TIPTOE-ING THROUGH (AND AROUND AND ON RARE OCCASSIONS ON) THE TULIPS, PART 3 OF 3: THOUGHTS TO CONSIDER

Calvinist Charles Simeon on left, Arminian John Wesley on right.

Just three installments on Calvinism vs. Arminianism? True, the blogs are long, but is this doing the subject justice? 

Consider: My purpose is not to promote one theology over the other, because both are held by godly but imperfect men who have searched the Scripture. Rather, my goal is to help us realize that the other side of the debate is NOT the enemy. I believe the time is coming that we'll find ourselves sharing a jail cell with believers who differ in theology but share our love and devotion for Christ; thus, we need to encourage each other, not try to win an argument.

So allow me to give several bullet points of things to think about.

1. WHAT MODEL OF CAR WAS THAT?

    One of my college classmates was in a car wreck, so two other friends asked his roommate (interestingly, Tom Cousins, who introduced me to Calvinism vs. Arminianism) the important question: what make was the car? One thought it was one kind of car, and the other thought it was a different kind. Cousins laughed, and said it was a custom car, with the front end being one make and the back the other. In other words, both were right, but not completely.

    I've heard some use the argument, "We can both be wrong, but we both can't be right." Usually, they mean, "I believe I'm right, but I know you're wrong;" they really don't consider that I'm right and they're wrong as a possiblility. But they've missed two other options: 1) That neither is wrong, like my friends and the wrecked car, and 2) In eternity, it doesn't really matter who's right: We're to love one another.

2. ARE MY IDIOSYNCRASIES PREDESTINED?

    Remember the days when Baskins and Robbins was known as 31 flavors? Each month they had a selection of 31 varieties of Ice Cream, Sherbet, and Ices, and, of course, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. Do you know how many possibilities to mix and match for getting a two dip cone? I do: Five hundred ninety five! So how many choices do I have? Would you believe 10? On a good month, it might be 15, and a great month it would be 21!

    I'm sure you're scratching your head, since there are more flavors (31, and of course, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla) than the largest number I gave. And why did I give three exact numbers? Well, let me explain.

    Before I walk in the store and get the list of 31 (and of course, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla), I've mentally discarded any option with chocolate, strawberry and vanilla: I can get those anyplace! Plus, I know I won't be limiting myself to one flavor. Then I pick up the list and usually I find five flavors that interest me, which cuts it down to ten choices! On a good month I might have six attention grabbing flavors (15 choices), and maybe even seven (21 choices).

    Of course, just because I quickly eliminated 585 choices for me doesn't mean the guy behind me will choose two scoops of chocolate. It is just me; it's the way I'm made. But did I make myself that way? Let's look at Psalm 33:15-"He fashions their hearts individually, He considers (or understands) all their works."

    To the topic I'm dealing with, is it possible that those who are drawn to the Gospel are drawn because God fashioned their hearts to be drawn?

3. IS GOD THE MASTER SCRIPT WRITER OR THE MASTER CHESS PLAYER?

    I'll be honest. I shake my head in disbelief with the Calvinists who say that if God is sovereign, we can't have free will - even libertarian free will. 

    I'm impressed with the script writer who can work magic in story telling, but not as much as the chess player who watches you move and sees the next ten moves on both sides, allowing you to think you're making a great move as you're falling right into his trap. If God is sovereign as well as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, He is fully capable of allowing free will without worrying about how it affects His plans.

4. IS THERE A THIRD CHOICE BESIDES FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION?

    I believe there is: Granted free will. God allows us to make a choice between options He in His sovereignty has chosen. We're not the ones who make the list of what we can do - God imposed His sovereign limits to our choices, and maybe He's comfortable enough to let us decide between two or more choices.

    Let me take it a step further. Total depravity (believed by Calvinists and Classic Arminians) says we're not able to obey God until the Spirit draws us. Both sides also believe we have free will after salvation - does God predestine His children to disobey Him? The Arminian believes that when the Spirit draws us, He gives us the ability to obey His call, in addition to the ability to disobey we're born with. Is the Calvinist saying that when the Spirit draws us, He both gives us the ability to obey and takes away the ability to disobey, and then a second later, restores the ability to disobey that as believer we don't really want?

5. IS IT POSSIBLE BOTH ARMINIANS AND CALVINISTS OVERESTIMATE FREE WILL AS EITHER A RIGHT WE HAVE OR AS A BOGEYMAN FALSE GOSPEL?

    But first a question: Do you remember who did a '70's hit called "Best of My Love?" I believe it's by a group that starts with an 'E'? I really liked that song. Okay, back to the topic at hand.

    How much free will do we have in reality? Do you chose your first name, middle name, last name, nationality, birth gender, hair color, eye color, skin color, place you grow up in, your parents, your siblings, or your grade school teachers? Does your free will ever get defeated by the free will of opposing sports teams and political parties or criminals? How is your free will helping get low gas prices or picking up every item you want at the grocery store or your favorite menu item at your restaurant?

    One thing that makes me cringe are the "We have a free will/God's a perfect gentleman and won't violate our free will." I'm sure Saul of Tarsus would say an amen to that. What? He won't? 

    I mentioned in the previous point the concept of Granted Free Will. The reality is that any free will we have is given by God. It's not a natural commodity. God's will WILL be done. 

    Oh, you're wondering why I asked about "Best of My Love?" You're telling me that was the classic song by the Eagles? No way. That song's totally depressing. The one I enjoy is upbeat. Oh, I remember. I'm thinking of the disco song by the Emotions. Same title, same era, performed by groups starting with the letter "E". And totally different songs.

    Guess what, Calvinists who claim free will is a false gospel? When I hear people talk about free will, I hear two songs as different as the Eagles and Emotions songs. When some people say "free will", they mean "self-sovereignty," and I'm with the Calvinists on how wrong they are. But other times, "free will" is better seen as human responsibility, and that type of Free will has less chance of being a false gospel as the Indiana Pacers have of winning the Super Bowl. (For the sports challenged, the Pacers will NEVER will a Super Bowl, since they're a basketball team.)

6. WHILE DISCUSSING POSSIBILITIES, COULD BOTH CALVINISM AND ARMINIANISM HAVE THEIR PLACE IN THIS WORLD?

    Here's a thought I have. If witnessing to someone who believes he's the captain of his own ship, shouldn't we point out to him he isn't, and that God is sovereign over every area of his life? Likewise, when dealing with a secular pre-determinist who denies free will, would it be important to tell him that God holds him responsible for every decision he makes?

7. CAN WE "HONOR ALL MEN" (1 PET. 2:17) BY NOT CREATING CARICATURES NOT BASED ON REALITY?

    I'll admit I see more of this from Calvinists than the other way around, but I have no doubt Arminians can be guilty of this as well. I saw one Calvinist quote Hebrews 7:25 - "Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to Christ through Him," then claim that Arminians and two Arminian groups don't believe in the "through Him." At that time, I was in the Society of Evangelical Arminians, and asked them if they agreed with that characterizaton. The response was an unanimous NO!!!

    Another oft-used argument is Calvinists claim Arminians believe we have to give God permission to save us. Is that true? Probably with the more semi-pelagian territory. However, I disagree. God gives us invitational imperatives: "Come and let us reason together" (Isa. 1:18); "If you're thirsty, come to the water" (Isa. 55:1); Come all that are weary and heavyChar laden" (Matt. 11:28). "Come" is both an invitation but also a command. If we obey and come, He saves us. If we disobey the command and don't come, then we face the consequences of disobedience.

    Allow me to wrap this long but hopefully thought provoking blog with this story.

    One of my heroes of the faith is Charles Simeon, for several reasons, including the story I'm sharing which I first read in Warren Wiersbe's 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith; John Piper also mentioned it in a blog. Below is an account of a conversation between Charles Simeon and John Wesley, thanks to Simeon's biographer Handley Carr Glyn Moule (pp.79ff). Allow me to write it as a script so it's easier to follow.

Simeon:  Sir, I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers.  But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions.  Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart?

Wesley:  Yes, I do indeed.

Simeon:  And do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?

Wesley:  Yes, solely through Christ.

Simeon:  But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?

Wesley:  No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last.

Simeon:  Allowing, then, that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power? 

Wesley:  No. 

Simeon:  What then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother's arms? 

Wesley:  Yes, altogether.  

Simeon:  And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom? 

Wesley:  Yes, I have no hope but in Him. 

Simeon:  Then, Sir, with your leave I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election, my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it; and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things where in we agree. 

Why can't we have more conversations with each other like this on the topic of Calvinism and Arminianism?

 

PASTOR APPRECIATION MONTH, PART 3 OF 3 - PASTORS I'VE NEVER MET

 

 

My bookshelf (it's been rearranged once or two dozen times since).

In this three part series, I've looked at pastors who have been behind the pulpit with me sitting under their ministry. I've also looked at pastors who were primarily sitting at one side of a McDonald's table with a cup of hot coffee and me on the other side with a cup of iced coffee. 

However, God had used people in the role of pastor I have never met. Sometimes, it's because their influence was more via television or radio or books they've written, with me observing from a place they can't see me. In other cases, they are individuals who finished their race before I started mine. I'll be mentioning "pastors" I appreciate who were, in a sense, behind the veil. And these I'll list alphabetically - more challenging for me, but it might make this list more interesting!

1. Kay Arthur, founder of Precept Ministries.
   
2. Athanasius, church father and influence on the Nicene Creed.
   
3. Margaret Becker, Christian singer/songwriter.
   
4. Rosaria Butterfield, author of The Gospel Comes With A House Key, dealing with hospitality and community.
   
5. Steve Camp, Christian singer/songwriter, pastor. 
6. Michael Card, Christian singer/songwriter, author.
   
7. Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option, focusing on community.
   
8. Les Feldick, host of "Through The Bible with Les Feldick, focusing on the importance of Paul.
   
9. Ronnie Lee Floyd, former SBC President.
   
10. Todd Friel, host of Wretched Radio.
    
11. J. D. Greear, former SBC president.
12. Keith Green, Christian singer/songwriter.
    
13. Gary Habermas, apologist.
    
14. Dave Hunt, author/apologist.
    
15. Eric Liddle, Olympic runner, missionary.
    
16. John MacArthur, pastor, author, radio minister. 
17. Daniel McCabe, singer/songwriter for the Daniel Band. 
18. Dr. J. Vernon McGee, pastor, host of Thru The Bible Radio.  
19. Philip Melanchthon, reformer, co-laborer with Martin Luther. 
20. Russell Moore, seminary professor, former ERLC President.
21. J. P. Moreland, apologist, author of Love Your God With All Your Mind.  
22. Rich Mullins, Christian singer/songwriter.
23. Kerry Nietz, author of the Peril In Plain Space trilogy, which emphasizes community (don't be scared off by the book titles or book covers). 
24. Ed O'Neil, founding member of Dixie Melody Boys.
    
25. Janet Parshall, hostess of "In The Market" on Moody Radio.
    
26. David Platt, author, pastor, former International Mission Board president.
    
27. Frank Reich, formal football player, Colts coach, seminary professor.
    
28. Carroll Roberson, Southern Gospel singer. 
29. Francis Schaeffer, author. 
30. Charles Simeon, pastor who dealt with adversity.
    
31. Charles Simmons, pastor and radio minister. 
32. Charles Stanley, pastor, radio/TV minister.
    
33. Tertullian, church father. 
34. Cal Thomas, journalist.
    
35. Gary Thomas, author of Sacred Pathways.
    
36. Isaac Watts, pastor, hymn writer, author of logic textbooks and cathecisms.
37. Charles Wesley, co-founder of the Methodist church, evangelist/pastor, hymn writer. 
38. George Whitfield, co-founder of the Methodist church, missionary/evangelist.
39. Malcolm Wild, Christian musician.
    
40. Richard Wurmbrand, pastor, author of Tortured for Christ, founder of Jesus To The Communist World (now known as Voice Of The Martyrs).

Have any authors/historical figures/musicians/TV and radio ministers been an influence on your life?

HOW ABOUT AN ALL SAINTS DAY PARTY?

 

When I read Building the Benedict Option: A Guide to Gathering Two or Three Together in His Name, author Leah Libresco mentioned two ideas that intrigued me. The first was Easter caroling. Hey, why not? Stopping at homes and singing about the Resurrection? The other was a Saints party, where everybody would go around and talk about their favorite saints.

Yes, Libresco is Catholic, and this concept sounds more Catholic than Baptist. Other than Christmas and Good Friday/Easter, the only other liturgical calendar event I've seen at a church I attended was the lighting of the Advent candles. Even though Pentecost is based on a Biblical event focusing on the church, I see more emphasis given to Mother's Day and the Fourth of July. Reformation Day may get some attention - which it deserves - but don't expect All Saints Day to be noticed.

Let me give a dissenting voice. I want to celebrate All Saints Day. I want to have a Saints party! I want to get together with other believers and hear which saints have made an impact on them.

Of course, as most Baptists, I have a different definition to the word "saint." Catholics believe certain people are saints. They go through a process that starts with Beatification, which requires a miracle their posthumous intercession is responsible for, followed by canonization to sainthood following a second miracle. My hunch is most saints to gain that status during the lifetime of their contemporaries. 

When I read the term "saint" in the New Testament, it refers to all believers, not just the spiritual superstars. Paul addressed his recipients as saints, even the model church in Cornith. (A model church of what should be avoided.) Church fathers Tertullian and Origen didn't make the cut of being saints in the Catholic definition, but I expect them to be in the company of the saints in heaven. Besides, as hinted at, you can be a saint where you're alive.

I'll never forget listening to a call on a talk show the day Mother Theresa passed. The host said that she was a saint, and that he and the caller were not. If I had access to a non-work phone, I would have dissented. If we believe in Christ, we're saints. And we're not to see others as being so far beyond us that we can never be close to them, but rather make it our aim to be fully pleasing to Christ (2 Cor. 5:9). 

Another objection is that we're to follow Christ. All human models are fallible. The so-called heroes in the Bible like Noah, Moses, David, and Peter have moments (or more) of failure. Only Jesus lived a sinless life. True, but don't forget 1 Corinthians 11:1 where Paul says be imitators of him as he imitated Christ. 

So who are my favorite saints? I thought about making a list, and I might next year, but I will give five off the top of my head to get conversations going. They would be:

• Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints. Is my tongue in cheek here? Just a little. I know enough to know he's the real deal as a believer.
• Charles Simeon, a pastor in England and contemporary of Jonathan Edwards and the Wesleys. He endured a lot of hostility from his congregation for over a decade, even getting locked out of the church. As a wealthy man, he bought churches (a common practice then) so he could hire Gospel preaching pastors for their pulpit. And I love his dialog with John Wesley (I might write a blog about that sometime).
• Isaac Watts. Not quite my favorite hymn lyric writer - Charles Wesley edges him out. But besides hymns, he also was an apologist. He wrote age-appropriate catachisms for children, and a logic book that was used by Oxford and Cambridge (schools he wasn't able to attend because he was a non-conformist) and Yale.
• Brother Alex in Columbia. He and his co-workers were stopped by guerillas, most of which were killed. They shot Alex in the eye, to which Alex replied, "Has anybody told you Jesus loves you?" After the incident, the gunmen were arrested and imprisoned, and Alex went to visit them and tell them of the love of God.
• Pastor Joe LoMusio, former pastor at Cactus Baptist Church (Phoenix, AZ) and Temple Baptist Church (Fullerton, CA). I can tell you about the sermon he preached the first Sunday night I heard him preach at Cactus Baptist Church, including his text, his main point, an illustration he used from his life, and a joke he made. That sermon was in late August, 1978.

 I'd love to talk about more, but I'll pass for now. Allow me to comment, though, that like the meme I have at the top of this blog - "Surround yourself with those who bring you closer to God. This includes not just your friends, but the authors you read (non-fiction and fiction), the musicians you listen to, and even what you watch (some might help your walk with the Lord, some might hinder).

Who are your favorite saints?