Even Calvin Didn't Believe in Calvinism!

Even Calvin Didn't Believe in Calvinism!

Most people do not know that John Calvin was a murderer.

Calvin was responsible for the burning at the stake death of Michael Servetus.

Calvin accused Servetus of leading people astray through false teachings about God.

But if you know anything about Calvin's teachings, (now known as Calvinism) this is a complete contradiction of what he taught.

Which was that a person could not accept or reject God through the teachings and hearing of God's Word. That mankind is incapable of that choice. He believed it went against the sovereignty of God to believe a person could choose. Therefore, all those who will be saved or lost will be completely predestined by God.

So how can Michael Servetus' teachings lead people astray?

It can't according to Calvinism...

Think of it this way.

Imagine you are a doctor who believes that every person’s health is 100% determined by their DNA before they are even born.

No matter what they eat or how they live, their "health destiny" is unchangeable.

Then, one day, you see a man selling sugary soda on the corner. You get so worried his soda will ruin everyone’s health that you have him executed.

Wait a minute! If their health is already decided by their DNA, why are you worried about the soda?

This is exactly the "glitch" in the story of John Calvin and Michael Servetus.

According to Calvin’s own logic, if Michael Servetus walked into Geneva and started teaching crazy ideas, the "Elect" (God’s chosen people) would be fine because God was protecting their hearts.

The others were already "lost" anyway.

But Calvin said, "I Must Stop Him!".

In 1553, Michael Servetus arrived in Geneva. He taught things that contradicted the traditional view of God. Calvin didn't just argue with him; he pushed for Servetus to be arrested and eventually burned at the stake.

Why? Because Calvin was terrified that Servetus would "lead people astray."

He called Servetus’s ideas a "foul poison" that would infect the minds of the citizens.

Here is where the two contradictions of Calvin’s brain bumped into each other.

On one hand he said: "Humans have no free will to choose the truth. God is the only one in control of who believes what."

On the other hand he said: "If I let this guy talk, people will choose to believe him, and they will be ruined!"

If humans truly have no power to choose their spiritual path (as Calvinism says), then a "false teacher" is like a person yelling at a statue. The statue isn't going to move or change its mind.

By killing Servetus, Calvin acted as if human words were more powerful than God’s plan.

He acted as if the people of Geneva could choose to be led astray, which his own theology said was impossible for the saved.

The bottom line is Calvin wrote that God is an unstoppable force who decides everything. But what he said and what he believed and acted like God was a fragile parent who needed the government to protect His children from hearing bad ideas.

It remains one of history’s biggest contradictions: Killing a man to stop him from changing minds that you claim cannot be changed.

Calvinism is the theory of an unstable murderer at best.