Andrew,

Calvinists don't ususally shirk from accepting the fact that God's predestination makes him the ultimate cause. However, in order to do justice to the Biblical record, there is a strong desire to deal with the issue of him not being the author of evil. Equal ultimacy cuts to the chase and says, yes, God is the cause of it all, he is God afeterall; asymmetrical views (e.g., MacArthur) attempt to speak of a difference in the glorious election of the saints and the miserable reprobation of the damned.

It would seem to me that the difference between a high and moderate Calvinist, in part, traces to how far they are willing to push the logic of the double predestination they both affirm. R.C. Sproul, for example, is a double predestinarian. He has sounded to me on more than one occasion as if he tries to back away from equal ultimacy. Maybe somebody else can speak more definitively on him?

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

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