Does anyone else find it odd?

Question

Does anyone else find it odd that John Calvin, who believed in predestination, started the biggest missionary movement in French history? I do! What do you believe? Predestination or free will? Or a combination of the two? I am planning on being a missionary and would like some thought into this?

Answer 1

That's a very interesting question, and I really think the answer will have a significant effect on how you view the mission field. I didn't know about the Calvinist missionary movement, but I believe that a view of predestination as opposed to having the ability to look to God for salvation, has a connotation of spreading the good news out of a glad heart rather than the duty and self- reliance of Arminian theology. Let's take a look at the Arminian position first.

If God depends on those who will be saved to choose Him, then why should he take part in any evangelization effort? At the most it makes the Almighty an assistant as far as anyone's salvation is concerned. Man does the witnessing, and God finishes things up by entering in only after permission is granted through accepting his son. And the process continues with God the Helper, man the doer. To me this makes for a very weak God, even predestination becomes nothing more than an irreconcilable dichotomy has no logic to it (if we truly have free will, then God CANNOT predestine, at least without word-twisting to try to make the two happen together).

Calvinism is a totally different story. God does not depend on man to choose Him. In fact, man does not have the ability to do so. Therefore God MUST do the choosing, because all of mankind since the fall of Adam, is doomed if left to themselves (and God would be completely righteous in leading man in his sin). I hear a lot of "robot" statements about Calvinism, but the robots are what we already are, belonging to Satan, save for God's intervention. If God does the work in man's heart, this doesn't mean we can sit back and relax. We had no idea who will and won't be saved, but the good news for the Calvinist can by definition only be spread out of joy, not duty! Even the "accepting" of Jesus into one's heart is just a misguided response to what the Lord has already done. Thus God can maintain the ability to predestine, regenerate, save, and sanctify the believer.

So, if you're going to be a missionary my prayer is that you would consider it a joy to be one, rather than someone who looks at it as your own "works". I wish you the best.