grievance

I started reading Roger Olson's Against Calvinism. Calvinist Michael Horton writes the preface. I don't even remember what he says. It's very friendly and amiable as all things Christ-like should be, but I've questioned that assumption for a long time now. If the Gospel is the Gospel, then anything that claims to be the Gospel but is not the Gospel is by definition heresy and we should not treat it as some viable option. The Synod of Dort rightly condemned the Articles of the Remonstrance. It was condemned as heresy but we do not even use the word today because "We ArE AlL BRoTHerS and SiSterS." but if some believe an entirely different message, we cannot be brothers and sisters. Steve Lawson said that Christians resist Calvinism because they do not know the Bible. That's not entirely true. I've talked to a few Christians who resist Calvinism, but when they hear the truth of it, their resistance begins to break down. That's who he is talking about. The most vocal and spirited resistance comes from those who know the Bible but resist it. They do not like the Bible nor what it teaches. Man is a sinner, completely corrupt, and unable to save himself. God must save him and God does not save everyone. They resist all of this, not because they do not know the Bible. They know the Bible, but they resist the God of the Bible.

my book will be called Nine. There are nine essential matters where Calvinism and Arminianism differ:

scripture
the sovereignty of God
sin
love
election
regeneration
justification
sanctification
perseverance

and the differences are not merely matters of preference. they differ greatly not only in their approach to scripture, but in their implications and logical conclusions.

• Is Scripture the very word of God, to be trusted and wholly believed, without exception, or can we change, twist, add, fabricate our own solutions to things we do not agree with?
• Is God sovereign, or is man free to do his own will and determine his own destiny?
• Is man a sinner, dead in sin, unable to please God, unwilling to seek him, or can he freely, ultimately, choose to believe in Christ of his own free will?
• Does God love everyone on the earth, making no distinction between those who hate him and those who love him, or does he love only those whom he has chosen?
• Has God sovereignly chosen who will be saved, leaving the rest to perish or does he respond to men and leave them to initiate salvation?
• Is faith a gift of God leading men to put their trust in Christ, or does God doubly regenerate the already faithful heart?
• Are we forgiven of our sins and made absolutely righteous in God's sight, or merely forgiven, dependent on ourselves to achieve the righteousness of Christ in order to live eternally with God?
• Does God require absolute holiness to enter eternity with him or can we depend on him to keep us because we believe in him?
• Will God keep us despite our human frailty or will he abandon us at some unknown arbitrary threshold of sin?

these are the things. i'm a nobody. a nothing. i don't even know why i'm writing this. i need to. that's all i know.

in other news, i'm finishing editing a volume by ryle about a lot of martyrs in the english church. pretty intense stuff, and editing this has led me to an entire set about the martyrs during the elizabethan persecution of the nonconformists which isn't available on amazon: the lives of the puritans by benjamin brook.wow