I was recently given a book to read: Half Truths: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves and Other Things The Bible Doesn’t Say. (Hamilton, Adam; Abingdon Press 2016). On its surface this seems like a practical book. We are familiar with the “money is the root of all evil” fallacy (if not, read I Tim. 6:10 carefully). I was expecting similar gems.
I like to read new books “cold.” I’d rather not research the author and come to writings with a preconceived notion of the author’s intent. The first chapter is entitled, “Everything Happens for a Reason.” As a Calvinist geek- the chapter title didn’t seem too controversial. Hamilton summarizes a number of tragedies and notes that believing in God’s will alleviates us from personal responsibility, makes God responsible for everyone’s actions, and ultimately leads us to fatalism and indifference. At this point, I didn’t like where this was going.
Hamilton then moves on to a summary of the beliefs of John Calvin (1509-1564):
Calvin seemed to believe that for God to be sovereign- that is, to be the highest authority and to have dominion over the universe- then God must will and, in some ultimate sense, cause everything that happens. If something happens that is not God’s will, Calvin argues, then God does not in fact have dominion over everything.
(p. 26).
Hamilton then develops his straw man. Certainly it is ridiculous to believe that God controls the weather when science has given us satellites. (p. 27). Certainly it is ridiculous to believe that God “closed up” or “opened” a woman’s womb when science has given us physiological and biochemical answers. (p. 28). He then goes on to assert that we can have no original ideas, but that God has planted those ideas in our heads. Id. Finally, Hamilton gives us his concept of “predestination.” (p. 29). By this time I had already correctly identified Hamilton as Methodist.
Straw man arguments are great because you just mischaracterize what others believe so that you can easily defeat their position. Hamilton fails to acknowledge that God’s knowledge and plan is not necessarily Man’s knowledge and plan. In other words, just because God knows doesn’t mean we know. While God may know what we are going to do before we are born, it does not mean that we know. The concept of free will may be technically illusory, but in all practicality we still have free will. This does not relieve us responsibility for our actions.
Furthermore, God cannot be the author of sin or evil because then God would not be God. God can, however, use evil for His own good purposes. For further reading, and a more accurate summarization of Calvinism as it applies to foreknowledge and predestination, I refer Pastor Hamilton and the reader to Chapter XVII of The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. (Boettner, Loraine; Presybterian and Reformed Publishing Co. 1932) In fact, the entire book presents a thorough summary of, and biblical foundation for, Calvinism.
By page 26 of Hamilton’s book, I’ve already run into my first problem. This is not to say my Arminianist (Methodist) friends won’t enjoy the book. It is just that when you find logical fallacy after reading only the first 15% of the book, it is going to be a long slog. I will not bore my reader any further with my review. Let me just conclude by acknowledging that I did not disagree with everything Hamilton wrote- but I often found his analysis tended toward Arminianism (as can be expected) and was generally sloppy as he contrasted it with a more Calvinist alternative.
