There is evidence that this confusion is symptomatic of the synergistic view of theology (e.g. God want man to co-operate, come to Him in faith, etc.). Any time synergism has been introduced, people deviate from the word of God to varying degrees, abandoning the word of God for feelings and experiences. Protestants introduced synergism 150 years after Calvin and, while there were various disagreements, it was nothing like to confusion of today-even within the same denomination.
Please don't take what I'm going to say that I'm a bitter and disappointed man, but as an objective analyst looking at history. (I've been label a pessimistic Calvinist.) To me Christianity has become nothing more than a socialized gospel. For non-believers God loves everyone, begging them to come to Him. For Christians He wants to rain His blessings upon us. We have totally lost the granduer of a God who calls, elects, protects and guide His people through His divine Holy Spirit. I think we are making a big mistake but I can only conclude this is happening according to God's will for some divine purpose.
You will find most Reformers, apart from the minor theological disagreements, do tend to be very consistent on most things clearly outline in the confessions. If we are inconsistent it is 1) we forgot what the confession tells us, or 2) the confession is silent and we are deviating. That is not necessarily a bad thing as long as we know we are in unclear waters.
Prior to becoming a Calvinist I did not studied the confessions which I believe would have given me a tainted, one-sided view. Instead I went back to the original church fathers and traced the history of church development. I haven’t read all the fathers but I’ve read enough. The Confessions only summarized the true monergistic Christian faith of the early fathers.
I believe the reason the Orthodox tend to be so solid in their beliefs is because they hold a strong synergistic view. The reason Reformers are consistent is because we hold a strong monergistic view. I happen to think that the Orthodox with their minimization of the inspired scripture is the wrong view. Everyone else, including Catholics, are all over the page because they hold to synergistism but cling to parts of monergistism to varying degrees. That is where confusion of definitions come into being.
Thanks for the Baptist link. I use the WCF and the two Reformed Catechisms on a regular basis anyway.
Interesting home page:
:::We believe that the Baptists are the original Christians. We did not commence our existence at the reformation, we were reformers before Luther and Calvin were born; we never came from the Church of Rome, for we were never in it, but we have an unbroken line up to the apostles themselves. We have always existed from the days of Christ, and our principles, sometimes veiled and forgotten, like a river which may travel under ground for a little season, have always had honest and holy adherents.:::
Uh huh.
:::I’ve been label a pessimistic Calvinist.:::
Wow. That’s quite a label.
:::I believe the reason the Orthodox tend to be so solid in their beliefs is because they hold a strong synergistic view. The reason Reformers are consistent is because we hold a strong monergistic view. I happen to think that the Orthodox with their minimization of the inspired scripture is the wrong view. Everyone else, including Catholics, are all over the page because they hold to synergistism but cling to parts of monergistism to varying degrees.:::
We’d consider the Orthodox to be so solid because they hold fast to the original teachings of Christ, whereas we have been Protestantized to some degree. We’re a little tainted, I’d say, whereas they are more pure. The current Vicar is attempting to clip off the tumours, as it were. Our perspective.
I appreciate your candor, sir. I am also appreciating the WCF and other confessions and catechisms that I wasn’t very aware of until I started to participate in this forum. They provide food for thought (although I think that I will have to use some theological Tums on occasion). Thank you.