Calvin the Impaler

You would think that a couple of educated gentlemen might actually do a little research before lashing out against Calvinists. In a short ebook entitled Calvinism!: A Strange Doctrine Among The Brethren, Dr. Saneesh Cherian and Dr. Johnson C. Philip manage to condemn Calvinism without quoting a single Bible verse or citing a single source to back up their accusations. In essence, the authors have slapped together a venomous diatribe that paints John Calvin and his followers as bloodthirsty maniacs.

Consider these excerpts:

"Anyone who opposed [Calvin's] stand on infant baptism was fined, punished, or tortured."

"[Calvin] emphasized that the bread and cup were not symbols, and anyone who dared to suggest that these were only symbolic of the flesh and blood of Christ stood the danger of getting fined, punished, or tortured."

"Since man had no freedom, God was the author of every sin committed by mankind, but mankind was responsible for undergoing the punishment for it. Humans were not supposed to question this arbitrariness of God. Anyone who dared to question this stood the danger of getting fined, punished, or tortured."

"[Calvin] believed that other than him nobody had freedom to think about Bible, doctrine, and theology. He also believed that it was his moral duty and obligation to punish, torture, and kill anyone and everyone who opposed his theology and even his whims and fancies."

If you think you can stomach it, you can read all nine pages of this nonsense here.

Portrait of Calvin

T. H. L. Parker's book, Portrait of Calvin, has been reprinted and is available exclusively through Desiring God. You can order a copy or download it for free here.