Knowing The Difference Between Calvinism & Christianity

UPDATE 4:  10 Dec 2012 I've been writing a series of articles deeply engaging Calvinism and comparing it to the Scriptures of the last 6 months. You can read this exhaustive review and response to famous Calvinist Dr. James R. White's book The Potter's Freedom in my series called The Debater's Potter.

UPDATE 3: This article is more about Determinism than basic Calvinism. A discussion about the sovereignty of God can be found here: God's Rube Goldberg Machine.

UPDATE 2: This article is one of the most popular ever at OMW, it continues to be visited by new readers several times a day. Recently there has been a very detailed discussion of the Calvinist theory of Total Depravity/Total Inability which I have found to be most profitable. Please read TESTING TULIP: Total Depravity/Inability here.

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UPDATE: This article has sparked some interest in Calvinism here at OMW so I thought I would do a 7 part series on TULIP.

My wife and I took a day off from the world on Saturday. Have you ever just taken a vacation from all your responsibilities for a day? It’s obviously not the responsible thing to do, but there is merit to doing so every now and then. *smile*

I like mysterious movies. OK, actually I just plain love movies. Well made or poorly so it doesn’t matter, I just really love them. I’m fascinated by the process of telling a story using the incredible palate of a theater movie. I’m a DVD “special features” addict… admitting it is the first step toward recovery right?

So during our little vacation from the world and all its cares my wife and I headed off to see the movie Knowing. I guess I wasn’t entirely on vacation. Movies have a great ability to give voice to the undercurrent of opinions of the culture. The voice they have then tends to solidify those opinions. The movie is designed to have people identify with it, and those who do identify with it say “Ya! That’s what I think too!” They think that someone else thinks the same thing they do, and their opinion becomes validated in their mind. This is the same way a commercial works, you think a product is good and then you see someone on TV saying it is and you’re like “ya! They’re right, and so am I.” Your opinion of the product is confirmed, and now established in your mind. So, knowing that “Knowing” was about the end of the world I was interested in what people are thinking about, and what they’re being fed. Admittedly, this was not my primary purpose but it was what I used to justify going to the theater to be entertained by a bunch of lies.

Spoilers warning: Knowing is a very well made flick and entertaining. I wouldn’t normally ruin someone’s movie going experience. For the sake of the Gospel however, I am going to talk about the entire story of the movie. The movie was incredibly well researched and crafted. If you really want to see it, there’s probably value for you to watch it first and then come back to this article. This article isn’t really about the movie, but about the concepts used in the movie to attack the hope of the Gospel.

I’m really glad I watched the movie, not only was it very well made but shortly into the film I realized I wasn’t on vacation after all. I was exactly where God wanted me to be. The movie starts with the main character discussing the difference between the ideas of how the Universe came to be as it is. He asks, what caused the Earth to be the exact right distance from the Sun to support intelligent life. It is around this question that he discusses two opposing views; random chance and determinism. This is a truly brilliant moment in the film. The character could have chosen to discuss Evolution and Creationism along with the associated baggage. But the really issue of the movie is “are things ‘determined’ or random.” I love well crafted movies, and this speech by Nicolas Cage’s character sold me on the flick. The writers knew what they were doing and I was in for a treat. I had been unaware that this was the subject of the film, and had really just expected an end of the world type mystery. Maybe I was were God had “determined” I would be?

We were sitting beside two boys who were early to mid teenaged. A scene showed that the main character didn’t like being the son of a Pastor because he favors the random chance view of the universe. These two boys picked up on the unfamiliar word “Pastor” because they didn’t know what it meant. In one quick sentence I told them what a Pastor is and we all went back to the movie.

Then a scene came where a plane crash happens exactly where it was predicted to happen, and kills the exact number of people that was predicted too. The scene was graphic and disturbing. I have been to aircraft crash sites trying to find people, so it may have been more disturbing to me than it would be to other people. What shocked me most however was the sound of the boys laughing with delight as the people were shown burning and trying to get away from the flames. It was a horrible sight on the screen, and these two thought it was funny. Of course at this point I started to wonder why two so young people were allowed into the theater unescorted, and that led me to the thought of what it costs our children to be denied Truth. These kids didn’t even know what a Pastor is, let alone the benefit of having one teach them Truth. It showed in their delight over suffering. Now these completely unprotected kids were going to watch a well crafted film that was obviously going to be taking on the subject of the nature of God.

At this point the stakes were starting to get pretty high. The movie had my interest and God allowed me get a clear view of the people who could be affected by it.

Through the movie the character played by Nicolas Cage is swayed from the idea of random chance to start believing in determinism. He’s been given a soft of key to all the disasters over a period of 50 years. H e knows the date, the number of people killed and the location. He tries to stop a few of them, but he always fails and the exact number of people predicted end up dying anyway. It doesn’t take long for the predictions to run out. The last prediction states the number of people killed will be “EE” and at first he thinks this is 33, but through investigation he comes to realize it means “Everyone Else.” He now has a date for the end of the world and he’s convinced that it’s going to happen. Of course no one believes him… people argue random chance and think he’s lost his sensibilities.

Over the course of the film the predictions are tied to the Bible, particularly the book of Ezekiel. Some creepy individuals show up, and they are recognizable as matching the descriptions of Angels in the bible. The imagery is carefully matched to the descriptions of things in Ezekiel, which I found fascinating.

In the middle act of the film we witness a conversation between the main character and his father, the Pastor. Nicolas Cage warns him that the end of the world is coming, and the Pastor responds that if it is time for the Lord to take him then he’s ready and asks Nick if he is too. The phone lines go down at that point stopping the conversation. Was this a determined event?

In the last act Nick teams up with a woman to try to save themselves and their kids he continues to fight against what has been determined. The woman dies, just as predicted, and the kids get taken by these angel people. Nick has figured out where they are supposed to go on the day the world ends and he heads there, expecting to find the kids there. Turns out the kids are there, with the angels. His son is getting ready to get into, you guessed it, a space ship. The little child is told that his dad can’t come with him. He’s broken hearted of course, but he explains to his dad that only those who have been chosen and have heard the call can go. Nicolas Cage pleads with the angels momentarily but then surrenders to the fact that he can’t go and sends his son off with his love.

Then we see spaceships lifting off the face of the Earth from locations all around the world. The kids are taken to a beautiful planet with golden grace and one single large tree – the Tree of Life maybe? But the movie jumps back to Earth and we witness the world burning from a solar flare from the Sun. Nick is with his mom, dad and sister and they are all burnt in the destruction of the world. The streets are filled with panicking people and there is a van with words painted on it. It says “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.” These people are engulfed in flames.

What we see here is a graphic portrayal of determinism. Those who would be saved are determined and there is no possible hope for anyone else, even those who think they have hope. Nicolas pleaded to be saved, but he was not one of the chosen so he was not saved. The Pastor’s family though trusting God were not saved from the flames because they were not chosen.

This movie uses the teachings of Calvinism to inoculate the culture against the true Gospel of Grace. There is no reason to seek God, or to trust Him because only those who are chosen will be saved anyway. These determined few will be saved no matter if they know what’s going on or not and no one else has a chance.

It is JUST a movie.

But here’s a thought about Calvinism. God, Who cannot lie, says that all who trust Him will be saved. He says all who call on Him will be saved. If someone thinks and trusts they are saved based on the fact that Jesus died for their sins and rose again but they are in fact not saved – because they are not one of the “elect” then is not God a liar? If Salvation is not by Grace through Faith then is not God a liar?

This movie uses Calvinism’s determinism to show people that it’s useless to trust God, that salvation is through some other means. It even goes so far as to make it seem ok that “Everyone Else” is going to perish. I’m convinced knowing the difference between Calvinism and Christianity will help the Evangelist reach the lost and glorify the Name of God as we watch Him be faithful to His Word.