bob gets bloggy
bob and jackie are missionaries to africa (currently on home assignment). bob has renewed his blogging activity as a way of keeping in touch with friends, family, and you.
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Posts tagged "theology"
from discussion in comments at AGThinkTank.com
| George Wood: | The problem is that Arminians also stress God’s sovereignty and divine prerogative, while Calvinists admit man’s moral responsibility. That is not the nub of the issue between Calvinists and Arminians. The nub is unconditional election, limited atonement, and eternal security. |
| Me: | That may be the nub of the issue between Calvinism and Arminianism, but it doesn’t have to be the center for our understanding of soteriology. |
| George: | While the AG deftly tries to avoid "the extreme positions" of the two camps, in reality this is impossible. |
| Me: | It may well be impossible if you start from inside of one of the traditional positions and then try to reason your way to a halfway point. But it is not horribly difficult if you start from a third position and describe how it overlaps both while being different from either. That is what I’m suggesting and I think it is exactly the kind of thing an AG Think Tank might be able to articulate to make a positive contribution to the fellowship’s theological identity. |
| George: | There’s not a lot of wiggle room between those two hard edges. |
| Me: | Then don’t get down between those edges - start somewhere else. |
My comment at CT
The link below to the article at Christianity Today’s website will also take you to a variety of comments at the end of the article. I contributed one, which is reproduced here:
Very well articulated! I am from a Pentecostal background, and have come to a very similar view from a very different path. There are a number of us who grew up in Pentecostal churches who rejected some of our own heritage because we saw its extremes, but have come back to it for the same reasons we have adopted a systematic theology very close to Calvinism: because we found it in the Bible. And what a relief when we do: it is hard to deny something that has been experienced as alive and life-giving!
“In the matter of the security of the believer, The General Council of the Assemblies of God stands between the extreme positions of Calvinism and Arminianism. It accepts the scriptural elements found in both teachings. The Calvinist stresses, rightly, God’s sovereignty and divine prerogative, while the Arminian stresses, also rightly, man’s free will and responsibility. The two positions, however, must be considered together if they are to be properly understood.”
Teaching a Calvinist to Dance | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction →
Excellent article that articulates the compatibility of Pentecostal worship with Reformed theology. Note: I am neither a Calvinist nor an Arminian, but a compatibilist.
