Bus Stop Theology

I want to point out a few things about the illustration used by Dr. Nelson Price in his article called "Evangelical Calvinism is an Oxymoron".

Here is the illustration below:

"A graphic understood by many Baptists regarding predestination is illustrated by this. A mass of people are gathered at a bus stop marked “Planet Earth.” Along comes the Celestial Bus marked 'Destination Heaven.' It pulls up and stops. The driver, who is God, opens the door, and says, 'All destined for heaven get on board.' A number do. "A missionary couple who with zeal have served Christ all their lives start on and God says, 'Step aside. You haven’t been chosen to ride this bus.' A couple of infants start on and God tells them to step aside. Persons who from youth have loved and ministered in Christ's name are told to step aside. As the bus is about to depart and the door is closing God says to those not on board, 'Catch the next bus.' “No,” they plead, “here comes the next bus and it is driven by Satan and marked ‘Destination Hell.’ “Sorry,” says God. “I didn’t choose to save you. Your love and commitment to Jesus doesn’t matter.”

First of all, this is a total misrepresentation of Calvinism. This illustration is as far from the truth as any that I have seen! I think this whole story is designed to play on the emotions of the hearer and to create a bias against Calvinism in the mind of the audience. It does not treat the issues fairly and shows a lack of understanding of the Reformed position and the Biblical treachings on the state of man since Adam fell.

Here's the truth of the matter attempting to use Price's Bus Stop Theology:

All of humanity is not standing around at a bus stop waiting eagerly to get on the bus to Heaven. In reality, all of humanity (because of the Fall of Adam), already eagerly got on Satan's bus headed for Hell! Not only that, but they are loving every minute of the ride and throwing a huge party too! They blaspheme the driver of the Heaven bound bus, and totally ignore His warnings that they must get on His bus or meet their doom!

Even though God would have been totally just to let them have their own way and all ride Satan's bus straight to the pits of Hell, God in His mercy, actually pulls a great number of people off of Satan's bus and ushers them onto His bus to Heaven! Those God spared are grateful once they get on his bus and see what God spared them from. They too begin to warn the rebellious mulititudes of humanity to get off the bus ride to Hell. Those who remain on Satan's bus do so because they love riding with him. When they get to the end of the line, they will receive the wages of their choice to stay on Satan's bus.

The bottom line is this:

God refuses no one who genuinely wants on His bus. The problem is that no human will ever want to get on the bus unless God graciously rescues them! This is what Dr. Price fails to understand...