Christendom Blogosis

poor John Calvin…

All these Christians now calling themselves after his name.

I propose that we leave John Calvin out of this mess. Calvinists should actually be called dorts.

So we should henceforth refer to calvinists as dorts and calvinism as dortism.

After all, it wasn’t John Calvin who created the “five points of calvinism” (otherwise known as TULIP). At the very least, calvinists should be called Beza’ians if they insist on having a label by a name other than Christ.

…and while I am on the subject what is so wrong with some of the points of “arminianism”?

Arminian Articles of Remonstrance
* God has decreed to save through Jesus Christ those of the fallen and sinful race who through the grace of the Holy Spirit believe in him, but leaves in sin the incorrigible and unbelieving. (In other words predestination is said to be conditioned by God’s foreknowledge of who would respond to the gospel)
* Christ died for all men (not just for the elect), but no one except the believer has remission of sin.
* Man can neither of himself nor of his free will do anything truly good until he is born again of God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit. (Though accused of such, Arminius and his followers were not Pelagians.)
* All good deeds or movements in the regenerate must be ascribed to the grace of God but his grace is not irresistible.
* Those who are incorporated into Christ by a true faith have power given them through the assisting grace of the Holy Spirit to persevere in the faith. But it is possible for a believer to fall from grace.

Do I agree with all of the 5 points above? No. Do I agree with any of them? Yes.

I should present the other side as well.

The Canon of Dort (”The Five Points of Calvinism”)
* that fallen man was totally unable to save himself (Total Depravity)
* that God’s electing purpose was not conditioned by anything in man (Unconditional Election)
* that Christ’s atoning death was sufficient to save all men, but efficient only for the elect (Limited Atonement)
* that the gift of faith, sovereignly given by God’s Holy Spirit, cannot be resisted by the elect (Irresistible Grace)
* that those who are regenerated and justified will persevere in the faith (Perseverance of the saints)

Do I agree with all of the 5 points above? As stated, yes. However, I must note that everything in block quotes above is pasted from another site (a reformed site no less) and I do not agree with some of the teachings we have today concerning limited atonement.

I am sure all the elite calvinists…err…I mean, dorts out there will not like the label change, but, it is more proper.

AMDG

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 25th, 2005 at 13:52 and is filed under Doctrine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.