[Fred Hayek]

I was not justifying Fred Phelps views, or even associating it with what would be regarded as what most consider a Biblically sound application of Calvinism. Thus my use of the term “extreme off the rails”, as in divorced from any Biblical principal (and opposed to what Calvin, Knox, etc., had written). If Phelps indeed calls himself a Calvinism, it is a perversion of even hyper-Calvinism. The kind where one believes that there is no point in spreading the Gospel, thus my comparison with Harold Camping, who believes that the Holy Spirit has departed form the Church and there will be no more people saved. Do the Phelps Phreaks spread the Good News as Christ commanded? No, they just sneer “You’re going to hell”.

[Agamemnon]

And don't you suppose that it's just as much Phelps' intention to besmirch "Calvinism," as well?

I don't even buy the use of your term "hyper-Calvinism," regardless of whether it seems you have now chosen to back off from your prior use of the term to some degree. The term "hyper-Calvinism" in itself is a complete misrepresentation of the application and meaning of Calvinism.

Calvin never taught that evangelism was useless or inappropriate. In fact failure to evangelize flies directly in the face of Christ's departing command to "go into the world and preach the Gospel...."

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37 (KJV)

Christians don't have to understand why we are told to evangelize "all that the Father giveth me," since Christ clearly states that they "shall come to me." That's what Calvin meant by his term, "Irresistable grace."

We just have to obey God and evangelize, because that is the way He has chosen to compel those who will be saved to come to the realization of that grace, to accept Christ as Lord and Savior and thereby to be saved. We are told by Him to evangelize; therefore, it is never an option for Christians not to do so.

Calvin never instructed anyone to be disobedient to Christ in this or in any other regard.

To indict Calvin by implication that he ever preached anything resembling what you have continually chosen to term, "hyper-Calvinism," is a gross misrepresentation of the man and the Biblically sound principles about which he wrote and from which he taught.

FReegards!