Friday Files, 29 Dec 17

It’s The Friday Files, our weekly stack of links: We highlight older SEA posts, and highlight stuff from around the Arminian and non-Calvinist blogosphere. Names in green indicate SEA members.

Inclusion isn’t necessarily approval or endorsement. (Some articles actually come from Calvinists!) We offer these links because they’re thought to be of potential interest to those interested in Arminian/Calvinist issues. Blame K.W. Leslie for the brief summaries.

From the SEA archives:

Brian Abasciano. “Corporate election misrepresented in the Pillar Commentary on Romans by Colin G. Kruse.” [31 Aug 12] First Kruse misstates Abasciano’s view of corporate election; then he rejects the corporate view because he thinks it doesn’t include individual election.

Christopher C. Chapman. “The divine proposal: Grace the bridegroom, faith the bride.” [13 Sep 12] Faith isn’t something we can do apart from God’s grace.

Landon DeCrastos, Ministry Sauce.

• “Toy maker.” [6 Jul 12] An illustration of a toymaker and his sentient and self-willed toys.

• “Seek him and live!” [14 Aug 12] God is constantly wooing us back to a relationship with him.

Ben Espinoza, Seedbed. “John Wesley’s approach to Christian formation.” [7 Sep 12] It’s about moving out of our depraved state, and into the ongoing stages of grace.

Roy Ingle.

• “Arminius on the understanding of God.” [24 Aug 12] Open theists claim Arminius was one of them, but Arminius’s own writings state “God knows all things from eternity.”

• “Seeing liberty in the scriptures.” [27 Aug 12] Arminius could have, but didn’t, take a stance on perseverance of the saints. It’s debatable, so he left it debatable… although immature Christians really do wanna debate it.

• “Robert Picirilli’s short outline of Romans 9-11.” [29 Aug 12] Paul’s main point was that God isn’t unrighteous in rejecting Israel for their faithlessness. Even so, anybody can be saved by grace through faith.

• “Arminius on the nature of God.” [6 Sep 12] How we know God has a nature.

Kevin Jackson, Wesleyan Arminian. “Theological spectrum chart.” [11 Sep 12] A general idea of different theologies as they relate to Calvinism and Arminianism.

Jeffrey Mallinson and Scott Keith. “Divine election: A representation of different views.” [2009, PDF] Six historical approaches to election, and the theological interpretations which lead people to each of them. Brian Abasciano provides an introduction.

A.M. Mallett, An Introspective of an Arminian Christian. “The common ground of Lutherans and Arminians with regard to the free will of men.” [24 Feb 12] How Philip Melancthon articulated the Lutheran view of free will in the Augsburg Confession, and its similarity to Arminius’s view.

Roger E. Olson, My Evangelical Arminian Theological Musings. “John Piper, God’s sovereignty, and sin.” [28 Aug 12] It’s hardly news when Piper claims God foreordains sin. It rightly offends moderate Calvinists, for it obliterates God’s good character. So why don’t more of them stand up to object?

Fred Sanders, Seedbed. “John Wesley as a happy Puritan.” [13 Aug 12] How John Wesley revived the puritan movement and its joy.

Trevin Wax (Calvinist), The Gospel Coalition. “A word to my Calvinist friends.” [28 Aug 12] Okay guys, your arrogance is showing.

Arminianism:

Michael L. Brown, Ask Dr. Brown. “Did Paul change the gospel?” [21 Dec 17] It’s frequently claimed Paul changed Jesus’s gospel from the coming of the kingdom of God, to grace and substitutionary atonement. No; these are all parts of the same good news.

K.W. Leslie, Christ Almighty! “The odds of Jesus fulfilling prophecy.” [27 Dec 17] Fulfilling prophecy isn’t about the Father sovereignly predetermining the Son’s path. It’s about the Son (and us) obediently following the Father’s guidelines.

Stacy J. Ross, Ramblings from Real Man’s Land. “Good news! God is sovereign.” [25 Dec 17] He may not feel sovereign when stuff isn’t going our way, but he nonetheless is.

D.V. Wayman, Ironstrikes. “2017 in review: A blogger’s favorites.” [28 Dec 17] Wayman’s favorite Ironstrikes posts for each month.

Calvinism:

Adam Ford (Calvinist), The Babylon Bee.

• “Santa Claus converts to Calvinism, moves everybody to naughty list.” [22 Dec 17] Claus is ditching his merit-based naughty/nice metric in favor of grace. Rightly so… but somebody better warn the parents.

• “Beardless ‘Calvinist’ outed as Arminian spy.” [30 Dec 17] When they don’t fit Ford’s favorite stereotype of the Young Restless Reformed as beard-sporting pipe-smoking beer snobs, watch out!

Bobby Grow (Calvinist), Evangelical Calvinist. “No. You can’t make me. I don’t want to worship the God of the Calvinists and classical theists; I want to worship the God revealed in Jesus Christ.” [29 Dec 17] An “Evangelical Calvinist,” Grow objects to the way God’s depicted by “Classical Calvinists,” i.e. not him.

Arminian-leaning:

Steven L. Hitchcock (Traditionalist), Traditional Baptist Church. “Is Calvinism or Reformed doctrine taking over your church?” [25 Dec 17] How some pastors are conditioning their congregations to accept the Calvinist point of view.

Scott Pauline (Roman Catholic), Catholic 365.com. “The Karate Kid, a false fire alarm, and Calvinism.” [22 Dec 17] A Catholic objection to the idea of irresistible grace. (“The Karate Kid” refers to Ralph Macchio appearing in a 1984 Nick Nolte movie called Teachers. Pauline provided no context for the obscure pop culture reference, so here ya go.)

Reminder: Feedreaders!

SEA members have blogs, and would appreciate it if you read ’em. And the best way to keep up with their latest is with a feedreader or news aggregator—like Digg Reader, Feeder, Feedreader, Feedly, G2Reader, Inoreader, NewsBlur, and The Old Reader. Find your favorite site’s RSS or Atom feed, put it in your feedreader, and stay up with the latest.

Or tune in next Friday, the 12th day of Christmas.