"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Col 2:13-15 AV)

During a recent discussion of the relevance of the resurrection with regard to Christ's crucifixion at Calvary, this passage from Paul's epistle to the Colossians came to mind. There is a thought I want to touch on dealing with the sufficiency of Christ's finished work at Calvary.

The topic of resistible vs. irresistible grace is of vital importance. In my experience, the Calvinist's biggest objection to Arminianism is that it is a man-centered theology and gives man a reason to boast. In contrast, they view Calvinism as the "doctrines of grace". But what's the key issue?

The key issue is not:

(Warning: this review contains spoilers)

What would you do if you were invited to spend a weekend with God? What questions would you ask him? Maybe, why does evil exist? Why is there pain? That is the background for the book "The Shack" (Author: William P. Young).

"The Shack" has become a phenomenon. As of today (9-24-09) it is ranked #11 in sales on Amazon.com, and has over 3700 reviews.

There is a dual reaction to the book in Christian circles: people either love it or despise it. I fall into the former category, with a reservation. I enjoyed the story. It brought me to tears a number of times. As a father of two girls, I empathized with the main character, "Mack".

Calivinists have a rich heritage - one that they can be proud of. It's unquestionable that Augustine, many of the Reformers and Puritans, held Calvinist ideas. But after reading Boettner's introduction of the Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, one might get the impression that Calvinism dominates Church history, and substantially every major theologian accepted Calvinisic predestination. Boettner claims:

This month's Christianity Today has some articles by Arminians in praise of John Calvin (yes, you read that right). Man of the Bible: What Calvin gets Right, by Ben Witherington. Theologian of the Spirit, by Roger Olson.

This pastor hates Obama, and preached a sermon on why he wishes the president dead. Although the article doesn't state it, I'm going to go way out on a limb and guess that the good reverend is not an Arminian.

Tim Challies has an article about his visit to Saddleback Church. He attended a service and met with Rick Warren for about 30 minutes.