I have
written a lot against Reformed theology, including the following:
Alvin Dyer,
who was an apostle of the Church and a member of the First Presidency from
1968-1970, wrote the following criticisms of Calvin’s theology, including using
(rightly, I will add) the term “perversion” to describe it:
Parallels of Perversion
It is of interest to pause briefly, in a
resume of Calvin’s “three basics of theology,” to compare these with the truth
as revealed by the Lord unto the Prophet Joseph Smith. This comparison will
indicate clearly how man, in and of himself, when devoid of revelation from God
even when in possession of a kernel of truth, develops a doctrine that is
actually contrary to the “will of God,” and does not therefore fulfill the
purpose which God has before-determined
for his spirit children. Such a development of concept into a doctrinal
principle, obviously becomes a “commandment of men,” and not of God.
Compare, if you will, the glorious announcement
of God as he spoke unto Moses and revealed unto the Prophet Joseph Smith
concerning his purpose in placing man in a state of mortality, the product of
which is immortality and eternal lives.
For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring
to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39)
There is no hidden motive here, as compared
with God containing within himself his motives and desires, as taught by
Calvin.
Also, the declaration of the Lord unto Joseph
Smith, in which he binds himself, by the obedience of those who do what he
says.
I give unto you directions how you may act
before me, that it may turn to you and for your salvation.
I, the Lord, am bound when yet do what I say; but when you do not what I say, ye have no promise. (D&C 82:9-10)
I, the Lord, am bound when yet do what I say; but when you do not what I say, ye have no promise. (D&C 82:9-10)
The majesty of God’s laws, which are eternal,
and by which he himself is bound, is clearly evident.
It should be of further interest to
contemplate the revealed word of God on the justification that comes from
obedience to eternal laws of which God speaks freely for the growth and
development of his spirit children (D&C 88:34-39). The teachings of Calvin
seem shallow and ineffectual as he states, that man is a creature of nothingness
who dares not question a God whose motives are beyond his grasp.
That man can be redeemed from the fall of
Adam as to his personal and individual salvation is the very foundation of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. The deductions of man, as expressed through Calvin, that man
is depraved in evil because of the fall of Adam, and that no amount of good
that any individual may do in this life can erase that condition, seems
completely out of place with the teachings of the Master of Galilee (John 8:12).
Nor does it harmonize with the God-given covenant made with Adam and Eve
concerning redemption for them and their descendants. Shut off from the
presence of God, when expelled from the garden of Eden, they earnestly sought
directions from him as to their status. Because of their obedience to the
commandments of the Lord they were told:
And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon
Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying: I am the only
begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that thou
hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will.
(Moses 5:19).
One cannot help but appreciate the
revelations from God which put the conditions straight as to how man, by his
own volition exercising the principles of agency, can lift himself unto
salvation and exaltation.
Strangely enough, had Calvin understood the
principles of agency as revealed in this dispensation, he would likely never
have advanced his philosophy on “predestination” and the doctrines on the “Elect
of God.” Compare the following revelation from God unto Joseph Smith, with that
of the concept of Calvin which proclaimed that man cannot change his destiny,
that the die is cast, and our mortal experience serves only to expose us,
whether we are of the “Elect,” or damned.
For behold, it is not meet that I should
command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a
slothful servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good causes, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepth it with slothfulness, the same is damned. (D&C 58:26-29)
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good causes, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepth it with slothfulness, the same is damned. (D&C 58:26-29)
Had Calvin known, by revelation, the true
conditions of the pre-existence, of the attempt made by Satan to invoke
deceiving conditions of salvation without agency, he would have known that the
war in Heaven was caused by Lucifer and his followers in opposition to the preservation
of the very principles of free agency which his doctrine of predestination
destroys.
Unto Moses, God revealed the fundamental
principle of free agency and told him why this law must be in force to fulfill
his holy purposes.
Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled
against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God had
given him, and also, that I should give unto mine own power, by the power of
mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down. (Moses 4:3).
Unto Abraham, God made known the conditions
of man’s “first estate” which is that period in eternity we now refer to as the
pre-existence of man. He revealed also the conditions and purposes of man’s “second
estate” which we now refer to as mortality. These are to be followed with a
subsequent estate, wherein mankind will find their place into one of three
degrees of glory according to their extent of worthiness and proven obedience,
by an unhampered agency by conforming to the laws which obtain in one of these
three kingdoms.
God revealed unto the Prophet Joseph Smith,
in addition to the knowledge of the things revealed anciently to Moses and
Abraham, the conditions that would obtain in each of these three degrees of
abode in immortality. God also made known that there would be some, by the
manner of life they would choose in mortality, who would be rendered incapable
of sustaining the laws of either of these three kingdoms of glory and would
thus be placed in a kingdom, not of glory and light, prepared for Satan and his
pre-existent supporters who had been denied the privilege of mortality (D&C
76 and 88).
All of this to be carried out by and through
the glorious principles of agency, thus making of mortality a condition of
probation.
And we will prove them herewith, to see if
they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. (Abraham 3:25, 26)
And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. (Abraham 3:25, 26)
When light and knowledge, pertaining to the
work and glory of God, is revealed unto man, the way is clear and unmistakable as
man obeys the “commandments of God.” But when man, devoid of revelation, seeks
to find the way by the “commandments of
men,” he is led into channels of error, for the ways of men are not the
ways of God. (Alvin R. Dyer, The Lord
Speaketh: The True Significance of the Sacred Grove Interview with the Prophet
Joseph Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1964], 81-85)