James White
Calvinist, James White, writes: “I just also believe the undisputed and unrefuted fact that I come to Christ daily because the Father, on the sole basis of His mercy and grace, gave me to the Son in eternity past.” (Debating Calvinism, p.306, emphasis mine)
White concludes: “In the final analysis, I have peace with God because God in eternity past chose this undeserving sinner and placed His grace and love upon me. There can be no other consistent, biblical, and God-glorifying answer. This is sovereign freedom, divine grace, and it leads inexorably to the truth of unconditional election.” (Debating Calvinism, p.95, emphasis mine)
Sometimes, Calvinists and Arminians engage in heated arguments, and then name-calling ensues. For instance, John Calvin, in his book, Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, resorted, among other things, to referring to his opponents as “cyclops.” It is disturbing to see Christian authors succumb to these type of abusive tactics, as shown in the following quote:
James White writes: “Dave Hunt’s fourth presentation is marked by shrill rhetoric, an incredible lack of understanding of the issues he has chosen to denounce, and a scattergun approach that presents a disjointed collage of false allegations against Reformed Theology containing so many basic errors of fact and logic that one could fill a book with in-depth refutations. To say it is disappointing is a gross understatement. Mr. Hunt does not understand the issues before him. I, along with dozens of others, have attempted over the past couple of years to explain to him the large number of misapprehensions he has about the Reformed faith, but he has refused to listen. This chapter exhibits many of these mistaken assumptions in full color. But what should concern all serious readers is the fact that in his dogged attacks upon Calvinism, Hunt does not provide a coherent, thought-out alternative.” (Debating Calvinism, p.319)
In contrast, here is the example that the Apostle Paul provided: “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” (2nd Timothy 2:24-26) When Christian debate goes from productive discourse to spiteful pissing matches, debate should cease.
Dave Hunt responds: “I’ll turn the other cheek to White’s characterization of my presentation, which uses phrases like ‘lack of understanding...scattergun approach...derisively attacks...shrill... strident, emotionally-charged rhetoric...unfair misrepresentation... defying meaningful interaction,’ and which he caps off by accusing me of ‘emotional, ad hominem special pleading’ because I don’t believe that Paul meant ‘kinds of men’ in 1 Timothy 2:1-6.” (Debating Calvinism, p.329)
Debating Calvinism was a bitter and strident. It was an unloving display of pure ugliness. James White may refer to Dave Hunt as “Brother Hunt,” but the conduct displayed in that book was anything but brotherly.
For more on this type of discussion, see: Calvinists, Let’s Calm Down
