Out of Our Hands?

I recently had someone ask me about my take on pre-destination. Okay, time for a lesson on Calvinism. John Calvin (and his followers called Calvinist) begins with the premise that God is totally sovereign (sounds innocent enough) and follows that premise to its logical conclusions, including: God is omnipotent (therefore God is in total control of everything that happens); if God knows what is going to happen, God causes it to happen—to foreknow is to predestinate; God therefore pre-determines who is to be saved and who is to be lost. Rick Warren, in his popular book, The Purpose Driven Life, is an example of popularized Calvinism. In it he writes, “Your birth is no mistake or mishap, and our life is no fluke. (God) was not at all surprised by your birth. In fact, he expected it. He thought of you first. It is not chance, fate, nor luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing. Many children are unplanned by their parents, but not unplanned by God.” Really! Have we no free will at all? That means that God—not two young adults who are intoxicated, not an oppressive husband, not a boy who forces himself on a girl, and not a girl who forgets to take her birth control pill—is responsible for every birth. Sorry, I refuse to make God responsible for crack babies, for multiple children born to single young women and teen moms, for whom high schools now have childcare centers…I just can’t go there! (I will give you time to think this over and continue my thoughts tomorrow.)