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Who were the Huguenots? John Calvin (1509 - 1564), religious reformer. The Huguenots were French Protestants who were members of the Reformed Church which was established in 1550 by John Calvin. The origin of the name Huguenot is uncertain, but dates from approximately 1550 when it was used in court cases against "heretics" (dissenters from the Roman Catholic Church). There is a theory that it is derived from the personal name of Besançon Hugues, the leader of the "Confederate Party" in Geneva, in combination with a Frankish corruption of the German word for conspirator or confederate: eidgenosse. Thus, Hugues plus...

Attendance at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston would decline rapidly to the point that the property would be sold back to the city of Houston to pay off ministry debts. It would then be re-converted into a basketball arena.

John Calvin was a Frenchman, but he is being remembered in Geneva this week because it was here that he built Calvinism. Invited to reform the city in 1541, almost as what would now be called a management consultant, he formed an alliance with the city fathers. Over the next 20 years of preaching and pastoring they turned this tiny city, with a population then of only 10,000, into a model of church government and theology which has changed the world. His followers now form the third-largest Christian grouping in the world. The world alliance of reformed churches claims 75...

The debate about who created evil is an important one since atheists and skeptics use the existence of evil in their arguments against theism. It is incumbent upon all Christians to understand what the Scriptures say about the God they worship and the existence of evil in the world. If God created everything, and if evil is in the world, does it follow that God created evil? We are told as Christians to believe what the Bible says. Even the popular children's song, “Jesus Loves Me”, has in its lyrics, “Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells...

Do you believe in bringing children up with a strict education, in avoiding sumptuous food and unnecessary expense, and in holding to the values of hard work? If so, you have a good chance of being a Calvinist, according to an online quiz offered by a Dutch newspaper. The 25-question test on the Web site of Trouw was first launched in Dutch in January. It is now available in English and German and is one of the numerous projects and activities in the Netherlands and beyond to mark the 500th anniversary in 2009 of the birth of French-born Protestant leader...

Dutch people in their 20s are more likely to have a Calvinistic approach to life than any other age group, according to research by Trouw. Calvinism, named after the French religious reformer John Calvin, is associated with a sober, hardworking approach to life and stresses the rule of God in all things. Young people are more conservative than older people, they are more orthodox in their approach to religion and voted for the Calvinist CDA party at the last election, researcher Joke van Saane of Amsterdam's VU university told the paper. 'It is back to basics. Young people feel the...

 from The Institutes of Religion by John Calvin   BOOK II - CHAPTER  XVI. (The effects of the obedience and death of Christ)Sections 5-7. 5. Christ has redeemed us through his obedience, which he practiced throughout his lifeWhen it is asked then how Christ, by abolishing sin, removed the enmity between God and us, and purchased a righteousness which made him favourable and kind to us, it may be answered generally, that he accomplished this by the whole course of his obedience. This id proved by the testimony of Paul, “As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so...

Swiss prostitute Griselidis Real will keep the company of theologist Jean Calvin and writer Jose Luis Borges in the afterlife Former Swiss prostitute and human rights activist Griselidis Real was buried next to theologist and religious reformist Jean Calvin at the famous royal cemetery in Geneva, media report on Tuesday. Griselidis Real died in 2005 and seeing how she gave up on her career of a prostitute, she became famous by establishing a charity institution in the 70s with which she helped male and female prostitutes. - Writer, painter and prostitute – is her epitaph and the decision on moving...

CHOCOLATE BON-BONS have been created by a Swiss chocolatier to honour the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Reformer John Calvin The chocolates were ordered by the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches. “It was an interesting challenge,” said Blaise Poyet of the Maison Poet company. “It’s not easy to represent theological ideas by using the taste buds,” he told Ecumenical News International. Getting the taste right took weeks of discussion and research. He has included ingredi­ents local to Geneva which were available 500 years ago. They include lemon verbena, which was used to represent the reformer’s ability to plant...

As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger once said so well, one major difference between Protestants and Catholics is that Catholics pray for the dead: "My view is that if Purgatory did not exist, we should have to invent it." Why? "Because few things are as immediate, as human and as widespread—at all times and in all cultures—as prayer for one"s own departed dear ones." Calvin, the Reformer of Geneva, had a woman whipped because she was discovered praying at the grave of herson and hence was guilty, according to Calvin, of superstition". "In theory, the Reformation refuses to accept Purgatory, and consequently...

Calvin's Institutes Book Fourth: Of the Holy Catholic Church. Chapter 18. Of the Popish mass. How it not only profanes, but annihilates the Lord's Supper. The principal heads of this chapter are, - I. The abomination of the Mass, sec. 1. Its manifold impiety included under five heads, sec. 2-7. Its origin described, sec. 8, 9. II. Of the name of sacrifice which the ancients gave to the holy Supper, sec. 10-12. An apposite discussion on sacrifice, refitting the arguments of the Papists for the sacrifice of the Mass, sec. 13-18. III. A summary of the doctrine of the Christian...

IT'S A LONG WAY from Geneva, Switzerland, to Orlando, Florida -- but not if you are pioneers in classical Christian education. In 16th-century Geneva, John Calvin started a religious and educational revolution in his city's schools. Its key ingredients were Reformation theology, the sovereignty of Scripture, the teaching of Latin, and an emphasis on dialogue, dialectic, and rhetoric. Calvin's strategic purpose was to encourage young minds to grow beyond the mere acquisition of knowledge. He wanted to produce students who could use their intellects to reason, question, and challenge their contemporary world in the cause of Christian idealism. If you...

The law of God has all but been abandoned today in gospel preaching and has produced "Finneyesque fruit" of half-hearted committments and temporary conversions all across our nation. The "new life" claimed by nearly forty million evangelicals today makes one wonder: if there is so much light in America, why is everything becoming so dark? Antinomianism is rampant today in evangelicalism (cp, Rom. 6:1) and due in part to the absence of the law in the proclamation of sola fide. I trust the following will encourage you to live by the Word of God, the gospel of God, and the...

The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin Book Second - Chapter 5 - sections 1-6The Arguments Usually Alleged In Support of Free Will Refuted. Objections reduced to three principal heads:—I. Four absurdities advanced by the opponents of the orthodox doctrine concerning the slavery of the will, stated and refuted, § 1-5. II. The passages of Scripture which they pervert in favour of their error, reduced to five heads, and explained, § 6-15. III. Five other passages quoted in defence of free will expounded, § 16-19.Sections. Absurd fictions of opponents first refuted, and then certain passages of Scripture explained....

The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin Book Second - Chapter 4.How God Works In the Hearts of Men. The leading points discussed in this chapter are, I. Whether in bad actions anything is to be attributed to God; if anything, how much. Also, what is to be attributed to the devil and to man, § 1-5. II. In indifferent matters, how much is to be attributed to God, and how much is left to man, § 6. III. Two objections refuted, § 7, 8.Sections. Connection of this chapter with the preceding. Augustine’s similitude of a good and...

The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin Book Second - Chapter 3 – Sections 7-14Every Thing Proceeding From the Corrupt Nature of Man Damnable. The principal matters in this chapter are—I. A recapitulation of the former chapter, proving, from passages of Scriptures that the intellect and will of man are so corrupted, that no integrity, no knowledge or fear of God, can now be found in him, § 1 and 2. II. Objections to this doctrine, from the virtues which shone in some of the heathen, refuted, § 3 and 4. III. What kind of will remains in...

The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin Book Second - Chapter 3 - Sections 1-6Every Thing Proceeding From the Corrupt Nature of Man Damnable. The principal matters in this chapter are—I. A recapitulation of the former chapter, proving, from passages of Scriptures that the intellect and will of man are so corrupted, that no integrity, no knowledge or fear of God, can now be found in him, § 1 and 2. II. Objections to this doctrine, from the virtues which shone in some of the heathen, refuted, § 3 and 4. III. What kind of will remains in...

I. The Death of Death in the Death of Christ is a polemical work, designed to show, among other things, that the doctrine of universal redemption is unscriptural and destructive of the gospel. There are many, therefore, to whom it is not likely to be of interest. Those who see no need for doctrinal exactness and have no time for theological debates which show up divisions between so-called Evangelicals may well regret its reappearance. Some may find the very sound of Owen’s thesis so shocking that they will refuse to read his book at all; so passionate a thing is...

The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin Book Two Chapter 2 Sections 1-9 Man Now Deprived of Freedom of Will, and Miserably Enslaved. Having in the first chapter treated of the fall of man, and the corruption of the human race, it becomes necessary to inquire, Whether the sons of Adam are deprived of all liberty; and if any particle of liberty remains, how far its power extends? The four next chapters are devoted to this question. This second chapter may be reduced to three general heads: I. The foundation of the whole discussion. II. The opinions of...

The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin Book Second Chapter 1.Through the Fall and Revolt of Adam, the Whole Human Race Made Accursed and Degenerate. Of Original Sin. I. How necessary the knowledge of ourselves is, its nature, the danger of mistake, its leading parts, § 1, 2, 3. II. The causes of Adam’s fearful fall, § 4. III. The effects of the fall extending to Adam’s posterity, and all the creatures, § 5, to the end of the Chapter, where the nature, propagation, and effect of original sin are considered.Sections. The knowledge of ourselves most necessary. To...