Is it just me, or do those who hold Calvinist beliefs tend to have the most warped and fucked up views? They also say the most darndest things that are hard to tell if they are joking or not.
Example, this douchebag. He outright admits the god only cares about glory and glorifies himself by causing billions to suffer (implying eternal damnation). I honestly can't think of a more evil and despicable being than that. But since Vincent here is one of the "elect", he sees nothing wrong with that. In fact, he thinks the victims of this diety are the ones who think too highly of themselves if they think their suffering isn't worth gawds precious fucking glory.
It's the perfect example of what an inhumane, sociopathic, and nonesensical theology it is. Some other arguements...
-Everyone deserves hell (because of Adams sin), therefore god is gracious in saving some people from such a fate (justifying limited atonement).
-When taken further into hyper calvinism, they claim that God controls everything and uses everything for his glory, even evil and hell (which explains the mindset behind the above quote). They use abusive verses comparing humans to clay pots to remind of that we are god's property. I should also note that Westboro Baptist are hyper Calvinists. THAT should tell you a lot.
-They are completely unsympathetic toward the suffering of others. Since they think everyone deserves hell, they say no one has the right to complain about suffering.
-They are obsessed with sementics and will twist them to cover contradictions. How can a god of love create people just to send them to hell (or even create such a place to begin with)? Well we're confused with the "secular" definition of love. God's idea of "love" is higher than ours. They also twist verses that claim all will be saved to mean only the elect.
-They accuse others or being prideful for ignoring the scriptural support for predestination. Yes, these are the "elect" accusing others of pride. Of we're probably confused with the secular definintion of pride.
-When people question the morality of Calvinism, they will try to get philosophical. "Wrong by who'se standards?" they'll say. Since we can't point to an objective source of morality (their evil god), we obviously can't say anything is wrong. Even if an action causes suffering, they'll ask why suffering is wrong. Ultimately, their arguements will come down to "god's ways our higher than ours" so just shut up and accept. Even though they can't give ANY OBJECTIVE PROOF THAT THEIR GOD EXISTS, they are right and we're wrong.
Just to see another example of the fruits of Calvinism, look in the comments of
this article. Search for a poster named "Calvin" and you'll see just how arrogant and terrifying these people are. In his first post, he actually admits that he will be happy with god's judgement if he sends his son to hell. When people call him out on it, he gets defensive of his "holy and righteous god" and starts attacking people, actually praising god's "justice". Again, people tell him that most Christians on that site they get along with fine, but that Calvin is being a real asshole. He then says that he's not there to get anyone to like him, he's just preaching the truth. Later along the line, he admits that when he's in heaven, he will rejoice in seeing others sent to hell. A real class act.
I can't say for sure, but it sounds like John Calvin and other reformed theologians were trying to answer the problem of evil. However, in doing so, they create a theology which is evil. It encourages unfairness (the elect bullshit) and brings out
Darkness Induced Audience Apathy. I'm not a fan of arminism or any theology which condemns people to eternal torment, but at least the other ones aren't nearly as cold or depressing as Calvinism.