Symptoms of a Superstitious Calvinist - John Piper
Engraved from the original oil painting in the University Library of Geneva, this is considered Calvin's best likeness. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) John Calvin uses a surprising term to describe our neglect of the doctrine of God ’s providence in the course of our everyday lives. He calls it superstition. Superstitious people wrongly attribute supernatural power to things that do not actually possess that power: a black cat, a broken mirror, a ladder overhead, salt thrown over your shoulder, the chalk of the third base line. But what does superstition have to do with providence? The classical Reformed view of providence teaches that God is in ultimate control of everything in the universe, including the free choices and actions (good and bad) of all people. If this understanding is correct, it is superstitious to think and feel and act as though other human beings possess ultimate causality in what they do. We’re ascribing God’s role to them. But isn’t this how we