Message to the Reader
Message to the Reader
Why do some Christians become so angry, nasty and bitter over theology? Is the reason found in spiritual immaturity? Why do some people who presume to speak with authority on matters of grace, lack any of it? Why is it that I find commentary and after commentary, filled with disrespectful slurs of “poor [such and such],” or this is “sad,” and you’ve “failed,” and you “misrepresent” us? Let those who presume to speak about grace, actually live it. Let no one think that their words or demeanor will have no consequence, especially in light of the Lord’s rebuke against Job’s friends. The dialogue recorded in Job was nasty and heated. At ExaminingCalvinism.com, the last thing that I want to do is get personal. I cannot say it enough. Before we are Calvinists or Arminians, we are Christians, and we must remember that in the tone of our dialogue with one another. Start by trying to understand the other person. Don’t feel the need to destroy someone over theology. Simply listen to what the other person is saying, and after weighing it with the Bible, politely respond with sincere questions. The Verse by Verse dialogue at ExaminingCalvinism.com is meant to be a user-friendly reference, inspired by the counter-cult book, Jehovah’s Witnesses Answered Verse By Verse. The last thing that I wish to do, is to get personal. My goal was simply to evaluate the commentary of a range of Calvinists, and then ask pointed questions, one verse at a time. It is difficult to accept the criticism that I have in any way misrepresented Calvinism, since I have quoted so many Calvinists, and directly evaluated the quotes, besides the fact that Calvinists themselves disagree so greatly with one another. There are 4-Point Calvinists, 5-Point Calvinists, Single Predestinationists, Double Predestinations, Supra-Lapsarians, Infra-Lapsarians and Sub-Lapsarians. Calvinists often contradict one another at various verses. Some Calvinists, like R.C. Sproul, believe that a person must be made preemptively Born Again in order to overcome their depravity and receive Christ, while other Calvinists, such as D. James Kennedy, believe that one must pray to ask to be made Born Again, though both would agree that only those who are “elect” will do so, and hence, that became my challenge: How do I find a common denominator that unites virtually all Calvinists? In order to truly understand Calvinism, you need to discover what unites Calvinists, and I believe that the following does just that: Elective Grace predetermines Regenerative Grace, resulting in Persevering Grace. Now while I may disagree with the Calvinist’s understanding of each of those purported graces, I believe that the goal has been reached, in finding the common denominator which unites all of the aforementioned camps of Calvinism. You cannot be a Calvinist without believing in Unconditional Election, and every Calvinist affirms the need of a preemptive regeneration, of some kind, due to the fallen and depraved state of man, and every Calvinist believes in some form of Eternal Security. It is with this perspective, that I’ve attempted to process Calvinism through the Scriptures in order to sort fact from fiction.
