Friday, 25 April 2014

Stinking Holiness?


 


 I came across the burqa wearing @IFBnews recently on Twitter recently. If it is of any help to you, my friend #McG had to ask who he was and when finding out, told us all that he was a "solid guy." (As I say, if that is of any help to you.) Before you get carried away with his great-stand-against-Calvinism-brother credentials, please note that his time line includes inspirational and spiritually helpful quotes from solid 5 point Calvinists like Spurgeon, Carey and Bunyan, as well as men who wrote favourably of the ministry of John Calvin e.g. John R Rice and AW Tozer. He also has my old friend #Hamblin in there as well, so the shoutin' and spittin', 5 sermons a year TP Barnum type Christianity is catered for as well. 

Let's take the above tweet as an example of how his type of modern fundamentalism works. One thing that he doesn't agree with the Calvinist interpretation of the Bible. Fair enough. That's life in an imperfect world. But to say that every last petal from the Calvinist TULIP stinks only betrays his ignorance of  doctrine. For example, the 5th of the 5 points is the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. This doctrine teaches that the saints of God will certainly persevere in holiness unto the end. If this thought stinks in comparison to the Bible, as @IFBnews alleges, then we really must ask, what Bible is he using? 

Even #IFB and Non Calvinist, David Cloud, in the 4 things he liked about Calvinism, could readily testify of this 5th point of Calvinism:

3. Calvinism gives eternal security to the believer. Calvinism promises eternal security to the believer, because it knows that (1) salvation is entirely of God's grace and thus depends nothing whatsoever on man's puny works whether good or bad, (2) God has elected and ordained the saved person to a glorious eternal inheritance, and (3) the saved persevere in the faith through the effective working of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In this it is right on target.

4. Calvinism teaches that the elect will give evidence of their calling. The Calvinist knows that salvation produces a dramatic change in a person's life, and in this he is right on target. Any "salvation" that does not result in a change of life and direction and thinking and purpose is not a biblical salvation.

Some critics of Calvinism are obviously more balanced than others. They are a pleasure to engage with in discussion and even debate and generally do not betray their ignorance nor see the need to hide behind a Twitter burqa. Obviously @IFBnews has quite a way to go yet.


* CALVINIST INDEX
* PROTESTANT INDEX
* CH SPURGEON INDEX
* EVANGELISM INDEX
* HERE AND THERE INDEX
* YOUTUBE VIDEO INDEX
* 3 MINUTE AUDIOBOO INDEX

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