Thanks for visiting the blog. I enjoy interaction and hearing different perspectives. When commenting, please keep the following in mind:
1) Your first comment is moderated. After you have a comment approved, your future comments should auto post.
2) Each person is created in the image of God and is valuable. With that in mind, be respectful of other commenters, even if you have a strong disagreement with them.
3) Use an upper case “G” when speaking about different Christian perspectives of God. For example: do not say “the god of [whatever you're criticizing]“. This implies that certain Christians worship a false god. Despite important differences, all Christians worship the same God. If you don’t believe this, don’t comment here.
4) Pithy comments are best. In most cases your comment should be shorter than my post.
5) Stay on topic. Don’t paste large chunks of text. Give credit where credit is due.
6) Avoid caricatures. Before criticizing a view, you ought to be able to describe it in a way that its adherents would affirm.
7) I reserve the right to not publish any comment that doesn’t follow these guidelines. Be nice, and all will go well. :)
I recently became a Christian (I thought I had been for years, but that’s a different story). I had studied theology before that and decided that Calvinism was correct. Of course I was a little unsure after I actually started reading the Bible and praying. But I was still sympathetic. Anyhow I applied for membership on one of the big Reformed forums and entered my statement of beliefs so they could review my worthiness. After not getting a response for a few days I tried to log in and found my ENTIRE account was deleted, email and all. I figured it was a sign to get on the other side. Thanks for the resources you have.
Thanks for stopping by Wallace. Reading the Bible and praying are most important, you can’t go wrong there! :)
They did you a favor Wallace, but not for reasons you might believe. Firstly, the Reformed tradition has numerous confessions published, which means you can determine the “worthiness” of your beliefs against those documents.
HOWEVER, those kinds of questions are best answered in community of people more than on keyboards and monitors. So I would encourage you to find people in person instead of blogs. As you probably know well, computer interactions should not replace face-to-face interactions.
Sounds like to me you are being called to find community.
Daniel Marsh
6539 Linville drive
Brighton, MI 48116-9531 USA
Dear Sir/Ms, I enjoy studying the Bible, theology, apologetics and history.
However, I am unemployed due to unpaid care giving responsibilities and due to poor health – cancer(wait and see stage again), degenerative bone disease.
May I have a copy of the The Wesley Study Bible , free of charge, please.
May God Richly Bless You
Daniel
Thanks for stopping by Daniel. I’m a cancer survivor too (Bladder cancer). I only have one Wesley study Bible, and use it myself. Perhaps you can check with the publishers to see if they they can send you one? God bless, Kevin
I’m unemployed too. I would if I could. I do know his study notes are on various sites, like BibleGateway and others. I’ll keep you in my prayers.
Hello! I have been hearing and reading some posts and blogs written especially by Calvinists saying that it’s the Arminians who are critics and are fond of naming names. I need you reaction or explanation to this one. I myself received a comment that we criticize Calvinists. I’ll wait for your soon reply.
You can respond on my e-mail.
Kevin,
I just found your website and am as we speak sifting through it’s depths for info. I am a Baptist and have been wrestling with both Calvinism and Arminianism for a while now and just can’t get a good grasp on either. I have almost went over to the Calvanist side but something still doesn’t seem quite right. To me the Bible preaches both predestination and free will but I am unsure of how to reconcile the two or even if I should. I also just started reading John Wesley’s journal and it has stirred something inside of me. Any tips, pointers or resources you can point to would be appreciated!!
God Bless,
Josh
Hi Josh, I just noticed your comment today, sorry for the slow response! I went through a similar process myself (studying both Calvinism and Arminianism, and eventually becoming a convinced Arminian). If you’re interested in reading more about Arminianism, the Society of Evangelical Arminians is a good resource to check out. Be sure to check out the link on the main page entitled “Are You an Arminian and Don’t Even Know It?”.
If you’re interested in reading more of Wesley’s works, check out The Wesley Center Online. They have most of Wesley’s writings available there. Wesley’s best known writing about Calvinism is probably “Predestination Calmly Considered”. You can find that here
The heart of Arminianism is our focus on the character of God. We believe that God is good, that he keeps his promises, and that he loves everyone. It’s true that we believe in free will (that is, that God gives us the ability through grace to choose whether or not to follow him). Free will really isn’t the core focus of Arminianism though, rather, it is a byproduct of what we believe about God and how he works in us.
Thanks for stopping by and feel free to ask me any questions that you may have. God bless!
Kevin,
Thanks for the reply and no worries about a slow response; life doesn’t revolve around the computer. Thank you for the resources you mentioned, I am going to check them out as soon as I am done writing this! I am a Baptist (SBC) and most of the other Baptists that I know tend to keep a foot on both sides of the fence (taking a few points from both doctrines). I do believe that in all things we should consider the character of God which has sliding completely over to the calvinistic side because (though I do believe God’s sovereignty is very important) they tend to hold one attribute higher than the rest…namely Gods sovereignty. Does the doctrine of free will negate Gods sovereignty and emphasize only His love or could it be said that within the realm of His sovereignty and love He has allowed us all the freedom to choose? I guess the biggest issue I am having is the doctrine of eternal security. I was raised to believe in it but my understanding is that arminianism does not hold to this belief. I am trying to filter between believing something solely on the basis of it being what I was always taught and believing something because the Bible says it. Now let me run, I have an appointment with a migraine after trying to wrap my finite mind around God’s infinite wisdom. :)
God Bless,
Josh
Hi Josh,
I like what you said about God in the realm of His sovereignty and love allows us the freedom to choose. That’s the way I see it – God’s sovereignty and love are both important and compliment each other. God is both all powerful and relational. He enables us to love him but doesn’t force us to, that’s a choice that in His sovereignty he allows us to make. He wants us to love Him back.
Here’s a quote from AW Tozer about sovereignty that I really like:
“Here is my view: God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, “What doest thou?” Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so.”
Believe it or not, you can hold to eternal security and still be an Arminian. :) The majority of Arminians hold that apostasy is possible, however, there are also some that hold to eternal security. The Society of Evangelical Arminans (linked above) has members of both views. And Arminius himself was undecided on the matter.
The core issue for the Arminian is this: Does God love the world? Did Jesus die for everyone? On this issue most Arminians and SBC folks would agree. God bless!
Kevin,
Awesome quote by Tozer especially since I have just started litstening to his audiobook “In pursuit of God”. You may have me sold on Arminianism, especially knowing that my beliefs on eternal security are not an issue and that Arminius himself was undecided. This morning I prayed that God would show me His truth in the matter and felt led to read 1 Timothy 2 : 1 – 6. If God does desire for all men to be saved, and the Bible says that He does, then wouldn’t it also be reasoned that He would provide a way to fullfill as much of that desire as possible even knowing that many would still turn from Him.
I am in utter disbelief though at how misrepresented the Arminian doctrine is shared by those who do not agree with it. In all honestly I did not realize that Arminians held to total depravity and when I read about previent grace I wanted to shout, “YES!!!!!”. Total depravity was the glue that held me to a Calvinist view even though “U” and the “L” never sat quite right with me. I had been told and taught that the Arminian view was more of a pelagian or semipelagian view….not the case it seems. In reality most in my denomination probably hold to a semipelagian view, if not calvinistic.
I can agree with you on the core issues you stated and affirm that God does indeed love the world and that Jesus did indeed die for everyone. I guess the next act is to solidify my sotierology and perhaps take the title of an Arminian Baptist. I can not even begin to explain the relief I am feeling over finally coming to terms with these two doctrines. This debate inside of me has affected how I read the Bible and witness to others and it is a blessing to have the burden lifted.
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my posts and directing me to some very useful resources!
God Bless,
Josh
Hi Josh You’re right. Arminianism is too often misrepresented – sometimes by Calvinists, and sometimes by well meaning semi-pelagians. Arminians strongly affirm Total Depravity. Our disagreement with Calvinists is related mainly to the ULI of TULIP.
For your enjoyment, here are a few Arminian bloggers I’m aware of that come from a Baptist background.
http://www.traditionalbaptistchronicles.com/
http://thecenterfortheologicalstudies.blogspot.com/
http://www.wpfences.com/
http://chris-biblethoughts.blogspot.com/
http://arminianbaptist.blogspot.com/
The SBC Today site is another very good one that basically promotes an Arminian view (although they aren’t comfortable with the label). :)
http://sbctoday.com/
God bless,
Kevin
Just posted an article about Arminianism and open theology on my blog that you might be interested in.
Thanks, I’ll check it out.