Posted on 09/24/2013 1:43:25 PM PDT by Rashputin
We could simply copy and paste all the posts from the last 50 times this discussion took place on FR.
Your scriptural references are useful.
No it isn’t. This forum is for news, not a religious war.
This is the religion forum
WHAT A COINCIDENCE!
It’s a poorly structured argument anyway.
But since we're having "discussions worth having" today I thought I'd go through links from the past few years of researching and reading I did and post a few things worth discussing.
I sure hope this article isn't representative of the quality of material you've been "researching and reading" for the past few years.
***T.U.L.I.P. is an acronym used by Calvinists to describe the main five points of Calvinism. ***
Did Calvin come up with this or did it come about after he he had died, at the time of the Remonstrants who wanted the beliefs of Jacob Arminius.
Wasn’t TULIP the Calvinist answer to them?
No it isn't. It's just trolling for an argument that promotes disunity among the body of Christ. In this day and age, the less disunity we all have, the better.
A more worthwhile action is to study your bible, ALL of it, and largely ignore what other people claim to get out of it. If it's there, and you study frequently, you will find it. We must be like the Bereans, intelligent and studious, not mindless idiots who must be spoon-fed dogma of any flavor.
Too many people on FR are consumed with dividing the Christians. Why? What purpose does it stand? I grew up Calvinist and mos tof my family still are. They are going to heaven! I am no longer Calvinist but I am also going to heaven!
Quit letting the devil divide us! Quit spreading disention and animosity! That is not the Holy Spirit but the pride of man!
I object to this thread primarily because of the inflammatory title. I certainly do not object to the discussion.
Second, it is simplistic to reduce the doctrines propounded by John Calvin to the “TULIP” acronym. The reality is that those doctrines embodied by TULIP were documented in response to a divergence from sound doctrine long AFTER Calvin was dead by the Synod of Dordt held by Calvin’s followers. John Calvin espoused a wide range of doctrines well beyond TULIP. His life work, Institutes of the Christian Religion, begins with a dissertation on the subject of personal piety. Calvin moved his description of election to later sections of the Institutes in order to allay such objections.
Third, the arguments proposed in this post are also simplistic with no regard for alternative views. For instance, reading Ephesians 1:4 it is quite plain that it is “us” who are chosen “from the foundation of the world”. Of course Christ had been chosen, but, as stated in Eph 1:4, so are we!
Clearly Calvin, and those of us from the Reformed tradition, believe that God’s offer of the Gospel; i.e., Good News, is to be delivered to ALL people. However, as much as one doesn’t like the implications of Ephesians 1:4 (and a host of others) some folks will simply not respond because, in the end, they were not chosen by God.
The point of the doctrine is two-fold: First, salvation is the work of God, not ourselves “lest any man should boast!” Second, it is intended for assurance of salvation so that those who follow Christ can be confident that He who chose us will hold us in His hand until our final deliverance is secured.
I don’t know but as long as going at Catholics hammer and tong is an essential activity shouldn’t the alternatives be enumerated and discussed?
“Its a discussion worth having. “
...with God. Only God knows whether Calvinism is correct or whether Mary was a perpetual virgin and other similar Catholic vs Protestant debates. No one here knows. If they claim to know - run away from them.
Go have your religious wars somewhere else.
bleeeech.... There is so much distortion in this piece I won’t even bother
The Calvinist were also enthusiastically beheading Anabaptists and Catholics at the same time the former were minding their own business and the later were fighting off the invasion of the Muslim hordes invading southeasten Europe.
It was the Anabaptists who are largely responsible for bringing the tradition of religious freedom to America, not the Calvinistic Protestants.
It was the Catholics who were largely responsible for protecting Europe from the invading Muslim hordes, not the Calvinists.
So, on one hand, I don't mind seeing them get their come-uppance from a Calvinist trashing thread. But, on the other, I will observe that they are one of the most conservative voting Christian groups in America and it is unproductive and undesirable to form circular firing squads.
Oh, the horror!!
lol exactly... or the 100 times this debate took place in my college dormitory... move on people!
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