Oh, one thing @davidtaylorjr , let's please keep the discussion honest.
I don't think you knew that my primary objection to Calvinism is that Calvinism holds that divine justice was satisfied because the penalty of sin was paid. I believe it was an honest mistake on your part as you were not here for past arguments.
What I want to avoid are ad hominem claims the other person does not understand what he claims to understand (until proven otherwise).
The reason I believe you are wrong in general (that I somehow do not understand a position I once held, defended, taught, and preached) is that you do not know what my understanding of Calvinism is.
You have not asked.
A second reason is the mistake I first mentioned. I know Calvinism teaches that divine justice was satisfied because the penalty of sin was paid because I held the position for years.
So, let the journey begin. Where do you want to start? Provide a passage that states without reasoning it out that divine justice had to be satisfied? Prove I do not understand Calvinism by asking questions of the theology?
You name it and we can discuss it. Only keep it honest. The floor is your's, brother.
I also may not have articulated my post well. But to clarify, that is the point where I separated from Calvinism (although @Reformed makes a good point that this depends on how "Calvinism" is defined). I do not believe redemption focused on satisfying the demands of divine justice (mine is a popular view, but not so popular within my own Baptist distinctive).
The cure for Calvinism is a close adherence to Scripture (to what is written in Scripture). The problem is that this is also the cure for any of the theologies that are of a Calvinistic trajectory as well.
This is not a cure for TULIP. It is a cure for the root of Calvinism and if taken you may develop an even stronger strain of TULIP
Do not take this cure if you are Calvinism dependent, have a daily intake of two or more antiquated but free online commentaries, or are allegoric to the truth of undiluted Scripture.
Caution: those who have taken the cure have found that the gospel demanded more of them than they previously thought.
It is an easy process.
Stage 1:
Write down your theology.
Write down the corresponding Scripture verbatim.
Take away any part of your theory that is not stated (not implied but stated) in Scripture.
Stage 2:
Look at the Scripture and your theory that remains.
From that prove the following –
that redemption is accomplished through the satisfaction of divine justice
that divine justice is the type of justice called “retributive justice” in a theological context
that Jesus, having not sinned, experienced the wages of sin punitively
Stage 3:
Repeat Stages 1 and 2 until you come to grips that the basis of Calvinism is not actually in Scripture but is a philosophy developed fuller in the Reformation.
Stage 4:
Continued counseling is required. I charge $50 an hour, $75 if I have to hold your hand, and $95 if you cry.
The cure for Calvinism — and Arminianism and Jansenism and Arianism and Sabellianism and Jonism — is a face-to-face encounter with the One Living God, the Triune God of the Old Testament and New Testament, the one who wants to have a relationship, to rip you from your comfortable theological and philosophical and pragmatic platitudes and peel away the comfortable accretions you have collected and live by.
Iconoclasm is, in fact, of one of those comfortable theological positions that enables you to point fingers yet never take responsibility for any particular position.
The real point of Christianity is to admit that you are utterly helpless without a God that you, at every turn, resist until you can resist no longer and can finally acknowledge is the key to understanding everything that can be understood. Is it Calvinist or Arminian or something else? Whatever it is, you realize that you are not in control. If you want to be in control, you should pick a different God.
To clarify, I am speaking of Calvinists who are also Christian (who have that relationship with the One True God).
But I see your point as well. Many try to maintain control and will hear those words "I never knew you."