Wild, Fanciful and Speculative Quotes

I have been promising for about 4 weeks a list of quotes from the great Calvinist authors who write in defense of Calvinism or who write in an attempt to tie all the lose ends of this narrow theology together. Today's list comes only from Loraine Boettner in his book "The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination."

But, first, who is Loraine Boettner? He graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary with degrees in 1928 and 1929 and received the Doctor of Divinity in 1933 and Doctor of Literature in 1957. It is said that the mantle of Calvinism's most distinguished expositors, Dr. B.B. Warfield, came upon Dr. Boettner. So, these quotes are not just somethings I picked up from some Calvinistic blogs. These are quotes from the author of the book that Christianity Today says, "Not only a clear and cogent presentation of the Reformed Doctrine of Predestination but of all the great distinctive doctrines of the Reformed Faith."

"It is not the whole of mankind that is equally loved of God and promiscuously redeemed by Christ." (p. 158)

"In Genesis we read that God 'put enmity' between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent...So the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent are each a part of the human race...And since at the very beginning God 'put enmity' between these two groups, it is plain that He never loved all alike, nor intended to redeem all alike." (p. 158)

"Since this work on the soul is sovereign and supernatural it may be granted or withheld according to the good pleasure of God." (p. 166)

 "(Regeneration or the New Birth) is an instantaneous change...It is not even a thing of which we are conscious at the moment it occurs, but rather something which lies lower than consciousness."  (p. 165)

 "And shall we not believe that God can convert a sinner when He pleases? Cannot the Almighty, the omnipotent Ruler of the universe, change the characters of the creatures He has made?" (p. 32)

 "Since evil exists only by His permission, He could, if He chose, blot it out of existence." (p. 32)

"If it be asked why He does this, or why he does not save all, the only available answer is found in the words of the Lord Jesus, 'Yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight.' " (p. 36)

"But while the Bible repeatedly teaches that this providential control is universal, powerful, wise, and holy, it nowhere attempts to inform us how it is to be reconciled with man's free agency." (p. 38)

"God so presents the outside inducements that man acts in accordance with his own nature, yet does exactly what God has planned for him to do." (p. 38)

"The actions of free agents do not take place because they are foreseen, but they are foreseen because they are certain to take place (because they are foreordained by God)." (p. 46)

Calvin said, "The discussion of Predestination - a subject of itself rather intricate - is made very perplexed, and therefore dangerous, by human curiosity, which no barriers can restrain from wandering into forbidden labyrinths, and from soaring beyond its sphere, as if determined to leave none of the Divine secrets unscrutinized or unexplored..." (p. 54)

"God is free, in consistency with the infinite perfections of His nature, to save none, few, many, or all, according to the sovereign good pleasure of His will." (p. 71)

 Westminster Confession: "By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated to everlasting life, and others are foreordained to everlasting death." (p. 84)

 Westminster Confession: "The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of His will, whereby He extendeth or withholdeth mercy as He pleaseth, for the glory of His sovereign power over His creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice."

"God undoubtedly does choose some nations to receive much greater spiritual and temporal blessings than others...The contrast is very striking when we compare these with other nations such as China, Japan, India, etc." (p. 88)

"Where God, in His sovereignty, withholds from men the enjoyment of the means of "grace, - an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the only way of salvation, - He at the same time, and by the same mean, or ordination, withholds from them the opportunity and power of believing and being saved." (p. 91)

 "These secret counsels of His, which even the angels adore with trembling and desire to look into, are left unexplained, except that they are said to be according to His own good pleasure." (p. 93)

"It may be asked, Why does God save some and not others? But that belongs to His secret counsels. Precisely why this man receives, and that man does not receive, when neither deserves to receive, we are not told. That God was pleased to set upon us in this His electing grace must ever remain for us a matter of adoring wonder." (p. 96)

"Furthermore, the reason that God did not choose all to eternal life was not because He did not wish to save all, but that for reasons which we cannot fully explain a universal choice would have been inconsistent with His perfect righteousness." (p. 97)

"A man is not saved because he believes in Christ; he believes in Christ because he is saved." (p. 101)

"If a sinner is to desire redemption through Christ, he must receive a new disposition. He must be born again." (p. 163)

"Repentance is equally declared to be a gift." (p. 101)

"Calvin did not hesitate to base the reprobation of the lost, as well as the election of the saved, on the eternal purpose of God." (p.105)

"Multitudes were left with no chance to hear the Gospel, and consequently died in their sins. If God had intended to save them undoubtedly he would have sent them the means of salvation." (p. 117)

"Let it be remembered that we are under no obligation to explain all the mysteries connected with these doctrines." (p. 124)

  "It is hard for us to realize that many of those right around us are probably foreordained to eternal punishment." (p. 125)

"THE WORLD IS GROWING BETTER...We live in the day of advancing victory and see the conquest taking place...this course shall ultimately be completed, and before Christ comes again we shall see a Christianized world." (p. 141)

 "When we contrast the rapid spread of Christianity in recent years with the rapid disintegration that is taking place in all of the other world religions, it appears very plain that Christianity is the future world religion. In the light of these facts we face the future confident that the best is yet to be." (p. 143)

"He (Calvin) explicitly taught that some of the elect die in infancy and that they are saved as infants. He also taught that there were reprobate infants...his own reasoning compels him to hold that no reprobate child can die in infancy." (p. 147)

"All of those dying in infancy are among the elect." (p. 149)

"God, in His sovereignty, could regenerate all men if He chose to do so." (p. 149)

"The reason why God does not apply this grace to all men has not been fully revealed." (p. 152)

"We may rest assured that if some men are lost God never purposed their salvation, and never devised and put into operation means designed to accomplish that end." (p. 156)

"Those who oppose this doctrine do so because they neither understand nor consider the majesty and holiness of God, nor the corruption and guilt of their own nature...they want to be independent to work out their own scheme of salvation rather than to accept God's plan which is by grace." (p. 148)

 Well, according to Boettner, I do not understand God's majesty and holiness nor do I understand how evil I am since I work out my own scheme for salvation instead of embracing Calvinism.  

 Galyn Wiemers
Generation Word
http://www.generationword.com