The one Calvinism post you should read

-

This isn't a new post, but I wanted to let you know I updated an old post: "Why is Calvinism so dangerous?"  If you read any one post of mine on Calvinism, I think it should be this one!  I think you'll enjoy it.  Unless you're a Calvinist.  You really won't enjoy it if you're a Calvinist.


Calvinists: 




Non-Calvinists:



Most Popular Posts of the Week:

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

When Calvinists say "But predestination!" (shorter, basic version)

-
Image
[I'm interrupting the Alana L. series for the much-shorter version - I said shorter, not short😉 - of my "But predestination!" series.   The longer version - full of many more Calvinist comments, my Calvinist ex-pastor's sermons, and my replies to them - can be found by  starting here .  But in this simplified version, I'm simply sharing the basics.  And I'll do a tiny version soon too, cutting out many quotes and memes.  But, oh, they add so much that it's hard to cut them out. ] At the heart of Calvinism is predestination and God's sovereignty (among other things, like "total depravity"), which according to Calvinism essentially amounts to:  "God preplans and controls everything, even sin and evil and all our decisions, and so He pre-picks who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.  He causes the 'elect' to believe in Him and be saved, but He made sure the 'non-elect' have no chance or ability to believe and be saved bec...
Read more

Updated: Alana L.: 5O (author vs author)

-
Image
[I redid Point #5 and #6 in the Alana L. series on my other blog (and re-lettered the posts).  But instead of going back and changing the already-posted points on this blog, I'll just add the posts in their own little "series."]   Point #5 still :   O:  "Sovereign, sovereign, sovereign, sovereign."       This is not technically a conflation (or maybe it is), but it's a sidenote triggered by this sentence in the last post: "[Calvinism]  truly makes God the author*/cause of all sin and evil, despite a Calvinist's insistence that it doesn't." *Bonus Note: Author vs Author When confronted by the fact that their theology makes God the author of all evil, the cause of all sin, Calvinists will inevitably refer to the Westminster Confession:  " God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass:  yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin ." [...
Read more

#6 Forgiveness (shortened)

-
(For full version of this Bible study "lesson," click here .)             As humans, we all hurt others and are hurt by others.   And the world’s way to deal with this is to hold grudges or to punish others.   But God has a lot to say about forgiveness – His forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of others.   And these have major impacts on our relationship with Him and our standing before Him.               Mark 11:25 :   “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”               Matthew 6:14-15 :   “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.   But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”               Psalm 66:18 :   “. ...
Read more

My Response To A "Predestination" Post I Recently Read

-
Image
(Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) I want to share my response to a post I read from our church.   The person who wrote the post (I believe it was our pastor) quoted Acts 2:23 : “This man [Jesus] was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to a cross.”   The writer’s point is that God pre-planned Jesus’ death and chose to use wicked men to accomplish this.   I can agree with this.   However, the underlying point of his post is that God basically caused the men to be wicked (that He planned their evilness), to accomplish His purposes.   And yet God – even though He planned for and caused these men to be wicked – cannot be accused of doing evil or wrong.  This is a typical Calvinist view.     He also goes on to say that God also planned for Adam and Eve to rebel, to fall.   That it is for His glory that they fell.   The i...
Read more

Okay, I've Got Some More Anti-Calvinism Memes

-
Image
  (All memes made with   IMGFLIP )   ME! What's Next? What is it again ... A Calvinist Hearing ... #1 A Calvinist Hearing ... #2 A Calvinist Hearing ... #3 How God Looks at Calvinists Hi, My Name's John Calvin Uhhh ... #1 Uhhh ... #2 Calvinist God Yelling Yeah.  Why? What Do You Mean ... Unelected "Jesus Loves Me" When a Calvinist Stands Before God ... It's right there ... "The World"
Read more

It's Time To Be Horrified!

-
(Published on my other blog in 2015.  And it's only gotten so much worse since then.) As our society seems to be going to “hell in a hand-basket,” do you ever wonder where God is in all of this?   The economy sucks.                Our religious rights are being trimmed away.                Schools are focusing less on academics and more on creating an anti-God worldview and the “morality” and social characteristics that they want.                Laws are being made which are having detrimental impacts on people, families, businesses, and economics.                Morality and modesty are “old-fashioned” concepts.    Flagrant sexuality is rampant, and society encourages it as being “open-minded, progressive, and ...
Read more

2020: We Can All Understand!

-
   2020 Version of Things Here's hoping 2021 is better! [Update: And now here's the  new one for 2021 .  That didn't take long.  But I'm glad to see we're trying to laugh about it.] [And another update from February 15, 2021: I am adding this note here because I don't know where else to put it.  I just wanted to share this story which I believe confirms my idea that our online devices are indeed listening to us all the time, even when we don't know it.   Our online service is used for our few tablets, phones, and laptops, but we  don't have smart TV's or one of those always-on units that listens and responds when you ask it questions.  Well, yesterday we had some friends over, and we got to talking about the movie "Return to Oz" from 1985, about how creepy it was.  We talked about it for just a couple minutes, maybe 2-3.  Well, a couple hours after they left, I turned on a tablet, looked at the home "news page" (through the sea...
Read more