Calvinism vs Arminianism
Grace in Reformed Theology
This is the second post in my response to Henry Thomas’ post asking what Grace was. My first post tried to look at how Catholic theologians looked at grace. Like that post, this one draws off of Gareth Reese’s book, New Testament Epistles:Romans.
In a nutshell, in Reformed theology, grace is something that God [...]
Augustine and his changes
The Quick Change Artist: Was Augustine”s transition from a libertarian to a determinist?
This post is taken from a paper submitted for my class on the life and works of Augustine. It posits a forum where three people are invited to give their interpretations of Augustine”s works. The papers are then followed up by a discussion [...]
A Truly Just God
This is a reply to Henry Thomas’ post on Justice and equality.
A major component of justice is that it is applied equally. HT is correct to assume that everyone would be justly damned in Hell is God did not act. However, since God has let us know that He is not a respecter of [...]
the myth of guilt for particular sins
In light of some of our recent discussions on original sin, I found a recent blog entry from challies.com to be insightful. I am going to pull out a couple of quotes from the post and then give the link to the entire post after that…
Here are the quotes I would like to highlight:
The [...]
Calvinism and Prayer
If you look at the authorship of this blog, you will see that there are Calvinists and non-Calvinists. You might call the non-Calvinists Pelagians, semi-Pelagians, Arminian, or semi-Arminian; you might call the Calvinists, reformed, semi-reformed, predestinationalists, or even semi-predestinationalists. Just be careful that you are not misrepresenting the other’s viewpoints; it is the [...]
The Mother of all Theological Questions in a Christian Mind
I have a question that I would like to throw at you guys. As a Christian, this question is one of the most important ones you can ask yourselves as all of Christianity hinges on this question, as well as other questions. But here it is:
What is grace?
Chains
Consider the following:
The Reformers are chained to Augustine as we are chained to Adam.
Does that quote have any validity? Do the arguments of Luther and Calvin rise and fall with the arguments of Augustine? A lot of the Reformer arguments were based on Augustine’s arguments.
Intro to “To Simplician ” On Various Questions”
This post looks very briefly at Augustine’s letter “To Simplician ” On Various Questions,” with the hope of gaining some insight on Augustine’s turn away from a libertarian view of salvation. I am not trying to set forth an all-inclusive view of TULIPS, but instead to simply get a view of the development of [...]
can we beat the odds?
A relevant text to our current discussion from John Piper:
John Piper
January 23, 2006
desiringgod.org
There are several lines of biblical evidence for the historic Christian doctrine that we are all born into the world with sinful natures, due to the sin of Adam.
Scripture says that we are born sinners and that we are by nature sinners
Psalm 51:5 [...]
Power and Will
This post will seek to examine and refute Augustine”s view of Original Sin and the ability of the will to choose to turn towards God. It was Augustine view, and the view of the reformers after him, that if one denies these tenants, then one is forced to adopt the views of Pelagius, namely [...]
Luther’s Comfort
The following was in response to Luther’s “Bondage of the Will” and to the question, “Why is the bondage of the will a great comfort to Luther?”
Why did Luther find the bondage of the will to be a comfort? The short answer is that it allowed him to be incredibly abrasive to his opponents [...]
Thoughts on the righteousness of God
In Brad’s post on his views of predestination, he talked about justice and God. I liked what he had to say. God gives grace to some and justice to the rest. On the last day, nobody will be able to say that they were treated unfairly. Now I must also say [...]
predestination defined
I recently was asked to officially state my position on God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility in salvation by a national ministry. They asked to keep it in a summary form [because we all know one could write volumes on the minutiae of the topic]. Please find below my best shot at describing my [...]
Poll Results: Babies and Sin
Baby had committed no sin and therefore would go to heaven.: 46%
Though all are born with original sin, God chooses to save all who die in infancy.: 38%
Baby is tainted by original sin and goes to hell: 8%
God might have chosen for the baby to receive grace: 8%
God might have chosen the baby not [...]
Reading the Text Rightly
Every time someone wants to debate my soteriological views with me, they always go to two verses, 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9. While I might concede 1 Timothy, most people fail to actually read 2 Peter 3:9. In that verse, Peter states,
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as [...]