John C. Lennox on High Calvinism’s Misconstrual of the Extent of the Atonement

        It is a serious matter to deny the plain teaching of Scripture in the interests of maintaining a theological paradigm, or to try to get round it by special pleading that Christ’s death brings some kind of non-specific temporal benefit to all, or that God has different kinds of love for the elect and non-elect. To say to people, as some do, that Christ died for them in some vague unexplained sense, rather than telling them that Christ died for their sins and that they may be saved by trusting him, is not only insulting to the intelligence, it is insulting to the message of the cross.

John C. Lennox, Determined to Believe? The Sovereignty of God, Freedom, Faith, and Human Responsibility (Oxford, UK: Monarch Books, 2017 / Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), pp. 179–80

Copyright © John C. Lennox, 2017. All rights reserved.

In order to purchase a copy of Lennox’s Determined to Believe? (2017),* see the links to the following websites:

• Monarch Books (Lion Hudson)
  
• Zondervan (HarperCollins Christian Publishing)
  
• Christianbook
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-A-Million (BAM!)
  
• Amazon

* Unless otherwise indicated, I do not earn commissions (or favours, for that matter) for the purchase of books recommended or referenced on this website. For further information, see my web page, ‘A Word on The Neo-Remonstrance Blog’.

Find Him

The Lord calls us to diligently seek him. For there is no greater object to seek, and he loves to be found.

F. Leroy Forlines on Faith as a Gift of God

        Faith is not some substance that exists outside of us that is to be given to us. It is an experience that must take place within us. That is the only way we can have faith. Faith is a gift in the sense that God gives to us the aid that is necessary, without which we could not exercise faith. It is not a gift in the sense that it is not an exercise of our own personality.

F. Leroy Forlines, Classical Arminianism: A Theology of Salvation, ed. J. Matthew Pinson (Nashville, TN: Randall House, 2011), p. 258

Copyright © F. Leroy Forlines, 2011. All rights reserved.

In order to purchase Forlines’ Classical Arminianism (2011),* see the links to the following websites:

• Randall House Publications
• Christianbook
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-A-Million (BAM!)
  
• Amazon

Addendum (24 Sept. 2022).  Franklin Leroy Forlines (1926–2020) died on Tuesday, 15 December 2020, aged ninety-four.

• Helwys Society Forum
• Tribute Archive (obituary)

* Unless otherwise indicated, I do not earn commissions (or favours, for that matter) for the purchase of books recommended or referenced on this website. For further information, see my web page, ‘A Word on The Neo-Remonstrance Blog’.

John 13.35: a Hyper-Calvinistic Paraphrase

J. D. Gallé | Sunday, 1 April 2018

 

‘In this shall everyone know that you are authentic, unconditionally elected disciples of mine: if you are faithful in cherishing, relentlessly promulgating, and hailing the theological and soteriological splendours of subscribing to uniquely Reformational, Calvinistic, Zwinglian doctrines (especially in highly questionable or wholly inappropriate contexts), and casting off as evil the name of those pretending to be my disciples who adhere to anything that doctrinally reeks of Arminian, non-Calvinistic, or free-will theistic thought.’ (Jn 13.35)

Copyright © J. D. Gallé, 2018. All rights reserved.

Forsake and Follow

Whatever sins you might be holding on to, now is the time to forsake them and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Principled, Authentic Christian

J. D. Gallé | Thursday, 15 March 2018

        The principled, authentic Christian abstains from worldly, secular music. S/he eschews sporting events, the cinema (i.e. the movie theatre), pubs, and the consumption of alcoholic drinks. S/he is not adorned with jewellery and/or immodest, ostentatious attire. Lastly, s/he avoids chewing gum in congregational settings amongst fellow believers.

Copyright © J. D. Gallé, 2018. All rights reserved.

The Theological Implications of Calvinism’s Conception of Doubt

J. D. Gallé | Friday, 12 January 2018

        The weakness of Greg Morse’s article, ‘Does Your Doubt Dishonor God? What No One Says about Weak Faith’ (4 Jan. 2018),[1] is that the author holds many false assumptions, all (or nearly all) of which are Calvinistic in nature. The following declaration, taken from Desiring God’s statement of faith, underlies the theological understanding of Morse’s essay and serves as the foundation of Calvinistic theology in general:

We believe that God, from all eternity, in order to display the full extent of His glory for the eternal and ever-increasing enjoyment of all who love Him, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His will, freely and unchangeably ordain and foreknow whatever comes to pass. (‘God’s Eternal Purpose and Election’, 3.1)[2]

        Taking the above affirmation into account, the basic implications concerning faith and doubt in Calvinistic thought are as follows:

• whether a person is devoid of faith (i.e. an unbeliever), believing in God, or ever will come to believe in God and the good news of Jesus Christ, is a matter of divine foreordination;
• at any given moment of time, the relative strength or weakness of a particular believer’s faith in God, God’s promises, and Jesus Christ his Son, is a matter of divine foreordination;
• if a person fails to persevere in the faith, this merely demonstrates that s/he was a ‘false believer’ all along. One can only fully and finally fall (i.e. apostatise) from a spurious profession of faith.

        In summary, Calvinism maintains that the actual possession of faith and its degree of strength or weakness in the individual believer are attributable solely to God’s eternal decree. If a believer is presently harbouring grave doubts regarding God and his trustworthiness, s/he is doubting in exact accordance with God’s secret, immutable, inscrutable, eternal decree.

Notes

        1. <https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/does-your-doubt-dishonor-god>
        2. See ‘Desiring God: An Affirmation of Faith’ (6 Oct. 2004), <https://www.deiringgod.org/affirmation-of-faith>.

Copyright © J. D. Gallé, 2018. All rights reserved.