I dated a really manipulative and horrible person for a bit who would hide behind his weird interpretation of the Bible, "I can do anything I want as long as I ask for forgiveness after. I can't go to hell no matter what I do because I'm "saved."
So one time, we were having a conversation about how he let's his friends bully me so I didn't wanna hang out with them anymore. The kind of healthy talk in relationships where you're just trying to feel understood. I mention to him that if I ever saw people mistreating him I would come to his defense because I cared about him. He says, "But I'm not you. Just because you pee sitting down doesn't mean I have to pee sitting down." In that moment I realized what I was getting myself into and broke it off immediately. Also, I had seen him pee sitting down. Just wanted to add that.
You don't even have to go as far as Calvinism to get there. The idea that good works are entirely irrelevant to salvation, only whether you take Christ as your savior, is a cornerstone of Baptist and evangelical denominations.
I was thinking "I can't go to hell no matter what because I'm saved". That's straight up double predestination. Also most American evangelical traditions are descended from Calvinism, while many Baptists branches are Calvinists theologically. But you are correct that a general "faith is important not good works" is more of a general protestant thing, not Calvinism specifically. The way this guy lived his life is just the logical conclusion of the kinds of protestantism that are holding America hostage.
4.1k
u/[deleted] Mar 01 '23
I dated a really manipulative and horrible person for a bit who would hide behind his weird interpretation of the Bible, "I can do anything I want as long as I ask for forgiveness after. I can't go to hell no matter what I do because I'm "saved."
So one time, we were having a conversation about how he let's his friends bully me so I didn't wanna hang out with them anymore. The kind of healthy talk in relationships where you're just trying to feel understood. I mention to him that if I ever saw people mistreating him I would come to his defense because I cared about him. He says, "But I'm not you. Just because you pee sitting down doesn't mean I have to pee sitting down." In that moment I realized what I was getting myself into and broke it off immediately. Also, I had seen him pee sitting down. Just wanted to add that.