Reformed Baptist (or Southern [Redneck :-)] Baptist) is “pretty good” — the baptism metaphor is one that seems to be so often missed for the operation of the Holy Spirit and there is a robust corrective here — but as I have begun to see, even it has some problems, imposed by where it found itself in the Calvinist/Arminian split.
I am one crazy Evangelinut. I see things espoused as doctrines on either the Calvinist or the Arminian side that seem to be missing a unified picture. The Calvinists have a harder time appreciating the things associated with choice and will; the Arminians have a harder time appreciating the things associated with destiny. The theological formulations on both side lack force in either one area or the other.
God seems to be saying — don’t get so cocky. Learn from the character of Christ, which needs the bible, and yet transcends what mere human eyes can glean from the bible.
Um, okay. Believe what you want to believe.
You’ve expressed something I have long thought about, and better than I ever did.
Basically, I am a Calvinist. But while I believe that God has foreknowledge of our eternal fate, I cannot accept predestination. God gave us freewill, but he knows how we will use it.
It is a contradiction that I cannot readily resolve, so I just accept it. One day I will ask God Himself about it.
God seems to be saying — don’t get so cocky. Learn from the character of Christ, which needs the bible, and yet transcends what mere human eyes can glean from the bible.