The Parable of the Wicked Fireman: A "Refutation" of Calvinism

By uploading a few YouTube videos, Kerrigan Skelly has done something no one else has been able to do in hundreds of years: he has refuted Calvinism. Don't believe me? See for yourself:


I wonder how Mr. Skelly would answer my burning question for Arminians.

This Week in Calvinism - June 29, 2012

• Dave Miller of SBC Voices would like to try a new approach in the ongoing debate between Calvinists and "traditionalists."
  
  
• Pastor Ed Young (no, he isn't Ed Young Jr., as so many refer to him) set the blogosphere abuzz with his vicious, arrogant, uninformed rant against Reformed theology.
  
  
• James White responds to Pastor Young as only James White can.
  
  
• What Arminian Roger Olson admires about most Calvinist churches is that they "teach theology/doctrine and how to integrate that into everyday spirituality and ordinary life."
  
  
• An interview with "traditional" Southern Baptist Eric Hankins.
  
  
• Dan Phillips discusses Roger Olson's article for the Assemblies of God on limited atonement (part 1, part 2).

The Evangelist Is No Stranger to Hostility

What Does the Armor of God Look Like?

Have you ever thought about what exactly Paul had in mind when he called on believers to "put on the whole armor of God" (Ephesians 6:10-20)? Lyndon Unger gives us a detailed description.

Make Calvinism More Appealing with BACON

Seriously. Who can resist BACON?

(via Choosing Hats)

Scientists: The Big Bang Didn't Need God

According to scientists, the Big Bang didn't need God in order to bring about everything from nothing.

So, rather than believe in some supernatural Creator, we should put our faith in the laws of physics...even though the same laws of physics that tell us what the Big Bang accomplished -- spewing all matter and energy out from an infinitely small point in nonexistent space -- is impossible.

This Week in Calvinism - June 22, 2012

• Want to kill Calvinism? Here's how.
  
  
• Christianity debunker Jonathan Pearce points out the "fatal" argument against Calvinistic views on infant salvation. In short, the flaw is that Calvinists cannot read God's mind and answer every question someone might have on the issue with 100% certainty.
  
  
• Jared Moore believes many of the Southern Baptists speaking out against Calvinism are themselves "more Calvinistic than they realize."
  
  
• Bryant Wright, in his last message as president of the SBC, called on his fellow Southern Baptists to "repent of theological idolatry."
  
  
• SBC Issues has a post offering to simplify the objections to Calvinism for the average person. You kind of get the feeling it isn't going to be all that objective when the author begins by saying, "I understand WHAT Calvinism says; I do not understand how anyone can be a Calvinist. I really in all honesty cannot understand how anyone can read the Bible and come away from it believing the 5 points of Calvinism."
  
  
• Eric Hankins, coordinator of the recent SBC statement against Calvinism, likes the idea of a "sinner's prayer," provide that it is never "manipulatively employed or utilized apart from a clear articulation of the gospel." Regarding those who aren't fans of the sinner's prayer, he said, "The real problem that the New Calvinists have with the Sinner's Prayer is that they believe only certain people can come to faith, and they don't want the hopelessly condemned thinking they are saved or joining churches when they actually have no chance for life in Christ." So...is he saying that he wants the hopelessly condemned thinking they are saved?

Signs and Wonders Camp

This summer, forget Bible camp. Why not send your kids to Signs and Wonders Camp?


Or you may want to take a more radical approach and try actually equipping them with the gospel.

How Some Arminians View the "God of Calvinism"

When did Roger Olson start writing for The Onion?:

Less than 24 hours after their god bestowed two delicious orange slices upon them, local ants reported the capricious deity had picked up the entire ant farm in which they live and shaken it violently, leaving many to wonder what they had done to incur the all-powerful being's deadly wrath. ...

... The deity, whom the ants know as "Marcus," has long been feared for his volatile and arbitrary behavior. Though he occasionally grants the insects small gifts of sugar water, sources said he routinely abandons the ant farm for days at a time, which sows chaos throughout the colony as hunger-driven hysteria rules its tunnels. Marcus has also been known to smite individual ants by concentrating the sun's rays into deadly beams with his mysterious lens of fire.

From the ants' point of view, it might be difficult to see the difference between Marcus and the Orkin Man.

This Week in Calvinism - June 15, 2012

• David Miller wants to promote a "New Baptist Majority."
  
  
• Tom Ascol, Executive Director of Founders Ministries, expresses "mixed emotions about the recent statement on the 'traditional' Southern Baptist understanding of salvation."
  
  
• Jim Futral, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, accuses Calvinists of taking the simple gospel message and enlarging it "to a huge volume of instruction that is almost mind boggling."
  
  
• Richard Beck would like to say something nice about Calvinism, particularly about it's appeal when dealing with pain and suffering. Yes, the Psalms deal quite a bit with God's sovereignty over such things.
  
  
• This week's Stating the Obvious Award goes to the Baptist Press, for its recent story entitled "Statement on Calvinism sparks blog discussion."
  
  
• That awkward moment when we speak the gospel.
  
  
• The inimitable Phil Johnson of Pyromaniacs fame retires from blogging.
  
  
• So shocking was Phil's departure that even Adolf Hitler weighed in.

New DVD Series Takes You to the Front Lines of Spiritual Warfare

Here is a preview of Dispatches from the Front, a new DVD series which offers an up-close look at what missionaries and pastors are doing in regions that have been traditionally hostile to the gospel of Christ.


Extended preview:


Dispatches from the Front is available from Westminster Books.

This Week in Calvinism - June 8, 2012

• A Muslim has a few questions for Calvinists.
  
  
• 2nd Corinthians in 42 tweets.
  
  
• The recent statement from SBC leaders regarding Calvinism even has Arminian Roger Olson weighing in.
  
  
• While a recent Barna Group survey indicates there is no resurgence in Calvinism, some pastors believe otherwise.
  
  
• What is Calvinism? Drawing from the Canons of Dort, Mike Bergman paints a picture of classical Calvinistic soteriology.
  
  
• John Piper's letter to a 13-year-old on how to delve deeper into the Bible.

Proverbs 18:19

(from the Bureau of Communication)

Pelagianism in the SBC?

One has to wonder when some of the biggest names in the Southern Baptist Convention signed a statement containing the following:

We deny that Adam's sin resulted in the incapacitation of any person's free will or rendered any person guilty before he has personally sinned.

This has raised some serious concerns. John Aloisi writes:

Doctrinal statements mean something. And those who sign them should be very careful lest they end up affirming something contrary to Scripture. The authors of this recent statement claim to be putting forth the understanding of salvation held by the "vast majority" of Southern Baptists. I can only hope they are mistaken in this claim. In addition to disagreeing with the apostle Paul on the issue of original sin, the authors and signers have also staked out a position opposed to the original doctrinal statement of the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1858, the charter statement of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary required all professors to adhere to the Abstract of Principles. Article six of the Abstract affirms that Adam's descendants stand "under condemnation" before they become "actual transgressors." In other words, it affirms that humans are born guilty and liable to condemnation prior to the act of sinning. Apparently, a number of Southern Baptist leaders believe that the Abstract of Principles now lies outside the bounds of the "Traditional Southern Baptist" understanding of salvation.

It would appear some in the SBC are not only ignorant of scripture, they are ignorant of their own history.

Great Bible Reading App for Your Mobile Device

It's simply called ReadingPlan. You can download it and start at any time and progress at your own rate. Here are just a few of the features:

• It can be linked with your favorite Bible app. Clicking on a particular reading will automatically take you to that passage.
  
  
• Your progress can be synced with multiple devices.
  
  
• You can archive your own progress, allowing others to track their own plan on one device.
  
  
• It lets you switch from one reading plan to another without having to start over.
  
  
• Best of all, it's free.

I just downloaded and used it this morning. It's simple, and it works.

This Week in Calvinism - June 1, 2012

(Updated June 2, 2012)

• Rev. Tom Bower laments the rise of a "new fundamentalism," including Calvinism, which he thinks is causing the rapid fading of Christianity in America. Personally, I think it's those like Rev. Bower who seek to "live out a healthy balance between the personal gospel and the social gospel." Last I checked, there was only one gospel. But, then again, I'm one of those "new fundamentalists."
  
  
• Is Calvinism Islamic?
  
  
• When the Bible speaks of things happening in eternity past, such as God choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), we tend to read passages like that too literally. This, according to Jerry Shugart, is the root error of Calvinism. Once we abandon the clear language of scripture, we are free to interpret in a way that fits our theological presuppositions. "Therefore," Shugart writes, "it could be said that God chose us for salvation before the foundation of the world and it could also be said that God did not choose us for salvation until we believed." I must admit, that's a new one to me.
  
  
• The SBC has A group of current and former Southern Baptist leaders have released an official statement regarding the issue of Calvinism, entitled "A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God's Plan of Salvation."
  
  
• David Hankins weighs in on what the SBC they had to say.