Comments on: A Word To The Calvinist: Arminians Are People Too!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:59:30 +0000

Hah!
Of course, Piper has people…does Roger have people?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:03 +0000

hands down piper takes the studlier than overton award on that one. I will look that up right now.
*roger I don't know if you follow other authors posts here but you better get on the ball. Piper has two supercool youtube videos up. you are lagging my friend. how can you profess with your lips that you are king of new media when Piper is winning the studly youtube video competition. tsk tsk tsk. oh that we would live in a world where a theologians studliness was not judged by the content of their youtube videos, but we do, oh how we do

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:13:09 +0000

He also has a youtube video set to Michael Jackson's Bad, so I guess there's no contest.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:59:20 +0000

David,
You are absolutely right. I should have taken more time to formulate my thought as it did come out pretty silly. My point is that systematic theology did not seem to be a driving force in Christ's salvation plan. Not saying that certain elements of theology cannot be contentious and have eternal ramifications, just simply furthering the reasons people like JP Moreland and William Lane Craig might still have a shot at salvation. I appreciated you backing my claim that Christ spent more time referring to our fruits than false teachers. While I strongly (very strongly) disagree with the Calvinist position I would never consider railing against it or thinking someone might not be saved. I think false teachers and false prophets would be more like someone who prophesied that Christ in the flesh was going to be visiting his Revival on Sunday night. I hadn't picked up from any of the news reports I have watched that He did. I think it is alot more fruitful to attack someone like him than someone who we think interprated a few passages differently than we do. Just my thoughts.
“It's not about accepting other views as true, it's about how we treat those with whom we have disagreements.”
Which would included listening and learning. Not just waiting til they finish their thought to rail into how wrong they are. Paul seemed to utilize the “all truth is God's truth” perspective. Like for me, I will happily point to Piper again and again knowing full well that he preaches “hard” Calvinism because he speaks a lot of truth.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:19:30 +0000

Scott,
“Jesus spent little to know time dealing with Calvinism or Arminianism or any other ism.”
True enough, but I would caution you that statements like these can be a bit misleading. For one thing, there are LOTS of things that Jesus never talks about (abortion and gay marriage, for starters), and we wouldn't simply assume that He must have had no opinion about them, or that He would not have considered them important. Second, there are a few places, specifically John 3 and 6, where some would argue that Jesus does in fact teach Calvinism, though obviously not in an explicit and systematized way. And thirdly, there were no Calvinists or Arminians in Jesus' day, so we can hardly expect him to talk about them.
“I value learning from other professing Christians, but if all who disagree with your Christian tradition are heretics, it is difficult for any of us to learn from eachother.”
Exactly. It's not about accepting other views as true, it's about how we treat those with whom we have disagreements.
Thanks for your comments!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:01:15 +0000

If you look hard enough on youtube you can find a video where piper says crap, so I think he may win.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:10:04 +0000

But which of the two is studlier?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:41:31 +0000

When using Matthew 7: 15-23, what would you (Bill) think that the “fruit” is? My understanding is that people usually take Jesus' use of fruit as either the Fruits of the Spirit, or as good works. Refering back to the other time Jesus uses the “depart from me” line in chapter 25 it would seem that that is the stronger argument but either way I think it is difficult to make a case that Calvinists are the only ones showing evidence of fruit.
Also, you stated
There are some “Arminians” who may be taught but do not believe enough of the Arminian doctrine. They may be “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine,

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:33:51 +0000

Just to clarify I am not calling for any type of radical ecumenical stance, just the humilty to recognize that none of us are infallible not even Piper and Overton, even though they are studs.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:18:33 +0000

In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul talks about divisions breaking out over whom we follow. He breaks it down pretty simple and says No!. We preach Christ crucified and we follow Christ. Further, almost every time in Scripture we see a false teacher rebuked it is due to legalism, hypocrisy or dishonesty. One can be a good Calvinist and hate his brother, but one cannot be like Christ (which is what Christian refers to) and argue and divide. Jesus did not spend much time on doctrine, Paul only did it in those above mentioned circumstances. I am not saying we unconditionally accept all teaching. I am saying we should be very leery of letting our denominational squabbles steer us away from the Great Commission and the Greatest Commandments. I will viciously defend Christ and Christ crucified. But I am prepared to accept that on issues that the church has wrestled with without resolution for a couple thousand years, I may not be able to solve that debate today, so to argue or how big of a heretic someone is seems less important than the very obvious and clear commands of scripture.