Go See Unbroken: Path To Redemption!

-
If you haven't seen Unbroken: Path To Redemption yet, go see it!  It's really, really good.  

 Real.  Raw.  Redemptive.  

 Such a great true story about finding lasting hope and healing.  I've been aching for a story like that for a long time!

 Really ... go see it!

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

Destroying Calvinism in 28 Easy Steps (tiny version)

-
Image
Here is the tiniest-I-could-make-it version of "Fending Off Calvinism (a.k.a. Destroying Calvinism in 28 Easy Steps)"  (from my other blog) - which itself is the second half of a post called "Calvinism's Systematic Theology (and how to fend it off)" - about the fundamental errors of Calvinism that trap well-meaning Christians into a very bad, very deceptive, very tricksy theology.  I cut out as much as I could here, so check out the longer posts in the links above if you want a fuller picture and more information.   [Despite the title of this post, I know there's nothing easy about defeating or debating Calvinism.  It's such a tangled web of errors, with a cult-like vice-grip on people's minds, that it can't be defeated with just a few verses or rebuttals.  Its errors are so complex, interconnected, and deep-rooted that it needs to be completely dismantled idea by idea, wrong definition by wrong definition, misinterpreted verse by misinterpreted...
Read more

List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

-
I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
Read more

Alana L.: 4i (Why me?)

-
Image
This series is  loosely   based on this 14-minute video from Alana L.:   5 Signs Your Loved One is Becoming a Calvinist   Point #4:   I.  Alana notes that Calvinists will often ask "What makes me so special?  Why did I choose God but my friend or neighbor did not?  Obviously that means God chose me.  Because why would I choose God, and not them?" My note:  Alana notes that this is to shape the mind to "irresistible grace," to make us more amenable to the idea that God draws some but not others, which is the only explanation in Calvinism for why some believe and some don't.   I believe Calvinists have been brainwashed into thinking that if given a true free-will choice,  everyone  in the world would choose eternal life over eternal death.   No one  would voluntarily choose hell.  They assume that  if all people were really given the offer to be saved then  all people  would definitely...
Read more

"Are Calvinists Saved?"

-
(I added some new notes to the end of this post, August 23, 2020.) Here's a video from  Beyond the Fundamentals  that's well-worth watching:   Are Calvinists Saved? The most thought-provoking part (for me) was when he asks (paraphrased) "How do Calvinists know they're saved, that Jesus died for them?" You see, I would say that I trust in the truths of the Bible.  I trust that when God says He loves all people and wants all people to be saved, He means He loves  all  people and wants  all  people to be saved.  I trust that when He says Jesus died for all people and all sins, He means that Jesus died for  all  people and  all  sins.  I trust that when He says that we will find Him if we seek Him with all our hearts, He means that we can seek Him and find Him.  I trust that when He commands us to choose whom we will serve, He means that we have to choose whom we will serve.  I trust that when He ...
Read more

Pre-Chosen People? Is God's Call Irresistible?

-
Image
(Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) John 6:37 :   “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”              This one confused me for awhile.   It sounded like Jesus is saying that all the people that God has pre-chosen to be believers are destined to come to faith in Him.   And that only those who are chosen by God will come to faith.              But I’m not sure if that’s what this is really saying.  
Read more

Avoiding Calvinist Websites

-
(Excerpt from "How to tell if a church, pastor, or website is Calvinist" .  FYI, I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.) Did you ever wonder about the websites that pop up when you type a religious question into a browser?  Who are they?  Are they reliable?  Is the advice you're getting biblical and accurate?  What is their theological view? It's too easy to type in a question, find some "biblical" answer on a site, and think it’s the truth.  We, Christians, tend to be a trusting bunch of people, especially when someone uses a lot of Bible verses or when it's a popular website with big name theologians or authors.  And so we will probably not notice the Calvinist-bent that are found on many websites and blogs.      I wonder how many people have been led astray in this way.  Probably a lot, because many of the popular sites - the first ones to pop up when I type in a question - are Calvinist. Be ca...
Read more

"But predestination!" (#15: total depravity, manipulation)

-
Image
In this series, I'm examining some things that Calvinists (especially my ex-pastor) say about predestination.   Here's the posts in the whole series:  the pastor's sermons  ("When Calvinists say 'But predestination!'"), and my comments  1-4 (election)  and  5-6 (Romans and sovereignty)  and  7-9 (depravity, Book of Life, predestine)  and  10-11 (shaming tactics, Feb. 2015)  and  12-14 (dead, regeneration, born again)  and  15 (total depravity, manipulation)   and  16A (God's Will, babies)  and  16B (sin, evil, suffering)  and  17 (double-speak and the gospel) . For the shorter "for everyone" version which has a lot less quotes and a lot less of my thoughts,  click here .     Fifteenth: Switching tracks: I think a Calvinist's over-emphasis on total depravity - their insistence that we realize how terribly wretched we are before we can be saved - hurts more than helps in...
Read more

My "When Anxiety Strikes" Playlist

-
In the post "Getting through the 'broken' times," I said that I had made a CD to listen to when anxiety hits.  It has some of my favorite Christian songs on it.   Here are as many of the songs as I could find online, plus some extra.  Listen to some of them when anxiety threatens you.  It really does help to hear godly truths spoken out loud (and to speak them out loud yourself).  And personally, I think godly music helps repel evil, giving you some extra spiritual protection when you are most vulnerable.  They don't like to hear God being praised and Truth being sung! (FYI: Videos are constantly being removed from online.  So if the video is no longer available, type in the name and artist and see if you can find it.  I simply can't keep up with replacing links.) From The City Harmonic: Love, Heal Me  - The song that inspired the title of one of my blogs, Love, Heal Me - my heart's cry for the past year. Fell Apart  - One...
Read more

Ironic, Isn't it? The Hypocrisy of the #MeToo Culture!

-
Recently in the news , there's this judge who ruled that high school students have to share the showers with transgender students who identify as their sex, even if they are biologically the opposite sex (i.e. girls have to shower with people who have penises if the people who have penises call themselves "girls" and vice versa.) Isn't it ironic that a #metoo culture - where women are demanding that men who assaulted them or harassed them are punished for their lewd/offensive behavior against women - would allow a judge to force young girls to shower alongside naked penises? This judge then had the gall to tell families that if they don't like it then they can remove their children from the public school! So the parents - who pay for the schools with their taxes - have no say in protecting their naked girls from naked boys, from the emotional trauma or discomfort or potential physical trauma that comes with being forced to shower in extremely uncomfortable a...
Read more

Napoleon's view of Jesus

-
I love this quote from Napoleon about Jesus: "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires.  But on what did we rest the creations of our genius?  Upon force.  Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him."  ( link ) Sadly, I think many Christians are more willing to die for Him than to really live for Him.  Dying for Him is usually theoretical, but living for Him would require a lot of actual, real-life changes. Will you be counted among the faithful ones?  The ones willing to die for Him and  live for Him?
Read more