Need More Bacon

 Forget TULIP - I believe in BACON!

Hat Tip: Near Emmaus

"Calvinists Go To McDonald’s, Arminians Go To Burger King"

Yeah, I know the title grabed your attention.  But now you'll have to follow the link for the humorous details

Calvinists Go To McDonald’s, Arminians Go To Burger King (By Anthony Russo)

Relax, folks, and laugh a little.  I'll see you at McDonalds.

Word & Power

Loved this post by Jared Wilson at The Gospel-Driven Church based on 1 Thessalonians 1: 5  ":... our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power ..."

The "but also" is an and, not an or.

The gospel is a word, a message, an item of news about something that happened. It comes in word. It comes as more than word, but certainly not less.

The gospel comes in word and takes hold of some in power, by the grace of God through the power of the Spirit.

The Church historically has fallen for equal and opposite errors in regard to the gospel and its power.

Some know the gospel is word but don’t think it’s power, so we try hard to manipulate people to make decisions. Thus additional verses of "Just As I Am," emotional pleas for raised hands, impulse-tugging scare tactics. We believe someone's decision for Christ hinges on our effectiveness in the invitation.

Some know the gospel is power and so become stingy with the gospel as word, so they abdicate responsibility to share the word. They figure since election is true, God will take care of saving people apart from mission.

Both overreactions are wrong; both ignore Scripture and even disobey it. The gospel comes in word and power. Let’s be faithful in our role and trust God to be faithful in his.

Warning Against the Idol of Theological Pride

I agree with (and am challenged by) Rick Ianniello's warning in his post heads-up to prideful calvinists:

Dustin Neeley wrote a great piece entitled Justification by Theology. In it he reminds us that Satan can deceive us by helping us fall more in love with our theological systems than with our Savior. For us Calvinists, here are some warning signs, the root cause of which is not new at all, it's pride.

• If there is a disagreement, we defend Calvinism before we seek unity in the Gospel.
• When asked to describe our theology, we define ourselves as a Calvinist more quickly than as a Christian.
• And perhaps the worst of all...when our hearts are more captivated by the points of TULIP than with the person and work of Jesus.

Why do we fall for it? Many reasons but the cure is the same:

• Repent of theological idolatry
• Believe the gospel is enough
• Be on guard in the future (1 Cor 8.1 and therefore engage the humility of Christ in Philippians 2)

Thanks for the warning, Rick! As Dustin Neely said at the source post:

While theology is a great thing, it is not an ultimate thing. It is a means to an end to know God and make him known. In what ways have you made it an ultimate thing? Confess them to God. Claim gospel promises. Ask God to help you not make a means an end.

Arminianism and Calvinism for Beginners

For a little theological fun today, check out Arminianism and Calvinism for Beginners at Thinking Out Loud


(It's a joke, son, it's a joke).

An Arminian Appreciation of John Calvin

A lot of stuff is being written (good and bad) about reformer John Calvin this year on the 500th anniversary of his birth. Some interesting tidbits in Ben Witherington's article at Christianity Today on John Calvin as Man of the Bible:

"John Calvin was one of the truly great Christian exegetes and, indeed, systematic theologians of all time—never mind that I disagree with a great deal of what he has to say about God, his sovereignty, the nature of his grace, and election, predestination, and human freedom.

...he is to be respected for understanding that biblical theology can only be done on the basis of a detailed and comprehensive exegesis of all the relevant material. This is precisely what I have tried to do in my career. I needed to follow Calvin's lead and begin by researching and writing commentaries on the entire New Testament corpus. Exegesis is the basis for all good biblical theology, and the latter should not be attempted without first doing the former."

This is a nice appreciation coming from a respected theologian who is not a Calvinist. Dr. Witherington is the Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary- a Wesleyan school - and a self proclaimed Arminian in his theology.

"I have fond memories of working carefully through Calvin's Institutes for the first time, and being especially surprised by and taken with his profound theology of the Holy Spirit. I remember reading in Gordon-Conwell's newspaper a rather interesting historical curio from a letter of Calvin about how one morning he woke up and found himself speaking in lingua barbaria. The article went on to speculate that Calvin may have spoken in tongues!"

Okay, that's a new one on me. Who'd a thunk it!

"All in all, Calvin lived out Bengel's maxim: Apply the whole of the text (of the Bible) to yourself. And apply the whole of yourself to the text. It's a motto by which any Christian should be proud to live."

Agreed: that's a good motto for any believer. Think I'll adopt it as mine.

Are You A Calvinist?

For Facebook users, C. Michael Patton has created a test to determine Are You A Calvinist?

Guess what - I am! Who'd a thunk it!

Old & New Calvinism

At TheResurgence Mark Driscoll discussed "Four Ways 'New Calvinism' is So Powerful"

1. Old Calvinism was fundamental or liberal and separated from or syncretized with culture. New Calvinism is missional and seeks to create and redeem culture.
2. Old Calvinism fled from the cities. New Calvinism is flooding into cities.
3. Old Calvinism was cessationistic and fearful of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. New Calvinism is continuationist and joyful in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
4. Old Calvinism was fearful and suspicious of other Christians and burned bridges. New Calvinism loves all Christians and builds bridges between them.

Rational Systems vs. Biblical Faithfulness

At Parchment and Pen C. Michael Patton asks whether Calvinism or Arminianism is the more rationally consistent Theological system. Surprisingly to me, he concludes that Arminianism is more rationally consistent and harmonious, but (unsurprising to me) that Calvinism is more Biblically faithful.

I believe that the Arminian system sacrifices biblical integrity for the sake of intelligibility and doctrinal harmony. The Calvinistic system allows tension and mysteries to remain for the sake of Biblical fidelity.

I have had people say to me (often) that they are not Calvinists because the system attempts to be too systematic with all its points for the sake of the system itself. I think that it is just the opposite. The Calvinistic system creates more tensions than it solves, but seeks to remain faithful to God’s word rather than human intelligibility.

Now that I think about it, his position makes sense. Biblical fidelity with mystery sound both more right and better than a forced logical consistency that ignores difficult Scripture passages that do not fit the system.

What do you think?

Six Point Calvinists

Hat Tip; Parchment and Pen » Calvinists often make the worst Calvinists

5 Points To Stand Behind…

In a post called 5 points I’ll stand behind the Heat & Light Blog has restated the classic Five Points of the Reformed Faith (TULIP) as follows:

1. We’re so messed up that we need a miracle to restore our broken fellowship with God.
2. God chooses us, not based on what He knew that we would do, but simply out of love.
3. Christ gave Himself for the church.
4. When the light of the gospel fully shines in our hearts, we find God’s love to be irresistible.
5. Those who truly belong to Christ are able to stand strong only by the grace of God.

He also quotes John Piper's restatement of the five points "as we subjectively experience them":

1. We experience first our depravity and need of salvation.
2. Then we experience the irresistible grace of God leading us toward faith.
3. Then we trust the sufficiency of the atoning death of Christ for our sins.
4. Then we discover that behind the work of God to atone for our sins and bring us to faith was the unconditional election of God.
5. And finally we rest in his electing grace to give us the strength and will to persevere to the end in faith.

I've got no problem with the classic five points, but also like these alternative versions. What do you think?