This Week in Calvinism - April 27, 2012

• Steve Hays asks, "Is Roger Olson pretentious?"
  
  
• The Kentucky Baptist Convention will sponsor a conference on Calvinism in August to take an "objective look at today's most discussed theological issue."
  
  
• Jordan Hall is skeptical.
  
  
• According to Derek Ouellette, "Calvinism offers about as much security to the believer as full blown Pelagianism!"
  
  
• John Piper discusses his future at Desiring God.
  
  
• Seven ways to pray for your prayer life.

Chuck Colson Remembered

This Week in Calvinism - April 20, 2012

• Kevin DeYoung, senior pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan, thinks that what the Calvinist resurgence needs to show more of "is an earnest commitment to global missions."

• Is Calvinism anti-missionary? Absolutely not, but more can be done. "At very least," writes Kenneth Stewart, "this is no time for evangelical Calvinists to be resting on the bare historical record of how our convictions have, in past, promoted missionary sacrifice; we must demonstrate that these same principles are operative now."

• Contemporary environmentalism's greatest religious debt is owed to...Calvinism?

• Anti-Calvinist crusader Kerrigan Skelly isn't interested in discussing his so-called "refutation" of Calvinism. I asked a couple of questions and was banned from posting anything further on his YouTube page.

• How people see Calvinists.

• Would Arminian Martin Glynn ever worship a Calvinist God? Yes, but he wouldn't like it.

• Books Tim Challies didn't review.

America: A Nation of Heretics

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat has written a book entitled Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. In it he describes the sad state of religion in America, from how we twist the gospel for our own prosperity to the "messianic" status we assign to our political leaders.

Douthat, a conservative Catholic, discusses his book in this NPR interview:

The Book of Romans in 45 Tweets

We don't yet have a Twitter-ized version of the entire Bible, but we do have a nice summary of the Book of Romans:

Romans 1
The resurrected Lord Jesus has commissioned the advance of his gospel for the sake of his name among all nations (#Romans 1:1-7).

Serving God in the gospel of his Son and obligated to all peoples, preaching the gospel is marked by eagerness (#Romans 1:8-15).

The gospel is God's power that results in salvation for everyone who believes. Everyone who believes (#Romans 1:16-17).

God's wrath is made known against man's unrighteousness — all who rebel against God to worship creaturely stuff (#Romans 1:18-32).

Romans 2
You presuming upon God's kindness and refusing to repent is you storing up wrath for yourself on the day of judgment (#Romans 2:1-11).

A true Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is really a matter of the heart, by the Spirit (#Romans 2:12-29).

Romans 3
Jewish people are advantaged, entrusted with God's oracles. Their faithlessness doesn't nullfy the faithfulness of God (#Romans 3:1-8).

We're all the same, Jew and non-Jew. We're sinners. None is righteous, nobody. And we can't save ourselves (#Romans 3:9-20).

All who believe are justified by God's gift through Jesus, who bore the wrath we deserved. Our boasting is excluded (#Romans 3:21-31).

Romans 4
Abraham is faith's "Exhibit A". He trusted the one who justifies the ungodly and it was counted as righteousness (#Romans 4:1-12).

It all rests on God's grace, not works. The righteousness counted to Abraham is counted to us who believe in Jesus (#Romans 4:13-25).

Read the rest here.

Doug Wilson Responds to Tim Keller's Series on Evolution and Creation

Tim Keller wrote a six-part series of articles for BioLogos entitled "Creation, Evolution, and Christian Laypeople." In those articles he addressed several questions regarding creation and evolution, discussing the relationship of biblical revelation and science.

After reading Keller's series, Doug Wilson had some questions of his own:

Keller does a fine job in stating the most formidable objection to theistic evolution, but then provides no adequate answer for it whatever. He says, "The process of evolution, however, understands violence, predation, and death to be the very engine of how life develops. If God brings about life through evolution, how do we reconcile that with the idea of a good God? The problem of evil seems to be worse for the believer in theistic evolution." If, as I believe, the answer to this dilemma is that we can't, Keller appears to grant this point by default because what I say we can't do, he doesn't do.

The reason for postulating millions of years of life on this planet is to provide an account for the fossil record. But the fossil record is made up entirely of bodies. It is a graveyard record. It is a record of death. But this means that Adam did not bring death into the world -- rather death brought Adam into the world. But Paul says that it was the other way around (Rom. 5:12). Moreover this would mean that God settled on millions of years of "nature red in tooth and claw" as His ideal means of creation -- entirely apart from any sin or rebellion on anyone's part -- and that He looked down on this agonistic morass and pronounced it good. Talk about the problem of evil.

Since the work of the Church in this world is the restoration of Eden, it is worth noting that theistic evolution mandates a complete reversal of the definition of creational good. It turns out that Eden was as bloody as the post fall world. What did we fall into then?

Read Wilson's full post here.

This Week in Calvinism - April 13, 2012

• Audio from the Together for the Gospel 2012 conference is available for download.
  
  
• For those of you unable to attend the conference, Tim Challies has the T4G book list.
  
  
• Charles Spurgeon on irresistible grace.
  
  
• This video from Kerrigan Skelly, "The Parable of the Wicked Fireman," is a weak and ignorant attempt to refute Calvinism, something he has been trying to do for some time now. I wonder how he would respond to my burning question for Arminians.
  
  
• Another anti-Calvinist video. This time it's Tim Warner explaining how this "evil and wicked doctrine" undermines God's character, making him "irrational and arbitrary."
  
  
• Mark Driscoll's scheduled speaking engagement at Liberty University is making waves.
  
  
• Mike Leake concludes his series of posts entitled "The Root of Angry and Divisive Calvinists."
  
  
• Reformation and rediscovery: an interview with Herman J. Selderhuis.

What to Do When You Run Out of Sermon Ideas

If your well has run dry, and you just can't come up with any compelling sermon ideas, do what Pastor John Van Sloten of New Hope Church does: let popular musicians do the preaching for you.

This Week in Calvinism - April 6, 2012

• Free ebook: What is the Reformed Faith? The High Points of Calvinism, by Thomas E. Tyson and G. I. Williamson.
  
  
• Uniting Calvinism and feminism?
  
  
• Christopher Macfarlane is bothered by the fact that James White considers Arminians to be brothers in the Lord.
  
  
• The Father's Cup, a Good Friday account by Rick Gamache.
  
  
• Audio and video from the recent event Race and the Christian, featuring John Piper, Tim Keller, and Anthony Bradley, are available for download.

Visual Theology: The Ordo Salutis

This and other prints are available from Tim Challies at the Visual Theology Store.