Bible Question: I recently was intoduced to Calvineism and arminisium. After a brief study of each I have a simple question. Why would one of God's elect waste time and argue with the arminisium point of view. On the same hand why study calvinism ,which I mostly agree with, when you can read read the bible. One thing is sure. Jesus Christ is the saviour and chooses his people. To deny this, denies his soveriegn mercy and grace. And please dont argrue about free will. Just tell me why study such things. |
Bible Answer: Your question, G-e, is not so simple as you say. It is. quite frankly, loaded -- meaning that it is freighted with presupposition -- because of the way you asked it. Here in essence is what you asked. You asked why would one of God's elect waste time arguing about Arminianism or studying Calvinism. You mentioned that you had made a brief study of each, and brief it must have been, since you didn't learn how to spell either. But there are Christians on both sides of the aisle, Calvinists and Arminians alike, who would take sharp issue with you about the wasting of time thing. The majority of registrants on this Forum use study tools, many of them in fact -- study Bibles, commentaries, concordances, dictionaries, and a variety of other reference works. And few if any of us believe that sola scriptura means "just me alone with my Bible." We all of us need teachers, both living ones and those who have gone before us. To learn what the saints of old have to teach us is as wise as trying to reinvent the wheel for ourselves is foolish. ..... There can be no substitute for feeding on the word of God. But there is a world of help available from the saints, living and dead, that can guide us and teach us as we feed. They in sharing with us the insights that the Holy Spirit shared with them, can help us extract more nourishment from the word of God. ..... My friend, the ancient creeds and confessions of the church didn't happen overnight, nor did the great systems of soteriology which you appear to hold in low esteem. They were, all of them, born of the careful study, fervent prayer, and sustained toil, tears, and sweat over many years by the saints of God. Who are we brash moderns, whose vision is limited and whose understanding so often flawed, that we dare think that the wise counsel of our fathers is no longer relevant? --Hank |