Predestination
Minor Mistranslation in the Works of James Arminius
Submitted by Godismyjudge on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 9:04amI was confused about something Arminius said in his response to Perkins so I looked it up in the original Latin. Turns out it was a mistranslation.
Bavinck on the Unknowability of God's Decrees
Submitted by Godismyjudge on Tue, 04/10/2012 - 9:54amIn Bavinck’s article on supralapsarian and infralapsarian predestination (link), he disagrees with supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism about 90% of the time, so we get very few glimpses of what he actually believes. I went through the article and pulled out all the positive statements by Bavinck about predestination. I came out with 10 statements. Upon examining the statements, I noted that the majority of them are either in tension with each other or leave a major term undefined.
Statements in tension with each other (i.e. that seem to move in opposite directions - although they don’t formally contradict each other, no reconciliation is provided):
Calvinist Prayer (and many other things) Explained
Submitted by Ben Henshaw on Tue, 03/27/2012 - 7:39amApplication 2: God ordains means as well as ends. God is the Author. This is his story. We are his characters. Therefore, Be a faithful character in God’s story.*
Taken from a sermon by Joe Rigney defending the purpose of prayer in a world exhaustively pre-determined by eternal divine decree [you can find a link to it here].
John Piper on God Ordaining All Sin and Evil Part 1: An Arminian Response to Piper's First "Question"
Submitted by Ben Henshaw on Thu, 03/22/2012 - 1:45pmJohn Piper preached a sermon on God’s sovereign control over all things. In this sermon, Piper highly praises the works of Jonathan Edwards and relies heavily on his accounting of sovereignty to explain how God can decree and ordain all evil in this world, and yet not be rightly called the author of all sin and evil. Thankfully, Piper is uncomfortable with calling God the author of sin, while still maintaining that God ordained and decreed all sin for His glory. How does Piper do this? The answer will likely surprise you.
Xenos Christian Fellowship - Soteriology: Calvinism & Arminianism; God's Providence
Submitted by drwayman on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 8:30amIt's refreshing to see an accurate portrayal of the positions of both Calvinism written so fairly and simply. Obviously, Xenos tends toward Arminianism which is another refreshing aspect of this lesson on Soteriology.
The lesson starts thusly: "The central issue we want to study tonight is the interplay between God's sovereignty and human choice with regard to salvation. Do humans have free will to believe or reject the gospel? How should we understand the New Testament's statements about election and predestination?"
For the complete lesson, go to:
1 Corinthians 15 and the Claims of Calvinism
Submitted by Ben Henshaw on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 2:39pmCalvinism as a system claims that God reprobated a large segment of mankind so that they can never be saved. [1] It further claims that the atonement is for this reason limited only to the elect who alone will benefit from the atonement and be saved (with no possibility of falling away). In such a system Jesus died only for the sins of the elect. If this is the case it seems that many passages of Scripture are disingenuous in commanding all people everywhere to repent and believe on Christ when repentance is impossible for reprobates and Christ did not die for them anyway (For more on that see here).
Response to Piper's "What Made It OK for God to Kill Women, Children in Old Testament?"
Submitted by SEA on Tue, 02/14/2012 - 8:38amThis was written by SEA member Bob Anderson in response to John Piper's recent post "What Made It OK for God to Kill Women, Children in Old Testament?" He gave us permission to post it here:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/what-made-it-ok-for-god-to-kill-wom...
I read Piper’s post and want to comment. I will begin by saying that I consider John Piper a brother in Christ, one who follows a different tradition than I do, but a brother none the less. He confesses the same God and same King as I. We differ in an internal understanding of how God works, but this difference does not exclude us from fellowship with each others as members of God’s family.
The above link is to a post that seeks to answer a difficult question, one which has been wrestled with for centuries – how are we to understand the goodness and righteousness of God in the light of human sinfulness.
So let’s examine the argument presented in the post.
John F. Parkinson on Romans 9
Submitted by Matthew Murphy on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 7:40amThis interpretation of Romans 9 is taken from (non-Calvinist) John F. Parkinson's book The Faith of God's Elect, pages 21 through 28.
_____________________________"The individual Jew had come to believe mistakenly that, since he was a part of Israel’s national election, he was already personally justified by God as of right. Just as the eldest son receives the family inheritance as his natural right, so the law-keeping Jew thought he was naturally entitled to personal salvation. It is Paul who enlightens us that those who share in Israel’s national election are not automatically justified (ie. declared righteous by God), notwithstanding their national covenants, law, promises and descent. Paul insists that his great doctrine of justification by faith applies equally to all men without distinction, whether Jew or Gentile.
Ephesians 1 Chosen "In Him"
Introduction
The central theme of the passage is that our blessings and salvation are in Christ Jesus. This is clear because the phrase “in Christ” (or equivalent expression) takes place a dozen times in verse 1-14. Redemption is an important aspect of salvation, but there are many other aspects of salvation. Christ is not just the basis of redemption but of salvation in its entirety, including God’s eternal plan.
The Father established Christ as the head of salvation and Savior of those in Him. Christ is central from creation to glory. Those that are united to Christ, are united by grace through faith (2:8) and are considered now as they will be in glory (2:6). God’s plan from eternity to save those that are in Christ is certain and unchanging, therefore those that are in Him are already considered as they will be in eternity.
Text
Calvinist doctrine leads to the conclusion that there is no sin in the world
Submitted by drwayman on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 8:26amThomas Taylor (1738-1816) writes, in his seminal work, “A Solemn Caution Against the Ten Horns of Calvinism" (1819):
“There is no such thing as sin in the world. Everything is just going on as he would have it to be; all are acting in the department of life which is appointed. Therefore, go, ye jolly drunkards, and jovial song-singers; proceed, ye numerous tribes of profane swearers and Sabbath-breakers; curse on, ye horrid blasphemers and swarms of liars; ye murderers, plunderers unclean profligates, ye are all doing the will of God, answering the great ends for which you were made.”
Taylor continues:
