oldpaths

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There has been a few recent #oldpaths blog articles. My friend Ryan Hayden has been writing on this on and off for months, mostly recently here. This drew the subtweeted ire of men like Hamblin and Beaumont, who (to be honest) totally deserve each other. Then along came Josh Teis with this and this follow up from his dad - representing the older generation.  Again, there was a whole raft of sub tweets. Then only yesterday, William Tyson gave us this. 

I haven't the time to analyse all the various blogs. I place on record again my view that Ryan Hayden comes across as very balanced in his contributions. He himself is not a Calvinist - flirted with it at one time - but has the basic wit to give us valued pages about what Independent Baptists could learn from Calvinists and it was all good stuff about Bible preaching and solid doctrinal hymns. 

In this present article of mine, I want me narrow in on this statement from Mr Tyson:

I believe these statements laid out by Pastor Teis and Hayden are valid ones but they ultimately are not what is causing the true division is fundamentalism. The truth is that the elephant in the room is standards. The issue is CCM, dress standards, door to door soul winning & Calvinistic leanings, the King James Bible, and movies and entertainment. In most cases you do not have an issue with one without having issues with many. They are inter-connected as a philosophy of ministry.

The brother with the "Calvinistic leanings" draws my attention in particular. I note that it is not even the full blown Calvinist who is under the microscope here, but the one who has leanings in that direction - whatever that is supposed to mean. I am not sure how to read the whole paragraph here. Is he part of the ultimate cause of true division in fundamentalism? CH Spurgeon once spoke about the old paths. (He called it the old school, but it is practically the same thing. The key is in the adjective and not the noun.) In the context of full blown Augustinian Calvinism, he said that he was of the old school. If our #oldpath friends ever do get round to the elephant in the room, are they going to shift Spurgeon (and those who fundamentally believe his Calvinism) out? 

If they do, then they cannot claim any historic connection with the old Fundamentalist battles, many of which were engaged in by Calvinist Presbyterians (Machen etc.,) or indeed with (where applicable) their own Baptist History. Their fundamentalist Baptist heroes like John R Rice preached with full blown Calvinists and have it on record that they believe that God raised up Calvin and other Protestant Reformers and that they contended for the faith. 

If they graciously decide to keep the Calvinist in, then they need to pull back their horns and eat crow over some of their comments on Calvinism. Do they really want to go down the route of the said Hamblin above who is as clear as mud on the matter? 

Other helpful pages:

* Help! My pastor's library is full of Calvinist books!  
* Welcome here! I welcome Baptists - Do you welcome Calvinists?  
* Calvinists and their sympathisers - who do you quote and why?

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