EWC 17.3
John Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion”
During the 1500s, in the time of Protestant Reformation, John Calvin was known as one
of the most influential thinkers. John Clavin founded the religious movement known as
Calvinism, whose belief was one of predestination. He argued the idea that God has set out each
indiviula's fate from birth. The idea was that the "elect" are destined to heaven while the non
elect would end up in hell. Calvin's religious idealogies challanged those of the Catholic Church.
In the document "Institutes of the Christian Religion" Calvin defends his religious beliefs against
Catcholics who critized his ideal of predestination by addressing two major criticism from the
Catholic church.
One crictism the Catholic church argues against Calvin's idealogy of predestination is
that if our fate is truly decided by God from birth, all will rush on, and like desperate men, they'll
pluge into wherever lust inclines. Clavin responds stating "God knows what he has determined to
do with regard to us: if he has decreed our salvation, he will bring us to it in his own time; if he
has doomed us to death, it is vain for us to fight against it". (Calvin Institutes of the Christian
Religion) Calvin argues we should be holy, and without blame before him thus if the end is
holiness of life, it should aruse and stimultae us to aspire to it, regardless of our fate. Which you
would not know until your day of fate came. Another crictism from the Catholic church is that
Clavinsim destroys all exhortations to a pious life. Calvin acknowledges this crictism with the
idea that those who obey may not plume themselves on anything of their own, but giving glory
only to the Lord. This would compliment the argument that people would aspire to live a pious
life and the teachings of the Lord to ulitmately guide them to their destination predetermined by
God. The idea of Calvinism is not to fight against your predetermined fate, however to live a
pious life and bring glory to God by his irresistale grace.