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The naive and ignorant are very fearful of the Calvinists' bogeyman |
The Calvinists' Bogeyman!
The favourite bogeyman set running amok by
the new school Calvinists in the theological arena is named Hyper-calvinist. All sorts
of weird things are attributed to him. Here is one example... copied from a
website set to defend the tenets of Calvinism. Are those Calvinists serious in
their accusation?
Arthur Pink, when he was slandered as a
hyper-Calvinist, had this to say: "Denunciation is the last resort of a
defeated foe" when people attacked and dismissed his beliefs in his book
"The Sovereignty of God" as hyper-Calvinistic!
Name-calling, a form of denunciation, is indicative of a lost cause. When popular Calvinism is found wanting in the balance of Scriptures, those Calvinists lash back by denouncing those who wanted to show them the truth of grace more completely.
Hey, even Apollos (Acts 18:24) - "an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures... was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit" - could do with some help from nobody like Aquila and Priscilla! What makes the Calvinists think they have arrived???
Look at these PATHETIC charges levelled against an imaginary 'hyper-Calvinist' by the Calvinists!
You be the judge... if you have the capacity
and honesty to discern the imbecilic charges!
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https://www.monergism.com/topics/hyper-calvinism
Calvinists loathe as deplorable the following so-called 'hyper-Calvinistic' and destructive beliefs:
- that God is the author of sin and of evil
- that men have no will of their own, and
secondary causes are of no effect
- that the number of the elect at any time
may be known by men
- that it is wrong to evangelise
- that assurance of election must be sought
prior to repentance and faith
- that men who have once sincerely professed
belief are saved regardless of what they later do
- that God has chosen some races of men and
has rejected others
- that the children of unbelievers dying in
infancy are certainly damned
- that God does not command everyone to
repent
- that the sacraments are not means of grace,
but obstacles to salvation by faith alone.
- that the true church is only invisible, and
salvation is not connected with the visible church
- that the Scriptures are intended to be
interpreted by individuals only and not by the church.
- that no government is to be obeyed which
does not acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord, or that Biblical Law is its source
of authority
- that the grace of God does not work for the
betterment of all men
- that saving faith is equivalent to belief
in the doctrine of predestination
- that only Calvinists are Christians (Neo-gnostic Calvinism).
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All I ask is for these Calvinists to give one example, living or dead, who actually believes what they have described above! Let any Calvinist demonstrate that the bogeyman is not just a figment of their putrid, deranged imagination! These accusations are just too puerile to deserve any rebuttal.
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Dell
Brother Sing, I have been following you for
some time now, and I find your teachings delightful and very edifying. When you
make comments against Calvinism, I get confused because what you teach seems to
agree.
I ask you humbly, do you agree with the Westminster Confession of Faith? Thanks
Sing F Lau
Brother Dell, your question is far toooo broad for
a simple answer.
If you can be a bit more specific, then I can
try to give my plain answer.
Dell
The 5 points of Calvinism are in
question.
I read a post of yours once where you explained how one is regenerated before being brought to the knowledge of Christ. You explained that the gospel itself was not necessarily what a man needs to hear in order for him to come to faith.
It's been a while back and maybe I have remembered it wrong.
Sing F Lau
That is a bit more specific for me to deal
with. Of the 5 points, 2 are quite deficient, and they are erroneous.
Regeneration is the divine activity where and when God brings an elect dead in his native state of sin and death to that of righteousness and eternal life in Jesus Christ. He does this directly and immediately, and not indirectly through the gospel means. This immediate and direct activity of God ALONE guarantees that the promised salvation is SURE to every elect without exception.
I explained that the gospel ministry IS
NECESSARY to bring God's children (the elect who are already regenerated and
made completely and perfectly fit for eternal glory) to conversion, to a saving
knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The gospel ministry is not necessary for the regeneration of the dead elect.
The gospel ministry is VERY NECESSARY for the purpose it was divinely ordained, i.e. to bring the regenerated to know Jesus Christ, i.e for the conversion of God's children to Christ.
"Faith cometh by hearing." It is not "life cometh by hearing" - that's what many Calvinists believe. They are gospel regenerationists. Such a notion is repudiated by the plain statements in the WCF.
Dell
Thanks for clarifying this. What you said is
what can be seen in the account of Abraham being told to leave his country and
people. Abraham believed God and it counted unto him for righteousness, then
many years later, he is brought to the knowledge of Christ. When he said,
"God will provide Himself a sacrifice"
Sing F Lau
Brother Dell, spare a few moments to read
on the subject of Abraham's justification... Calvinists commit a massive
theological blunder... and a serious error...
http://pruning-deformed-branches.blogspot.com/2008/01/massive-theological-blunder.html
Dell
Thanks Brother Sing, That article is the one
I was thinking of. You have it laid out where even the part of about God
justifying the ungodly makes sense and falls into place. May God Bless!
Pj
Abraham was called out and sojourned by
faith; years later, he believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness.
Sing F Lau
Abraham was effectually called out of his
native state of sin and death when he was still in Ur of the Chaldeans.
The effectual calling of Abram out of his native state of sin and death required the sovereign and gracious divine acts of justification (removing the condemnation), regeneration (removing death) and adoption (removing alienation), in that number and logical order. Without these divine acts, a man cannot be brought out of his native state of sin and death to that of grace and salvation.
Then the LORD called him to leave his homeland,
and he obeyed and sojourned by faith. He obeyed because he had been effectually
called to grace and salvation!
The Lord God calling Abram out of his native
state of sin and death to that of righteousness and eternal life, and the Lord
God calling Abram out of his homeland of Ur are VERY DISTINCT callings!!!
ONLY MANY YEARS later (Gen 15:1-6), he experienced the blessedness of his justified state through his believing in the promised seed.
Believing in the promised Seed is the
instrument appointed by God for the justified to EXPERIENCE the blessedness of
their justification before God (has already taken place by God's free grace).
Abraham is the grand example of this glorious truth.
Pj
Much better and more detailed than what I
said.
