Why Calvin Is Cool; An Infomercial for Calvinism

The Internet Monk ^ | Michael Spencer

[Gamecock]

  Why Calvin Is Cool 

An Infomercial for Calvinism

by Michael Spencer

I know that's Calvin Coolidge, but if I put a picture of John Calvin up there, most people won't read the column. The hostility towards Calvinism is growing here in Bibleland. Note the intrepid Dave Hunt's attempt to vanquish the Calvinistic dragon with his new book, What Love Is This?, perhaps more aptly titled, What Research Is This? Norman Geisler unsuccessfully sought to forge a via media in Chosen, But Free and Gregory Boyd and the Openness Boys (great name for a band) have been blasting away for several years now against the monstrosity of the Calvinistic God and and Augustinian theodicy. I recently attended a debate between Calvinist and Arminian seminary profs, and I have to say that Jerry Walls was vewy, vewy upset that God could save everyone and apparently isn't going to do so. He was also mad that John Piper said he would still love God even if one of his sons wasn't elect. And, of course, C.S. LEWIS WASN'T A CALVINIST! So I think silent Cal is a better choice than Geneva John. These are dangerous times. You could possibly get burned at the stake. (That's a joke.)

I've never been naive about what people thought about Calvinism. It's always been controversial, hence that little party called the Reformation and the counter-party called the Remonstrance and the rave known as Revivalism. In my kid's history textbooks, Calvinists and Puritans are witchburners. Period. When I began hanging out with Calvinistic Southern Baptists in the "Founders" movement, it had some of the trappings of a secret society. There were lots of people keeping their heads low and their mouths shut in order to survive in Southern Baptist land. And at my current assignment, rumors of my Calvinism have been my only real trouble in ten years, and that even though the founder of our school was an out and out card-carrying five-pointer with no shame about saying so.

A few years ago our state denominational newspaper discovered Southern Baptist Calvinism and went on a ten-year windmill tilt against it. It was enormous fun to read what Arminian revivalistic evangelists had to say about Calvinism, based upon their extensive experience and research. (I concluded the in-depth tape series of Jimmy Swaggart on Calvinism was behind it all.) I was surprised to discover that Southern Baptists had no Calvinistic roots or influences (which seemed odd given the overwhelming historical record of just exactly that fact.) I learned that Spurgeon was not really a Calvinist. (It seems particularly galling  for Arminians to come to grips with this one.) I learned that despite all those years of preaching, I was against missions and evangelism, and that I could not preach the free offer of the Gospel or tell people that Jesus loved them. (The inability of these experts to differentiate between Calvinism and hyper-Calvinism is basic to everything they say. What a heretic I'd been!)  And I learned that despite my cheery outlook, I am really obsessed with predestination, and have no real good reason to get up in the morning. (Again, if one wants to discuss fatalism, go to the Muslims.) All this free education came to me week after week, courtesy of those who hated Calvinism and feared Calvinists. And all totally false.

Such misunderstandings continue today, though the articulate writings of people like Michael Horton, John Piper and James White are making a difference. I am now meeting people who say they are Calvinists, and really probably aren't, but they identify with or admire someone who is. Hey, you gotta start somewhere. Even so, I still know that I could lose my job over being a Calvinist, and I know that I will always have to answer ridiculous questions from Arminians who have no idea that they are Arminians or even have a theology. As long as they read Jabez and Left Behind and like Joyce Meyers and T.D. Jakes, they feel normal.

So how can I say it's cool to be a Calvinist?

1) Calvinism is that rare and wonderful thing: classical, orthodox Christianity. Evangelicals are selling the theological store right and left. I am really grateful for orthodox non-Calvinists like Ravi Zacharias, because the trend on that side of the fence is to sell out the essentials. Omnipotence and omniscience are in trouble. The authority of scripture is in trouble. Biblical worship is in trouble. Postmodern Arminianism seems ready to jettison anything that stands in the way of intellectual acceptance by the cultural elites or the potential drawing of a crowd. Calvinists have their problems, but going the openness route or denying the authority of scripture are not dangers in the near future. That's cool.

2) Calvinism is fired up about missions. Contrary to the press releases, it is a bunch of Calvinists who are fueling the missions movement among the college age Christian community. The influence of John Piper is massive, and honest Arminians admit it (as they did in the debate I observed.). His book, The Supremacy of God in Missions, has become highly influential in frontier missions circles. Louie Giglio's Passion movement is God-centered and missions-centered and he has said Piper will always speak at those gatherings. The supreme optimism of Calvinism that God has a people to be called and saved in every nation, and that a sovereign God can move in the Muslim world, is winning the hearts and minds of many young missionaries. Check out www.frontiers.org and see what I mean. That is very cool.

3) Calvinism is the strongest resistance to the excesses and errors of the church growth movement. You could deny the Trinity in most pulpits today and not get the kind of reaction you will get if you question the tenets of seeker-sensitive church growth methods. These days Calvinists are less unified on questions of worship and church life than on other areas of theology, but the reformed camp is still the loudest source of resistance to the church growth pragmatism that has overwhelmed evangelicalism. Reformed writers are engaging in a solid examination of Biblical worship and the current crisis and offering a God-centered alternative to the man-centered carnival that is engulfing our churches. Especially see the cool work of Marva Dawn, John Macarthur, James Boice and Michael Horton.

4) Calvinism is contending for the Gospel. Now that will get a few tomatoes headed my way, but I am not saying that Calvinists are the only Christians, nor that Calvinists are the only ones contending for the Gospel. I know that is not the case. I am saying that Calvinists have a passion for the Gospel, particularly for soteriology. There is remarkable unity among Calvinists on the doctrine of total depravity, the primacy of the work of the Trinity in salvation, the effectiveness of the substitutionary work of Christ, the priority of regeneration over faith and the grace of God over all. On the Solas, Calvinists stand strong, even stronger than on the five-points, where there is considerable diversity on the extent of the atonement and the nature of perseverance. The sad fact is that many of our evangelical Arminian friends cannot say the Solas with certainty of an "amen" from their team. The Gospel is under attack on virtually every side within evangelicalism. Some of these are the same controversies that preceded and followed the Reformation, but many are the attacks of post-modernism, pragmatism, multi-culturalism, and liberalism, smuggled in through evangelicalism's fetish with popularity, publishing, and media. It is refreshing to hear a seminary president like Calvinist Al Mohler consistently contend for the Gospel on Larry King Live in this age of pluralism and tolerance. It's not an accident. In Calvinistic circles, it's cool to fight for what others are surrendering.

5) Calvinism is warmly God-centered. Again, hold the bottle throwing. I know, I know. I know there are many non-Calvinists who are God-centered, but I think you have to notice that Calvinism is God-centered by definition, and it simply makes a marvelous difference. Look at the music of Steve Green, the sermons of Al Martin or the books of Douglas Wilson, John Piper, Jerry Bridges or R.C. Sproul. Whether in evangelism, worship, or the Christian life, Calvinists have a suspicion of humanism that is healthy and helpful in retaining the God-centered nature of the Christian faith. It is a marvelous simplicity in Calvinism that says anything we do or contemplate or consider must first put the sovereign God of the Bible as the reference, goal, and center of everything. The vision of God that animated Luther and Calvin, Spurgeon and Edwards is the same vision that is animating Calvinism today. The impulse that is causing havoc in evangelical circles today is a dethroning of God, and the resulting mess seems to be headed down the path that leads to the generic, new age, feelings-centered spirituality that grows like kudzu in America. It's cool to be God-centered, and there is no area of contemporary Christianity where the air breathed in Piper's The Pleasures of God or Carson's The Gagging of God or Packer's Knowing God isn't badly needed.

There's lots more I could say. Calvinism is evangelistic, when practiced and not just debated. (Ask those Korean Presbyterians.) Calvinism has a wonderful reverence for history. Calvinism has the best approach to cultural issues. Calvinism isn't detoured into fads like Jabez, Experiencing God, or Left Behind. Calvinists have Spurgeon. Calvinists are great apologists. Calvinists aren't on television. Well, D. James Kennedy on TBN, but thank God for that. Calvinists have the best preachers. If Benny Hinn were a Calvinist, he'd have better hair. I think I should stop.

Are there negatives? Certainly, but this is an infomercial, so I am supposed to say all those really fast at the end so you won't hear them. They would include: Calvinists debate too much and do too little. Calvinists don't start enough churches. Calvinists fight about the stupidest things. Calvinists go overboard on anything they are right about. Calvinists have more than their share of loons. Calvinists spend too much on books. I'd better stop. Even with all this, trust me, it's cool to be a Calvinist.

Sometimes Calvinists spend too much time trying to argue their friends into Calvinism. That is a waste of time. I don't want to convert you. I just wanted to brag, and perhaps suggest that in this postmodern swamp we are living in, we might want to remember that all the criticism of Calvinism within evangelicalism is coming from a house that needs to get itself in order before it throws rocks at its own team.

[YHAOS]

"The actions of Queen Mary pale by comparison to what the Protestants did to the Catholic recusants."

Let it go! When too often you try to justify actions with comparisons against the actions of others, the practice becomes least effecrtive when its use is most appropriate and most needed.

[jude24]

By the way, and though I'm a little afraid to ask, what is a neener?

They're non-Calvinists who basically are poking fun of the GRPL Calvinist ping list. The Neeners were the opposition in the Great Calvinist War of 2002-2004.

No, I am not a member of the Neeners. I am unaffiliated after I left the GRPL because of ... unpleasantness.

[alpha-8-25-02]

ann?

[nobdysfool]

No, I am not a member of the Neeners. I am unaffiliated after I left the GRPL because of ... unpleasantness.

The truth is, Jude24 was removed from the GRPL rolls because of ...unpleasantness.

[HarleyD]

Now back to the (non-Apostolic) Church fathers... Do you have any? I'm not looking for a "gotcha" moment here, I've just come across several sources that state that strict predestination and the denial of free will was not known or believed in the post Apostolic Church till Calvin - Augustine being the possible one exception.

Hi PM... Trying to move on by saying, "Augustine was the exception now try to find me ONE Church Father who agree with your position", is a tad bit disingenuous don't you think? I do enjoy how the Catholics revere Augustine and then distances themselves from his statements by 1) denying he really said anything, 2) saying that he really didn't mean what he said, or 3) saying the most premier early church father spoke as a lone wolf. I could understand people saying, "Sure, Augustine said so-n-so but he was wrong." I find it unbelievable that people would brush him aside as insignificant as though he doesn't count.

There are a number of scholars far better than you or I who have traced the Reformed belief back to Augustine. If you were to simply, and objectively, read Augustine apart from the Church telling you how to interpret him, you can clearly see strong shades of Reformed theology in his writings. I know. Calvin didn't convinced me. It was Augustine's writings that convinced me. That's not to say I agree with everything in his writings. It is to say that his basic premises are correct.

You do a disservice to yourself not to admit that a good portion of Augustine's writings did sow the seeds for the Reformation.

[HarleyD]

We would differ with St. Augustine...

Wow!!! You're the first Catholic that told me that!!! You're not far from Orthodox now.... :O)

Do you now agree with Augustine's statement in the same work you quote that the OT Book of Wisdom is canonical scripture? ;-)

No. The early church fathers didn't agree that it was canonical. ;O)

[Corin Stormhands]

The truth is, Jude24 was removed from the GRPL rolls because of ...unpleasantness.

Which, pretty much up until your post, we've been managing to avoid repeating.

[nobdysfool]

Which, pretty much up until your post, we've been managing to avoid repeating.Corin, it's nice to see you, too. How are things in the Hobbit Hole?

[nobdysfool]

Which, pretty much up until your post, we've been managing to avoid repeating.

Corin, it's nice to see you, too. How are things in the Hobbit Hole?

(sorry that last one didn't come out formatted right....)

[Corin Stormhands]

We're doing well, thanks.

[blue-duncan]

" we have shields and battle cries."

And don't forget that ever popular breakout of the holy huddle cheer, "There's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah, yeah"!

By the way, did you ever notice how much Gamecock's pictures of Calvin in Rome or where ever, remind you of that Travelocity gnome?

[jude24]

If NF want's to be nasty - and misrepresent the facts - he harms only himself.

My ultimatum - even if it may have been misguided - is still up for all to see.

[xzins]

The uber-Reformed elder in my Presbyterian church is a Starbucks connoisseur. No Taster's Choice in this church. So we're okay coffee-wise.

I don't mean to condescend, but knowing Starbucks is not the same as knowing good coffee.

Neeners know what SweetMaria's and FreshCoffeeBeans.com know.....home roasted is real coffee.

Starbucks is stale. And seriously overpriced for a cup (or bag) of stale coffee.

(BTW...Get some of the Maria's Ethiopian Harrar. African is the best, and Ethiopian the best of the best, imho. Although I had some great El Salvador recently.)

Go here for a great education in coffee that is part of the "Neener Benefit List" (if we had a list.) Ethiopian Harrar Horse

[jude24]

And don't forget that ever popular breakout of the holy huddle cheer, "There's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah, yeah"!

Haven't heard that bridge in a LONG time.

By the way, did you ever notice how much Gamecock's pictures of Calvin in Rome or where ever, remind you of that Travelocity gnome?

I think it's hysterical. When can we see John Calvin bobble his way through Istanbul (which was once Constantinople, now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople)?

[P-Marlowe]

And don't forget that ever popular breakout of the holy huddle cheer

CYBERCOLUMN:
The holy huddle
___Yale professor Jaroslav Pelikan once observed: "Many a congregation looks and acts like a football huddle: You know that a very important conversation is going on, but all you ever see are the behinds."
___Many churches assume the backside-to-anyone-who-is-not-one-of-us formation. The

BRETT YOUNGER

oldtimers enjoy each other. The newcomers wait to be greeted until they go home unwelcomed.
___ Churches welcome guests in a variety of ways. Some pastors begin worship with: "I'd like all of our members to stand. Visitors should stay seated so that we can look down on you." Some congregations ask visitors to fill out cards at the beginning of the service, so they can recognize guests from the pulpit at the end. This has led visiting parents to tell visiting children to put their hands down as ushers distribute the cards. Some churches try to get around this with, "If you are seated next to a visitor, raise their hand." Cards include nametags, which identify the wearer as "Visitor," "Guest," or "Prospective Worker." I once visited a church where the minister told the congregation to tell 10 people, "God loves you, and I do, too" and hug them. My wife, Carol, was the only one to hug me. Lots of people hugged Carol.
___ Compulsory spontaneity may not be the way to go, but a friendly welcome is important. Visitors looking for a church home expect to make friends at church. If we don't speak, then we may give the mistaken impression that we're not fun people.
___ One of the obstacles is knowing who is a visitor and who isn't. We know the fear of asking, "Are you a visitor?" and hearing, "No, I'm a charter member." We are then tempted to say, "You should come more often." It's safer to ask, "Have you been here before?" If they answer "yes," you can say, "I thought you looked familiar." If they say "no," you can respond, "I thought you looked unfamiliar."
___ We need to help one another in identifying visitors. A simple hand signal--perhaps a 'V' would work. We'll need to be careful when signaling, because visitors, like deer, are easily frightened. Sharing information is essential. For example: "That's Sandra. She moved here from Dallas. Don't mention her hair color."
___ It's extremely important to remember visitors' names. I use clever mnemonic devices. If a visitor's name is Victor Vincent I think "Victor, Vincent, and visitor all begin with V." If a guest's name is Jake More, because I am at Lake Shore Baptist Church, I think "Jake More rhymes with Lake Shore." If a visitor's name is Cal Berry, then hope your church's name is Calvary.
___ If you still don't remember a name, don't be embarrassed. Pretend you do. Cleverly cover the fact you don't know the person's name by referring to them as 'Welcomed Guest' until you remember it. When you introduce them you might say, "I know how to pronounce your name, but I like the way you say it." She will, of course, embarrass you by replying, "It's pronounced 'Cindy.'" I once asked, "How do you spell your first name?" It was J-A-C-K.
___ Gracious guests will appreciate almost anything, but there are things you shouldn't say: "Why are you here?" "You're sitting in my chair." "Are you a tither?" "We really need some new blood." "Would you like to sing with the choir?"
___ If you are stuck, try one of these, "Would you like to come to my Sunday School class? We have some real characters." (This works with most classes.) "A group of us go to lunch after church. Would you like to join us? We'll share our fries." "Could I introduce you to our pastor or Cal Berry?"
___ It would also be helpful if visitors would act like visitors. Guests should arrive five minutes before Sunday School begins. (This will clearly mark them as visitors.) Proper guests act confused--as though the size of the building has bewildered them. Questions like "Where is the rest room?" clearly identify visitors. When someone says, "Hi, how are you?" thoughtful guests respond: "I'm fine. It's kind of you to ask since I'm a visitor." Guests should say their name more than once as in: "Hi, I'm Marilyn. Most people call me Marilyn. You can call me Marilyn. Did I mention that I'm a visitor?"
___ If we all work together, then our churches will become more welcoming communities, and if not, suggest Jake More move to Waco. I can remember his name.

___ Brett Younger is pastor of Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco.

[blue-duncan]

"By the way, and though I'm a little afraid to ask, what is a neener?"

We trace our history back before 4-5 B.C. It was a neener (we prefer to use the lower case so as not to be as obtrusive as some others like the GRPLs) who rented the homey stall to Joe and Mary. The Wise Men (they got their names from being neeners)displayed admirable neener dexterity with the facts confusing Herod. It was also a neener who rented the colt on Palm Sunday and the upper room for the banquet. It was a neener who let Paul down the wall to escape and Paul's nephew who eavesdropped on the conspiracy was actually an apprentice neener.

Moving right along, Augustine, while contemplating in the garden overheard a neener telling his kids to pick up their room and do their homework. What he thought he heard was "pick up and read, pick up and read" so he looked at Paul's writings and the rest is history. Who do you think carried the hammer and nails for Luther? Certainly not a Priest. Of course it was the lowly neener sexton. I'll stop there else you might think we are bragging.

However, I'll give you one more example of the importance of neeners. There was a classic adventure movie that almost garnered an Academy Award nomination that needed a poignant scene to summerize in a scene all that is good and decent in man and we, the neeners, let them use one of our slogans and didn't even ask for any royalties. I leave you with it,

Son of a motherless goat?
And who are you?

Wherever there is injustice,
you will find us.

Wherever there is suffering,
we'll be there.

Wherever liberty is threatened...

you will find...

The neeners!


"That beer looks soooooooooo good"

I think you have what it takes to be a neener!

[nobdysfool]

If NF want's to be nasty - and misrepresent the facts - he harms only himself.

Funny how some people respond to truth. I wasn't being nasty, just correcting the record. If truth is nasty, so be it.

My ultimatum - even if it may have been misguided - is still up for all to see.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

I removed your name from the list, after informing you of it. If you want to try to rewrite history, I can't stop you, but I can correct it.

[Religion Moderator]

Discuss issues all you want but don't make it personal.

[Gamecock]

By the way, and though I'm a little afraid to ask, what is a neener?

I could provide you a list of them, but they deny having a membership roll.

I could tell you what they believe, but they contradict themselves.

Basically though, they are a confederation of FReepers whose sole purpose in life is to wrongly contradict everything anyone from the GRPL posts.