Dezbaterea în jurul temelor calviniste continuă în toate spațiile, bun mijloc de antrenare teologică, argumentare biblică sau nu prea … și gimnastică neuronală.
Iată AICI un articol interesant.
What advice would you give to young Calvinists going to pastor churches that are ignorant—or even suspicious—of Calvinism?
Jones: Here are a few things:
1. Be honest, but be certain you’re speaking the same language. Don’t try to hide your convictions. That applies not only to Reformed theology but to everything from ecclesiology to eschatology. At the same time, it’s wise to make certain what you mean by “Calvinism” is the same as what they mean. If someone asks, “Are you a Calvinist?” find out what he or she understands Calvinism to imply. The result may provide an opportunity to say, “If that’s what Calvinism is, I am not a Calvinist—but here’s what I do believe about God’s grace.”
2. Point people to Christ, not Calvinism. I served nearly two decades on pastoral staffs in three different churches and, as far as I can recall, I used the word “Calvinism” a grand total of three times in my teaching: twice when leading church history classes and once in a sermon to describe how George Whitefield was able to work with the John and Charles Wesley for the sake of the gospel. A variety of Reformed and non-Reformed perspectives mingled together in all these congregations, and church members cooperated with charity on this issue. I preached the doctrines of grace when they were present in biblical texts, but I never once defended Calvinism. If someone embraces the glorious goodness of God in Christ and his singlehanded work to save us yet never hears about the Reformation or Calvinism or the five points from Dort, what difference does it make? It’s God and the glory of his name that matters, not the name of any human system.
3. Preach grace graciously. If you proclaim God’s grace by maligning or misrepresenting those who disagree with the Reformed doctrines of grace, it’s quite likely you’re missing the point of grace. Preach grace with the gentleness and gratitude that become possible only when we recognize we have nothing left to prove because God in Christ has already proven it all.
Un articol despre dubla predestinare al lui R. C. Sproul. Măcar să știm despre ce este vorba, nu folcloristică.
În contrabalanță un articol scris cu simț al umorului, dar și mult simț de observație AICI.
1. Many of the great thinkers, pastors, authors, and heroes of the faith were and are not calvinists.
2. Many of the followers of Jesus in the world today are not calvinists.
3. The earliest Christians were not calvinists.
4. Calvinists are not the arbiters of doctrine and heresy.
5. Historically, calvinist views were first determined heretical.
6. All orthodox followers of Jesus affirm biblical concepts like sovereignty and election, many of us simply do not define them the way calvinists do.
7. There are non-calvinists who completely understand calvinist doctrine and belief, and choose to reject it.
8. Your reputation precedes you.
9. If you can not articulate non-calvinist views in such a way that the view-holder would agree, “yes, that is what I believe,” then you do not understand the view.
10. You could be wrong.
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