Lighthouse Trails Research Journal
Calvinism—continued from previous page
rejoice in thy salvation because I can’t trust
in thy mercy, and besides I do not have
any assurance that you included me in
your mercy.
CALVINISTS TEACH ALL MEN
ARE TOTALLY DEPRAVED
t is true that all people have depraved and
sinful natures, and no person merits sal-
vation. However, the word “total” means,
“entirely, to the full.” The word “depraved”
means “morally corrupt.” To suggest that
all people in the world are “totally immoral”
is ridiculous. None of the neighbors on the
street where I live confess to be saved, but
that does not make them totally immoral.
We must not forget that God has put a
conscience in people so that we know or
have a sense of right and wrong. Even an
unsaved person can feel remorse and regret
when he has done something wrong. If he
was totally depraved, he would not have the
capability to do that (see Romans 1: 19-20).
The Bible speaks again and again of some
people who are more corrupt than others.
Ezekiel 16:47 says, “[T]hou wast corrupted
more than they in all thy ways.” Judges 2:19
says that they “corrupted themselves more
than their fathers.” First Kings 16:25 says,
“Omri . . . did worse than all that were
before him.” Jeremiah 7:26 says, “[T]hey
did worse than their fathers.”
However, we must remember that
Calvinists have their own special meaning
for words. To a Calvinist total depravity
means “total inability.” The common
dictionary meaning of inability is, not
having the quality or state of being able
to do something. Calvinism says that
I
9
because all mankind is dead in trespasses
and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-4), they cannot
respond in any way to receive Christ as
their Savior.
QUOTES FROM WELL-KNOWN CALVINISTS
• A [spiritually] dead man . . . cannot exer-
cise faith in Jesus Christ. 8 —Gordon H. Clark
• The sinner . . . is utterly incapable of will-
ing anything. 9 —A. W. Pink
• A corpse does not cry out for help. 10 —Ar-
thur Custance
• [W]e have no more to do with our
spiritual birth than we had with our natural
birth. 11 —A.W. Pink
• [E]ven if what he or she does is simply to
repent and believe the gospel, God’s grace
is seriously, albeit unwittingly, compro-
mised. 12 —Sam Storms
• [T]he sinner is of himself neither capable
nor willing to receive that salvation. 13 —Her-
man Hoeksema
• The Bible stresses the total inability
of fallen man to respond positively to the
law of God. 14 —Kenneth Talbot and Gary
Crampton
• [T]he sinner, of himself, cannot repent
and believe. 15 —A.W. Pink
*Editor’s Note: In Dave Hunt’s outstanding
book What Love is This?, he shows that the
terms Arminianist/Arminianism were essen-
tially created by the Calvinist camp to quickly
discredit non-Calvinists by saying they don’t
believe in eternal security or in the grace of
God for salvation.
ENDNOTES:
1. “Arthur Pink,” Wikipedia, https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Pink.
2. A. W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God
(Blacksburg, VA: Wilder Publications,
2008), p. 160.
3. Ibid., p. 163.
4. M.G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Diction-
ary (New York, NY: Harper & Brothers,
1893, Scholar Select scanned edition), p.
641.
5. A. W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God,
op. cit., p. 163.
6. Ibid., p. 82.
7. Ibid.
8. Gordon H. Clark, Predestination (Phil-
lipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed
Publishing, 1987), p. 102.
9. A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God,
op. cit., p. 113.
10. Arthur Custance, The Sovereignty of
Grace (P & R Press; First Edition, 1979),
p. 18; also at: http://www.custance.org/Li-
brary/SOG/Part_I/Chapter2.html#Page5.
11. A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God,
op. cit., p. 57.
12. Sam Storms, Chosen for Life: The
Case for Divine Election (Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Books, a ministry of Good News
Publishers, revised and expanded edition,
2007), p. 77.
13. Herman Hoeksema, Whosoever Will
(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s Publishing
Company, First Edition 1945, reprinted
1973), p. 14.
14. Kenneth Talbot and Gary Crampton,
Calvinism, Hyper-Calvinism and Armin-
ianism (Lakeland, FL: Whitefield Media
Publishing, 3rd Edition, 1990), p. 40.
15. A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God,
op. cit., p. 120.
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Volume 7—No. 5
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019