Whitefield/Wesley & Predestination

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

His lifelong search for a closer personal union with God forged his beliefs and ideas. Rejecting the moderate theology of Puritanism, Williams embraced the radical tenets of separatism, turned briefly to Baptist principles, but ultimately declared that Christ’s true church could not be known among men until Christ himself returned to establish it. From his reading of the New Testament, in which Christ had commanded religious truth and error to coexist in every nation until the end of the world, Williams concluded that liberty of conscience”soul liberty” as he called it was necessary because no one could know for certain which form of religion was the true one God had intended.

Predestination is the belief that a person’s life after death is already determined by God the day they were born while the “blank slate” philosophy is the belief that what a person does in their lifetime on Earth determines their afterlife. Congregational churches like the ones most commonly found in the New England area preached the “blank slate” philosophy therefore encouraging the parishioners to constantly commit good deeds so they can travel to heaven in their

Martin Luther considered by many to be a great theologian makes very strong arguments against Eramus concerning grace and free will in Bondage of the Will. Both men have strong view points and are both eloquent writers, Eramus believes that man has the power to either turn towards works that lead to salvation or he has the choice not to. Eramus writes to show that man can voluntarily choose (free will) salvation apart from God. Eramus seems to believe that there exists some type of cooperativeness with mankind and God. Whereas, Luther is writing to show that there exist no cooperativeness and salvation is the work of God alone. For the purposes of this paper I will discuss Luther’s arguments in sub-section two. In this paper I will review

Predestination: A main concept in Calvinism that stated that everyone’s life was predestined, for better or for worse

On October 5, 1703, in East Windsor Connecticut, Timothy and Esther Edwards welcomed their new son, Jonathan Edwards, into the world. From a young age, Jonathan was provided with an excellent education from a highly qualified individual - his father was a minister and a college prepatory tutor. Jonathan Edwards was accepted at Yale college just before he turned thirteen. He was interested in a wide variety of studies including natural science, the mind, the scriptures, and theology. He graduated from Yale in four years as valedictorian and obtained his masters three years later. Unable to accept the “horrible doctrine” (Edwards), of predestination, Edwards finally found peace and accepted this controversial teaching in 1721. He went on to assistant pastor a large church in Northampton with his grandfather. The same year, he married Sarah Pierpont whose piety he had long admired (..). Two years later, when his grandfather passed away, Edwards became sole minister of the Northampton congregation. However, after many years of converting the lost and participation in the Great Awakening as a key preacher, his congregation began to weary of his intense sermons and his habit of calling out sinner by name from the pulpit. However, his most famous sermon was first delivered in Enfield, Connecticut on July 8th, 1741 and was entitled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Edwards’ use of rhetoric in this message has been admired

The truth about predestination is that God gives man a free will that he doesn't take control of or manipulate. So an unbeliever has a choice, he can either accept

He asks the question “I would as you whether you think that chance exists at all, and what you think it is” (pg. 436). They go back and forth with what chance is and she states, “My philosopher, Aristotle, defined it in his Physics briefly and close to the truth” (pg. 436). They continue with this till they come to free will, and she states that people have the power to purpose and the power of judgement, that can choose what it wants or does not want. She breaks this down further, “But I do not lay it down that this freedom is equal in all beings” (pg. 437). She does mention that the “Heavenly and Divine,” are not subject to their desires that are sinful.

At the outset I must make clear that Calvin defines Providence as this: "providence means not that by which God idly observes from heaven what

This is a difficult argument to suss out, especially since once again it takes place in only three lines. But he says that "the force of conviction" cannot make anything “come to be” out of

The dispensational premillennial view’s rational support comes from the interpretive system it uses to illuminate scriptural evidence as well as the historical evidence that surrounds the view. Adherents of the dispensational premillennial view interpret biblical prophecy in a purely literal form. Smith says in his book What the Bible says about the Future, “Of the two major interpretive systems, only dispensationalism subscribes to a consistently normal/literal interpretation of Scripture. In other words, dispensationalism represents a truly exegetical method of interpretation” (52). Abandonment of literal interpretative methods can lead to apostasy when studying the scriptures. Dispensational Premillennialists understand that only the literal method interprets scripture in a way where the intended meaning is understood. When looking at scripture literally, dispensational premillennialists believe that the unfulfilled, unconditional covenants between God and the patriarchs of the Old Testament provide strong evidence for the dispensational premillenial view. The unconditional covenant that God made to Abraham concerning his offspring has yet to find fulfillment. An absence of fulfillment would indicate that God would be willing to break His own covenant and that would be inconsistent with His character. Therefore, we are guaranteed that God will carry out his promises in the future. Most of the promises made in the Abrahamic covenant have already been fulfilled literally.

John Winthrop and Jonathan Edwards were both religious leaders that lived centuries before the present time. They shared the same goal in persuading people into Christianity, yet differed greatly in the way they chose to develop their sermons. Winthrop, a Puritan who wrote based on new religious and social ideals, composed the famous sermon “A Model of Christian Charity.”

Grace peregrinates from auricular discerning, to reading, to lecture, and praying. Venturing into these channels opens us up to be crafted by the Spirit. Enrolling in the means of grace, opposed to passively waiting on God, is a kind of unique investment. Moreover, accepting grace is not about standing by waiting on God. This elucidates why Wesley was an advocate of “all who desire an increase of the grace of God are to wait for it in partaking of the Lord’s Supper.”

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

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