Some people see Calvinism as a problem. Certainly it has led, in the past, to a lot of unbiblical thinking. Just as people have used Catholicism, Darwinism and even Jesus himself to promote their hateful, bigoted ideas, so they have done with Calvinism. Calvinism isn't about a certain kind of economy, nor is it about plain clothes or stoicism. Rather it is a certain view of God's sovereignty and the implications of such thought. It is closely aligned with Augustinian thinking. Calvin himself was a lawyer who specialized in prosecuting heretics and a biblical scholar. Calvinism may have escaped from his strict biblical grasp, but it closely resembles his thinking.
The foundation of Calvinism as a theology is the idea that God is under complete control of all that happens in the universe: past, present and future. There is nothing that happens outside of God's power and direction. This does not mean that all is in accordance with God's desire. Certainly God does not desire sin, but God is ultimately in change of every atomic particle and the direction of even the smallest movement. This leads to a number of conclusions that we will discuss later.
The alternative that is often discussed is Arminism, named after Jacob Arminius a Dutch theologian who lived soon after Calvin and opposed Calvin's ideology on a biblical ground. The most famous proponant of Arminism was John Wesley, the founder of Methodism and the theological grandfather of the Nazarenes, American revivalists, the Pentecostals and the Charismatics. The Arminian position emphasizes human responsibility along with God's sovereignty.
For the most part, however, I wonder about the questions that both Calvinism and Arminism ponder. Their answers go back and forth and they both seem to be focusing on their presuppositions instead of the Bible. In the end, I wonder about whether they are asking the wrong questions. Are they focusing on the subjects focused on in the Bible, or are they speculating on the unknowable? What does this have to do with loving God, loving your neighbor, doing kindness and walking humbly with one's God. In fact, the discussion seems to have little to do with humility whatsoever. Instead, pronouncements come from the minds of those discussing as if they had come from the Mount.
Of course, I will be sharing my opinions about the main topics here the next week or so, but I think we need to remember-- these are opinions. You are welcome to disagree with them. We can approach theology differently, as long as we are serving God with all our heart and we are loving all humanity and meeting the needs of the poor. All else goes by the wayside.
Dude, every man-made theology that didn't come from direct revelation from Jesus Christ is soulish theology, which sadly comes from the devil. I'm not saying, he has it all wrong, but enough to make him think said theologian's Jesus' disciple, while creating points of theology that are misleading at best.
ReplyDeleteThe true Gospel is when you can directly encounter God himself, through a revelation of Himself to you, and that you come to understand more of the way of a children of God through personally applying what God says to you on a consistent basis. That way more and more of the mysteries (what he thinks, what he knows about the world etc) that God has are open to you.
Every theology is man-made. Because God only reveals himself in pieces, though relationship, and humanity likes to organize things. That's not the devil, that's human nature.
ReplyDeleteThere's no reason to create a judgment of something that God built in us originally. That's Pharisee-like speech, not Jesus' acceptance.