Baptist History and Theology

Is the Calvinist Gadfly Now a Hyper-Calvinist Gadfly?

Mr. Alan Kurschner seems to have morphed into a different type of gadfly. His view of the cause of Adam and Lucifer's sin seems to have pushed him beyond the teachings of traditional Calvinism into that of Hyper-Calvinism. While most Reformed people will claim mystery or free choice as the cause of Adam's sin, Alan claims God decreed Adam to sin. This makes God the author or cause of sin.

Here is what Kurschner had to say about Lucifer's reason for sinning:
"You first have to ask this question: Who gave Lucifer the desire not to sin? Answer: God. Was this gracious for God to give Lucifer this desire not to sin? Answer: yes. So, does God not have the freedom to remove his hand of grace from Lucifer? Answer: yes. If God chose to remove his hand from Lucifer, then Lucifer in and of himself being a creature apart from God’s grace would allow him to have this desire to sin. Lucifer had the desire to sin because God removed what enabled him in the first place to not sin."

So here we have Kurschner admitting that God can reove his grace from good creatures. But this is the biblical account of the real reason behind Lucifer's rebellion against God.
How YOU HAVE FALLEN FROM HEAVEN, O morning star, son of the dawn! YOU HAVE BEEN CAST DOWN TO THE EARTH, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I WILL MAKE MYSELF LIKE THE MOST HIGH.’”—Isaiah 14:12-14. And “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth.”—Ezekiel 28:17.

Here is what Alan had to say about the cause of Adam's sin:
"It was God’s freedom to widthraw his hand of grace from Adam, and in so doing it was Adam left apart from God’s grace who desired to sin. That is gross to suggest that God is the cause of sin because he chose to widthraw his hand of grace from the creature."

What the Calvinist Gadfly fails to realize is that Adam was made in God's own image and was declared to be a good creature. Alan's explanation moves well beyond Calvinism into Hyper-Calvinism. Here is what R.C. Sproul had to say when presented with the same question concerning Adam:
“But Adam and Eve were not created fallen. They had no sin nature. They were good creatures with a free will. Yet they chose to sin. Why? I don’t know. Nor have I found anyone yet who does know.”

And here is John Gerstner's reply to Geisler when asked who gave Lucifer the desire to rebel against God?:
Gerstner replied “Mystery,mystery, a great mystery!”

And finally here is what John MacArthur had to say concerning the why Adam sinned:
“Why did Adam sin? The best answer to that is that Adam sinned because he loved Eve and once she was what she was, he wanted to be what she was. In addition to that, there is no answer. But apparently–and most scholars say–to be what Eve was. I mean, at that point he didn’t have a lot of choice; she was the only woman around! If you wanted any kind of compatibility, that was how it was. It shows you the foolishness of man’s first decision.”

Notice here how MacArthur places the cause solely on Adam's free choice! The answers given by Sproul, Gerstner, And MacArthur are quite different from the answers Alan gives.
Here is how Monergism.com defines Hyper-Calvinsm:
Most Calvinists reject as deplorable the following hyper-Calvinistic and destructive beliefs:
that God is the author of sin and of evil

This is where Alan's view of God removing grace on his good creature falls into the theology of Hyper-Calvinism. Our Calvinist Gadfly seems to have changed into a Hyper-Calvinist Gadfly!