Hey Gang- well, the grades are in - I pulled off a 3.2 and the worst grade I got was a B - PTL! For the last week (and upcoming one), I've been embroiled in the first of two semesters of what is called "Survey of Christian Doctrine I" - otherwise know as Integrative (or systematic) Theology. So far, I absolutely love it. This is a shock, as I thought it would be a pointless exercise in dogma - but far from it. I am finding invaluable information in solidifying my own theology as well as application to practical apologetics. This weekend I have been deeply wresting with understanding Calvinism and Arminianism. I have quickly come to understand there is a deep divide in these systems of theology and those that stand behind each position. I have to give a presentation on Arminianism this week, so I have been focusing on this position mostly. It seems that it have been both deeply defamed in history and (at least somewhat) twisted in modern application; thus most Calvinists view Arminianism as aberrant theology. The real issue seems to be over predestination. Hard core Calvinists seem to hold that God preordained the Fall, thus salvation was planed from the beginning of time and that certain people are preordained by God (elected) to go to heaven and some to hell - this is supposed to maintain God's sovereignty . Armininism seems to hold that God has offered his free abounding Grace to all, and though he (may?) know who will accept and who won't, it is up to humans (free will) to choose or deny this free gift of grace in Jesus. Calvinists feel that this position undermines the sovereignty of God, while Arminists hold that the Calvinist position makes savaltion compulsory (you don't have a choice of being saved, God has either counted you in or out already). Let's get some discussion going on this - I'm leaning toward Arminism at this point as it seems that Calvinism makes God manipulative at best and whimsical at worst! Attached are a list of redicously complicated words that I'm learning - thought I'd throw them in for kicks and giggles!
Theophany - a physical appearance of God to a person
a se - from himself (aseity)
avatar - an incarnation or embodiment (usually referred to in Hinduism)
Monism - the doctrine that there is only one ultimate substace beit matter, mind or a third thing that is has its basis in both
Demiurge - creator
Plenitude - whole/entire
Soterlogical - salvation through Jesus
Propitiatry - to win or gain the good will of
adumbration - foreshadow; sketch; overshadow
Supralapsarian - hyper-Calvinist doctrine that believes God's plan of salvation and election began before the Fall
Infralapsarianism (or Sublapsarianism) - moderate Calvinist who believe God' plan of salvation began after the fall
tautological - needless repetition
Teleogically - final causation
Reprobation - rejection by God for salvation
Please Pray this month:
- I need a good plan for meeting with my mentors - pray that this would come together well (it's a mess right now)
- Transition into the new semester (I'm taking fewer credits (14))
- A plan to visit RI - I'm finally getting a little home sick - pray that God would show me how to visit and when
- Witness here at my apartment complex: there are many here who might benefit from an informal Bible study and I'm thinking of starting a group or test-piloting a group - pray for discernment.
11 comments:
Hey Terri!!
WOw Girl, I miss you so much...You get the luxury of staying out in the the beautiful state of Colorado,( I unfortunatley had to come home)lol...JK...It's great to hear how God is continuing to give you a new understanding of different things and how He is showing you His provision. Keep on shining for Him. Never stop Smiling
Rebekah Alves
Good stuff here, Terri. Most of the students at my sem are hard core Calvinists (and one prof, too.) Mostly they are a great bunch of folks. My take? Calvinism, despite what Calvinists will claim, is the enemy of all mystery.
Hi Terri,
Congrats on the excellent grades. I'm more of an Arminian, too. Calvinism puts God in a box and has a limited view of His character. Have you heard of openness theology?
Irene
Congrats on the semester, Terri! I'm glad to hear you did so well, and that you're taking a lighter class load this spring. Nayiri has been taking her Gordon Conwell systematic theology II class and has broken out into some violent raves against Calvinism. The Orthodox churches never had such a heated debate over faith vs. works, and as a result, predestination is not really debated.
The Armenian Orthodox church would say the following (and I buy it):
Salvation happens through 2 stages.
1) Justification:
A.God's grace calls you & leads you to baptism
B.Through baptism, you are welcomed into God's covenant people, with a clean slate against prior condemnation = justified.
2)Sanctification:
A.You pursue righteousness through choices & actions, cyclically asking for forgiveness for sins, receiving forgiveness for sins, and being renewed through participation in the Communion sacrament.
B.At the judgment day you hope that Jesus will welcome you into the kingdom, and you have reasonable hope that He will based on the promises of scripture that God will not allow us to go through temptation/trials that we cannot overcome and based on the open access to the throne of grace that we have when we ask for forgiveness.
So through the lens of Calvin vs. Arminius, the ARMENIAN church leans ARMINIAN. Having grown up in a Presbyterian church, I understand how "arminian" is such a dirty word. I think Arminius got thrown under the bus because of the context of the debate between salvation by faith alone vs. salvation involving good works that happened in Europe. People had been kicked out of churches for standing up for the "faith" component of salvation against corrupt church authority, and people had fought and died due to wars surrounding the church splits.
The strength of Calvinism is that explains Paul's use of "preordained" and "predetermined" in several of his letters, notably Romans. But it also forces the Calvinist to do a fancy dance to explain how, then, several basic tenets of Christian practice are relevant (e.g. prayer, asking for forgiveness, giving sacrificially, pursuing holy conduct, etc.).
Sorry for the book. Glad to hear you're doing well and hope to see you when you visit. Hope those Broncos fans don't give you too much crap, either.
Brian - what sem are you at (Gordon?) - I know what you mean, most here are calvinists (fortunatly many are Infralapsarian!) - I'm not lovin' calvinism at this point - makes God whimsical...so are you Arminisint? Dispensationalist?
James - thanks for the book - it's helpful thoughts. Couple of questions about the theology you laid out - So 'God's grace calls you out' - implying predestination/election?
'Through Baptism...' - the act of Baptism is necessary for salvation, or faith?
'Justification/Sanctification...one hopes for Jesus to welcome...' - hopes? Is there a theology of savlation by faith in Christ alone? (There must be, no?)
As for the rest - it seems that Armminus' origial antagonoist seemed to have the greatist problem with him denying the preordination of Calvin - I have not learned the history expanded of how Arminism has developed, thought I know Westly was at least a loose Arminist (though, I'm not sure what a 'hard core' Aminist is...) Good dicusssion - BTW thanks for that pocket apologtics book - I'm using it! - Ter
Irene - yes, I've heard of Open Theism (same thing?) - the problem I have with it so far (perhaps you can clarify) is that it makes God changable - this is the one where God can grow, change and learn, right? How does one keep God from being whimsical or making mistakes (fallable)?
Beka! I'm glad you got home ok! Feel like taking a crash course in Theology? (:) Fun stuff - and relevant to apologetics! Write with all the news!!
Susie!! I'm going to try, I think - pray that the Lord would orchestrate!
Hi Teri,
I'm at Bethel Seminary of the East. It used to be Seminary of the East (a conservative baptist sem then merged with Bethel some years back.)
Anyway, I'm definitely not a dispensationalist or a Calvinists. My Calvinists friends would probably just call me semi-Pelagian.
I actually was a Calvinist for a time...couldn't see a way around it biblically. It was a pretty dark and depressing time for me. I'm not really into labels, but let's just say I believe in God's sovereignty and I believe that in His sovereignty he has given us freedom to choose or reject Him. I fully believe that no one could rightly say that they "found Jesus," however. No, He finds us and it is only by His grace that we are saved. I'm not sure how it fits together but I'm okay living with that mystery.
It was a comment from a prof. that began the process of freedom from Calvinism...he said, "I can't worship a God I can understand." Calvinis made everything way too neat and God way too small.
I was just searching around and stumbled across your site...
Arminianism and Calvinism is actually totally different. Arminianism is saying that God(Christ) offers his blood to every single person. Then It's our job to accept his gift, which doesn't make sense if you think about it. Because then God wouldn't know everything, and then God wouldn't be all knowing...Arminianism is limiting Christ blood alot more than Calvinist are. Calvinist say that Christ blood was only for the elect. So, Christ didn't waste His blood at all, but rather did what He was called to do. We are justified by His blood, and if people who don't come to Christ has Christ blood, they too would be justified...Check out this link for more details about Calvinism, Even if you disagree, I think you will understand it more.(This was just a basic point of controversity and the site below goes into a lot more detail)
http://aspiringtheologian.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_aspiringtheologian_archive.html#intro
In Christ,
-Agape
I couldn't get the exact url to work. Just search around a little. It's in the march section...
http://aspiringtheologian.blogspot.com/
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