I think what surprises me about this article is the idea that the action taken is uncommon, and that non-Calvinists don’t give to the needy.
Oh well. Guess God in his sovereign will blinded them to the Baptists and Catholics who help the poor.
It is kind of like the joke about a man who is given a tour of heaven. He meets folks of many denominations, but then is given slippers and told to make no noise. After creeping past a walled section, he is told he can speak again.
“What was that all about?”, he asks.
“That is the Baptist section. We keep it quiet because they think they are the only ones here...”
Calvin and his secret police in Geneva was never about helping the poor. Everything went to serve his hunger for power and his paranoia.
Oh well. Guess God in his sovereign will blinded them to the Baptists and Catholics who help the poor.
Baptists tend to be very generous and to have set up many social service organizations.
Question: if you go to a Presbyterian hospital, does the ER doctor have to diagnose you? Or do you just find out if you are predestined to receive the correct treatment?
One day a Catholic a Baptist and a Calvinist decided to go fishing. They got in their boat and pushed there way over to the middle of the lake. The Catholic said, 'I forgot my hat' so he got up, got out of the boat and walked across the water. He came back and the Baptist said, 'I forgot the fishing bait' so he got up, got out of the boat and walked across the water. He came back and the Calvinist said, 'I forgot the beer' so he got up, got out of the boat and then he sank. About that time the Baptist said, 'Do you think it's time to tell him were the stepping stones are?'