Grace Denied: The Disturbing Reality of Calvinism's "Double Predestination"

This “horrible doctrine” of Calvinism (aptly named as such by John Calvin himself) is a gross distortion of what the Bible teaches! A more sanitized name for infant damnation is “double predestination”: the teaching which says that God created some people (even babies!) to burn in hell for all eternity for His “good pleasure” without their choice being involved at all. May I say, such a god is more like the Old Testament abomination known as “Molech,” the Canaanite deity to whom the wayward Israelites sacrificed their children, NOT the biblical YHWH! (See Deut. 1:39; 2 Sam. 12:23; Jer. 19:4-5; Jonah 4:11; Matt. 19:14; Mk. 10:13-16; Lk. 18:15-17.)

H. A. Ironside, the long-time pastor of Moody Church, likewise repudiated the teaching of “double predestination” as unbiblical. Concerning it, Ironside stated: “There is no such thing taught in the Word of God as predestination to eternal condemnation. If men are lost, they are lost because they do not come to Christ. When men do come to Christ, they learn the wonderful secret that God has foreknown it all from eternity, and that He had settled it before the world came into existence that they were to share the glory of His Son throughout endless ages. D.L. Moody used to say in his quaint way, when people talked about the subject of election, ‘The whosoever wills are the elect and the whosoever won’ts are the non-elect.’ And so you can settle it for yourself whether you will be among the elect of God or not.”[1] 

J. Vernon McGee similarly states: “God has never predestined anybody to be lost. If you are lost, it is because you have rejected God’s remedy. It is like a dying man to whom the doctor offers curing medicine. ‘If you take this, it’ll heal you.’ The man looks at the doctor in amazement and says, ‘I don’t believe you.’ Now the man dies and the doctor’s report says he died of a certain disease, and that’s accurate. But may I say to you, there was a remedy, and he actually died because he didn’t take the remedy. God has provided a remedy. Let me repeat, God has never predestined anybody to be lost. That’s where your free will comes in, and you have to determine for yourself what your choice will be.”[2] “There never will be a person in hell who did not choose to be there, my friend. You are the one who makes your own decision.”[3]

References:

[1] H. A. Ironside, “Election and Predestination” (1935), Moody Church website. https://www.moodymedia.org/articles/election-and-predestination/ (accessed Dec 31, 2023). Also see Ironside’s commentary on Ephesians titled In The Heavenlies: Practical Expository Addresses on the Epistle to the Ephesians (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1937), p. 29, commentary on Ephesians 1:4-5.

[2] J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary Series: Ephesians (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1991), p. 35.

[3] J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary Series: Romans: Chapters 9-16 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1991), p. 32.