Response, by Dave Hunt White begins his treatise with a ringing tribute to God's sovereignty. The Calvinist knows little else. John MacArthur Jr.calls Calvinism "the branch of evangelicalism most strongly committed to the sovereignty of God."' Another Calvinist writes, "The all-out emphasis on the almighty sovereignty of Jehovah God is the truth and beauty of Calvinism."2 Another declares, " Only the Calvinist...recognizes God's absolute sovereignty."3 White quotes the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith in praise of God's sovereignty. But where is God's love? Not once in the nearly thirteen hundred pages of his Institutes does Calvin extol God's love for mankind. This one-sided emphasis reveals Calvinism's primary defect: the unbiblical limitations it places upon God's most glorious attribute. How could God, who is love, damn billions He could save? That isn't explained. Something is radically amiss at the very foundation of this unbiblical doctrine. Calvinists exult in a "sovereignty" that has chosen a select group alone to salvation and predestined the rest of mankind to eternal torment. But doubts of whether one is among the elect plague even leading Calvinists. White seems confident that he at least is one of the elect, and he glories in his own salvation. Missing is Paul's concern for the lost (Romans 9:1-3). White says that the litmus test of one's "true subjection to God [is] if, in fact, we love God as He has revealed Himself to be, the divine ruler over all things." In fact, it is not God's sovereign power or rulership but His love that moves us to love Him: "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). God commands all mankind to love Him. But how could that be required of those He doesn't love and has predestined to eternal torment? Such an idea is both unbiblical and repugnant to the conscience. If all men are required to love God, and if we can only love Him because He first loved us, God must love all men. Love is not only an attribute of God but also the very essence of His being: "God is love" (1 John 4:8). The word love occurs 310 times in Scripture, while the mercy and compassion flowing from His love are mentioned hundreds of times. In stark contrast, the sovereignty that so rejoices the Calvinist, though a great truth, is not one of God's attributes. The word sovereignty isn't even found in Scripture. Of course, God created and is the supreme ruler of His universe. And the fact that He effects His will in spite of man's proud ambitions and rebel-lion is a precious truth often declared. Nowhere in Scripture, however, do we find Calvinism's extreme sovereignty, which allows man no freedom of choice. That man is able to rebel and to disobey God's commands in spite of God's supremacy is taught repeatedly in Scripture. God's sovereignty is frilly exercised despite man's free will, but never in denial of it. This overemphasis upon God's sovereignty to the denial of man's will not only makes God the author of sin but also creates numerous additional contradictions and redundancies. The Baptist Confession exults that God's "sight penetrates to the heart of all things." Penetrates to the
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