Working on an exegesis paper this week over Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It’s due on Friday, but I haven’t made much progress yet beyond reading through the letter as a whole several times and looking for the overall structure. The thing that has struck me with the most force so far is the repetition of “Christ” – the Greek 

This is kind of funny. Kind of sad. And also, kind of a valid point. John Wesley firmly rejected the Calvinistic “doctrine of predestination”, saying it presented “GOD as worse than the Devil: More False, more Cruel, more Unjust.” (From his sermon Free Grace) “More False; because the Devil, Liar as he is, hath never said, ‘He willeth all Men to be saved.’ More Unjust, because the Devil cannot, if he wou’d, be guilty of such Injustice as you ascribe to GOD, when you say, That GOD condemned Millions of Souls to everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels…

I agree with those who say that Calvinism needs to be defeated on the grounds that it is unscriptural. The Calvinist’s misreading of the Bible is the doctrine’s most fundamental and grievous error.  But that doesn’t mean we should avoid discussing objections which are philosophical.  One can explain how the context of a Scripture passage disqualifies the Calvinist interpretation or one can present solid exegesis of a passage showing the presumed evidence for Calvinism evaporates on closer inspection, but … the Calvinist’s presuppositions remain in place.  In my experience, little to no headway is made through Scriptural arguments. Which is…

There is a quote I came across some years ago that struck me as so true that it has become a firm part of my spiritual understanding of life. Although the internet has collectively decided that G.K. Chesterton said it, I recently discovered the quote originated in a 1945 novel by Scottish author Bruce Marshall called The World, the Flesh and Father Smith. In one scene in the book, Father Smith is confronted by a worldly woman looking to confirm her skepticism about faith. In the course of their conversation about his vows of celibacy, the woman concludes that “Religion…

Why was God’s Old Testament Law so harsh? For instance, did God really command that children who cursed their parents be put to death? (Lev 20:9) How is that just? How often was the death sentence meted out for disobedient children? Maybe such questions have nagged at your faith as well. Bible scholar Michael Jones has put together a fascinating video on this topic and it can be found HERE on YouTube. (28 minutes) Here’s a summary of some key points Jones makes: In other words, the Old Testament Law was meant more for the classroom than the courtroom. It…

Over and over I hear Calvinist preachers use the story of the death of Lazarus in John 11 as a spiritual analogy for salvation. They say, “We are dead in our sins – dead like Lazarus. And when you are dead, there is nothing you can do to be born again. You lie there and wait. And Jesus comes to those whom God has elected and calls them from their spiritual death into new life just as Jesus called Lazarus forth from the tomb.” There are several problems here, but one is that this leaves the Calvinist layering one analogy…

Galatians 5: 19  The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; 20  idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, 21  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. These 3 verses are part of the passage I plan to preach this coming Sunday. I am just in the beginning stages of sermon prep but the first thing I note here is that this is a very odd list. I almost wish Paul had…

One of the questions often posed to Calvinists is this: If God is the one electing certain individuals to salvation, why not elect everyone? The typical answer I have heard is something like “God is glorified in exercising his wrath and judgment on some and glorified by offering his grace to others.” This is a major theme of John Piper’s teaching. God is all about his own glory – and rightly so because he is God. So I googled “how does damning people bring God glory”, because I was curious to see if Calvinists have any Scriptural basis for this…