It’s the St. Cyril of Alexandria Day edition of the Friday Files, SEA’s weekly roundup of older posts, plus recent articles round the blogosphere of interest to those interested in Arminian/Calvinist issues. Names in green indicate our SEA members.
Nope, if they’re on this page, it doesn’t automatically mean SEA and its members endorses ’em. We have opinions from all over the place, Arminian and Calvinist alike. K.W. Leslie tags ’em with brief summaries, and SEA doesn’t endorse those either.
As for St. Cyril: He’s a recent saint, canonized by the Coptic Orthodox Church in 2013; the 116th pope of Alexandria, Egypt (and their sixth pope named Kyrillos), who served from 1959 to 1971. Not all saints are Roman Catholic, y’know. He was originally a monk, and was known as a man of prayer. Egypt’s a difficult country to be Christian in, so certainly they need prayer—pray for them.
From the SEA archives:
Jack Cottrell.
• “Understanding God: God and time.”
[20-22 Nov 2002, PDF] Different Christian views about how God relates to time and eternity, and endorsement of a metatemporal view.
• “Can a person accidentally commit the unpardonable sin?”
[2001, PDF] No. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit has to be deliberate, as the Pharisees were doing in Jesus’s situation.
• “Thomas Helwys, Baptist and Arminian.”
[30 Mar 2013, PDF] Briefly on the founder of the Baptist movement, plus his 1611 Declaration of Faith.
• “The problem of apostasy in New Testament theology.”
[1987, PDF] Why Calvinists object to the idea of apostasy, notwithstanding the scriptures which warn us lest we fall away.
• “The theology of the atonement.”
[6-8 July 2005, PDF] A defense of penal substitutionary atonement.
• “I believe in divine sovereignty.”
[Fall 2008, PDF] John Piper and other Calvinists insist we Arminians don’t really believe in sovereignty. We do; we just don’t define it as micromanagerial determinism. ’Cause that’d make God immoral.
• “We believe in God’s sovereign goodness: A rejoinder to John Piper.”
[Fall 2008, PDF] Various problems with Piper’s view of sovereignty that are either self-contradictory or illogical—namely the idea God creates and condemns creatures he himself foreordains to sin.
• “The warning passages in Hebrews: A formal analysis and theological conclusions.”
[1992, PDF] Looking at them (for once) as an organic whole instead of as proof-texts, we recognize there’s a final salvation to which we should aspire—or lose eternally.
• “Blog posts on post-Calvinism.”
[Jul-Aug 2005, PDF] A collection of McKnight’s articles on why he’s not Calvinist.
• Exposition of the Ninth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.
[1888, PDF] Morison’s book, which also includes Romans 10. Both chapters are discussed from the Arminian view.
• “The compassionate God of traditional Jewish and Christian exegesis.”
[2007, PDF] God provides his Old Testament followers with foreknowledge because he wants feedback and repentance. Well, unless you’re a determinist.
From the recent interwebs:
J.D. Hall (Calvinist) Pulpit & Pen.
• “John Piper continues to confuse followers on justification.”
[2 Mar 2018] John Piper attempts to affirm both the Calvinist order of salvation, and the necessity of faith for perseverance. Which is much like mixing bleach and ammonia.Braxton Hunter and Johnathan Pritchett, Evangelism & Apologetics.
• “Response to ‘Is God actually the devil?’ ”
[7 Mar 2018, audio] An atheist complains God acts rather devilish in the Old Testament, so Hunter and Pritchett defend God’s sovereign right to judge the wicked. (And mock the atheist’s appearance a little. Way to keep it classy, guys.)Ed Jarrett, A Clay Jar.
• “The Lord relented—a lesson in prayer—Exodus 32:14.”
[27 Feb 2018] God foreknew our prayers from the beginning, and made them part of his plan.Ronnie Rogers (Extensivist), SBC Today.
• “Is man totally passive prior to monergistic regeneration?”
[7 Mar 2018] If a person is spiritually dead before God elects them, it means all our evangelistic efforts—encouraged in the scriptures—are a waste of time.Shannon Byrd Shannon, Free Thinking Ministries.
• “Responding to the movie Calvinist (part 4):Irresistible grace.”
[2 Mar 2018] The documentary promotes irresistible grace, but in doing so they committed several logical fallacies. Namely these.Mark Sisson, Christianity Today.
• “Calvinist vs. Armenian.”
[6 Mar 2018] Which’d be funnier if we could be sure this was an Arminian Armenian; a joke about theology instead of ethnicity. Otherwise it kinda looks racist.
Got a feedreader?
Every week I remind you of the existence of feedreaders or news aggregators, ’cause they’re great for keeping track of your favorite websites. SEA members have blogs, and feedreaders are the best way to keep up with us.
So pop on over to Digg Reader, Feeder, Feedreader, Feedly, G2Reader, Inoreader, NewsBlur, or The Old Reader. Find the blogs’ RSS or Atom feeds, plug ’em into your feedreader of choice, and let the articles come to you.
