I Highly Recommend Soteriology 101

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If you want to know what Calvinism is and what's wrong with it, I highly recommend this blog - Soteriology 101 - written by a former 5-point Calvinist who is now speaking out against Calvinism.

 And I particularly recommend reading the comments section of each post if you really want to see how Calvinists think (and if you want to read some horrible quotes from Calvinist authors and theologians).  

 Dr. Flowers allows Calvinists, non-Calvinists, and anti-Calvinist to add comments to the comment section.  And these people are very educated and thoughtful.  All of them.  Calvinists, non-Calvinists, and anti-Calvinists alike.  So you get a really interesting, thoughtful, complex, eye-opening look at Calvinism.  And at Calvinist logic nonlogic in action.  

 When you read the comments by the Calvinist commenters (you can clearly identify them after awhile), you can see how they spin things, reword things, redefine things, ignore certain truths and logic, and take Bible verses out of context.  You can see the assumptions they make about God and the verses they take out of context to support their assumptions, which they then build their whole theology on, never caring that it turns God into an illogical, unjust monster.  (And you can see how they fiercely defend Calvi-god's right to be that illogical, unjust monster.)  

 One commentator, FROMOVERHERE, likes to phrase the Calvinist motto this way: "Never waste a chance to take a half-verse out of context!"  Love it!  So true! 
Some recommended posts and comment sections from that blog:

 Factors Beyond The Agent's Control?  (These comments are definitely worth reading.  Especially look for the comment from TSOO starting with "Calvinism declares that God alone is the sovereign determining force in whatever comes to pass in his creation."  It's long, but it's very well-written and very worth reading!  It's somewhere in the middle of the list of comments.)

 Choice Meat & Bad Form  (I particularly like the comment by Graceadict starting with "Hi 5Alive, Great to have you here on this site ..."  A great summary of Calvinism and its dangers.)

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

Cindy's Comment on Theistic Evolution vs. A Literal Genesis

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(Happy 4th, America!  I'm sorry for what's being done to you.) There's a comment from someone named Cindy in the comment section of a post on theistic evolution vs. a literal Genesis.   (Actually, the post is really just a nasty attack on Ken Ham.)  Since the author of that blog stopped allowing comments on that post - it appears she didn't want any more opposing voices - I wanted to post the comment I like and agree with here, since I couldn't agree with it there.   [Note: I have linked to this blog before when it comes to Calvinism, but I don't like the tone the author is taking in the post I linked to above, her attacks on Ken Ham and those who believe in a young earth, that God created the universe in 6 days.  (For the record, I really like and respect Ken Ham, and I agree with him.)  I'm not sure what her deal is, but it bothers me.  And I find it a little concerning that after her strong stances against Calvinism, she would affirm a Calvinis...
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#6: When You Don't Feel Like You're Enough, August 2017 (repost)

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[Reposted from August 5, 2017.  I had my panic attack the summer of 2016.  I remember it took me about six months to not feel absolute panic every morning, to be able to wake up without feeling terror at the thought that I had to face another day, another chance for something bad to happen.  And it took me even longer to be able to really smile again, to feel a little lightness in my spirit, to be able to breathe again.  I mean, of course, I smiled before that.  I acted like I was okay.  But I didn't feel like smiling or being happy for the longest time.  I was just too afraid of life - too discouraged by life - to be able to smile.  This post was written as I was still working towards being "normal," as I worked on protecting my faith after the previous summer.  The way I see it, my life has been marked by that panic attack.  It's now "BPA" (Before Panic Attack) or "APA" (After Panic Attack).  That summer was just such a life- and...
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More Creation Videos We Watched

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A couple good videos my kids and I just watched as part of our homeschooling day: Did Dinosaurs Walk With Man  - a 45-minute seminar from Genesis Apologetics God of Wonders - an hour and a half "documentary" on the wonders of the God's creation (Also see this other post of mine for more creation videos we watched: Starting the new school year with Creation vs Evolution .)
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The Gospel Project: Calvinist or not?

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Disclaimer: I have never gone through The Gospel Project for myself, and so this post is based on articles I've read about it and - mostly - on my knowledge of Calvinism and how it operates.  And this post doesn't even have to do just with The Gospel Project, but with anything Calvinists write or teach, especially if they claim that they're not trying to teach Calvinism. I had a question come in the other day  on my  "comment corral" blog   from a reader called  MPenny: " The Gospel Project: Do you or anyone here have specific wordage or examples of non-biblical or calvinist material within this Bible study.  I know it was written by mostly calvinists so I would never do this study myself...but would like to warn others with more practical data....and save reading the entire thing myself...has anyone else read through the curriculum and have any thoughts.  Or know of any critical articles on the subject.  Also, THANK YOU HEATHER for making a blog ...
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War Rooms, Praying Scripture, and Spiritual Warfare (repost)

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I strongly believe that there are angels and demons.  That prayer matters.  That there is a spiritual battle going on around us all the time ... and that we need to get involved in it, actively and consciously.  (Something I haven't been doing lately.)   Regardless of if we want it or not, we are constantly facing spiritual battles.  But if we don't acknowledge it - if we stick our heads in the sand, refuse to get involved, fail to put on our spiritual armor or to use the spiritual weapons available to us - we open ourselves up to deceptions, to defeat, to being very vulnerable to the strategies and attacks of the evil one.  You can't win a battle you don't even know you're in.  You can't defeat an enemy you pretend isn't there. What I have done here is compile a list of posts on spiritual warfare, on praying Scripture, and on creating a War Room (or War Journal). Have you ever seen  War Room ? You should.  It's a great movie.  And it is...
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Praise The Lord

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How I'm feeling today:  Praise The Lord by City Harmonic and Blessed Be Your Name by Newsboys. A hard lesson to learn  - learning to praise in the pain.  I still stink at it sometimes.
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Calvinism - A Different Gospel!

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Calvinism teaches a different Gospel! The God of the Bible loves all people and wants all people to be saved.  Calvi-god does not. The Jesus of the Bible died for all men and all sins, so that all could be saved.  Calvi-Jesus did not. The God of the Bible tells us to seek Him in order to find Him, to choose whom we will serve.  Calvi-god says we can't seek him or choose whom we will serve. The God of the Bible is a just God, giving us the choice between obedience and disobedience, and He responds to us according to our choice.  Calvi-god controls all we do, causing us to be either obedient or disobedient, based on what he's predetermined for us, but then he punishes us for the disobedience he causes. The God of the Bible is glorified when people obey Him and worship Him.  Calvi-god is glorified by causing sin and causing people to go to hell. In the Bible, salvation comes by hearing the Word and by believing in Jesus, choosing Him...
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Why is Calvinism so dangerous? #8 (Evangelism and prayer)

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  [In this series, I'm breaking the long post   "Why is Calvinism so dangerous?"   into bite-sized pieces.]   8.    The Bible says ...  We are to evangelize because it's how people will hear the Gospel so that they can believe.  By hearing the Gospel, we can believe, and by believing, we inherit eternal life. Romans 10:14 :   "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" John 20:31 :   "But these are written that you may believe ..." But Calvinism says ...  Evangelize because God told you to,  even  though God's already decided  where   everyone will go.  The elect will be  saved and the non-elect will be damned,  no matter  what, but we still have to obey God's command to spread the Gospel. Makes no sense!   Calvinism says...
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So Earth's crust is full of water, huh?

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Did you see this article - "Earth's crust swallowed a sea's worth of water and locked it away beneath Pacific seafloor" - about how there is a massive deep reservoir of water hidden beneath the ocean floor by New Zealand and how the rocks there are abnormally wet, how they should contain much less water for being many "millions" of years old? Do you know what this makes me think of? "The fountains of the great deep" which burst open during the worldwide flood of Genesis 5:11 : "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life... all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of heaven were opened." And it makes me think that maybe the earth isn't really "millions" of years old like scientists keep insisting. Also see "Maybe 'millions of years' is actually just 40 days!"   And "Starting the new school year with Creation vs. Evolution"   and "Is Evolution True?"   Just someth...
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Lydia (Acts 16:14) Totally Destroys Calvinism's Total Depravity

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(From my post  "We Left Our Church Because of Calvinism." )              It's common to hear Calvinists say, "We uphold the Scriptures above all!"   My Calvinist pastor (of our ex-church) loved to say (all the time), "I am teaching right from the Scriptures.  We always have to go right to the Word.  Always ask 'What does the text say?'"  (And this always made me start singing "What does the fox say?" in my mind.) I disagree with Calvinism, but I agree with my pastor ... When a Calvinist tells you what a Bible verse teaches,  go right to the text  (or if they don't provide a verse but just give you a general "It's what the Bible teaches," demand to know the verses they are referencing).                Go right to the text to see what it says, what it doesn't say, what they added or are assuming, how they are twisting it or taking it out of context, etc. ...
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