Warning… you might consider this post to be flamebait. You have been warned.
Recently, Nathan a church planting friend of mine sent me a link to a very interesting site.
The site is called Calvinist Gadfly and located there is a video post of a quartet at Pensacola Christian College singing the virtues of human free will. Here’s the link.
Watch the video if you have a chance and then read a few of the comments.
Why do people want to “vomit” over this?
My question, of course is why people feel like gagging over the theological differences they have with these clearly Arminian singers? I can agree that gagging over the vocal quality of the performance might be appropriate, but I just don’t get emotional over arcane theological issues even if some people think they are “central” to the faith.
The core debate is that of Calvinism vs. Arminianism.
My Position
For me personally, I’ve settled the issue in my own mind the way John and Charles Wesley did, and in basic summary it is this:
When addressing unbelievers, wafflers, or Pharisees, the perspective taken in the OT and by Jesus himself is “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” or “follow me.”
However, when addressing believers, and especially those concerned about their eternal security or who need additional motivation to live the life they have been called to the perspective taken (by Jesus talking to the 11 and also by Paul) is “no one can snatch you from my hand” and “for those God foreknew…”
Calvinism is a useful tool for believers to understand why the road is narrow and why so few find it.
Arminianism is a useful tool for helping people realize their responsibility and accountability before God.
I think an interesting experiment would be to send a non-Christian to that website and see what they think of some of the esoteric Christian debates and how filled they are with “hate” speech like the disgust represented by the words of the commenters.
Personally, I think Calvinism best explains the teaching of the Bible, but it fails to fully address the evangelistic methods portrayed in the Bible.
Care to debate? 😉
Very good balance between the two viewpoints. I appreciated reading it.