Richard Land of the Southern Evangelical Seminary is a prime specimen of crusading anti-Calvinism, at least if an article in the Christian Post reports his words correctly. Faced with the charge that some people reject Calvinism because they simply don’t understand it, Land insisted, “I understand Calvinism. I’ve read all of Calvin’s commentaries and I’ve read the Institutes. I’ve read the Synod of Dordt’s Confession, I’ve read the Westminster Confession. I understand Calvinism, I just don’t think it’s right.”
Land not only claimed to understand Calvinism, he went on to offer this scintillating display of theological precision:
The distinction between a four-point Calvinist and a five-point Calvinist is a distinction without a difference. Because neither a four-point nor a five point Calvinist can say to every person they meet ‘God loves you, Jesus died for you, and God has a wonderful plan for your life.’ And that’s what I believe the Bible says from Genesis through the end of Revelation.
The article continues:
Land describes himself as at “3.25 point Calvinist,” because, regarding the five points of Calvinism using the acronym TULIP, he believes 3/4 of T (total depravity), 3/4 of U (unconditional election), none of L (limited atonement), 3/4 of I (irresistible grace), and all of P (perseverence of the saints).
One thing is clear. If most Calvinists understood Calvinism as well as Land does, they wouldn’t be Calvinists either.
