This Week in Calvinism - November 26, 2010

• Dr. Wes Bredenhof reviews the book Letters to a Young Calvinist, by James K. A. Smith.
  
  
• Erik Raymond has discontinued his Irish Calvinist blog and introduced a new one entitled Ordinary Pastor.
  
  
• Robots of Calvinism.
  
  
• Matt Tully has posted part 8 in his series on "Humble Calvinism."
  
  
• Calvinist Matt Fenn responds to Arminian Steve Berg's reaction to Fenn's original post on predestination.
  
  
• The Intrepid Evangelist explains why he has given up Facebook.
  
  
• Beware the Agitated Arminian!

Thanking the Puritans on Thanksgiving

From the First Things blog:

There's little less fashionable today than praising the Puritans, especially for their egalitarian political idealism, their promotion of genuinely humane and liberating learning, and their capacity for enjoyment and human happiness. Praising the Puritans is especially difficult for us because even most of our Protestants have abandoned them. When a European calls us Puritanical we don't say, "yes, thanks a lot, you're right." Instead, we either deny it, saying we're way beyond those days. Or we admit it, saying that, "yes, we should be less capitalistic, less repressed, and more free thinking, just like you." But the truth is that the Puritans remain the chief source of the American difference–our ability to live freely and prosperously without unduly slighting the longings of our souls. It's the Puritans' idealism that made and even makes Americans civilized.

Read the full post here.

This Week in Calvinism - November 19, 2010

• Fred Butler wishes Covenant Theology folks understood a little more about the theology of Dispensationalism. But since it has changed so much in its short 150-year history, maybe he'll cut us some slack.
  
  
• When arguing against total depravity, one should not misinterpret Romans 3:10-11 to mean "there is no one who has done good enough (achieved perfection)." The text is quite clear: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God." And let's not forget Romans 14:23, which says that "whatever does not proceed from faith is sin."
  
  
• So, there is no Calvinist resurgence?
  
  
• Well, maybe there is, despite what the recent Barna survey says.
  
  
• Remember, dear Christian, Satan's schemes always backfire in the end.

Atheist Hymn

This Week in Calvinism - November 12, 2010

• C. H. Spurgeon's take on limited atonement: sufficient for all, efficacious for the elect.
  
  
• Writes Arminian Ken Schenck: "So who cares about Piper, Driscoll, or Mohler?" (Or Spurgeon?) "They blow away with a puff of wind, leaving the rest of us to go on trying to save everyone."
  
  
• What does it mean to say that "God is sovereign"?
  
  
• Jameson Graber concludes his series on Calvin's Institutes with a post on Calvin's view of civil government.
  
  
• Is New Calvinism the new fundamentalism?
  
  
• Dr. Michael Brown debates himself on the issue of Calvinism vs. Arminianism. Dr. Brown himself is a former Calvinist turned Arminian. (Aren't they all?)
  
  
• Do you use Accordance Bible software? There is an update available for The John Piper Manuscript Library.
  
  
• Calvinistic Cartoons enters into the Terrible Twos today. Happy birthday, Eddie!

This Week in Calvinism - October 29, 2010

• Calvinists don't believe people can lose their salvation. If some walk away from the faith, that is proof they were never Christians in the first place (1 John2:19). Victor Reppert thinks the same principle can apply to atheism. He says that those who become Christians "were never REAL atheists in the first place." Of course, he's under the mistaken impression that there is such a thing as an atheist. An atheist is nothing more than a person who represses the truth to assuage his own guilt.
  
  
• Andrew Logue defends the doctrine of limited atonement.
  
  
• Jon Cardwell has nothing but nice things to say about William Birch. And I can't argue. He's one of my favorite Arminians, too.
  
  
• And speaking of Jon Cardwell, you have until October 31 to download your free preview of Against Calvinism.
  
  
• To whom does the the term "whole world" in 1 John 2:2 refer?
  
  
• Tim Challies reviews Letters to a Young Calvinist.
  
  
• Richard Mouw on gargoyles and Halloween.

Dads Against Daughters Dating

I may have to get one of these within the next few years.

This Week in Calvinism - October 22, 2010

• How Arminians act like Calvinists and vice versa.
  
  
• A self-described agnostic atheist discusses the Calvinist God and the Chilean miners.
  
  
• A Universalist perspective on Michael Servetus -- or, more accurately, one heretic's perspective on another.
  
  
• Reformed preachers ponder the New Calvinism.
  
  
• Common misunderstandings concerning Calvinism.
  
  
• Download a free copy of the Reformation eChart.

Don't Create a New Law for Yourself

The Resurgence featured this post adapted from Tullian Tchividjian's book Surprised by Grace:

People need to hear less about what we need to do for God and more about all that God has already done for us, because imperatives minus indicatives equal impossibilities. If you're a preacher and you're assuming that people understand the radical nature of gospel indicatives, so your ministry is focused primarily on gospel imperatives, you’re making a huge mistake. A huge mistake!

Long-term, sustained, gospel-motivated obedience can only come from faith in what Jesus has already done, not fear of what we must do. To paraphrase Ray Ortlund, any obedience not grounded in or motivated by the gospel is unsustainable. No matter how hard you try, how "radical" you get, any engine smaller than the gospel that you're depending on for power to obey will conk out in due time.

So let's take it up a notch. Don't be afraid to preach the radical nature of the gospel of grace. For, as the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said, "If your preaching of the gospel doesn't provoke the charge from some of antinomianism, you're not preaching the gospel."

Read the full post here.

This Week in Calvinism - October 15, 2010

• I may have to change the name of these posts to "The Roger Olson Weekly Update." He's at it again, this time attempting to clarify exactly which brand of Calvinism he opposes: "Suddenly I was encountering young people (mostly young college aged men) who believed, under the influence of their favorite speakers and writers, that Arminianism is heresy or at least 'on the precipice of heresy' (to quote one influential Calvinist)." Of course, he doesn't mention who that influential Calvinist is, and a Google search of that particular phrase doesn't shed any light on the subject. But it was Dr. Olson who once said, "The God of Calvinism scares me; I'm not sure how to distinguish him from the devil. If you've come under the influence of Calvinism, think about its ramifications for the character of God." The bottom line is that he dislikes all forms of Calvinism, so this "clarification" is unnecessary.
  
  
• David Rice writes, "If Calvin was right, my obedience to the Great Commission is meaningless. If I obey, none who were predestined to be lost will be saved. If I disobey, none who were predestined to salvation will be lost." The Calvinist believes that the God who determines the end also determines the means. Perhaps it really is just as simple as that.
  
  
• EDH believes Calvinists, with their belief in perseverance of the saints, are playing "a cosmic game of chicken."
  
  
• In honor of Calvinists, new and old.
  
  
• Bobby Grow shares his Evangelical Calvinist testimony.

This Week in Calvinism - October 8, 2010

• David L. Allen disagrees with the Calvinist understanding of limited atonement. In the end, don't we all have to conclude that the atonement is limited? The atonement, while sufficient for all, does not end up saving all. The debate, then, is over how it is limited.
  
  
• FYI, the rest of the "Whosoever Will" articles critiquing Calvinism can be found here.
  
  
• Free audio book: J. Gresham Machen's Christianity and Liberalism.
  
  
• Roger Olson revisits what he sees as a fatal flaw in Calvinism. Olson, however, doesn't think through his analogy very well, and the replies in the comments section do a pretty good job of pointing out the fatal flaws in his argument.
  
  
• Tony "The Lawman" Miano is still Reformed in his doctrine, but he's dropping the label of Calvinist.
  
  
• Why an Arminian should never argue theology with a Calvinist barber.
  
  
• 12 reasons why Romans 9 is about individual election, not corporate election.
  
  
• You can now download the audio and video from the 2010 Desiring God Conference.

Quote of the Week - October 3, 2010

From Food Network star Alton Brown, when asked about being a born-again Christian:

"Yeah, 'born-again' is kind of an odd term because that's like saying a see-through window. But yes, I am a Christian."

This Week in Calvinism - October 1, 2010

• Some things non-Calvinists should know about Calvinism.
  
  
• Don Bryant sees the "New Calvinism" as a hiccup, and believes it will begin to fade away when "the natural moral repugnance at the doctrines of double predestination and limited atonement reassert themselves."
  
  
• Why is it that those who leave Calvinism don't seem able to demonstrate that they ever understood it in the first place? William Price (without offering any scriptural support) now condemns Calvinism for portraying God as unfair and unjust, flippantly damning some to Hell while saving others. To show just how much he hates Calvinism, Price "will be disposing of all my Calvinist books to the glory of God." By the way, Price also denies the Trinity. I guess he figured that while he was at it, why not abandon biblical Christianity altogether?
  
  
• If you need one more reason to check out Against Calvinism: Logical Arguments to Disprove the Doctrines of Grace, the new book from Jeff Peterson, Eddie Eddings, and Jon Cardwell, Arminian blogger William Birch calls it a "a waste of paper and money."
  
  
• Should Calvinism be taught to unbelievers?
  
  
• Tony "The Lawman" Miano makes a plea to his Calvinist and Arminian brothers and sisters for repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
  
  
• Roger Olson would be happy if we all just admitted that our theologies are flawed.
  
  
• Did Adam and Eve have a libertarian free will?

This Week in Calvinism - September 24, 2010

• Mr. T on the subject of total depravity.
  
  
• Is repentance really all that important?
  
  
• Pastor Bob Turner responds to a Methodist pastor's critique of Calvinism.
  
  
• "Gratiaetnatura" asks, "Would a good God predestine some people to Heaven and the rest to Hell no matter what choices people made?" He then answers his own question in the negative, and concludes, "The God of TULIP Calvinism is an evil God, period." Well, I guess that settles it.
  
  
• Mike Anderson of "Let Us Repent and Believe" has launched a new blog: Calvinistic Quotes. Check it out.
  
  
• Coming soon: Open Mic Night at Calvinistic Cartoons.

Is There a Plan B for My Life?

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