Society of Evangelical Arminians

Randolph Sinks Foster, in his book, Objections to Calvinism (1852) writes:

[The Confession of Faith states,] "God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; [and now your disclaimer,] yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature."

But this disclaimer [God is not the author of sin] by no means relieves my embarrassment -- it greatly increases it, by placing you [Calvinist brother] in the attitude, to my mind, of believing a palpable contradiction, namely, that God did cause all things, sin included, yet in such a way that he did not cause sin.”

Asbury Theological Seminary has started a new theological resource site called Seedbed [asburyseedbed.com]. They have an RSS feed, and regularly post free content from an Arminian and Wesleyan Perspective. You can sign up to be on their email list, and on a monthly basis they will send you a free resource (such as an e-book). They also have an online store with reasonably priced resources.

Be sure to check them out!

Follow the link to view Scot McKnight's description of Roger Olson on "The Five Conundrums of Calvinism" (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/26/the-five-conundrums-o...)

This is a great commercial that was broadcast recently during an NFL game half-time show. It shows that World means World. Listen to the words of these children as they accurately quote and interpret God's Word: Focus On The Family, "John 3:16"

Here is another post from Calvinist leader Justin Taylor that leaves one baffled at how Calvinists can hold to exhaustive determinism: 'The 200 Million “Missing” Girls':

A new documentary, "It’s a Girl! The Three Deadliest Words in the World," explores the systematic gendercide taking place in India, China, and other areas of South Asia.

Ram Mushru of The Independent, reviewing the film, writes: “The trailer’s most chilling scene is one with an Indian woman who, unable to contain her laughter, confesses to having killed eight infant daughters.”

The following is a response to James White's critique of Dr. Olson's book Against Calvinism. The Author, Nelson Banuchi, is a respected member of SEA.

In a blog post entitled, “Warning Passages Ahead: Brief Response,” (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/01/16/warning-passages-ahea...) top notch Arminian-ish New Testament scholar Scot McKnight has responded to the view of top notch Calvinist New Testament scholar Peter O’Brien on O’Brien’s view of the warning passages in Hebrews (O'Brien has written a major commentary on Hebrews). In the comment section on the post, McKnight also responds very briefly but incisively to the view of Calvinist New Testament scholars Thomas Schreiner and Ardel Caneday (see comment numbers 5 and 8).

Please see the attachment to view distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's entire comparative review of Horton's For Calvinism and Olson's Against Calvinism. The review was originally presented in 13 parts on McKnight's blog, and then included at this site also in 13 parts. Here it has been compiled into one file.

Does human choice contribute anything to salvation? Steve Lemke answers:

Follow the link to view part 7 of distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's personal testimony of coming out of Calvinism for a more biblical evangelical view and his discussion of the warning passages in Hebrews: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/16/calvinism-my-history-7/ .

[Humor]

See the attachment for a little theological humor with this added title:

“Finally, the big day came in Kermit’s Calvinist discipleship program, a monumental step in avoiding the pitfalls of frog centered theology."

A video of Dr. Phil Fernandes on Calvinism and Arminianism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AESUv09eXFQ

Dr. Fernandes, a 4 point Arminian and member of SEA, is President of the Institute of Biblical Defense (http://instituteofbiblicaldefense.com/). He is a Christian Apologist, Author and Pastor of Trinity Bible Fellowship. Dr. Fernandes holds the following degrees: Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion degree from Greenwich University, Master of Arts in Religion degree from Liberty University, Bachelor of Theology Degree from Columbia Evangelical Seminary.

He has authored 6 books: Contend Earnestly for the Faith, God, Government, and the Road to Tyranny, The God Who Sits Enthroned: Evidence for Gods Existence, No Other Gods: A Defense of Biblical Christianity, Theism Vs. Atheism: The Internet Debate, The Decay of a Nation

Follow the link to view part 6 of distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's personal testimony of coming out of Calvinism for a more biblical evangelical view and his discussion of the warning passages in Hebrews: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/16/calvinism-my-history-6/ .

Follow the link to view part 5 of distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's personal testimony of coming out of Calvinism for a more biblical evangelical view and his discussion of the warning passages in Hebrews: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/14/calvinism-my-history-5/ .

QUESTION: Dr. Cottrell, can you explain the meaning of Acts 13:48? It sounds very much like Calvinism to me.

ANSWER: This text summarizes the response of the Gentiles to the powerful preaching of the Apostle Paul at Antioch of Pisidia: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (ESV).

Thomas Osmond Summers' Systematic Theology a complete body of Wesleyan Arminian divinity, consisting of lectures on the twenty-five articles of religion--arranged and revised, with introduction, copious notes--and a theological glossary, Volume 2 - Pub. House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1888 (link)

By Brian Abasciano

One of the strongest arguments that true believers in Christ can forsake faith in Christ and so perish is that Scripture warns believers against forsaking their faith and the accompanying consequence of perishing. There is no point in warning someone against doing something he knows he cannot do and suffering consequences he knows he cannot possibly experience. But some Calvinists appeal to the shipwreck story of Acts 27 in order to support the claim that it is reasonable to issue warnings or take them seriously when God has already guaranteed that a given action and its threatened consequence will not happen (see, e.g., Thomas R. Schreiner, “Perseverance and Assurance: A Survey and a Proposal,” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 2 (1998) 32–62 [55]). The argument is basically that in the situation described by Acts God had promised that all who sailed with Paul would survive, and that Paul’s later warning that the sailors trying to escape must stay in the ship for his companions to survive shows that Paul considered it reasonable to issue a warning when he knew that its threatened consequence could not happen. But this argument is unconvincing.

Follow the link to view part 4 of distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's personal testimony of coming out of Calvinism for a more biblical evangelical view, and his discussion of the warning passages in Hebrews: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/12/calvinism-my-history-4/ .

Arminius and Arminianism:

Follow the link to view part 3 of distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's personal testimony of coming out of Calvinism for a more biblical evangelical view, and his discussion of the warning passages in Hebrews: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/09/calvinism-my-history-3/ .

Bruxy Cavey, a pastor at a church called "The Meeting House", has recently done an excellent seven part series contrasting Calvinism and Arminianism. It is well worth listening to.

Cavey is Anabaptist, and he provides a unique perspective. He is a very rapid speaker, so you have to pay attention or you'll miss something. He is a former Calvinist, and articulates Calvinism very well (without making caricatures of it). He spends a lot of time addressing questions that Calvinists ask non-Calvinists (like the sovereignty of God, whether or not faith is a "work", etc).

He is irenic, and stresses the importance of Christian unity, and that neither Calvinism or Arminianism is the gospel. In the series he goes over all of the 5 points of TULIP. He addresses most of the the main scripture texts that both C's and A's appeal to. He also has a question and answer time in each session. And he even gets a marriage proposal. :)

The most welcomed element of the recent Calvinist resurgence promoted by the Young, Restless, and Reformed for me thus far has to be the inspiring of a Classical Arminian resurgence. Much attention has historically been focused upon John and Charles Wesley, as well as many Wesleyan-Arminian ministers, with even many Wesleyans knowing little to nothing about Jacob Arminius and his successors the Remonstrants.

In his critique in Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism, Steve Lemke made some great comments about the doctrine of Irresistible Grace when viewed in light of Jesus' ministry:

Follow the link to view part 2 of distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's personal testimony of coming out of Calvinism for a more biblical evangelical view and his discussion of the warning passages in Hebrews: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/07/calvinism-my-history-2/ .

Follow the link to view distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's personal testimony of coming out of Calvinism for a more biblical evangelical view: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/05/calvinism-my-history/ .

This exposition discusses the earliest, historical beliefs of the Arminian theological tradition regarding the effects of the fall upon man, the nature of the will of man and the mode of grace in salvation. The primary source writings of the earliest and most influential Arminian writers such as Jacobus Arminius, Simon Episcopius and John Wesley were examined in light of both Arminian and non-Arminian secondary source material and thus exposited according that general understanding.

Several points of interest were found, including:

Follow the link to view the final installment, part 13 of distinguished NT scholar Scot McKnight's review of the books For Calvinism (by Michael Horton) and Against Calvinism (by Roger Olson): "For and Against Calvinism 13".

[Humor]

Calvinist Santa
by: jc_freak

View here for original script

For comments, view here.

After the passing of Kim Jong-Il (our font makes it look like "Jong the Second," but it is really the capital letter i followed by the lowercase letter L), Justin Taylor did a brief post highlighting how diabolical he was:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/12/19/inside-kim-j...

It is simply baffling that Calvinists can decry the diabolical, heinous actions of Kim Jong-Il (and others like him), and yet they hold that God first conceived in his own divine heart every one of the man’s wicked actions, thought them up without any influence outside of himself, and unconditionally and irresistibly decreed them without any influence outside of himself, resulting in the man doing them all without any chance, power, or ability to do anything else. It’s madness I tell you! Madness!!