I have received some feedback on my previous post, and I would like to make some clarifications about what I wrote. I understand that I used the terms Calvinism, Armenianism, Dispensationalism, and Covenant Theology pretty flippantly. I talked about them as if it's not a big deal which side you align yourself with. I understand that these titles have stigma for some people when you talk about them.
We think of Armenians as believing in works based salvation, and believing in losing your salvation. Calvinism we associate with the sovereign choice of God about who will believe in Jesus...we have no free will.
We have to understand though...that each of these titles have a broad spectrum of belief's under them. You have 5 points of belief for each, and some are more extreme in their interpretations of things. Some allow their belief in those doctrines to cause them to do extremely unbiblical things...the belief becomes their god, and the one true God and what He calls us to do is put on the shelf...
This is however not the case with them all. Someone may call themselves an Armenian or a Calvinist because they lean more toward one or the other. We can't make blanket judgements about either side...when we find out someone is an Armenian or a Calvinist...we should have questions we ask to have them clarify what that means.
For example...I know two different 5-point calvinist pastors...one I would not work with him ever, the other I would love to work with him. The first one takes his calvinism and decides that he has no reason to pray for people to be saved, because if they're of the elect, why should he pray for them? That's taking things to an unbiblical level, if you ask me. The other pastor is all about missions...he's a wonderful, loving and caring pastor. I would love to work with him because I think he's had a balanced reaction to his Calvinism.
My post was a reaction to a spirit of "judgmentalism" I've seen from both sides toward the other, that should not be there. I would say that we should be united around the gospel...as long as someone preaches a pure gospel...then I should cooperate with them in the mission, and not try to compete with them. When the world sees us fighting and clawing at one another...they don't want any part with us.
I hope that made sense...
If you would like to give me feedback, or maybe you have questions...feel free to comment, or email me using the emails listed on the sidebar.
We think of Armenians as believing in works based salvation, and believing in losing your salvation. Calvinism we associate with the sovereign choice of God about who will believe in Jesus...we have no free will.
We have to understand though...that each of these titles have a broad spectrum of belief's under them. You have 5 points of belief for each, and some are more extreme in their interpretations of things. Some allow their belief in those doctrines to cause them to do extremely unbiblical things...the belief becomes their god, and the one true God and what He calls us to do is put on the shelf...
This is however not the case with them all. Someone may call themselves an Armenian or a Calvinist because they lean more toward one or the other. We can't make blanket judgements about either side...when we find out someone is an Armenian or a Calvinist...we should have questions we ask to have them clarify what that means.
For example...I know two different 5-point calvinist pastors...one I would not work with him ever, the other I would love to work with him. The first one takes his calvinism and decides that he has no reason to pray for people to be saved, because if they're of the elect, why should he pray for them? That's taking things to an unbiblical level, if you ask me. The other pastor is all about missions...he's a wonderful, loving and caring pastor. I would love to work with him because I think he's had a balanced reaction to his Calvinism.
My post was a reaction to a spirit of "judgmentalism" I've seen from both sides toward the other, that should not be there. I would say that we should be united around the gospel...as long as someone preaches a pure gospel...then I should cooperate with them in the mission, and not try to compete with them. When the world sees us fighting and clawing at one another...they don't want any part with us.
I hope that made sense...
If you would like to give me feedback, or maybe you have questions...feel free to comment, or email me using the emails listed on the sidebar.
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