Introduction: The theologians behind the Westminster Confession said something that was curious, and it was this: They did not want to say that God’s absolute sovereignty was merely consistent with the liberty of creaturely will, but rather that God’s sovereignty was what established the liberty of that will. God does not offer violence to the …
Calvinism 4.0/Chestertonian Calvinism
Introduction: When these precious doctrines of ours—referring to the absolute sovereignty of God over all things—are twisted in such a way as to perpetuate gloom, severity, introspection, accusations, slander, gnat-strangling, and more, the soul is never safe. The doctrines of grace are doctrines of gladness. But whenever God delivers His people in any remarkable way, …
Calvinism 4.0/Biblical Absolutes and the Spirit of the Age
Introduction: In the second chapter of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar the king promoted Daniel after he had been able to interpret the troubling dream that the king had had. As a result of Daniel’s influence, Daniel’s three friends were established in the rule of Babylon. Sometime later, Nebuchadnezzar established a giant gold statue of himself in the …
Calvinism 4.0/The Sin of Sectarianism
Introduction: What I would like to do, Lord permitting, is preach a series of messages through the basic doctrines of the Reformed faith, as we understand the teaching of Scripture. This is particularly important for you if you have been attending here for many years, or if you have grown up in this church. It …
The Obedience of Cancer
Introduction: If God governs the world—as He does—then this means that all things must be obedient to Him. But there is another side to this, leaving us with an antimony. We know for a fact that we live in a sinful world, which means that there are entities and individuals that are disobedient to God. …
The Invisible Mainspring of Human Conflict
Introduction: And now for a little intellectual history—my own, that is. This can be read by friend and foe alike with edifying pleasure. My friends can discover how I learned these wonderful things and my foes can discover what messed me up so bad. First consider the base coat of my theological assumptions that were …
The Divine Glory, Welterweight Division
“This is not a [book] to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” Attributed to Dorothy Parker I believe I mentioned in passing that I recently picked up Greg Boyd’s God at War. I was pursuing more information on the divine council, having read Michael Heiser’s fine books on that topic, …
God as Carpet Bomber
So this is how it happened. I recently read and reviewed The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser. It was a fantastic book, with the exception of a quite unnecessary chapter addressing the issues that usually go by the nickname of Calvinism. That book was so good that I started reading his more popular-level book on …
Reformation Now
Introduction: We are fast approaching the five hundredth anniversary of the glorious Reformation. In just a few months we will find ourselves marking that momentous year, and our Grace Agenda conference in the spring is dedicated to a celebration of it. Now the history of the Church is always tangled, and we can never approach …
Going on a Worship Strike
I come now to my second installment in replying to Roger Olson’s recent diatribe against Calvinism. Here is how these things usually go, and I want to suggest another way for them to go. A Calvinist explains the doctrines he holds, at the end of which explanation, his Arminian friend exclaims, “I could never worship …