#John calvin

[sunkissedliterarylightofchrist]

I'm curious— what are your thoughts on calvinism versus arminianism?

In the Calvinism vs Arminianism debate, Calvinism is correct and Arminianism is utterly wrong send post.

(Okay jk I will slightly elaborate on this)

But actually, I'm not the best person to. My pal John Piper is.

Here's an exerpt from that article:

1. Depravity Calvinism says people are so depraved and rebellious that they are unable to trust God without his special work of grace to change their hearts so that they necessarily and willingly — freely — believe. Arminians say, with regard to depravity, that people are depraved and corrupt, but they are able to provide the decisive impulse to trust God with the general divine assistance that God gives to everybody. 2. Election Calvinism says that we are chosen. God chooses unconditionally whom he will mercifully bring to faith and whom he will justly leave in their rebellion. Arminians say God has chosen us — elected to bring to salvation — all those whom he foresaw would believe by bringing about their own faith and providing the decisive impetus themselves. In those, God doesn’t decisively produce the faith that he foresees. 3. Atonement Calvinism says that in the death of Christ, God provided sufficient atonement for all but designed that it be effective for the elect — meaning that Christ’s death purchased for them the new-covenant promise that God would bring about in his people faith and perseverance. Arminians say that in the death of Christ, God provided sufficient atonement for all and designed that it would become effective by virtue of faith for which we — not Christ — provide the decisive impetus. Meaning, faith itself is not purchased by the cross, but that it is the human means of obtaining what the cross purchased — namely, forgiveness of sins. 4. New Birth Calvinists say that the new birth is God’s work of renewal in our hearts that necessarily brings about the act of willing, hearty, saving faith. Arminians say the new birth is God’s work of renewal in our hearts in response to our act of saving faith. 5. Perseverance Calvinists say God works infallibly to preserve us in faith — all of us who are truly born again — and that no one is ever lost who was truly born of God. Arminians say God works to preserve his people, but he does not always prevent some who were born again from falling away to destruction. [LATER] And the key difference is this: Calvinists believe that God has to produce in us the decisive desire for Christ. Arminians believe we must produce in ourselves the decisive desire for Christ. The Arminians say that God helps us. He helps all people, but we provide the last, decisive impetus and desire for that belief.

Boom shakalaka. The reason I agree with Calvin on all of this is because every single one of these things specifically have their exact basis in Scripture, especially in Paul's letters, while the Ariminian belief goes directly against it.

[reformedfaith]

My heart I give you, Lord, eagerly and entirely.

John Calvin

[eternal-echoes]

“The ideas of Saint John of Damascus and his supporters later permitted us the luxury of the beautiful Madonnas of Raphael, the Pietà of Michelangelo, and countless other works of passion and genius, not to mention the great cathedral façades (which often depicted Christ, the apostles, and the saints) of the High Middle Ages. This favorable view of representational religious art cannot simply be taken for granted as something natural and inevitable; Islam, after all, has never abandoned its insistence on aniconic (non-image) art. Rehabilitating the iconoclast heresy in the sixteenth century, Protestants went on a rampage of smashing statues, altarpieces, stained-glass windows, and other great treasures of Western art. John Calvin, arguably the most significant Protestant thinker of all, favored visually barren settings for his worship services, and even prohibited the use of musical instruments. Nothing could have been further removed from the Catholic Church's respect for the natural world, inspired by the Incarnation, and its belief that human beings, composed of body (matter) and soul, can be aided in their ascent to God with the aid of material things.”

- Thomas E. Woods Jr., Ph.D., “Art, Architecture, and the Church,” How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization

[dailyhistoryposts]

On This Day In History

May 27th, 1564: French theologian and head of the Calvinists, John Calvin (Jean Cauvin) dies. So many followers came to see his body as it was laid in state that the religious authorities were scared of people forming a saints’ cult, so he was hurriedly buried.

[julierogers]

Tanya Roberts in California Dreaming (1979)

[victusinveritas]

[churchblogmatics-blog]

A DEFINITIVE but nonexhaustive list of theologians/Christian thinkers and associated brat status

Athanasius - literally impossible to imagine Christianity without his contributions, unquestionably brat

Augustine - smarter than all hell, the confessions is essential reading, his corpus is a succinct compendium of theological orthodoxy, you know he's brat

Anselm of Canterbury - satisfaction theory is actually more plausible to me than penal substitution, the ontological argument is pure lunacy but is the kind of magical thinking that I'm sad to see disappear once people started systematizing "logic" and "reason" after the enlightenment. Brat.

Thomas Aquinas - I'm kind of more inclined to platonism than aristotlianism but he's brat for this excerpt of the summa alone: “If some are occasionally begotten from demons, it is not from the seed of such demons, nor from their assumed bodies, but from the seed of men taken for the purpose; as when the demon assumes first the form of a woman, and afterward of a man.” In this case, the offspring would be fully human, “so that the person born is not the child of a demon but of a man” (ST I:51:3 ad 6)." Like c'mon that's so funny but also probably saved some childrens' lives if their parents didn't want to 'fess up to having an affair.

Thomas Á Kempis - I wish I could cultivate the humility of spirit he writes about in The Imitation of Christ! This guy knows what's up! Brat!

Martin Luther - Do you know how antisemitic you have to be in order to be remembered as antisemitic even if graded on a curve relative to his cultural context? Even his principled refusal to lean into double predestination despite it's logical coherence & consubstantiative view of the sacrament of the Eucharist won't save him from being pronounced decidedly un-brat.

John Calvin - way better than his devotees, more legitimate human compassionate distress at double predestination than the vastly inferior ulrich zwingli - brat.

Ulrich Zwingli - goes without saying - un-brat.

John Woolman - went hard in the paint to fight the transatlantic slave trade his whole life. Y'all could only DREAM of walking in humble submission before God in service of your fellow man like this. Brat.

Friedrich Schleiermacher - oh so Christianity is all about absolute dependence? That's what it is? Conjuring up feelings of absolute dependence? Get real! Not brat.

Soren Kierkegaard - Absolutely goated. Love to read a guy excoriating Christian nationalism. He's so brat for that.

Karl Barth - this page is called the Church Blogmatics so you already know what I'm thinking on this one. His doctrine of election makes me able to sleep at night and his understanding of theology as a living, breathing science makes me want to engage with it. Brat.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - the absolute height of liberal theology and redeems it as something potentially profitable imo - brat.

[eliezersaul]

Calvin  Hobbes  Calvin and Hobbes  Thomas Hobbes  John Calvin  Susie Derkins  Nihilism  Existentialism  Bill Waterson  Comic Strip  From Me 

[progressofthepilgrim]

"Faith is like an empty, open hand stretched out toward God, with nothing to offer and everything to receive."

John Calvin

[forever70s]

John Calvin and Tanya Roberts in a promo pic for "California Dreaming" (1979)

[fuckyeah-pavement]

 Presbyterian is a really popular church in America. There’s a lot of members dude.

-Stephen Malkmus

[paintbrushfreckles]

My sister was telling me about her reformation history class, and via game of telephone, I have put my impression of several plot beats together in meme format. The idea of theology interacting with historical political drama cracks me up. And so does the idea of Calvin gentle parenting Knox.

Fun fact! I named my first car J. Cal, and then it got totaled. My car now is J. Knox because someone decided to build a parking garage over his grave. Such is the common dilemma of dying in Europe pre-industrial revolution, I suppose.

And finally, shout out to our boi P. Hammy, one of the coolest martyrs to ever go out...in a blaze...of glory... He also had an epic beard.

[reformedfaith]

But in Christ, His face shines out, full of grace and gentleness to poor, unworthy sinners.

John Calvin

[bethanythebogwitch]

I'm going to bring John Calvin back to life so I can beat the shit out of him. Anyone else want in?

[thatcakelovingwitch]

Studying theology is fun until you are blessed with the cursed knowledge of who EXACTLY Calvin and Hobbes are based on

[craigtowens]

Links & Quotes

Some links and quotes that caught my eye this week.

Psalm 133 tells us that in order for us to sharpen others—and for us to be sharpened by them—we have to be around other them. Christian saints put a high priority on spending time with others. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel. From Desiring God’s Here We Stand series comes this great snippet from the history of the Reformation: “[John] Calvin…