Quote of the Week - June 1, 2010

From R. C. Sproul Jr.:

"Unbelievers deny God precisely because they would rather live not-guilty in a world of nonsense than be guilty in a universe that makes sense."

This Week in Calvinism - May 28, 2010

• John Calvin on the value of the Psalms.
  
  
• An Arminian Molinist samples four flavors of causal determinism.
  
  
• Paul's doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
  
  
• As a partial preterist/amillennialist, I never understood full or hyper preterism. One of the problems that jumps out at me is the concept of this world, along with sin and death, continuing forever. Sam Frost examines full preterism and the problem of infinity. Yeah, it's a pretty big problem.
  
  
• Seumas Macdonald on the link between hyper-Calvinism and Pelagianism.

This Week in Calvinism - May 21, 2010

• Stephen Macasil on the dark side of Chuck Smith.
  
  
• A.M. Mallett finds the Calvinist use of the phrase "doctrines of grace" offensive and eschews the "near blasphemous regard for God's character represented by elements of TULIP."
  
  
• Arminian William Birch presents what he thinks might be a Calvinist interpretation of Genesis 4.
  
  
• Colin Maxwell responds to Mr. Birch.
  
  
• Calvin and Aimee asked, "Should we marry if we're theologically divided?" Russell Moore offers his response.

This Week in Calvinism - May 14, 2010

• Justin Taylor interviews Mark Driscoll about his new book, Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe.
  
  
• Derek Ashton is a bad Calvinist (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, conclusion.
  
  
• Matt Svoboda explains what the Ergun Caner controversy is really about.
  
  
• Carl Gobelman on the extent of the atonement.
  
  
• Steve Hays addresses the Arminian claim that it's possible for Christians to lose their salvation.
  
  
• J.C. Thibodaux, one who believes Christians can lose their salvation, responds: "Just as Israel fell in the wilderness after being saved from the wrath of Pharaoh, so the scriptures warn us against likewise incurring God's judgment after He has shown us His goodness." Of course, this completely ignores the fact that while the people of Israel did "fall away" and were disciplined, they were still God's chosen people and the covenant made with Abraham remained intact. Paul makes this pretty clear in Romans 11:1.
  
  
• Steve Hays fires back.

Coming Soon to a Church Near You

This Week in Calvinism - May 7, 2010

• A Catholic poster on Theology Web thought he could "demonstrate rationally and scripturally the invalidation of Calvinism, penal substitution and imputed righteousness taught by the reformer, John Calvin." You kind of have to read the nonsense to believe it.
  
  
• How many Christians are Calvinists? Two percent? Don Bryant thinks "a case could be made for even less."
  
  
• J. K. Jones is on part 2 in his layman’s critique of Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism.
  
  
• Randy Olds wonders, "Can a true Calvinist truly repent?" After all, if God determines everything, why should anyone be sorry for their sins?
  
  
• James White weighs in on the Ergun Caner fiasco.

How to Pray Badly

Tim Challies has an excellent post on prayer:

It is the Lord's delight to grant us what we ask of him in prayer. Like David, we all ought to pray, "O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth" (Psalm 54:2). If Christians did not believe in the effectiveness of prayer, there would be no reason for us to ask anything of God. He is the one who tells us that we can have confidence that our prayers ascend to him. "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him" (1 John 5:14,15). While as Christians we pay lip-service to the superlatives in that sentence ("whatever" and "anything"), how often do we really believe it?

The fact is that our prayers are often hindered. There are times when it feels like our prayers are reaching the ceiling and going no further; times when we are lying face-down on the floor and feel that our prayers are rising no higher than the fibers of the carpet. While we can be sure that God does hear our prayers, there are times when he chooses not to heed or answer them.

Read the full post here.

This Week in Calvinism - April 23, 2010

• Chuck Wiese hopes to host a Calvinism vs. Lutheranism debate and cook-off.
  
  
• Steve Hays with another example of the "Calvinists are mean" meme .
  
  
• Notes from a reluctant Calvinist.
  
  
• The Reformation Study Bible is the "worst Bible ever"?
  
  
• Tim Brister is between hyper-Calvinism and pragmatism.

Jason Robertson on Covenant Theology

What is Covenant Theology, and who subscribes to it? Jason Robertson starts off by explaining what Covenant Theology is not:

• It is not a response to dispensationalism — for dispensationalism, in fact, did not even exist until the nineteenth century.
  
• It does not teach paedobaptism, covenant successionism, paedocommunionism, or baptismal regenerationism.
  
• It does not teach any kind of philosophy of education such as homeschooling or Christian schools.
  
• It is not sectarian, but has roots from the early church to all the branches of the Reformed church.
  
• It is not anti-Semitic nor "replacement theology", but CT teaches the fulfillment of the promises to Israel in the person and the work of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, who established the church in organic continuity with Israel, not a separate replacement entity.
  
  Covenant Theology is a system of theology that explains the entire Bible in one systematized story organized around three great covenants (Redemption, Works, Grace). CT is a hermeneutic, an approach to understanding Scripture, biblically explaining the unity of biblical revelation.

Read the full post here.

This Week in Calvinism - April 16, 2010

• Bobby Grow promises that his blog, The Evangelical Calvinist, will focus more on Calvinistic stuff. His other theological thoughts can be found at his new blog, Christianly. By the way, he will be having cancer surgery on May 6, so please keep him in your prayers.
  
  
• Allen Yeh on paedobaptism vs. credobaptism.
  
  
• Dr. James Galyon on the heinous error of hyper-Calvinism.
  
  
• The Seeking Disciple asks, "Does Calvinism make it easier to sin?"

T4G Audio and Video Now Available

Audio and video from this year's Together for the Gospel conference is available online here.

Galatians 5:14

This Week in Calvinism - April 9, 2010

• The Calvinist blogosphere has been abuzz ever since John Piper invited Rick Warren to speak at this year's Desiring God conference.
  
  
• Bob DeWaay, senior pastor of Twin City Fellowship, was on Crosstalk to discuss "Warrengate."
  
  
• The First Things blog makes some excellent points regarding the reaction of many Calvinists to John Piper's invitation to Rick Warren.
  
  
• Jack discusses John Piper, Rick Warren, and ranting Calvinists.
  
  
• Martyr for Calvin?
  
  
• The new book Whosoever Will: A Biblical and Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism is garnering attention.
  
  
• A fictional, misguided, ill-informed "dialogue" on Calvinism.

He's Alive!

This Week in Calvinism - April 2, 2010

• The Christian Science Monitor on Calvinism's comeback.
  
  
• Sonny Burrell offers a word on on 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 and the usage of the term Calvinism.
  
  
• Christ suffered for about three hours on the cross. How is that sufficient enough to wipe out an eternal debt of sin? John Piper answers.
  
  
• What the bodily resurrection of Christ means to Pyromaniacs Phil Johnson, Dan Phillips, and Frank Turk.