This Week in Calvinism - January 22, 2016

• Isaiah 5:4 turned out to be the stumbling block that caused one forum member to turn away from Calvinism. But if you can prove to him, using Isaiah 5 alone, that this passage does indeed teach determinism, he's willing to reconsider his position. I'm reminded of a quote from Jonathan Swift: "It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into."
  
  
• Regarding the hardening of Israel spoken of in the book of Deuteronomy, Jay Guin writes:

  In short, for Israel to be hardened, God need only let them be their natural selves. He doesn't have to override their free will and force them to reject him.
  
  Now, this sound suspiciously like election, except that God never forces anyone to accept him. If we don't really choose God, then our love isn't real. For us to truly love God, we must be free not to love God. And so some of us will inevitably make the foolish choice to reject God.

  There isn't a Calvinist I know who would say that those who have had their heart of stone replaced by a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) don't really choose God.
  
  
• Why do so many evangelicals support Donald Trump? Adele M. Stan puts the blame on "Calvinism's veneration of the rich and damnation of the poor." Trump is a billionaire, so he is obviously one of God's elect. Yeah, that's exactly how Calvinists think.
  
  
• Roger Olson has a bone to pick with John Piper (shocking, right?) regarding that whole "Christian hedonism" thing, namely, the following statement by Piper: "It is unbiblical and arrogant to try to worship God for any other reason than the pleasure that is to be had in him" Dr. Olson concludes:

  I worship and service God because, in the inimitable lyrics of my colleague Terry York he is "worthy of worship, worthy of praise." I do look forward to the joy that comes from worshiping and serving God, but that is no part of my motive.

  Remember, this is the same Roger Olson who once admitted that he would not worship God if it were proven that Calvinism is true, since "[s]uch a God would be a moral monster."
  
  
• Tim Challies discusses eight ways to grow in the fear of God.