Calvinism: It gets worse

There is now a line of Calvinist merchandise at Cafe Press.

The inspiring slogans?

• Totally Depraved

• Nice people go to hell, too

• #1 reason that I need Jesus … I suck

And on and on. I’m convinced there is more than unthinking trendiness underlying the resurgence in Calvinism; this is not Kabbalah, the Jewish mysticism that swept Hollywood a few years ago. This is a regression to the very crudest and most degrading fundamentalism imaginable, yet another fallback from modernity.

Consider this passage from Calvinist icon Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.

I’ll grant the powerful imagery, the literary quality; I have cited it often as the exemplar for the rule, “Don’t tell the reader — show the reader.”

But, geez … something is wildly out of kilter when people are turning toward this stuff, and in dramatic numbers.