Posted on 01/28/2015 8:24:41 AM PST by Alex Murphy
Do you want to know how to make a Calvinist angry? Do you want to know how to offend a whole room full of them? Just bring up the old line about Reformed theology being incompatible with evangelism. We have all heard it, we have all read it, we have all rejected it.
It’s the word on the street, though, that Calvinists make poor evangelists. Many people are firmly convinced that there is a deep-rooted flaw embedded within Reformed theology that undermines evangelistic fervor. Most blame it on predestination. After all, if God has already chosen who will be saved, it negates at least some of our personal responsibility in calling people to respond to the gospel. Or perhaps it’s just the theological-mindedness that ties us down in petty disputes and nuanced distinctions instead of freeing us to get up, get out, and get on mission.
We like to answer this charge with facts. We go to the Bible to show that the sovereignty of God is not the snuff that extinguishes the ember of evangelistic fervor, but the spark that causes it to burst into flame. We go to the pages of Scripture to show that God’s sovereignty and human responsibility are not incompatible, but that people truly are both free and bound, that God both chooses some while extending the free offer of the gospel to all. We go to history to show that the great missionaries, great preachers, and great revivalists of days past were Calvinists, and that Reformed theology was what fueled their mission.
Those are good and valid responses. But, to quote the Bard, perhaps the lady doth protest too much. The Bible and history answer the charge. But do our lives? Do our churches?
When I look at myself, I have trouble finding a clear line extending from my Reformed theology to evangelistic zeal. I can easily draw a line from my Reformed theology to my beliefs about evangelistic zeal, and I can go to history and look to other men and women to draw a line from their beliefs about Reformed theology to evangelistic zeal.
But in moments of honesty, I have to own it: My life does not consistently display it. Too often I am the cliché. I have got the theory. I have got the facts. I have got the history. But I don’t have the zeal. Not often, anyway. Not often enough.
There are only so many times I can point to Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield and the Great Awakening, or William Carey and the great missionary movement of the nineteenth century, or Charles Spurgeon and the countless thousands saved under his ministry. Sooner or later I have to stop looking at my heroes and look to myself. I can’t claim their zeal as my own. I can’t claim their obedience as my own.
It is my conviction—conviction rooted in close study of God’s Word—that Calvinism provides a soul-stirring motivation for evangelism, and that sharing the gospel freely and with great zeal is the most natural application of biblical truth. But it is my confession—confession rooted in the evidence of my own life—that my Calvinism too rarely stirs my soul to mission. The truths that have roared in the hearts and lives of so many others, somehow just whisper in me. The fault, I’m convinced, is not with God’s Word, or even with my understanding of God’s Word; the fault is with me.
So much for any pretense of respect or fairness.
Man you are IGNANT aren't you.
The same people would scream to high heaven of anti_____ bias if anything is mentioned about their group. (In an OPEN forum)
No doubt. But misrepresenting and ultimately sinning in someone else's name does not make that other person guilty - or even invalidate their ideas. The sinner alone is guilty.
As I've said a few times now, "religion" in it's many forms is one of Satan's strongest weapons. It is a powerful delusion. Each and every one of us must fight DAILY the trap of "self elevation". It is by Grace we have been saved...
The absolutely right view of self and the absolutely right view of God. Huge God, small self. Impassable chasm between the two that can only be bridged by the cross.
I listened to a FABULOUS sermon by Richard Owen Roberts at the G3 conference last weekend. He preached on Isaiah 57:15 (God dwells in two places: (1) in the high and holy place; (2) with him that is of a contrite and broken spirit)) and 2 Cor 7:9-11 (Godly grief (which the broken and contrite experience as they realize how filthy they are and how Good God is!) produces repentance and salvation (the two being inseparable), which repentance is marked by earnestness, eagerness, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and punishment (correction of wrongs)).
WELL worth watching for anyone who wants/needs to hear some excellent preaching!
http://new.livestream.com/g3conference/events/3748374
The "religion" mods refused to do anything. But will swoop down if you sneeze wrong while discussing a certain protected class of religion.
I can remember one time, I mistakenly made a negative comment on Catholic Caucus thread. Almost immediately after posting, I noticed the words Catholic Caucus at the end of the title, and so I posted an apology and had the moderator remove my post.
>>> if God has already chosen who will be saved, it negates at least some of our personal responsibility in calling people to respond to the gospel.
Fact is that God does NOT choose who will be saved, but He DOES know who will be saved. It is entirely possible to know an outcome without influencing it directly.
If God does not know, then He is not God.
If we have free will, then that gift of free will came from God... and if God gives it, He must also accept the consequences of that choice. This is why he allows those whom He knows will perish to exist to begin with; because the first man (Adam) made the choice to rebel.
Just because He knows, doesn’t mean we don’t have a choice.
It simply means that God exists outside of our perception of time and space. He allows those whom He knows will perish to run their course for the benefit of those whom He knows will turn to Him.
God uses all things for good.
I don’t understand why I’m supposed to be offended because I understand this, and anti-Calvinists do not.
Excellent post.
Romans 9: 14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
Rather, it was a room full of musloids.
“Does a Calvinist believe that the elect were ever in any REAL danger of going to hell?”
Narrowing the scope to the subjective domain is impossible to avoid in the question as you have posed it. You have asked what an entire category of individuals actually believed about their state of spiritual danger. That is not the same as asking what their confessional stance might be. Individual beliefs are necessarily subjective, i.e., determined by the unique circumstances of each individual. Your best bet would be to do something like a poll, if your objective was to correlate actual individual beliefs with formal systems of belief.
But there is nothing in Calvinism structurally that would prevent one from believing they personally might be in danger. I can tell you this personally from my own experience. God ordains the means as well as the ends. No one but God knows who the elect actually are. We believe that our belief in Jesus and transformed lives indicate God has indeed shown us his grace. But in the before time, the time of dissolution and rebellion, some of us were quite sure we were on a path to certain destruction, though speaking for myself, I suppressed it. There was a point where I was even trying to avoid Bibles in hotel rooms, because the conviction of my wrongdoing was becoming so intense. I have no doubt God was at work through the Holy Spirit warning me to avoid the danger. Any elect person will be convicted of sin, and sincerely desire at some point to avoid that danger. That does not mean the outcome was uncertain. It only means that God used, among other things, a holy fear of justifiable punishment to bring about the repentance that is certain to happen if one is elect. Hence the expression, God ordains the means as well as the ends.
Peace,
SR
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