Calvinists declare their God to be a liar!

Calvinists declare their God to be a liar!

The God of the Bible gave man free will when He created him, and gave him dominion over the earth with the command to subdue it. Then how can calvinists say that their God created man with dominion over the earth, commanding man to subdue it, yet declare that their God never gave man the free will to enable him to do so? This deception makes the calvinist God a liar!

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” So commences the Biblical record of creation. On the sixth day God created man, an event that went far beyond any other act of creation, for man was created in the image of God. This is a stupendous statement that focuses upon man as something quite different from anything else that God created. For, to be created in the image of God meant that in man we could be able to see something of the nature of God Himself.

Of course, when Adam sinned, this image of God was broken down, corrupted and subverted by satan who took over the rule of earth on man’s behalf. Man, by sinning, had obeyed satan rather than God, and now satan had somehow taken charge of mankind. Man was now sold out to satan, and it was to take the sacrificial death of Christ – God as the perfect man – to buy back – redeem – man from the power of satan. God’s special creation in His own image had been alienated from God by one single act of rebellion from man who was made in God’s image. Of course, God knew (by His perfect knowledge of the future – “foreknowledge”) that Adam would sin, despite being created the perfect man in God’s image. Therefore, before Adam was created, the plan of redemption was already in place to buy back (redeem) man from the bondage of satan.

But man was indeed created perfect, in the image of God, in fact. As part of man’s special place in God’s creation, he was given dominion (rulership) over the earth and its animal-life. And, not only was man given the rule over the earth, but he was also to subdue it, something that would require the taking of control of the earth, by force if necessary, for this is what that word “subdue” involves.

Genesis 1:26 – And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:28 – And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

have dominion – to have dominion; rule; subjugate. That is, Adam (as the first man) was to be ruler over all creatures, plant life and the earth in general, and through Adam, all mankind (“and let them have dominion”) were to be rulers.

let them have dominion – and let them be rulers over. This in itself is a statement of free will, for how may anyone govern without the freedom to make decisions for that which he then is to take responsibility? Is it even possible to rule over something yet have no freedom of will to make decisions? We have a word for a ruler who can’t make free will decisions concerning his rule: we call him a puppet ruler; puppet king; puppet government etc.

subdue – kabash (to bring into bondage; make subservient; subdue; force; violate; dominate; tread down)

If one is to subdue anything, it requires the ability to consider the options. “subdue” has to firstly assume that an opposing force or will is being applied. “subdue” also has to assume that this opposing force or will is not under your control and that it is required (by you, of course) to be under your control. The word involves bringing something or someone under bondage, by force if necessary. You do not need to subdue that which is already under your control. You subdue in order to bring something under your control. Control involves the ability to manipulate that which is controlled, like a puppet is controlled by its strings. Control therefore means having the strings to pull on whatever you are controlling. The puppet dances to the tune of the puppeteer. Likewise, all creation on earth was to dance to the tune of man the puppeteer. And, a puppeteer is the will of the puppet! What a ridiculous idea to consider that man, the puppeteer, is likewise manipulated by strings attached to him by God, that man himself is both puppeteer and the puppet of God!

And God said (Vs 26 & Vs 28 above) – That word “said” is ‘amar (to say; to answer; to say in one’s heart; to think; to command; to promise; to intend). The term “emir” (ruler; leader; commander) appears to be a related word derived from the same root word as ‘amar.
An emir, sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is an aristocratic or noble and military title of high office used in a variety of places in the Arab countries. (Wikipedia).
Here in Genesis, ‘amar demonstrates that God, as sovereign of all, said it as an order that could not be disobeyed. The speaking of the order is the same as the action being carried out.

God said to man: subdue the earth! That is, God commanded it with every expectation that it would be carried out without question. This is an order that cannot be countermanded. Man is ordered to subdue the earth, and therefore man is to be given the authority to do so. You don’t order a puppet to do anything; you just make it do it and it will do it. There can be no suggestion at all that the puppet could ever oppose the will of the puppeteer. The order itself clearly demonstrates that man is not a puppet, that he does have a choice to obey or not to obey.

In the same way, God said “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) If man is merely a puppet, then God would have to pull the strings that prevent man from eating of that tree (or else He lied). Anything that is a puppet cannot oppose the puppeteer. But man opposed God and ate of that forbidden tree. It is ridiculous to assume that God in some way made man sin, because that also assumes that God pulled the “sin” string on man to make man sin. God is not a puppeteer who just pulls the strings and man moves accordingly. And a puppet itself can never be blamed for any of the alleged “crimes’ it commits, for, like Punch and Judy, the puppet just does what it is manipulated to do. Likewise, man, if merely a puppet, can only do that which he is manipulated to do, without any option of his own will being imposed, ever. (A puppet has no will at all.)

Just as Calvin said: If God merely foresaw human events, and did not also arrange and dispose of them at his pleasure, there might be room for agitating the question, how far his foreknowledge amounts to necessity; but since he foresees the things which are to happen, simply because he has decreed that they are so to happen, it is vain to debate about prescience, while it is clear that all events take place by his sovereign appointment. (Institutes, Bk 3, Ch 23, Section 6) That is, God has no need for foreknowledge (= prescience) because He has already decreed everything that is to happen. All events for all time take place by God’s sovereign decree. Thus the calvinist God is the puppet-master, and man is the puppet!

A puppet may have no life and will of its own, unless God should give it life, and order it to have dominion over the earth, and to subdue the earth (by force if necessary). And, therefore, man has to have the freedom of will to make his own decisions, even if they oppose God’s will, for unless he can have the option of opposing God’s will, then man is merely a puppet in the hands of God.
Of course, if God is to remain absolutely sovereign, then ultimately His will cannot be denied. If He should permit man to have free will, then He must also demand a full accounting of man as to every free will decision man has made. And God does indeed demand that.
2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad.

Calvinists do make such a song and dance about man having no free will (although some in an effort to placate those who know their Bibles well, will say that man has free will but not unto salvation, which is pointless, for unless a man has free will in salvation, there is no point in having free will otherwise!). But, if man has been given dominion over the earth, and is commanded by God to subdue the earth, then either man has free will to do so, or else he is a puppet who cannot be responsible for any of his decisions, for the puppeteer makes all decisions for him. And a puppet cannot be truthfully accused of disobeying his puppet-master (and therefore cannot be justly punished for such). And, if God is truth (like His word), then God will not unjustly accuse man of crimes that He, God, has made man do. For if God were to make man sin against Him, and then called such sin an abomination against His holy nature, then such a God himself is to be accused of the sin against himself! Either man sins by his own free will or God must be punished for the sin He makes man do.

However, the God of the Bible who created man did not demand to be puppet-master of man. He gave man some measure of free will to decide for himself, and to take responsibility for every one of his free will decisions. In this way, man has freedom of will to rule, yet God remains totally sovereign in requiring a complete accounting for all man’s free will choices. Man is held responsible for his decisions, and God justly and righteously punishes man for the wrong choices he (man) has made. (Even to the extent of sending His own Son to die in order that he might buy back mankind after mankind sold himself to satan.) God is sovereign.

Tozer wrote wisely when he said: God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, “What doest thou?” Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so. (Knowledge of the Holy, Tozer, P 76)

If man has free will to determine his eternal destiny, then God will honour all free will decisions by man: obedience to life, and rebellion to death.
Deuteronomy 30:15; 19 – See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; …..
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
If man is created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth and told to subdue it, then man can only do this with free will decision-making. If the calvinist God cannot permit man to have free will to choose between good and evil, then either man cannot be permitted to have dominion over the earth and to subdue it, or the calvinist God is deceiving man, promising dominion with one hand and taking it away with the other.

Any who believe that I have not stated Scriptural truth are welcome to challenge anything I have said, using the Bible alone as their authority (sola scriptura). Please attempt to keep your arguments consistent with all Biblical truth, and please do not resort to childish name-calling. Silence, name-calling, and derogatory statements are always taken to mean an inability to properly refute my statements. I present my views on Biblical grounds, both clearly and openly, but not one calvinist has yet been able to present his views likewise.

For example, when I stated to one calvinist that God chose His elect according to His foreknowledge based on 1 Peter 1:2 (Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father), he wrote back saying that this foreknowledge could not be defined as God’s perfect knowledge of the future, and that if I could present just one verse that clearly said that God chose His elect according to His perfect knowledge of the future, then he’d back down completely. You just can’t get through to some people!

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