Search Result

CALVINIST RHETORIC: The Stronghold

, , No Comment

Or “A Mighty Fortress Is Our Theology”

What I Mean by the Stronghold

This is probably going to be the hardest rhetorical analysis that I currently have planned to explain what I mean. It is important for this post that I mention that this is neither a critique on Calvinist theology, nor is this particular anomaly a universal characteristic of Calvinist rhetoric. Instead, this is something that I have noticed experientially as I have talked to Calvinists.

Read Post →

This Ain’t Your Grandpa’s Arminianism

, , No Comment

What I have witnessed from recent Arminius and Arminian scholarship, at least among those who are self-identified as being Arminian, differs, I think, from what was known as Arminian fifty to hundred years ago, with very few exceptions.1

Read Post →

James Arminius on the Stage of Time

, , No Comment

“There lived in Holland a man, whom they that did not know him could not sufficiently esteem; whom they who did not esteem him had never sufficiently known,”1 said Peter Bertius (1565-1629), friend to Arminius in his youth, at the funeral of James Arminius, October 1609. When most people think of James Arminius, they tend to think of free will or the notion that one can lose his or her salvation. That is unfortunate, since Arminius did not champion the cause of free will, nor was he the poster-child for the doctrine of Apostasy.

John Calvin’s successor and son-in-law, Theodore Beza (1519-1605), in a letter written to the Rev. Martin Lydius in 1583, a professor who belonged to the Church of Amsterdam (where Arminius would later become pastor for fifteen years), writes:

Read Post →

Nelson’s Dictionary of Christianity Gets it Wrong: Examining the So Called “15 Major Tenets of Arminianism”

, , No Comment

About a year ago I engaged in a conversation with someone who kept misrepresenting Arminian and Wesleyan teaching while insisting that his claims were “historical facts”. This person kept making reference to the “15 Major Tenets of Arminianism” to back up his claims. I had no idea what this could be a reference to since I was not familiar with any document written by Arminius or the Remonstrants that went by such a name. As it turns out, the so called “15 Major Tenets of Arminianism” is a sub-title given under the heading “Arminianism” in Nelson’s Dictionary of Christianity. Below is a critique proving that these 15 tenets are far from representative of Arminian theology.

The 15 Major Tenets of Arminianism are:

1. Human beings are free agents and human events are mediated by the foreknowledge of God.

Read Post →

The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics

, , No Comment

Related Fallacies:
Special Pleading (Double Standard)
Equivocation
Straw man

“Of course, this raises the question, why does their God save a person to damn him? Why not simply leave him in his unsaved state?” – Steve Hays, Tender Mercies

To get a better view of this fallacy, let’s examine the author’s argument more fully from the analogy he gives:

Read Post →

How Revelation 3:20 Creates a Dilemma for Calvinism

, , No Comment

In Revelation 1, 2, and 3 John prophesies to the seven churches in Asia. The last group he addresses is the church in Laodicea. After addressing the Ladocians, he concludes with the following prophesy:

    (Jesus speaking) Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 3:20-22

This passage can be interpreted in two ways, both of which present problems for Calvinism.

Read Post →

Friday Files

, , No Comment

Shortly after the death of James Arminius in 1609, his followers summarized his views into the five points of the remonstrants. At Dort, the Calvinists requested a clarification of the remonstrants views. Lead by Episcopius,…

Read Post →

J.C. Thibodaux, “The Calvinist Mitigation of the Divine Warnings Given to the Saints”

, , No Comment

  Central to the debate over inevitable perseverance are the the numerous warnings in scripture cautioning the saints against falling away. A prominent explanation offered as to why the scriptures would say such things, if falling away is not truly possible for a believer, is that God uses such warnings as a means to spur Christians on to perseverance. Despite these efforts, the scriptural warnings addressed to genuine believers, some of which pronounce eternal destruction for violating certain commandments of God, constitute an airtight argument against the Calvinist teaching of inevitable perseverance of the saints, in that teaching that what the scriptures warn against could not truly occur strips the divine warnings of all relevance, making them of no effect.

Read Post →