When Arminians Become Calvinists

As most already know, there was a shooting earlier today at New Life Church here in Colorado Springs. Because I work for a Christian non-profit organization, I happen to work with quite a few people who attend New Life. Thus far, the reports say that there is one fatality as well as the shooter, and between three and five wounded. Naturally, my thoughts run to co-workers who go there.

The church is quite large--around 10,000 members, and according to reports there were 7,000 people there at the time of the shooting. Odds are that no one I knew personally was killed or wounded. But I also know people who are high in the leadership staff of that church, and regardless of whether they were injured or not they will be dealing with this issue now.

The New Life community will be going through a major process now, to put it mildly. Everyone will try to make sense of the issue as best they can. Sadly, for many, this will be a much more difficult task than it ought to be.

I know at times that readers may wonder why we choose to dwell on a certain theological point when we write blog entries here on Triablogue. Sometimes the theological issues appear to be quite minor quibbles (and sometimes they are). I won't speak for the others, but for me the fact remains that it is times like these that the theological points that seem trivial bear their full weight.

I am a Calvinist. While I have a great number of friends who are not (indeed, one of my best friends is a Wesleyan), I simply do not understand how anyone who is not Reformed could deal with this situation without falling into despair. Without the sure knowledge of the overall sovereignty of God, how can one rest in the promise of Romans 8 that all things will work for the good of those who love Christ and are called according to His purposes? It is easy for all Christians to acknowledge God's sovereignty when good things happen (although all too often they do not acknowledge it even then), but as soon as a situation such as this occurs we hear: "God did not want this to happen."

But if things can happen that God did not want, at some level, to have happen, how can we trust anything He has promised? How is He able to bring about His plan if events like this can thwart His purposes?

Thankfully, most Arminians have a faith that is inconsistent with their stated beliefs. They know that God is sovereign, even though their beliefs logically must lead them to a non-sovereign Lord. And when a crime such as this one comes about, we see many Arminians fall back onto their Calvinistic heritage.

"Pray for New Life," they say, and rightly so.

We do pray for New Life. We pray because we do believe in a sovereign God who can do as He pleases in His world. And we pray because we know that He will make all things work out for the good of His people, just as He has promised.

The distinctions between Calvinists and Arminians are not just minor quibbles. In times like this, Arminians become Calvinists or they jettison the faith altogether. Being rooted in the truth of Reformed Doctrine is the only way to make sense of what is insensible to the Arminian.

If only it didn't take incidents like this one to demonstrate it.