Merry Christmas from MO
2009 December 25
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Sniffing out the work of God in the world…
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Awww, that’s a cute girl…and good looking rest of the family, too
BTW, re: “Just tried to explain Calvinism to someone. Hard to do without shaking my head”…do you have the John Calvin for Dummies version? Not sure I know what this is either…
There is a very short paperback by Steele and Thomas titled the Five Points of Calvinism that does a pretty decent job of explaining at least the response of the synod of Dordt to the five points of Arminiaism as put forth by the Dutch Remonstants. Also, R.C. Sproul has a short book titled something like Chosen by God (Ligonier Ministries will provide a copy for free) that explains Calvinism succinctly.
If your understanding of Calvinism was learned in a normal CofC setting the odds are high that what you heard was a caricature of Calvinism; and that makes it difficult to explain to another person. As an example, a person I respect very much was quoted on this blog as deriding Calvinism in one sentence and praising Augustine in the next. Go figure!
Perhaps the briefest way to explain Calvinism is to simply say it is the belief that this is God’s world and he runs it the way he wants. He is not thwarted by mere men and women nor does he ever have to resort to plan B. That is actually a pretty simple summation.
Peace,
Geezer