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NASB | John 6:65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 6:65 And He was saying, "This is the reason why I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him [that is, unless he is enabled to do so] by the Father." |
Subject: Study the Word, Calvin, or Aminian??? |
Bible Note: Hello bgg, Welcome to the forum! Before I start, I must admit that I am neither Calvinist nor Arminian. I am Christian. Paul explained it best in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17;3:1-9. Basically, Paul teaches that we are all to claim to be disciples of Christ alone, and not to any other person. Paul makes the point that all of God's servants have played a part in God's plan. So, due to these two passages, I call myself a Christian, or a man of Jesus as it were. I don't hold to titles such as Calvinist, arminian, or what have you. With that out of the way, let's continue. As far as to which group I adhere closer to, I must admit that I don't really follow either. I agree with Calvinism on a few things, yet disagree with them also. The same is true for Arminianism. Here are a few reasons why. First, when I began my education in religion, I focused in two specific areas: exegesis and hermaneutics. Exegesis is the "bringing out" of the text. Basically, it is the study of the original languages of the Bible. Hermaneutics is slightly broader than exegesis. It is the basic study of a passage. While it includes "exegesis", it goes into the history and culture of the writer and the events being written. When I began to examine Calvinism and Arminianism, the first place I looked into was the history. The argument between Arminianism and Calvinism really goes back further to Augustine and Pelageous in around 200-300 AD. Calvinism is the "updated" version of Augustine's views. There is little change between them. Augustine disagreed with Pelageous, and vise versa. Pelageous taught that Mankind basically saved himself. There was a bitter debate over the two drastically different views, and they began calling each other "heretics". To settle the debate, "Semi-pelageanism" was developed, which eventually lead to Arminianism. Now, forward to the students of Arminius. His students developed what became the foundation of Arminianism, called "The Remanstrance (sp)". When the followers of Calvin's teaching got ahold of it, they got mad, to say the least. They formed a "committee" and developed the five points of Calvinism. They, too, labled the Arminians as "Heretics". The Committee became known as "The Synod of Dort". Now, for a few things I have questions on. First off this debate has been going on for nearly 2000 years, or better. Included with that, has been some hot tempered arguments. I don't know about anyone else, but I have only called one person a "heretic". When I did, I was not concerned with what the Bible "truly" said, but what I wanted to prove. Upon speaking and researching this with other pastors and biblical circumstances, I have found that the term "heretic" has almost always been used during times of extreme emotions, namely: anger. I have yet to find a recorded time when the term was used in a calm and delicate manner. I can only imagine what the Synod of Dort was feeling when they first came across Arminianism. Secondly, I wonder about the resources availiable at the time of the forming of Calvinism and Arminianism. The Alexandrian texts weren't found until the 1800's, and the Dead Sea Scrolls until the early 1900's. The Textus Receptus was barely developed, if it was even finished at all. Even then, it would've been under scrutiny. The primary available texts would've been the Byzintine Texts or Majority text form, the Latin Vulgate, the Septuagint, the Messoritic Text, Luthor's German translation, and various english translations. The Oldest text available for New Testament studies would've been dated some 400 - 500 years after the New Testament Closed. Then you need to address the issue of how readily availiable these texts were, and especially to those who were declared "protestant" by the Catholic Church, which controlled a majority of the texts listed. My personal thinking is that Calvin's teaching may have been different if he had access to today's texts, and availiability. The Third issue concerning these two groups is focused around the points themselves. If you examine closely, the five points of Calvinism is exactly opposite of the Five points of Arminianism, almost to the extreme. This ties into what I said earlier about the term "heretic". I believe that the Five Points of Calvinism was not developed to give the church a concise outline of Biblical Doctrine. Rather, it was developed to combat Arminianism. To "show them up", so to speak. There are other points that I could make, but it would take too much time and space. I believe this starts things pretty well. Before I close, I must point out that I am not refuting Calvin's, Arminius', Augustine's, Pelageous', or any other Biblical Scholar's brilliance and knowledge. I have a high respect for these men, and use their insights on a regular basis. Jesus Loves You! Jesusman |