Dave Hunt and The Gospel

According to The Berean Call:

Could someone who believes this false gospel of Calvinism be truly saved? Fortunately, many Calvinists (you among them) were saved before becoming Calvinists. They now malign God by saying that He is pleased to damn multitudes though He could save all and that He predestines multitudes to the Lake of Fire before they are even born. But having believed the gospel before becoming Calvinists, they "shall not come into condemnation, but [have] passed from death unto life" (Jn 5:24). Those who only know the false gospel of Calvinism are not saved, while those who are saved and ought to know better but teach these heresies will be judged for doing so.

So Calvinists like myself are lost or at least will be judged severely for teaching it. For those of you following the anti-Calvinism crusade of Hunt you might be wondering why he disdains it to the point of being irrational.

After listening to a debate between Dave Hunt and John Pipa, Dave clearly understands the logical necessity that if a person holds to one point of Calvinism, then he must hold to all 5 points. His complete misunderstanding of Calvinism (and of how God works in salvation in general) leads him to believe that God loves this few "select" people while trashing the rest of humanity that so desperately wants to be saved.

Although that is not Calvinism, he totally stumbles over the point (often known by the letter "L" in T.U.L.I.P.) of Limited Atonement. Since most people reject the idea off hand that the Atonement of Christ could be "Limited" in any way, it is the assumption that must be challenged. Limited Atonement simply means this. That Jesus died as a perfect substitute for those who are saved.

In order to get people to think consistently, I have to ask the question, “What does it mean for Jesus to be a substitute?” I have had so many of my fellow churchmen who say that Jesus died for every single person ever. Yet, when I ask “Did Jesus die for that man in hell?”, I often get the answer that “He did, but that person just did not accept the gift.”

So does Jesus die for millions of people, who sin, reject Christ, suppress truth, ignore God, rebel against the Laws of God and become rightly judged for their actions and intentions? Does Jesus take the sins of a man that is in hell, yet somehow that man’s unbelief could not be forgiven?

If we are going to be consistent, we must think through who God truly is, what man truly is, and think through the Work, Person and Nature of Christ. Perhaps when we do this, the church will stop manipulating people to say the “sinner’s prayer” and get back to the work of true evangelism.