The Current SBC Calvinism Debate

Moreover, Calvinism was highly ascetic. Whereas, Catholicism and Lutheranism maintained that believers could essentially “work” for God’s forgiveness through faith, good works, etc., Calvinism stressed “systematic self-control necessary, in every moment” (Weber [1905] 2011: p. 127) and the “intensification of good works into a system” (Weber [1905] 2011: p. 129). These qualities suggested to Weber that Calvinism was the epitome of rationalism (Weber [1905] 2011: p. 130). In the context of religion, rationalization refers to the process of systematically organizing one’s life according to a methodical approach, with an intense orientation towards discipline, and the absence of “magic” or mystical elements (i.e., sacraments that can save the “damned”) (Kalberg 2011a: p. 422). This characteristic is what distinguishes Lutheranism from Calvinism. As opposed to Lutheranism, Weber ([1905] 2011) argues that “Calvinism forced [a] methodical organization of life upon the believer” (p. 135). This is due to the fact that salvation could always be won back in Lutheranism through penance. In contrast, Calvinism offered no means to acquire salvation, only hints or signs which were based on “uninterrupted self-control” and the “planned regulation of one’s own life” (Weber [1905] 2011: p. 136). Lutheranism was also characterized by less asceticism due to its teaching that salvation could be acquired. Therefore, Weber ([1905] 2011) also maintains that “Lutheranism lacks the psychological

“While it is true that we have no right to force out personal opinions on others, we do have a responsibility to encourage fellow believers to be faithful to God’s truths, which are presented in Scripture.”

In “A personal reflection: Biblical authority,” Walter Brueggemann writes about how an individual’s personal beliefs are influenced in their interaction with the bible and how they approach understanding it. Brueggemann brings attention to six facets that he believes shapes how an individual constructs their personal beliefs. His six main facets are inherency, interpretation, imagination, ideology, inspiration, and importance.

Let us now examine the time of the Reformation, beginning proper in 1519 with Luther’s quarrels with the Roman Catholic church and ending in the eighteenth century with Wesleyanism, the reformation of theology that occurred within the Church of England.

Adams’s model of biblical counseling is steeped in reformed theology. The entire Nouthetic counseling system rests upon the following implications about God described in John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (Powlison, 2010, p. 98).

Institutes of the Christian Religion: A book by John Calvin that explained the Protestant systematic theology

Faith operates in a unique way by providing the average, the noble, or the distasteful with a means to understand the world we inhabit. However, our worldly experiences also operate as a means to understanding the complexities of our faith. For St. Augustine, faith provides more questions than answers, but consequently leads to his life as a bishop and eventually sainthood. For some, however, the Bible provides the answers to all the questions that go unanswered by common sense. In St. Augustine’s Confessions, Augustine is able to further understand himself and his faith in Christ by reflecting on anecdotes of his past. Conversely, the Bible’s use of etiology provides spiritual justification for physical realities.

In this paper, I am going to share my ideas of theology. I believe that one of the biggest mistakes I made in the past was that I was afraid of being rejected, so I wrote a theology paper and tried to give the previous COM what I thought they wanted to hear instead of what was truly inside of me. Fortunately for me, even though I was not given a green light in order to see the Eccleastical Council, I was licensed to preach and this gave me time

The first section of the book is titled comparative studies. This section is comprised of the first two chapters. Chapter one is aptly named history and methods. Chapter two has been dubbed comparative studies, scholarship, and theology. This section

Church history reveals that a number of serious biblical doctrinal controversies occurred during the late 1800s and early 1900s that gave occasion for the formulation of certain fundamentalist principals to be implemented as a clarification and remedy against unbiblical manifestations. The authority of the Bible was brought into serious question.

James Arminius himself came from a background of Calvinistic viewpoints and embraced many of them. The problem is not John Calvin or James Arminius, but we as imperfect humans. While defending one side, we tend to use straw men and misrepresent the other side of the argument. What we must understand is that both men loved the Lord and wanted to further their understanding of God. Although they may disagree on some issues pertaining to God’s word, me must recognize that both men were imperfect

In Baptist history there has always been differences in doctrine. This has unfortunately resulted, at times, to separate believers from one another. This can be evident from comparing two American Baptist confessions. The most notable difference in doctrine between The Philadelphia Confession of 1742 and A Treatise on the Faith of the Free Will Baptists, 1834 and 1948 is the doctrine of Calvinism versus free-will. The Philadelphia Confession supported Calvinism and the Free Will Baptists supported Arminianism. A closer look at these two confessions show that throughout Baptist history certain doctrines remain constant while others are debated and cause separation of believers. However, this has not stopped the Gospel message to be preached

At first glance the words “Tradition” and “tradition” may appear to be identical concepts. Upon further study, examination, and contemplation, however, these two words differ in their precise definitions. “Tradition” carries more weight and meaning than the word “tradition.” Similarly, “Truth” and “truth” do not denote the exact same principle. In fact, philosophers and religious scholars have been debating the origins of the latter two doctrines since the Middle Ages. The major dispute associated with “Truth” with a capital T and “truth” with a lower-case “t” focuses around the field of study in which each is used. According to two prominent thinkers of the

Although Martin Luther impacts history greatly, people must remember what role John Calvin has to offer as well. Born in France in 1509, John Calvin is raised as a Roman Catholic by his family. His family is so devoted to the Roman Catholic Church that his dad aspires for his son to become a priest (John Calvin- Calvin College 1). John Calvin later reads Luther’s works and converts to the ‘faith of the Reformation.’ He strongly believes that salvation is achieved through faith and predestination (Cowie 44). In 1537, John Calvin publishes, Institutes of the Christian Religion. In this book, John Calvin states his beliefs on Christianity. He proposes that God has been veiled by the devotion of the people to the Virgin Mary and the saints. He also insists in his book that predestination is how God determines who goes to hell and who goes to heaven. John Calvin writes, “We call predestination, God’s eternal degree, by which He determined that He willed to become of each man.

John Calvin’s doctrine of predestination is arguably one of the most important results of the Protestant reformation. Predestination is the belief that “salvation[entrance into heaven] is given to only those whom god has chosen”. The chosen people were called the elect. John Calvin wrote this important belief during the era of the Protestant Reformation. People often formed negative opinions on predestination or let it rule their lives. Some people who did not think like Calvin loathed predestination because they believed that