ns all of nature but that He also governs the plans and intentions of man. Calvin believes that God has a set and appointed plan for all of creation. A plan that He has decreed since the beginning of eternity and uses His Divine providence to bring about. Because of this, as I said before, there is no room for what many call “fortune” or “chance”. In Calvin’s theology God has a reason for everything and if any action was not ordained by Him, then it would happen without a cause, which to Calvin is absurd. This is why Calvin argues that not only a man’s position in life is appointed, but all things that may happen to him, and even a man’s actions are decreed by God. Which is iterated on page 207, where Calvin states that God “in accordance with his wisdom has from the farthest limit of eternity decreed what he was going to do, and now by his might carries out what he has decreed. From this we declare that not only heaven and earth and the inanimate creatures, but also the plans and intentions of men, are so governed by his providence that they are borne by it straight to their appointed end.” (Calvin 207) Calvin believes that man can accomplish nothing apart from God. It is pointless for man to say “I will do this” or “I will do that” because only what God has decreed by His “secret command” will be done (Calvin 229). For example, it is absurd to say, “I will become rich” if God has decreed that you will be poor. Calvin also argues that God controls many of man’s thoughts and actions. He states through Biblical references that God, “removes speech from the truthful, and prudence from the old men”, “smites them with dizziness, makes them drunk with the spirit of drowsiness, casts madness upon them, [and] hardens their hearts” (Calvin 231). Which raises the question, “if God does these th...
