This Week in Calvinism - December 30, 2011

• Calvinism is on the rise, but so is Buddhism. It seems Americas "cross religious lines much more easily than political ones." And the author thinks that's a good thing.
  
  
• The five conundrums of Calvinism, according to Roger Olson. I would agree. If one insists on holding God to human standards, then, yes, these are conundrums.
  
  
• Thomas Schreiner on Calvinism and the warning passages in Hebrews.
  
  
• Don Bryant accuses John Piper of being "on the wrong side of cruel."
  
  
• One blogger writes, "If election has predetermined every man's fate, nothing anybody can do will change anything, so why try? This is the point of Calvinism, spiritual inactivity." I guess the writer assumes that sinful and rebellious men want to please God.
  
  
• Justin Taylor presents many different ways of reading through the Bible in 2012.

This Week in Calvinism - December 23, 2011

• Justin Taylor on the persecution of Christians in Kim Jong-Il's North Korea.
  
  
• The Society of Evangelical Arminians takes issue with Justin's post:

  It is simply baffling that Calvinists can decry the diabolical, heinous actions of Kim Jong-Il (and others like him), and yet they hold that God first conceived in his own divine heart every one of the man's wicked actions, thought them up without any influence outside of himself, and unconditionally and irresistibly decreed them without any influence outside of himself, resulting in the man doing them all without any chance, power, or ability to do anything else. It's madness I tell you! Madness!!

  What's madness is believing in the alternative: God creating a world in which people suffer the effects of evil without any meaning or purpose.
  
  
• Shocker. An Arminian considers Roger Olson's latest book, Against Calvinism, to be "an accurate assessment and successful critique" of Calvinism.
  
  
• Jeremy Walker explores New Calvinism's caveats and characteristics, notes its commendations, discusses some cautions and concerns, and offers his conclusions and counsels.

This Week in Calvinism - December 16, 2011

• Preacher-teacher Joel Taylor recommends the book The Truth About New Calvinism as a way of combating the false teaching of men like John Piper, Al Mohler, and R. C. Sproul.
  
  
• Arminian Roger Olson recommends the book Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine as an informative look at the debate over the controversial doctrine. He agrees with the author, saying, "[T]he debate over God's sovereignty in salvation cannot be settled merely or simply by collection of biblical evidence."
  
  
• Atheist John Loftus, ever the eloquent wordsmith, calls Calvinism "bull----."
  
  
• Pastor Andrew Davis describes the reform of his Baptist church.
  
  
• John Piper on the origin of Calvinism.
  
  
• Evidences of God's grace in the church today.

This Week in Calvinism - December 9, 2011

• Peter Berger predicts, "If Calvinism is to make further inroads among Southern Baptists or among any other segments of American Evangelicals, it will be in its Arminian form." Huh?
  
  
• How does one strike a balance between Calvinism and Arminianism? Bob Hadley, Pastor of Westside Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Florida, suggests a new TULIP acrostic: Total Lostness, Unconditional Love, Limiting Atonement, Irrefutable Gospel, Perseverance of the Savior.
  
  
• Beware of self-righteous Calvinism.
  
  
• Charles Spurgeon on evolution.
  
  
• Some book gift ideas from Desiring God.

This Week in Calvinism - December 2, 2011

• Are you recovering from Calvinism? There's help.
  
  
• A list of readings on the subject of divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
  
  
• Brenda Nickel warns of Rick Warren's move toward that "powerful deception" known as Calvinism.
  
  
• England was engulfed in civil war in the 1600s. Was the rise of Puritanism to blame, or could it have been the Arminian plot to overthrow Calvinism?
  
  
• Is Luke 10:13 more problematic for Calvinists or Molinists? Seeing as how God ordains the end and the means, I don't know of any Calvinists who have a problem with it, so I guess it would have to be Molinists.