Answer to Arminian Confused About Calvinism Being Fatalism
A little complex, but his 1st point is if God foreknew the future, He foreknew some would not repent and believe and would go to hell. So knowing this, why did God create them? Therefore even to the Arminian who believes in foreknowledge, God created a man He knew would choose to go to hell, so God is definitely involved before creation in making men who will go to hell. This differs little in their complaint of God determining that a man will go to hell by predestination, instead by creation.
His 2nd point is that is God foreknows before creation a man will not believe and God can’t be the one who determines the man’s decision, yet it is already determined before creation, then what force has made this fore-determination that the man will decide not to believe or to believe. If God just passively sees into the future to see the person’s decision, yet the decision is certain then at that point before creation. So when the man’s time comes to make the decision. it is already known and therefore determined what he will do.
The will is only free in the sense that we make real choices. We are unaware of any predestination and therefore held accountable for our decisions. Our will is not totally free, we cannot will to fly like a bird or stay under water like a fish, our will is limited by our nature. We can make real choices within our nature or consistent with our nature. So predestination is no violation of our free choice since we feel no influence from predestination in the way God does it. Sadly our nature is fallen and separated from God and cannot choose to do good or reach out to God. Only a born again new nature would will this and be accepted by God.
How to Answer the Arminian Charge that Calvinism is Fatalistic
by John Hendryx
