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I do not recall the exact time I heard it called “a stinky flower,” but it has stuck with me ever since. I am talking about the acrostic TULIP which outlines the five major tenets of Calvinism:
John Calvin (a 16th Century reformer) was credited with making these teachings popular hence the name of Calvinism. Though these ideas did not necessarily originate with him, he did make them very accessible. Like Hymenaeus and Philetus, the message has spread like cancer (2 Tim. 2:17). You will find Calvinistic teaching in almost every denomination and some cults, and sadly it has permeated some of the thinking of the church. It is false to the core on all five points. Let us examine that first tenet known as total hereditary depravity. Imagine a world in which newborn babies are born totally separated from God as guilty as the devil himself. In fact, their souls could not be any darker! Imagine a world where we inherit the guilt of our ancestors’ sin regardless of any choice we have made. This is the basic teaching of total hereditary depravity. The Bible teaches that we are all born into this world innocent as the offspring of the righteous and holy God (Ecc. 7:29; Ac. 17:28; Ps. 106:38). Christ embraced children and proclaimed of such is the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 19:14). Unless an accountable person is converted and become as little children he or she cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 18:3). It would be absurd for Jesus to tell Nicodemus that a person must be born again to see the kingdom of God if children are born sinners (Jn. 3:1-5). Sin is a choice, and each of us will bear our own guilt (1 Jn. 3:4; Jm. 4:17; Ezek. 18). We will be judged according to what we did in our own bodies (2 Cor. 5:10). Total hereditary depravity reflects horribly upon God and to this we wholeheartedly reject it. A stinky flower indeed! Trent Thrasher
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