Posted on 05/28/2014 7:41:25 PM PDT by ReformationFan
10. He was so wrong
And just how much time have you spent studying his life and work? Do you know what he actually taught and why? Have you been a Berean in the Acts 17 sense and searched the Scriptures to disprove Calvin?
Proverbs 18:13 “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.”
I concur...
Of the five points of Calvinism (TULIP) I hold that Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, and Preservation of the Saints are Biblically based. Limited Atonement and Irresistible Grace are not.
You got it. Anything I’d have written at age 27 would have either been renounced or attenuated by now. Same with Calvin’s immature rubber-stamping of Augustine’s proclivities. Too bad so many people are willing to go to the mat for this misguided fellow today.
The Bereans, on the other hand, were not adherents of sola scriptura, for they were willing to accept Paul’s new oral teaching as the word of God (as Paul claimed his oral teaching was; see 1 Thess. 2:13). The Bereans, before accepting the oral word of God from Paul, a tradition as even Paul himself refers to it (see 2 Thess. 2:15), examined the Scriptures to see if these things were so. They were noble-minded precisely because they "received the word with all eagerness." Were the Bereans commended primarily for searching the Scriptures? No. Their open-minded willingness to listen was the primary reason they are referred to as noble-minded—not that they searched the Scriptures.
Why did the Bereans search the Scriptures? Because they were the sole source of revelation and authority? No, but to see if Paul was in line with what they already knew—to confirm additional revelation. They would not submit blindly to his apostolic teaching and oral tradition, but, once they accepted the credibility of Paul’s teaching as the oral word of God, they put it on a par with Scripture and recognized its binding authority. After that, like the converts who believed in Thessalonica, they espoused apostolic Tradition and the Old Testament equally as God’s word (see 2 Thess. 2:15, 3:16). Therefore they accepted apostolic authority, which means that the determinations of Peter in the first Church council, reported in Acts 15, would have been binding on these new Gentile converts.
By contrast, the Jews of Thessalonica would have condemned Peter’s biblical exegesis at the Council of Jerusalem. They would have scoffed at the Church’s having authority over them—the Torah was all they needed.
Ray, S. (1997). Why The Bereans Reject Sola Scriptura. This Rock Magazine. Retrieved May 28, 2014
Calvin - no matter what, you are destined before you were born so no matter what sort of Christian life you lead if you were destined for Hell, well there you went. Predestination.
It’s biblical.
Yes, that is why I know he is wrong!
11. He was a cruel arrogant SOB that had those who disagreed with him burnt at the stake.
12. No one knew of God’s love better than Calvin.
I don’t know if you are a fan of John Piper, but the following link is a biographical sketch of John Calvin that he presented at a pastors conference in 1997.
http://www.desiringgod.org/biographies/the-divine-majesty-of-the-word
Please note that you can read, listen from the web-page, or download the msg as an MP3. The length is ~1.5 hrs
Highly recommended...
Give it up! They can’t help being against Calvin.
How much time have you spent really studying the Doctrines of Grace? Do you really understand what Calvinists believe and why? Are you sure? That’s are rhetorical questions for you to consider. I have neither the time nor inclination to debate it and you don’t have to prove anything to me.
I was an ardent Arminian for nearly 40 years. Due to a convergence of circumstances, one day I decided to really study what Calvinists believe and why. What I discovered changed my life and ultimately my entire family. Short of salvation it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I now realize what I had been presented as “Calvinism” was a weak caricature. That same caricature is the common understanding among American evangelicals.
Piper gives a compelling argument here:
http://www.desiringgod.org/seminars/tulip-2013-part-2
IMO, piper does his homework. He doesn’t pull any punches; he presents contrary opinions and then logically walks through why he believes what he does.
If you have the time to listen, I believe - if nothing else - that you will be blessed by hearing the word of God exposited by a man who loves God and loves the Word...
If anyone says that it is not in the power of man to make his ways evil, but that God produces the evil as well as the good works, not only by permission, but also properly and of himself, so that the betrayal of Judas is no less his own proper work than the vocation of Paul, let him be anathema.
If anyone shall say that the grace of justification is attained by those only who are predestined unto life, but that all others, who are called, are called indeed, but do not receive grace, as if they are by divine power predestined to evil, let him be anathema.
The Council of Trent (1547). Decree Concerning Justification. Canon 6 .
Post of the year!
I guess I believe in them in a broad sense, not in the way Calvin address them. With total depravity I hold that yes man cannot do any good, but he can come to God by himself. With Unconditional Election I hold to the idea that we saved by grace alone and nothing we have done special. As for preservation of the Saints, I hold that once saved always saved.
Predestination is Biblical? Then we’re all doomed. What do we need Yashua for?
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