Why Calvinism is Cool

Unless you're either a) not involved in the community of people that follow Jesus, or b) living under a rock, you've noticed that Calvinism has become extremely popular among young Christians.

Now, some of you are saying, "Okay, fine." Some of you are saying, "That is weird... I think the last time that happened it was still cool for men to wear tights and wigs." Some of you are saying... "Calvinism?"

Let me hit that third question. When I say 'Calvinism,' I mean The Five Points of Calvinism, which were a response issued by a group of churches in Europe to a group of dissident pastors in the 17th century. They're often summed up in the acronym TULIP. I'll give a brief rundown, but if you want something more thorough, click here for the explanation that John Piper's ministry offers.

T- Total Depravity - Everything in a person is controlled by sin, and thus, they do not and can not come to Jesus

U- Unconditional Election - God chose people before he created the world to be saved, not because of any goodness in them or any good that they'd do, but solely on the basis of love.

L- Limited Atonement - Jesus actually died in the place of everyone God elected, and therefore the requirement that they be punished has been met. This requirement has not been met for anyone except those God has chosen.

I- Irresistible Grace - The people God chose he gives a new nature to - one that is no longer completely controlled by sin, and so they choose Jesus. It's irresistible because they don't choose the new nature; but having the new nature, they choose Jesus.

P- Perseverance of the saints - The people who God chose, after they choose to put their faith in Jesus, by God's grace, keep believing in Jesus forever.

Okay, there it is. So why the heck has that become cool in the last 15-20 or so odd years. I'm going to give four reasons. And maybe I'm missing something - maybe I'm wrong. Feel free to comment back with your own thoughts.

First, Calvinism partially affirms much of what our culture affirms about how people can know things. Our culture has gone through a decent amount of transformation. The last hundred years in America have been largely affected by the sciences and how the sciences acquire knowledge - by repeated testing and observation. The belief was that through scientific means, people could know and accomplish whatever they wanted.

Now, of course no one would deny all that science has got us. But let's not be stupid. Science doesn't solve every problem or every question. Our culture has realized that largely, and has reacted. Now, especially as it concerns spirituality, one can know nothing. You cannot know anything with certainty. You cannot find absolute truth about spiritual things.

Interestingly, Calvinistic doctrine agrees. It says people cannot know or understand spiritual things. But rather than assigning the cause of that inability to the nature of spirituality, it assigns it to rebellion against God. And rather than concluding that therefore there is no absolute truth, it concludes that absolute truth is defined by the Bible.

We can't let that similarity slip away too quickly, though. That is huge. When people believed we could find any truth we wanted through science, many Christians believed that the same was true about things of God. Now that people believe that we can't know things, the tide is turning, and many Christians believe that we cannot apart from God know him.

Second reason Calvinism is cool now - there are now cool Calvinists. Fact is, people like cool people. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure you could define 'cool' in that way. A cool person is a person that is, in personality, attractive.

So in other words, no longer do you have a bunch of stodgy old dudes breaking fellowship over a single point in the Westminster Confession. Rather, we've got groups of people, united by their love for the gospel and Reformed Theology (which includes Calvinism), celebrating God and appealing to people's emotions.

They're cool. We like them. They're people like John Piper. Aleister Begg. The late Dr. D. James Kennedy. All Calvinists - but all cool - all lovers of the gospel - and all men who wanted to impact the world for the glory of God - and give people a vision they could latch on to.

Cool people beget cool people. So as numbers swelled and as Calvinism became less sequestered in Presbyterian circles, there were more cool people embracing it. Cool people that people wanted to follow.

Okay, third reason: in the last twenty years, as opposed to the fifty or so which preceded them, there has been a greater focus on Scripture and theology.

The era that's preceded us, in Christian culture, had something of a disdain for intellectualism. Intellectualism was seen as a hallmark of secular academia - something to be suspicious of. Christian maturity was knowing the 4 Spiritual Laws and 10 Basic Steps Toward Spiritual Maturity.

That is no longer acceptable to many young Christians. Expository preaching - or preaching through books of the Bible - has become more popular. Reading theology - even the Puritans - has become something that people in large numbers are doing.

The fact is this - people that tend to be more intellectual about the Bible tend to be Calvinists. Now, that's partially a good thing - our minds need to be submitted to Scripture. But, there is an arrogance that can come with it - a sort of intellectual superiority. Basically, these people can become self-righteous, arrogant, and judgmental pricks. But that's another topic for another day - why people that become Calvinists are initially jerks that shouldn't be allowed to talk about it for about 2 years.

Pardon me - back on topic. The swing in Christian circles back towards studying Scripture in an intellectually rigorous fashion has resulted in more popularity for Calvinism.

The fourth and final reason I can think of for Calvinism's recent resurgence in popularity is our culture's focus on the 'self' as authoritative. Or in other words, I don't need to submit to other stuff or other people or other thought patterns - I need to figure things out for myself and I'm smarter than those that came before me.

And in the particular realm about which we're speaking - the subject of Calvinism - many of our forbears in the Church were not Calvinists. They, often, hated those five points. A lot of young people are now rebelling against that. Now, to their credit, a lot of what they're rebelling against is anti-intellectualism and a failure to study Scripture; but its still the desire to rebel.

More than that, they desire to be individuals - to be unique - to be 'edgy.' And quite frankly, because Calvinism says that we're more sinful than we could ever begin to know, and that salvation is all about God not us - that's edgy. It's honestly offensive unless one is convinced of it from Scripture.

So there you go. Four reasons, I think, Calvinism has become cool in Christian circles. What do you think?