Ethics Daily is reporting that SBC Life will be publishing an article that challenges the theology of Herschel Hobbs regarding the doctrine of election.
Since the takeover of the SBC, Baptists have undergone a resurgence of Calvinism.
The article says, "Pelagianians, Arminians and Open Theists will not find a home in our Southern Baptist family."
8 comments:
I've been noticing a lot of discussion re Calvinism in the more conservative blogs. I don't get it. Not sure what to make of it. What's the attraction to Calvinism? Is it a political thing? I've been starting to follow it a little bit, not sure what it means though. Must be all the Puritan sermons or something.
Fred Phelps describes himself as a 5 point Calvinist. That's enough for me to steer clear of it.
I hardly recognize Southern Baptists anymore. Calvinism, opposition to separation of church and state, requiring belief in certain doctrines...that's not what I grew up with. I stopped being a Baptist over 20 years ago, but I haven't forgotten what it was like, and it wasn't like this.
Why Calvinism? I've been reading this article by John Piper it just seems so ludicrous. What's the attraction to Calvinism. Is it the reconstructionist thing? It seems so determinist. Like they don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. It's all based on God being more wrathful and violent than anything else. In the current SBC theology what is the difference between God and the Satan. I don't understand it. All this preordained/predestined stuff is weird. I guess I'm just a Zero Point Calvinist.
Why Calvinism? Is it an avoidance of taking responsibility for your own actions. From their writings it seems they view God as being more violent and wrathful than anything else and that's why He's God. Violence and wrath comes from God, except for the violence they don't approve of. Predestination? Do they actually believe God has predestined some for Hell, or am I understanding it wrong. Everything seems to hinge on a God of violence, a God, who for all intents and purposes, arbitrarily inflicts violence on people.
I'm a Minus-One Point Calvinist myself, being Apostolic and Eastern Orthodox. You could say that my horns are 3 inches longer than that of the average Armenian.
I have had problems with Predestination, especially Revelation 22:19. In Calvin's 1599 Geneva Study Bible [http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/GenevaStudyBible/gen.cgi?book=re&chapter=022], this verse is actually replaced by a useless footnote.
Let's put it this way, we Eastern Orthodox like our Bibles Translated, not Edited.
While we're at it, let's talk about Total Depravity and it's impact upon the Council of Carthage, 397 AD. If, in conjuction with Chapter XXXI, Article iv of the Westminster Confession, the Church Fathers at this Council were Totally Depraved and All synods or councils since the apostles' times, whether general or particular, may err, and many have erred; therefore they are not to be made the rule of faith or practice, but to be used as a help in both. , by what authority did this Church Council select the Books currently in the Bible, and discard the Gnostic Gospels of Judas, Phillip, and Thomas?
Let's just say that I am unwilling to make those Calvinist Assumptions that void the Legitimacy of the Bible.
You Baptists are free to believe what you want. However, when you're having troubles with Calvinism, you will find us Eastern Orthodox to be your BEST FRIENDS.
PS: If the Calvinists make you unwelcome within your own church, then know this:
You will be welcomed within the Orthodox Church. There is plenty of room for former Baptists, albeit standing room, for you. Even our Bishop [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_(Royster)] was once a Baptist.
Also know this:
If you can't stomach the errors of Calvinism as they infiltrate into the Baptist Church, then you won't have to put up with it any more in your new home with the Orthodox Church.
God's Blessing Upon You!
I was once a Baptist. I was also a Zero Point Calvinist.
The Baptists had a problem in that they were lax with their outreach. The Orthodox, on the other hand, were also Zero Point Calviists. The Orthodox were also dilligent with their OUTREACH [caps intentional].
As per outreach, there waw a contrast greater than Black and White. If I mised more than 3 Sundays, I could expect as many as 3 phone calls to inquire about my health from the Orthodox. It took the Baptist 5 years to even notice that I had not attended any of their servicces; I was there to inflate their rolls. When I went on a job search, the Orthodox spilled much Holy Water for Travel Blessings for me. The Baptists didn't care, and a couple even took this problem as a chance to harrass me.
On really hard questions like "How do you even know that the RIGHT books are in the Bible?". The Orthodox gave me an airtight historic answer; wheras, the Baptists gave a Calvinism-based answer that would legally permit the inclusion of the Gospels according to Judas, Thomas, and Phillip, which are Gnostic Gospels.
Consequently,I went Orthodox.
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