Daily Suffering: The Practical Difference Between Calvinism and Arminianism

There is no mystery in the universe as profound and troubling as the problem of evil.  Many who are atheists will cite this very problem as the primary reason for not believing in God.

On an intellectual level, an Arminian can live in a quiet truce with other Christians over this issue because on an intellectual level, both sides generally accept that much of the problem is indeed a mystery.  But on an emotional level, the question goes too deep.

On an emotional level, I fear the Calvinist and the Arminian are in completely different universes when it comes to dealing with pain, suffering and evil in the midst of human experience.  (More)

For the Calvinist, everything is encompassed in the glorious sovereignty of God.   Whatever happens, whether good or bad, is ultimately God's will.  God has a purpose for every event, good or bad.  If one is a believer, one of the "elect", there is always a higher purpose.   So if one loses a job, one can say, "it is God's will, something better will come along."  If a relationship falls apart, "God has a plan, God has someone else in mind for me."   Even death is part of a bigger picture, "God called him home", or "it was his time".

I would describe this view as something of a benign fatalism.   Ultimately life is completely out of our control, completely in the hands of God.  So one should simply rest in the knowledge that "it was meant to be".  There is something attractive to that in the sense that one is free of any sense of personal control.   There is also something troubling in that view for it can lead to a posture of complacency.

In my mind, this view ultimately breaks apart at the point of questions surrounding eternity.  If everything is part of God's plan, then it follows that individuals who are sentenced to eternal torment were predestined for that torment by God's sovereign will, and as I have discussed elsewhere on this blog, that is precisely where Calvin and others went with the concept.   Consistent Calvinists follow the view to its logical conclusion.

But experientially, in the face of enormous evil, the mantra, "It is part of God's plan" is little comfort to one who is faced with deep distressing or long-lasting trouble.   To the parent whose child faces cancer, to the pastor who watches his church burned by terrorists or the girl subjected to rape, torture and brutal murder by evil men, it is very difficult to simply say, "just rest in God's will."

For the Arminian, the response to evil has to be different.   Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus.  He mourned over the effects of evil on the life of his friend.   Though it is likely a bit of an anthropomorphism designed to speak on a human level, scripture says that God was grieved in Genesis to the point of wishing he had never created man because of the evil he saw.   Jesus stood over Jerusalem and lamented and mourned over his city that had stoned the prophets.

So the stance of the Arminian is ultimately not benign fatalism, but is instead a mournful resistance.   The Arminian looks into the face of evil and instead of thinking he should quietly rest in God's providence, he should weep at the suffering, be angry at the injustice, do something to fight against the thwarting of God's will rather than accept the circumstance as part of God's will.

Ultimately, in the face of suffering, the Calvinist cannot comfort the Arminian.   The advice a Calvinist would give to accept the circumstance as part of the divine plan flies in the face of the core of the Arminian worldview on a primal level.   The Arminian looks for comfort, not in acceptance of God's purpose behind a circumstance, but rather in an answer for how to overcome the circumstance, for the circumstance is a not God's plan, but a corruption of it. 

This difference can lead to some very uncomfortable exchanges.  How does one comfort someone who is in the midst of a life-threatening medical condition, persecution, economic distress, marital problems?   Does one say, "this is God's will for you" or "this is the effect of sin and rebellion and not God's will?"

For this reason, ultimately the Calvinist watches the Arminian squirm and resist, mourn, weep, and struggle with evil and sits in judgment on him for not being spiritual enough to rest in God.

I find that when I am faced with the "futility" described in Romans 8, my natural inclination is, in fact, mournful resistance.   I kick,  I scream.   I get angry.   I weep.   I pray for God to open doors of escape or paths to righting the wrong, bringing justice to injustice, healing to brokenness.  It is the complete opposite of "resting".

And when I express my frustrations with the state of the world, the state of my less than happy circumstances to other Christians who are thinking in the general flow of the Calvinist view, I find myself at odds and frustrated with the responses.  I find their attempts at advice and comfort more troubling and disconcerting.   I feel disconnected from them.

Ultimately, I know that if God has allowed human free will, He does not make a practice of thwarting free will, even when humans do evil, so any resistance against the flow of the fallen world is difficult and of limited success.   So if there is any acceptance of bad circumstance, it is acceptance that decay, suffering, evil and death are part of the broken nature of the world, something we have to live with, something only the return of Christ will ultimately overcome.  But ultimately the last thing I want to do is be complacent about any of it.

In the end, I have to direct my frustration to God, like the Psalmist.  "Why do the wicked prosper?" When will there be a righting of wrongs?  When will there be true peace?  True healing?

But what it means on a practical level, is that when among Calvinists, the Arminian suffers alone.