Chapter 6

According to Calvin, God gave us the majesty of creation as an exhibition to "involve all mankind in guilt."

Oh.... so that's why we have such a beautiful universe. Now, I get it. God created so much beauty to damn me to the pits of hell. I stand in awe.

#stabmyself

 Calvin has been going on about general revelation, but starry nights and human excrement are not enough to make a Christian. Scripture is necessary and singular.

But, how do we know that scripture is, well "scripture"? How do we know that God actually said what the Bible claims he said to the old timers who originally told these stories? Calvin says that it should be enough that the Patriarchs thought they were hearing from God and we should proceed accordingly.

Credit where credit is due - I love this argument. Anybody who has ever sat through a class on Documentary Hypothesis, knows the tedium and useless arguments that emanate from source criticism. Let's utilize or critique the text as we have it.

Whoa! Did I just use Calvin to make a Postmodern argument? I can hear him rolling over in his grave!

Although, I found a lot that resonated with me in this chapter, there was a generally tone that was disturbing. Please allow me to gripe a moment. One of the things that is so chafing about reading this monstrosity is how anti-human God sounds. For instance, in this chapter, Calvin claims that God "deprive[s] the ingratitude of men of every excuse." I'm not so sure that God is so insecure as to act that way. Does Paul hint at such things? Sure. But, he states it differently. I read Romans 1 to mean that heathens have been left with no excuse (via his holiness and righteousness), not that God ripped their excuses away so he had an excuse to damn them.

I know that Calvin was a creature of his time and that what he was saying was main stream. Also, I know this is kind of a pot shot considering Paul's propensities. But, if he is as authoritative as his modern groupies claim that he is for our times, maybe they should offer more caveats about his nastiness. God should sound like a jerk just because Johnny C did.