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.
Amen.
Just as Jesus exists as 100% God AND 100% Man (The Hypo-Static Union), God’s Sovereignty and Free Will exist also in ‘Tension”. To reduce our Theology to a 5-letter acronym is a wee bit of oversimplification, in my humble opinion.
And, believe me, it IS a “humble” opinion.
My ministry brings the Gospel to a particularly “tough” crowd. Since I believe in the Sovereignty of God, it would be very easy to suggest that God will take care of his elect and pull them out of the fire all by Himself, and choose a “nicer’ crowd for me to preach to!
But I go where I’m sent. LOL.
The one thing the extreme Calvinists hate to admit is that they hate Catholics and, for that matter, any Protestants outside their narrow circle just as much as they hate Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses or anybody else who doesn't kow-tow to their Taliban brand of Christianity.
I don't know how many ways to state it, but: HATERS HATE. It doesn't matter what "brand of Christianity" they claim. Any so-called follower of Christ who consciously hates another IS NO FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.
Ah, I see. I guess you were being “mean”.
Don’t do that! They will know us by our love for one another!
8^)
2 great scripture references.
What is your point?
(I may be wrong, but I think he is attempting to support your position...)
And I thought this was Jim Robinson’s site. Your venom is amazing.
I believe the import of those passages is that election is unconditional. If one introduces a condition precedent to God’s act of choice, then the election is conditional, and we are no longer talking about full Calvinism.
Which raises a number of interesting questions all by itself. How much can we erode the definition of Calvinism before it stops being Calvinism? My own position is that unconditional election is critical to the definition. Everybody gives lip service to predestination, because there it is in the text. But making our choice as humans the basis of God’s choice by invoking the “look ahead” theory voids the essence of Calvinism.
Peace,
SR
Time to wake up and smell the coffee.
Or you can continue to prove that your an ignorant a--.
Many years ago, the sermon series at my church was titled "Rediscovering Grace". The pastor made it a point to announce the series title at the beginning of each sermon. We thought it would be hilarious if he would simply state the title, lead an old slightly confused looking woman up onto the stage, gesture in her direction and announce "here she is", and then leave.
I would humbly offer that the import of these verses is that God is sovereign - period.
And the only logical response is to fall on our faces and plead "mercy Father, mercy!". And while still on our faces, "Thank you Father, thank you..."
IMO- the great debt we owe Calvin is to help open our eyes to: 1) the greatness of God 2) our utter need for a Savior...
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
It might not be scripture, but it sure is close.
Calvinists don’t get angry; they get sad. Sad, that there is so little understanding of the issue. Sad, that those who make such charges are so reluctant to follow a chain of careful definitions and deductions derived from the Scriptures. Sad, that emotional assertions trump logical thought so easily. Sad, that men suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
Evangelism is merely the sharing of the good news of the gospel: that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. We share the good news; God does the reconciling.
And that’s good news about which we can be joyful.
Written by a Cavlnist, donncha know!
Piper is spot on.
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.
If I were to hear that, I'd just write the speaker off as a blithering idiot.
I guess I'm just grumpy, right now.
(Read the whole thing later...)
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