2nd Annual International Hug a Calvinist Day

Wherever you are, find a Calvinist to hug in celebration of John Calvin’s 500th birthday and all to the glory of God.

My online experiences with Calvinists left me feeling that they were perhaps not so nice. A few visits to the former EmergentNo and to TeamPyro were more than enough for me. (They are purposely not hyper-linked.) Then there was the “poster war” set off by producing my series of “emergent” posters. None of that created a desire to further my understanding of Calvinism.

When my husband started attending Men’s Group, he frequently came home with stories about John – stories about heated arguments involving John that occurred at the meetings. Not knowing his last name, we referred to him as John the Calvinist.

I was a little disappointed the first few times I attended Men’s Group and the infamous John wasn’t there. When I finally met John, I liked him and he seemed to like me. At first I didn’t witness any of the arguments John was known for. In fact, he seemed to restrain himself around me.

Eventually, the gloves came off. His first attempt at enlightening me was a set of copied notes from his Scofield Bible. Because of John, I wanted to understand Calvinism enough to be able to converse with a basic understanding of his positions. This was one of the reasons that I was pondering the Doctrines of Grace.

It is pretty much a given that John and I won’t agree about much, but now we laugh and celebrate the moments when we discover things that we do agree on. I know that he will furrow his brow when I talk about the kingdom, and I probably furrow mine when he goes off on dispensations. But he has a twinkle in his eye when he refers to me as his “favorite combatant.”

So Friday I will hug my favorite Calvinist, a kind, white-haired gentleman named John.

I listened to Tim Keller’s sermon on hell yesterday (ht Bob Hyatt). I recently heard a sermon on the same passage by Greg Boyd about the topic of eternal torment. Interestingly enough, while their approaches to this passage (Luke 16:19-31) were quite different, I agreed with many of the points made in both sermons.

This morning I was looking through the Scriptures at various passages about hell and eternal life. What really struck me is how conditioned I am to see these passages in terms of afterlife – one decision that results in either eternal fire or eternal life.

What if instead these verses are about our current lives, our daily choices? Maybe it isn’t as much about an afterlife destination, but rather about the realm of existence in which we choose to currently participate. And yes, the realm in which we participate now will likely color our experience in the afterlife.

“…what is unseen is eternal.” – II Corinthians 4:18

It is not a stretch to interpret eternity, the unseen realm, as a reality of our current temporal existence. The Scripture verses about eternal life suggest that as believers we should be living and experiencing eternal life now – not an afterlife destination, but our participation in the realm of the Spirit in our current living.

My definition of hell is the destruction and devastation that sin causes in our lives, the hell we experience as a result of sin. It may be more than this, I don’t know. While I am unsure of the idea of hell as Dante’s Inferno of Eternal Torment, I do agree with Keller’s idea of hell as the destructive fire of sin.

Based on that, I can also see eternal fire or hell as another realm of existence that we choose to participate in or to reject in our current lives. Perhaps we are always making choices about which unseen realm we are engaging with.

These thoughts remind me of the passage in Deuteronomy…

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life… Deuteronomy 30:19-20

This is what I am thinking about this morning. Your thoughts?

It has been a busy but good week. There is much interesting discussion on the other posts to catch up on, but first, l should (finally) finish with the P in TULIP.

Many thanks to my friend Bill for the ideal image for this series of posts!

Perseverence of the Saints

Since God has determined who will get saved and they cannot resist His call, they are unconditionally and eternally secure in that election. Therefore, those who have been chosen to be saved will always stay saved. They cannot resist or lose their salvation. There are no exceptions to the rule. As a result, the Christian has “eternal security.” Since there was nothing a person could do to get saved in the first place, there is nothing he can do to lose his salvation.
(according to biblehelp.org)

Shalom

Salvation is a relationship, not a transaction. Relationships ebb and flow, grow and change. They are not either “in effect” or “void”. Our reconciliation to Christ is accomplished and complete. Our salvation – the degree to which we are rescued from our brokenness – is an ongoing work of the Spirit’s transformation of our hearts. This is a lifelong process, not a one-time deal.

Shalom is the peace that results from healing in our lives, the rest that comes as our hearts are made whole. Shalom, wholeness, the defeat of sin and brokenness in our life occurs incrementally as we learn to live in the freedom available to us. As we grow in truth and understanding, we oppose the lies of the enemy and the disfiguring shame that has alienated us from the love of the Father. This is salvation, our deliverance and restoration from the pain of sin. Our relationship with the Father can and should be one of progressive peace and wholeness.

Conclusion

Is it possible to walk away from a relationship of knowing and being known?  It seems more likely to me that one would abandon a religion than a real relationship with the Father.  Wherever someone is at in this journey, an ever-increasing knowledge of God (knowing Him, not facts about Him) is what salvation is all about.

It seems like “are you saved?” isn’t really the right question to begin with.

Irresistible Grace

The grace that God extends to the elect cannot be refused. God puts into the hearts of the elect an irresistible desire to turn to Him and accept His salvation. This implanted desire is so overpowering that it cannot be resisted or refused. This irresistible desire insures that everyone who has been elected will go to Heaven.
(according to biblehelp.org)

Response to Grace

We are created to know and respond to our Creator. Sin did not remove the inner desire to seek and know God. Yes, we have blindness and deafness that must be overcome, but the Spirit of God relentlessly pursues and reveals God to us. The Spirit is at work drawing all men to the Father. However, because love requires choice and response, we have the ability to respond to or reject the drawing of the Spirit. Rejection of the Spirit’s invitation leaves us in our broken condition, alienated from the love and grace that is readily available to us.

Conclusion

The obvious issue in this point, besides election which we covered in previous points, is the question of choice or free will.

Also, I would like to see the discussion re-framed from attempts at clearly defining who is in or out with the focus on the afterlife, and instead emphasize the idea of process and journey.

People are in a growing journey with and toward God. Eventually there is choice or response, but that choice is about what will God be in my life now, today, rather than a choice of itinerary between heaven or hell.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this.

Limited Atonement

God limited His atonement to only those who are elect. When Jesus died on the cross, He did not die for the sins of the whole world; He only died for those He wanted to go to Heaven.  Christ died to atone for specific sins of specific sinners. He did not atone for all men, because obviously all men are not saved. 
(according to biblehelp.org)

Extravagant Atonement

When Jesus died for all mankind, He remedied the terminal condition that we are born into and made possible a way for us to be restored, to know forgiveness, and to be loved in a way that has nothing to do with our own merit.  Sin was dealt with decisively on the cross as Christ willingly gave His life to defeat the power of death and alienation that ruled over His creation.  His crucifixion was a cure for sin, the root of brokenness.  Jesus bore the complete weight of the curse of sin and death FOR US and put an end to (condemned) the hold that sin had over mankind.

Conclusion

My first inclination upon hearing and reading about limited atonement was, “you must be kidding!”   But no, the people who hold to this position are serious about it.

If you haven’t gathered it by now, I believe that Christ’s atonement is inclusive and effective for all mankind.  In the next post, we will talk more about our response to this.

There is a helpful list of verses at Biblehelp.org that are applicable to this topic.  You may not agree with all of the categories or summaries (I don’t), but it is helpful to see many of these verses listed together.

Unconditional Election

God has chosen some people to go to Heaven and other people to go to Hell. This choice is not based on any qualities of the person being elected. This selection is not based on God’s foreknowledge of who will “get saved” in the future.  God has elected some for glory and others for damnation. This election is based solely upon the counsel of His own will. His selection of the elect was done long before the universe was ever created.  (according to biblehelp.org)

Eternal Purpose

It was God’s plan from before the universe was created to include mankind in the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Spirit.  He predestined that in Christ man would be brought into fellowship and communion with God, chosen for adoption into His family.  This is His desire for all mankind without selectivity or exclusion.  Inclusion is not conditioned on merit but is simply the result of His extravagant love.

Conclusion

The verses that have been interpreted to limit God’s desire for salvation to a select few in my opinion actually speak of God’s eternal purpose of relationship with mankind.  We covered some of this in my previous post, The OPT-OUT Theory.

The idea of God creating some people for the purpose of damnation tends to go against the grain of what most people sense to be true of a loving Creator.

Total Depravity

When man fell, sin permeated his entire being. This fall was so complete that man had no desire for God and righteousness. Man is so totally enslaved by sin that he can only choose evil; he cannot choose good. He is incapable of choosing God and His salvation. Man is totally blind and deaf to the gospel.  Apart from a supernatural intervention from God, the gospel message absolutely has no effect on a person.    (according to biblehelp.org)

Broken Eikons

Man was created in the image and likeness of God for the purpose of love and relationship. We were to be His image-bearers on the earth. In our broken condition, the reflection of God’s image in us is distorted. Even more tragically, sin resulted in the image of the Father being distorted in our hearts and minds. We not only fail to reflect His image, but we fail to know and see properly the image of our Creator. Determined that we would not remain in our brokenness, God did what was necessary for our reconciliation to Him and our restoration to wholeness.

Conclusion

This is brief, and there is plenty we could talk about.  What are the differences?  What are the essential truths?  What is the nature of man and our relationship with God?

Basically each paragraph paints a different picture, not really about points of doctrine, but about the story we believe and the story that we tell others.

Many thanks to my friend Bill for the ideal image for this series of posts!

After Tom suggested in the previous comments that I was leaning toward Calvinism (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I looked up the five “doctrines of grace.”

• Total Depravity
• Unconditional Election
• Limited Atonement
• Irresistible Grace
• Perseverance of the Saints

I am leaving town for the weekend, and don’t have time to flesh these out now, but in comparison to TULIP, my five doctrines of “grace” are…

• Broken Eikons
• Eternal Purpose
• Extravagant Atonement
• Response to Grace
• Shalom

Discuss amongst yourselves if you would like, and maybe we can talk more about each of these next week.

“My experience of His furious love often fills me with a fury as well when I hear well-known preachers and televangelists distorting Abba’s image.”

“His invitation to intimacy is startling, contrary to all the pontifications of certain religious leaders and champions of deuteronomic morality. Their unbending rule-keeping petrifies His furious compassion.”

- Brennan Manning, The Furious Longing of God

As an extreme example of rejecting a message that does not work, the testimony of Nate Phelps, son of Fred Phelps is truly heartbreaking. The tragedy he experienced because his father distorted the nature and image of God has haunted me since I read the speech he addressed to the American Atheists.

Yes, this is an extreme example, but there are so many subtler distortions.

At men’s group the other night (which has been opened up to women and is currently meeting at my house), in a discussion about suffering, someone mentioned that it was reassuring to know that every awful thing that happens to us is within God’s will.

I considered letting it slide. I tried to talk myself out of commenting.

But I had to say, “Evil is never a part of God’s will for us.”

“Are you saying that God isn’t sovereign over everything? How can anything that happens under His sovereignty be evil?”

“Sickness, pain, disaster – yes these things are evil. They are a result of sin and the fall. The corruption that resulted from the fall is evil.”

“So you don’t believe in the sovereignty of God?”

“I don’t believe that the fall and the evil that resulted caught Him by surprise. He had a plan in place from the beginning to overcome sin, death, and evil. That plan has already been implemented and is in effect even now. While we still experience the results of the fall, ultimately there will be total and complete freedom from the evil in this world.”

“So you don’t believe that God is sovereign over everything?”

Aye, aye, aye.

People worry that by emphasizing the love of the Father, we somehow fail to portray the complete nature of His holiness and judgment. Yet, I don’t believe that God’s judgment is separate from His love. It is because of love and through love that sin, darkness, and evil are overcome and God moves things toward the way they were always intended to be.

Most people don’t need to be convinced of their alienation from God. This seems to be the distortion that we are born into. That is why the message of His love is so important to overcome an already distorted image of the Father and enable us to see Him as He really is.