Is Predestination Unfair?
Part IV: A Hope that Transcends All Obstacles to Faith in Christ
What about Prevenient Grace?
Some Arminian thinkers will say that coming to Christ requires some pre-administration of grace – otherwise known as prevenient, preceding, or enabling grace. This divine “wooing “ presumably is the equalizer, thus enabling the disinclined to come to Christ. Many Arminians believe this grace gives sinners the moral ability to choose God, while not in any way depriving them of their free will. (That in itself raises an interesting question: when does “wooing” become so persuasive that the subject’s free will is violated?)
To ensure fairness, Arminians might contend that God dispenses prevenient grace in different quantities, or “woos” people differently, based on each person’s background and exposure to the gospel, thereby leveling the playing field. Yet, even if God were to supply grace that is able to overcome some measure of a person’s opposition to Christ, the remaining measure would still need to be supplied by that individual through the exercise of their free will. Naturally, the individual’s portion of authority or responsibility would remain an amalgamation of personality, family and cultural background, genes, and so forth, which would need to be decisive.
Otherwise, a conversion would be the result of coercion, not “free will.” To paraphrase the late Pastor D. James Kennedy, if God can always be counted on to do His part, which of course we trust He can, then the remaining part is up to each and every person. Therein lies the problem – that remaining controlling portion is vulnerable to all the disparate influences we’ve discussed ad nauseum.
The “real” world experiences of people who’ve come to Christ seem to verify this problem. One study, by Pastor Mike Fleischmann, in concert with scholars at Oregon State University, found that only 28 percent of people attending evangelical churches in America are from “unchurched” backgrounds — meaning neither of their parents was a Christian[1]. One would expect far more unchurched people to experience salvation if prevenient grace was truly an “equalizing” force.
The stories of this unchurched 28 percent, who were interviewed by Mr. Fleischmann, are compelling. How would or could these believers, with little or none of the predisposing factors that the “churched” enjoyed, possibly come to faith? Mr. Fleischmann describes their pre-Christian experience thusly:
Generally these are people who grew up with parents who were not Christians and with little spiritual activity in their home. They rarely, if ever, went to church. Their exposure to the Bible was limited. They didn’t pray regularly. They were raised irreligiously[2].
Fleischmann interviewed 50 of the these “unchurched” believers, and a common thread among them was the caveat frequently added that they hadn’t come to faith in the “usual way.” He observes:
It quickly became evident that most of them considered themselves “exceptions to the rule.” They all picked up around their churches that the way they came to Jesus doesn’t fit “the normal pattern.”
Indeed, the author notes the unpredictability of these believers’ respective journeys to faith. The quirkiness of their “discoveries” is not lost on them[3]. A faith that surprises and even confounds resonates deeply with an unexpected God-ordained conversion, in accordance with Jesus’ teaching on the mystery of who comes to faith, and how:
[T]he wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)
Hope that Transcends All Obstacles to Faith in Christ
Hence, the problem of inequality in the Arminian system of salvation isn’t solved by dispensing with Calvinism’s doctrine of unconditional election. The “inequality” of election is merely supplanted by the inequality of sociological, psychological, and genetic influences under Arminianism.
In reality, because human “free will” under Arminianism operates in a world of people with radically incongruent backgrounds and attitudes toward Christianity, apart from God intervening to level the playin
g field, equality in salvation chances isn’t possible. Christian families generate “next generation” Christians at a far greater rate than non-Christian families. Family of origin, culture, and personal experience factor greatly in salvation decisions, all of which are necessarily diverse and “unequal.” God generally seems to work through families, but He also works to draw people with little or no Christian upbringing and exposure.
In short, Aminianism is unfair as an empirical fact, whereas Calvinism reserves to the all-wise and perfectly just God alone all decisions regarding the election of His saints. As a result, there are many surprises of lives redeemed that one wouldn’t and couldn’t expect from Arminianism. (To get a sense of how God unexpectedly transforms unlikely candidates for salvation, check out the testimony of David Nasser here.)
While we may not understand why God saves some and not others, we are assured of God’s perfect justice, just as we know that could not be the case if such decisions were partly or solely in the hands of each individual person. In our times, as the gospel explodes outside the West, reaching and transforming millions across an incredibly diverse set of ethnic, racial, religious, and geographically located people groups, the wisdom and inscrutability of God’s predestinating grace continues to unfold before our eyes.
Thus, Calvinism is not only fairer, but ultimately more hopeful than Arminianism. Calvinism surely gives a better hope to Muslims and to other members of non-Christian families and cultures, because if God alone is the author of salvation, then no place of birth, family, culture, or even an individual’s “free will” can interfere, undermine, or negate His choices from before He spoke the world into existence. We can rejoice in that great truth, while continuing to trust in God’s goodness and justice in His sovereign election of the saints.
Fleischmann, Mike, “How Outsiders Find Faith,” CT Pastors (a publication of Christianity Today), Summer 2010, accessed March 31, 2017 at http://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2010/summer/outsidersfindfaith.html.
[2] Ibid..
[3] Ibid.
