Calvinism – Devil Doesn’t Believe It!
The Devil thinks Calvinism is a great idea!
And why not? One of his tricks is to make people think they can’t get saved, so anything that encourages doubt works right into his hands.
Calvinism has proven to be a great tool in that regard.
But, even though he thinks Calvinism is a good idea he doesn’t believe it.
In case you’re not familiar with the tenets of Calvinism it is a philosophical concept – nothing theological about it, although some would argue otherwise – that says God selected certain people to be saved and consigned everyone else to hell. His choices were made in eternity past and are fixed. No appeals allowed.
Yes, if you are a thinking person the logical inference is any individual not chosen for salvation IS chosen for hell. Offensive thought, hey? Calvinists think so too and have responded with long drawn out discussions designed to camouflage the reality. They even came up with a term for it, “double election.”
Google it and read for yourself. One post admits to the offense and suggests ways to soften it, without admitting any error, of course. I won’t take time to explore it here.
But, getting back to my original thought, the Devil doesn’t buy it. Not only does he focus on EVERY person – not just the elect or non-elect – he also works to blind them all to the truth of the Gospel – a condition Calvinists suggest is already existing and is curable only by a special, mystical, enabling by God.
Instead, however, the Bible says the following: Read more
“Holy Spirit Experience” Explored
The Holy Spirit receives so much attention these days it sometimes seems He is talked about more than Jesus. A few might think that is OK but I’m not so sure.
If everyone said the same things that would make it easier to accept but they don’t. Very different things are being said and that begs multiple questions.
Why is the Holy Spirit so prominent and how do we explain the divergent, sometimes contradictory, interpretations?
Outside of Jesus, He is the most common topic among Christians and the differing opinions not only confuse they sometimes cause conflict. One person’s ideas are often countered, not with “different” ideas, but with opposing ideas offered in a fractious manner. How do we understand this phenomena?
The one thing most Christians agree on is the Holy Spirit’s place in the Trinity. He is the third person of the Godhead and that, of course, means He is God. He has all the attributes of personality and divinity.
But, that also means we should be careful what we say about Him. Our teaching should be shaped in carefully worded statements all of which are substantiated by biblical reference. Spontaneous gushings, though sincere, may be ill informed.
A Word About Experience
That brings us to a very important topic, “Experience.”
People often base their ideas about the Holy Spirit on a personal experience they believe He caused. The experience becomes the guiding principle for everything they say or believe afterward. It is so paramount in their thinking that the experience is imposed on the Bible rather than the other way around.
That isn’t the way it is supposed to work. But, unfortunately, those who oppose this approach don’t help the cause. Merely mentioning the word “Experience” sends them into overdrive attempting to deny, not the theological implications, but the possibility that an experience ever occurred.
Dismissing “experiences” out of hand gives no one the right to claim higher intellectual/spiritual ground. Read more
Book Review: The Sacred Meal by Nora Gallagher
The following links access the most competitive prices. Using them helps defray expenses for this website.
If you are looking for a strictly theological analysis of Communion then The Sacred Meal
Although theology is exciting to every minister, especially those in waiting, without a measure of humanity, like doe without yeast, it just doesn’t rise. Instead of melting in your mouth it breaks your teeth.
Yes, theology is significant but when not well mixed with life it becomes academic, cold, hard, stiff, mechanical, single dimensional and pretty much useless for anything other than a verbal fist fight. Nora illustrates that without saying it.
Don’t get me wrong. Nora doesn’t bypass theology. She is preacher-in-residence at Trinity Episcopal Church, Santa Barbara – otherwise known as Anglican – and is familiar with all the arguments associated with this ordinance (sacrement) but instead of joining in the usual fray associated with this tradition she speaks from the heart, draws on her own experience and touches the human side of the issue.
And she does this in spite of the fact that no other denomination observes the practice more monotonously than Episcopalians. Every service, every week. Instead of offending anyone’s theology she broadens the view and gives it a fuller perspective. Read more
Jesus And Divorce, Matthew 5
Although many troubled couples can avoid divorce, this post is written in support of those that can’t.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus made some very interesting remarks about divorce:
It has been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery. Matthew 5:31-32
And by these remarks He threw everyone into a tail spin. Or at least it seems that way judging from the many diverse – and bizarre – interpretations imposed on the text.
Not A New Rule
Many people treat His statement like a completely new and inflexible rule that was intended to draw an indelible line in the sand, and anyone crossing the line is eternally doomed. But this can’t be the correct understanding.
Jesus was clarifying an Old Testament statute not writing a new one and the clarification represents no modification on the original ruling which, by the way, was quite liberal. You can read about the Old Testament teaching here. For now consider the following:
- Any understanding of what Jesus said in the New Testament starts with what was said in the Old – the context in which divorce was first introduced.
- Suggesting Matthew 5 disallows divorce and/or remarriage totally ignores the Old Testament or at least reshapes it beyond recognition.
- If you honestly accept the context of the Old Testament, in which divorce was freely allowed, you cannot then think Jesus was fabricating restrictions that disallowed both divorce and remarriage, a complete reversal.
- What Jesus essentially said – if adultery doesn’t occur before divorce it occurs after – changes nothing. That outcome is equally true in both the Old and New Testaments.
There aren’t enough word studies and grammatical arguments to erase these facts and whatever studies one produces are trumped by context every time anyway.
What Is Adultery
For the record, traditional definitions of adultery and fornication, which Jesus did not agree with, are: Read more
Tithing On Limited Income
The following links access the most competitive prices. Using them helps defray expenses for this site.
With recent employment trends in the US going south, leaving a larger-than-usual number of people reliant on unemployment income to make ends meet, budgets are being radically adjusted.
Unemployment benefits are designed to supply only about half the normal income and in many cases it works out to be less. Obviously, under these circumstances some expense items have to go.
Since tithing’s status as a fixed expense is regularly debated in good times, it is no surprise that it is scrutinized even more closely during the bad. And most of the discussion focuses on one question:
“Should those living on unemployment benefits, hand-only-reaching-mouth-at-a-stretch, tithe?”
Not only are responses numerous they are often emotional.
We shouldn’t think that strange. It is inevitable that emotion would seep into any arguments about money. Contrary to what people like to think, we love the stuff. We love to keep it – meaning spend or hoard – or we love to brag about giving it away. The more we have to keep or give, the more attached we become to our pet ideas about managing it.
The arguments we put forth in support of our beliefs are no less emotional than the crazy perspectives we entertain about the filthy stuff.
Christianity Today, in their usual approach to dealing with searching questions about pressing needs, has offered three articles from three different perspectives addressing this very question. All of them are interesting. One, however, takes the emotional “cake.” Read more
Tim Pepper - Beautiful Frustration