If you follow Calvinism to it's conclusion then I'm deeply disturbed at what it implies. I've found these points are not largely talked about in calvinistic leaning churches possibly because of their disturbing nature and the potential to cause an upset. However, if it is truth, why are we skirting around it? Christ didn't hold back difficult truths (Matt. 10:34, John 6:59-66), we too then should bring it to light.

Calvinism concludes that God wants to only save some. Because Calvinist believe there is no free will, and because not everyone is saved, Calvinist conclude that God desires only to save some people. Some Calvinist are at peace because they are part of the "in" crowd, but if you truly love others, even your enemy as we are commanded (Matt. 5:44), how does this not bother you??? If you are a loving person how does this not keep you up at night? I know Paul, in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 9:1) was plagued with great sorrow and unceasing grief at the thought of his fellow kinsmen not being saved (Romans 9:2-3).

Calvinism concludes that God created sin, and that He delights in the death of the wicked. Because Calvinist believe God orchestrates everything, that nothing happens that's not the Sovereign will of God, Calvinist must conclude as R.C. Sproul, Jr., did in his book Almighty Over All, that "...God desired for man to fall into sin... God created sin.". This is like setting a house on fire then running in and saving 2 of the 12 people in the house and then showing the two saved how great of a rescuer you are as you point to the 10 crisp and burnt corpses illustrate to those rescued what you rescued them from.

Calvinism concludes God is responsible for your sin. Those entrenched in Calvinism believe that every single thing is ordained by God, is caused by God's willing it to be caused. Calvinist believe that God is going to save whom He will and damn whom He will and nothing we can do matters. In this way Calvinists believe that what they do or don't do doesn't matter. They can be mean, they can represent the gospel poorly, they can live however they want and won't impact God's plan. Those entrenched believe they can do whatever they will and ultimately it doesn't matter because God is behind all of it. This borders on licentiousness (Jude 1:4).

Calvinism concludes that much of scripture is a formality and God is sadistic and double-tongued. If God has destined some men to heaven and for them it's irresistible and destined some men for hell and for them it's predetermined by Him and therefore unavoidable, then much of scripture is not forthcoming but has a hidden agenda. Scripture such as Acts 17:30 where "God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent" is sadistic and double-tongued. Sadistic, or sadism, is defined as deriving pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others". Double-tongued is defined as "marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another". If verses like these are just a formality so God can tease people with what He knows they cannot obtain, it's sadistic, deceptive and it means He is being double-tongued. Isn't that how the bible describes the Devil (John 8:44, 2 Cor. 11:14, Job 1:7-9, 1 Peter 5:8, Gen. 3:1, Matt. 4:3,6). Romans 10:12 which speaks of God being God of all and abounding in riches for all who call on Him is defamed and loses it's splendor if you believe that God is forcing people to not be able to take Him up on that offer. If I might make a crude analogy. It's like offering your dog the best treat ever and dangling it in front of it's face, but then, in a sadistic turn of events, instead of giving that treat your dog, you instead decide to mutilate the dog and torture it bringing it on the brink of death but never quite killing it, and then giving a nearby dog the treat instead. This analogy makes me want to cry. This is not God! No where in the bible is God depicted this way. No where in creation is God depicted this way (Rom. 1:20) yet this is the hidden, underlying conclusion that is to be made according to 5 point Calvinism. There are many other verses that lose their splendor and defame God of the glory that would otherwise be found in these verses. Rev. 22:17, Luke 13:34, Rom. 10:21, Acts 7:51, 10:34-35, Psalms 145:9, Matt. 11:28-30, to name a few.

Calvinism concludes that God's purpose behind everything is to promote His glory. That promoting His glory is more important than His love. Calvinist claim the motivation behind why God operates this way and within T.U.L.I.P is because it serves His glory and in doing so it allows God to show off His other attributes besides love such as wrath and justice. My question there is, wasn't that displayed in the crucifixion of Christ? Also, isn't it possible that love might be a primary characteristic of God? 1 John 4:8 says God is love. Wasn't it love that compelled Christ to satisfy the righteous requirements of God's holiness on the cross (Rom. 5:8 (Eph. 2:4). Has not God made the ultimate sacrifice for us in doing that? While it would allow God to demonstrate His power in exercising His holiness, what if He rather decided to bear vessels of wrath, what if He rather decided to be longsuffering with them (Rom. 9:22-23)? It glorifies God when He overlooks transgression. It actually defaming to this truth to say His motivation was not love but rather to glorify Himself. For example, if I open the car door for my wife because I love her, she's amazed at my love and glorifies me (tells her friends about my love). If my wife knew I opened the car door with the primary purpose of wanting to look good (because I wanted her to tell her friends) it and of it self is self-defeating and I end up looking worse than if I had not opened the door for her at all. The very act of trying to look good actually resulted for me to look bad. God needs to exercise His wrath on sin as His holiness requires, but to say that God creates some men and enables them to sin and even delights in them falling into the trap of sin so that He can do so in order to display His glory, isn't that in itself defaming of Him? Isn't that in and of it self defeating of what Calvinists claim it to do? To say God takes pleasure in glorifying Himself by condemning people is to go against scripture, He does not take such pleasure (2 Peter 3:9, Eze. 33:11, 18:23).

Calvinism concludes that Christ's work on the cross was just a means to an end. Calvinist claim that before time God elected who would go to heaven or hell. To one goes irresistible grace whereby God forces Himself on a person thus effectually forcing them to respond to the gospel and thereby God "elects" such a person to be with Him. On the other end of the spectrum God blinds or keeps a person from ever being able to respond to the gospel in order that He would condemn them and such a person never has a shot. This "choosing" happened way back before Jesus incarnate and this being "chosen" or "elected", to a Calvinist, is the focal point of whether or not a person is saved or marked for eternal damnation. Salvation then is determined before Jesus and therefore Jesus's work on the cross is just serving said election. This makes it more important to focus on whether or not you are elected as that is the deciding factor. Trusting in Jesus or putting your trust in Jesus is merely a response to the effectual work that God has forced on you thus reducing Christ's work here on earth as merely a means to that end. Whether you are saved or condemned has been predetermined and Christ's work here on earth isn't to be as emphasized since it is merely carrying out said election. Often Calvinists focus more on election than Christ's work on the cross. If you believe in Calvinism than this is understandable. I mean if such election and that election alone determines whether or not you or your loved ones enjoy everlasting life, eternal joy, peace, and pleasures forever with God, or eternal separation, damnation, torture and bitterness, where the worm doesn't die and the fire is never quenched, I could see why the focus would be so largely on that election.

Calvinism concludes you can't trust in the love God has for you. Calvinism says God's ultimate purpose is to glorify Himself. If that's the case, if God's ultimate purpose is to glorify Himself then His love is trumped by His pursuit of self-glorification. One does not so easily trust a safety net with knowledge that the one securing it has a proven history of not doing so, especially if it was deliberate. We can trust that a safety net exists, we just can't trust it has been secured for us. If you know God can glorify Himself through your saving or your destruction, then how do you jump into that safety net, especially if you believe only a remnant will be saved (Rom. 9:27). If God's ultimate desire is to glorify Himself and this can be done whether your a vessel of wrath or a vessel of mercy then let me ask my calvinistic comrades; how do you know He loves you? How do you know you're not fooling yourself. How do you know that He hasn't chosen you for one who deceives themselves into thinking they are a child when they actually aren't? (Matt. 7:22-23). If you trust that God wants to glorify Himself and that He wants to do that through electing some to heaven but most to hell, then that's the god you know and there is no trustworthy safety net of His love. It's no wonder, as I pointed out in the above point, that election becomes the focal point of the Calvinist. A Christian should be looking to the cross and realize the love God has for them as God meant that to be the demonstration specifically so you could know it and therefore trust it (Rom. 5:8), and that is to be a fundamental of our faith; our trust in God's love (1 John 4:16, Eph. 2:4). Calvinists only trust in God's love if they first trust in their election. Christians should trust in God's love because that's His character, it's who He is! (1 John 4:8). Calvinism inhibits a person of the belief that God is the rewarder of those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6).

Calvinism concludes that God does not interact with His creation but rather He puppeteers it. Calvinists, errantly referencing Romans 9 (completely missing what Paul is referencing from Jeremiah 18 and Isaiah) would affirm this conclusion. Why do I call this disturbing? Because of how it paints God. If I get pulled out of hot water by God, then God rescued me and is worthy of the praise He receives from it. But if I get pulled out of hot water by God only after He threw me in there, then He is sadistic. This conclusion also robs God of the love He receives from us freely. Calvinism says that we love God because He forces us too...which really isn't love at all. If I programmed a robot to say "I love you" every morning, would I feel loved? Would I get anything out of that? No. But if made a robot in my image (as if I could) and it was able to think, feel, choose, decide on it's own volition and in that freedom it chose me, to love me. I would feel loved, I would feel honored.