[drstevej]

There is nothing therefore, against which Calvinism sets its face with more firmness than every form and degree of auto-soterism. Above everything else, it is determined to recognize God, in His son Jesus Christ, acting through the Holy Spirit whom He has sent, as our veritable Saviour. To Calvinism, sinful man stands in need, not of inducements or assistance to save himself; but precisely of saving; and Jesus Christ has come not to advise, or urge, or woo, or help him to save himself; but to save him; to save him through the prevalent working on him of the Holy Spirit.

[drstevej]

BB Warfield on Calvin Ping

[drstevej]

A well written and insightful summary of Calvinism for your consideration and response.

Have a Blessed Easter as we worship the One who came to seek and save the lost. To Him alone be glory!

[ultima ratio]

A beautifully written essay, but one with which Catholics would disagree. The problem as I see it is that to leave out the concept of human cooperation in God's salvific act, we eliminate the notion of free will. If salvation were to be so exclusively God's doing, even apart from any freely given choosing by ourselves, then damnation would be all God's doing as well. The suffering souls in Hell would have had no part at all in their own choice of evil over good. This is repulsive to us on the face of it. It would be impossible to believe in God as a benign Being, given such a notion.

This theologian says, "There is nothing therefore, against which Calvinism sets its face with more firmness than every form and degree of auto-soterism." But "auto-soterism" is a pejorative term that does not adequately describe what is actually going on; cooperation or participation does not limit God's salvific act. If someone is drowning, he can still cooperate with the lifeguard's saving action by not resisting and rejecting the lifeguard's help. In a very loose sense, we say he's saving himself by doing so; but more truly it is the lifeguard alone who is saving him. That's how the Catholic sees it.

Happy Easter to you and your family!

[P-Marlowe]

To Calvinism, sinful man stands in need, not of inducements or assistance to save himself; but precisely of saving; and Jesus Christ has come not to advise, or urge, or woo, or help him to save himself; but to save him; to save him through the prevalent working on him of the Holy Spirit.

And how does that differ from Arminianism?

[Polycarp]

I'm not going to post this here, its simply too long. But this is my reason for believing that the Final Word has not yet been spoken on Grace Vs Free Will: REASONS FOR CENTURIES-OLD IMPASSE. The fact is, we still haven't figured it out completely. Augustine stumbled and errored on predestination; St. Thomas corrected his error but didn't complete the thought line; Calvin regressed to Augustines error, and built an entire religion around that error; only in the last century have competent theologians picked up where St Thomas Aquinas left off, completing to a certain degree his work. Yet its still not complete even now.

In drawing this line of theology almost full circle, he quotes Garrigou-Lagrange, a Dominican professor of mystical and spiritual theology, who had as one of his best known students, a Polish Man named Karol Wojtyla. One of his lesser known students (except in certain small circles) was a Passionist priest who is my spiritual director.

I'd appreciate it if you took an honest and careful look at this link, and get back to me with your thoughts via FReepmail.

[FreeRep]

CALVIN BELIEVED IN RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION, From 1541 to 1546, John Calvin caused 58 people to be executed and seventy six were exiled. Three men who had laughed during a sermon were imprisoned for three days.
I would be in alot of trouble.

[P-Marlowe]

I just realized that Warfield was able to enunciate the whole theology of Calvinism without a single quote from the Bible. Interesting.

[.45MAN]

PING....

[FreeRep]

I would like to apologize for been so harsh in criticizing John Calvin. People do terrible things in another person name and is hard to judge centuries later. I can not judge his heart and I believe he was a born-again Christian from reading some of his writings. I agree with your assessment on some of his particular beliefs. However, I can't completely agree on everything, but your article were very helpful. Thanks <><