[UA] Calvinism Vs. Free Will

[Matthew Rowan Norwood]

> The image I always get is a little kid playing with action figures.  when one of the action figures does something in the game that the kid thinks is wrong, he throws the kid into the trash compactor (or sets it on fire or whatver). 

Um... I think you mean, "he throws the _action figure_ into the trash
compactor". But yes, I think that's about right for Calvinism.

Look, this is a religion derived from the old Norse faith, where only
suicidal berserker warriors got to go to heaven, which consisted of
constant eating, drinking, and fighting. Everyone else went to a frozen
Hel.

Compared to that, Calvinism is all wine and roses.

The idea that some of us are fated to be bastards is more of a dominant
theme in Kult than in UA, but the great thing about UA is the emphasis
on how many clued-out people there are in the OU. IMUAC, most conscious
avatars would probably assume things like:

-I'm the reincarnation of a god
-I'm channeling a demon/god/spirit/ghost
-I'm fated to walk this path
-I was just born to be bad/good/nosey/loud/powerful/etc.

Very few would suspect that they have, in fact, chosen this path for
themselves. So a Calvinist would make a good avatar: he would assume
that his God-ordained fate is to be a saint, and his faith would fuel
his progress along the path of the Healer or the Demagogue or whatever.

Even better, though, is the Calvinist Dark Stalker who believes that
he's damned and so he'd better just get on with it...

To be fair, a central tenet of Calvinist theology is that since the
action of God is ultimately unknowable, just because someone seems to be
a saint for a while doesn't mean God doesn't have a turnaround planned
for him down the road, and vice-versa. This means that just because
you've lived a shitty life so far, salvation may be in store for you, so
keep your eyes peeled for your chance to do good. Of course, that
doesn't stop lots of Calvinists (and their American descendants) from
assuming that outward signs of goodness indicate being "chosen" by God
in spite of their theologians' advice...

-Matt Norwood

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