Pristine Grace

Tolerant Calvinists
by Brandan Kraft
Tolerant Calvinists

    Back in the days of carpenterism, and even today if you hop on facebook, you'll find some folks that love to talk about "tolerant calvinists."  See, it's not enough to just bash freewillers on facebook all day, one must also whittle away their time attacking those who might even think of compromising by speaking peace to such "heretics."  But not only are tolerant calvinists attacked, they are all attacked as unregenerate.  But this is not logical.  And here are my reasons for this assertion!  

    To assert that alltolerant Calvinists” are unregenerate is to presuppose that all “tolerant Calvinists

  1. use the same nomenclature and vernacular as true Gospel believers,
  2. are able to recognize and avoid logical fallacies,
  3. do not hold to any romantic or paradoxical positions,
  4. take the time to follow all of their positions to their logical conclusions,
  5. affirm these logical conclusions as their actual beliefs,
  6. and have the ability to articulate precisely what they believe.

    To insist that alltolerant Calvinists” are unregenerate, therefore, is indeed to assert: 

  1. that salvation necessitates an understanding of all theological vocabulary,
  2. that there is a realization of the logical implications of various statements,
  3. and that there is a decent ability to articulate specified beliefs.

    To summarize, I simply cannot see or understand how this position regarding tolerant calvinists as unregenerate can be reconciled with the claim that the Gospel is "what truly matters.”