Book Review: The Five Dilemmas of Calvinism

Some feel that the title of this book is deceptive.  Perhaps a better title for it would have been "The Five Misunderstandings of Calvinism" or "The Five Misconceptions of Calvinism".  The author is clear in his introduction that he is defending the Reformed faith, so I don't think he intended to be deceptive.

This is a great little book for anyone who is curious about Reformed Theology.  It is written in an easy to understand format.  It answers questions from a Reformed point of view, such as:

1. What is the historical basis for Reformed theology?

2. What are the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism, and what does the Bible teach?

3. If God is in complete control of everything, to the point of predetermining all human actions, how can man be held accountable for what he does?

4. If we are saved by grace and not by works, why should we do anything good?  What purpose do good works serve? Are there rewards in heaven for what we do here on earth?

5. If God has predetermined everything that comes to pass, why should we spend valuable time in prayer or evangelism?

6.If God is both sovereign and good, how can evil things happen in the world?

7.If people are born  totally depraved, where do babies go when they die?


I should say that while I appreciated the insights into Reformed theology that this book gives, I was uncomfortable with his joke about Aminians having the daisy for their flower because "He loves me, He loves me not".  I felt that was unnecessary.  It takes away from the tone of the rest of the book.

I appreciate a statement made in the conclusion:

If there is one overriding theme to this book, it is the majesty of God.  We want to put everything into a nice, neat package that we can understand.  But that is not possible. We are not God. We are creatures and He is the Creator.  We cannot begin to fathom how great and awesome our God is.  Condsidering He can and does do things that our minds believe to be contradictory helps us to see how small our capacity for comprehension really is.

 God truly is a lot bigger than most of us make Him out to be.  If we understood all His ways and how He works we would be gods ourselves.  But we don't.  So I am content to let God be God even though I don't fully understand how He works or why He does the things He does.