvinist John Piper ascribes to hard-determinism. Here is an example of his micro-managing view of God's Sovereignty:

"God is not the least taxed by keeping every sub-nuclear particle in its place. I used to say electrons, but now there's something smaller than electrons. Everything in the middle of the molecule moving, and the electrons—he's got them all in orbit, just like he has the planets in orbit." (https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/has-god-predetermined-every-tiny-detail-in-the-universe-including-sin)

This view of God's sovereignty negates any chance at the Libertarian Free-Will of humans, creating some genuine problems for our understanding of how the world works. Piper continues in the same thought by saying, "So the macro-world and micro-world are all managed by God. Which means, Yes, every horrible thing and every sinful thing is ultimately governed by God."

Yes, the Holocaust, 9-11, the murder of a loved one, and all other evils in the world have been caused by God. This understanding is a massive assertion from the Hyper-Reformed view! It reconfigures the very nature of God and forces us to somehow redefine love as tolerant of evil acts to accomplish its purposes.

Let me pause and here and say that my reformed brothers and sisters will most-likely strongly disagree with my assessment of their beliefs at this point. I will admit that it is sometimes tricky to critique Calvinist because there are so many different takes on the 5 points, even amongst fellow Calvinists! However, the argument I see Calvinist use more than anything else is, "you obviously don't REALLY understand Calvinism." This common defense tactic is an ad-hominem argument that is merely deflecting the point. My goal today isn't to speak for every Calvinist, it is simply to take an essential part of their system - determinism - to it's natural, logical conclusions, (If you are wondering why determinism is so vital to reformed/Calvinist theology, the answer lies in the 'U' of TULIP - Unconditional Election. Their Soteriology hinges on God pre-determining who he would choose as his elect before the foundation of the world. Without Determinism, this idea fails.).

I want to walk through some of the key narratives in scripture through a determinist lens and see how this view is a significant detriment to the faith. Let's start at the beginning. God created Adam and Eve and placed them in a garden with one rule - not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Of course, this was a rule that he not only knew they would break. He pre-determined them to break! Remember, every sub-nuclear particle was specifically where God planned for it to be. Eve's morning stroll purposefully put her right where God purposed, in close enough proximity to the tree to meet the serpent. Oh Ya! In this system, the serpent was also created by God to purposefully rebel. God is the author of evil, and so it was ultimately God tempting eve through the means of the serpent. Then, God holds Adam and Eve responsible even though they were literally not ABLE to RESPOND.

After the garden, we move into a fallen world - a world where we all bear the consequences of the decisions that God caused Adam and Eve to make. In Genesis 4 we see Cain kill Abel. I want us to pay attention to God's conversation with Cain BEFORE he commits murder: "6 Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.'" The question must be asked to the Determinist, "Was this a real choice that God gave to Cain?" In a pre-determined system, God had already chosen that Cain would kill Abel. How maniacal is it to pretend like someone has a choice! "You must rule over your sin Cain... SIKE!"

The next big moment in scripture we have God destroying the WHOLE WORLD minus one family in a flood for how evil they had become. But wouldn't it actually be how evil He had MADE them become? How is God furious at people merely living out their lives how he had determined them to live? If Noah was only righteous through effectual means, why didn't God simply determine more people to be like Noah and save himself the frustration?

After Noah repopulates the world, the people build a tower and once again God is angry and disinherits ALL nations but one! We are not even through one whole book of the Bible, and we have God over and over again holding people responsible - punishing and judging them - for actions he CAUSED them to commit.

This deterministic view of God paints the beautiful narrative of scripture as a horror movie with a vindictive God playing both sides of the chessboard with no accurate way to understand his nature or motives other than to appeal to the 'mystery' of his plan.

In the Reformed argument, for God to not micro-manage every aspect of the universe lowers his divine sovereignty. However, creating humanity in His image and giving us true Libertarian Free-Will, does not LOWER his sovereignty, it exponentially RAISES it! In the words of A. W. Tozer: "Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so."

I believe that God is SO powerful and SO sovereign that what he has planned to come to pass he will accomplish, even with the free-will of humankind. I believe everything that God DECREES comes to pass; however, not everything God DESIRES comes to pass. God did not desire for Adam and Eve to rebel, which is why He was just in punishing them.

To negate the free-will of mankind is to take away God's greatest gift to us - freedom. True love necessitates freedom! Freedom is what makes a broken sinner coming to Christ the greatest joy. If that sinner was simply one of the elect, pre-determined to believe and brought to conversion by irresistible grace, then the joy and glory of God are greatly diminished. Anyone can play both sides of the chess board and secure themselves a victory - but it is a shallow victory indeed!

If you believe in determinism or are considering believing it, I ask that you take it to its logical conclusion. Try and read scripture through it. Think about your ministry with that mindset. I know the reformed answer, "we must still evangelize because God uses us as the means to get to his end." But remember the means have already been determined! Every time you have failed to share the gospel, feel no guilt because God caused you not to share!

The detriment of Determinism is vast and is being felt throughout this popular reformed movement in our culture today. The nature of God does not support it, logic does not support it, and the word of God does not support it. I realize it is essential to the Reformed SYSTEM, but maybe it's time to question the system...