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> Predestination Debated at Calvin Forum

April  17, 2009- When she was 10-years-old Laura Smit, a Calvin College religion professor, had an immediate reaction when she first learned at the dinner table of the doctrine of predestination, the teaching that some people are elected by God while others aren?t.

?I thought that was a really wrong idea,? she said on Thursday night during a panel discussion on the topic of predestination at Calvin Theological Seminary. The discussion was held in conjunction with a conference that celebrates the 500th anniversary of the birth of reformer John Calvin. ?I was a child of the ?60s and had a strong sense of individualism... Freedom was autonomy.?

In subsequent years, however, the Calvin religion professor has had change of mind about the doctrine. ?As a member of a confessional community, I keep getting called back to this doctrine. I?m much closer to accepting it now than I was many years ago. ?

Her view of freedom and individual responsibility have changed over time. ?I?m groping my way toward an embrace of the doctrine of predestination as it relates to God?s absolute sovereignty? I like to think of God as the final cause drawing us to a relationship of love with him.?

The panel discussion, which drew a packed crowd to the seminary chapel, also included Richard Muller, the P.J. Zondervan Professor of Historical Theology at Calvin Seminary, and Richard Mouw, a former Calvin College philosophy professor who is now president of Fuller Theological Seminary in California.

?Although the name of Calvin is altogether associated with this doctrine, it clearly was not Calvin?s central dogma or even that of his immediate followers,? said Muller. ?He stands with a range of writers in the Augustinian tradition on this matter... Human salvation is only possible by divine  grace.?

One of the largest events in the United States to focus on Calvin and his legacy during this anniversary year, the conference began Thursday and ends on Saturday, April 18. The theme of the conference is ?John Calvin: Myth and Reality.? Walk-in registrations and daily rates are available.

The event has been organized by the Calvin Studies Society. Sponsoring it are the Meeter Center for Calvin Studies, the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship and the Nagel Institute. In addition, there was to be a free event at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the seminary chapel, which offered a special session on Calvin and music, including Psalms played on the organ and opportunities for everyone to sing. The presenter was to be Rev. Randy Engle of Troy Christian Reformed Church.

The doctrine of predestination remains one of the thorniest, and perhaps least understood, among the teachings of the Reformed tradition, said Mouw.  On the surface, it can seem to reflect a cruel God who capriciously chooses who to save and who is not to be saved. There is much more to it than that, and included in this doctrine is a fair amount of mystery, in that God is God, wholly other than man and yet is alive and active today in the world. God has purposes and plans that are light years away from human understanding. If looked at in one important way, though, the doctrine can give great comfort to people, as it did to Calvin and as it does to Mouw.

?It has offered me a solid foundation for life that has nurtured a sense of Christian discipleship.  We acknowledge the reality of predestination, but we also have to ask what is the point?  What did God elect us for?? said Mouw.

?What does it mean for us to courageously take on big issues in light of God?s sovereign purposes as they are being worked out in the world?? he asked later in the  discussion.

Important to realize with this doctrine, said Mouw , is that there is a softer side that teaches about  ?a God who nurtures us in our sacramental life. We are created in that image of God.?

Speaking from the audience during a question and answer session, John Hesselink, the Albertus C. Van Raalte Professor Emeritus of Theology  at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Mich., said:  ?Calvin believed that this was a doctrine that gave a great deal of assurance. Even in the darkest night of the soul, you know you are saved.?

In many ways, says Muller, the doctrine is about the sovereignty of God who is involved in all things. ?In the 20th Century, we have been misinformed by writers who have written about Calvin and this doctrine,? he said.  Clearly, the doctrine collides with the modern notion of total autonomy on the part of man and his decisions and actions.

It is not a simple doctrine; and Calvin did recognize that it can be a somewhat terrifying doctrine, said Muller.

In the question and answer period, a man spoke about the struggles he has had with this doctrine. He said he wasn?t in favor of a God who condemned some people to damnation, while electing others for salvation. As a parent, he said, he would never want to talk to his children in this way, condemning one and uplifting the other simply according to his will.

Muller said he understood the dilemma. But, he also said, you need to consider what the Bible says. ?As human beings, we know that we are dealing with this terrible burden (of our sinfulness), and we know that we need to preach the gospel?s wonderful message of salvation.?

Predestination may be a complex doctrine that tries to account for all that occurs in the world, but, complicated as it may seem, it an attempt by Reformed thinkers to show how God acts in a world that is torn and broken by sin.

Mouw added that it is important to remain open to the reality that there is sin in the world, and sinful inclinations in every human being. Even though God?s purposes are not easily understood, and good often emerges from evil, pain and hopelessness can remain because of the horrors men can and have visited upon one another.

?There are people out there that are so wicked that they kill little children, stuff them in a suitcase and throw it into a lake. Facing something like this, we have to look to Jesus,? said Mouw

> --Chris Meehan, CRC Communications

> Chris Mehan
> News and Media Director
> Christian Reformed Church in North America
> 1-616-224-0849