CALVANISM

Calvinism

 

(I had an old friend from way back contact me & comment on my recent articles.  For some reason it really got my wheels turning, & whereas I wouldn’t normally go into anything quite this steeped in doctrine, who knows why the Spirit is prompting me to respond in this fashion.  Comments & input are welcome.)

 

For many of you, you may not have a clue as to what Calvinism is…and don’t care.  Some of you are way more versed on this than I am, but hopefully this will be a practical application of some sort…as I try all my writings to be.  Some of this will challenge some of you to evaluate, maybe for the first time, what the dynamics of your relationship with God & trust in Him really is…doctrine aside.  I always like to put venerated ‘church doctrine’ on a shelf for a while, in an attempt to really understand practical truth.

 

Since our parting ways in the mid ‘80s my friend has embraced the Calvin doctrine, and was very impressed & pleased with my convictions on Sovereignty & Grace…two big issues in that persuasion.  I explained to him that I am probably not as Calvinistic as I sound.  Sovereignty has been a strong suite with me for decades, & Julie & I have rehearsed it many times over the years.  I had a very strong inundation in the truths of Grace Sunday after Sunday for almost 10 years in a Baptist church in the ‘90s that played a big part in my restoration & that of my family.  Julie & I were brought up extremely legalistically.

 

My friend used two words that I want to focus in on in my deliberations: monogistic & synergistic.   

 

Monogistic means that everything in our relationship with God is ALL Him & nothing us.  I think there is some intellectual dishonesty in this.  There is always the problem in most Christian belief systems of what I’ll call “The Galatian Syndrome”.  We  say salvation is “by Grace through faith…and not of works…”  However, the minute it comes to practice we always seem to want to throw in all kinds of rules & regulations in maintaining the Grace-imparted gift.  Paul states, “Oh foolish (Galatians) Christians!”  If it was truly momogistic we wouldn’t need to lift a finger in ‘working out our salvation…(Philippians 2:12-13).

 

Monogistic is a hardcore doctrine of Calvinism in that they believe God does it all: He chooses who will & who will not be saved, He picks you out & calls you , and imparts the gift of salvation in you sovereignly…want it,  like it, or not..  To me that messes with free-will.

 

Synergistic means that there is a cooperation between God & man.  God offers; we accept or reject.  By the way, I’m neither Calvinistic nor Baptist.  I believe in voluntary free-will to the point that it plays a part in our relationship with God to the very end.  I totally believe in the “eternal security of the believer”.  But the operative words are “the believer”.  As long as we believe (in the N.T. concept of total commitment) and actively love and serve God, we’re safe & secure in our legal position of children of God.

 

I also totally believe that no man or demon from hell can pluck us out of God’s Hand.  But I do believe that we can voluntary disinherit ourselves from God & walk out.  I do not believe it happens in a moment of time, or even over a short term; but I do believe we can come to a point in our lives through rebellion, disobedience, neglect, and a whole host of other things where we want nothing more to do with God, thread under foot the blood of Jesus, and turn our back on Him (Hebrews 6:4-8; 10:35-36, 38b-39).

 

Going back to the beginning now re our salvation.  For those of you who have read/studied my Restoration101 Lesson 1, you know that I believe that no man can come to Jesus unless the Father “draw” (John 6:44), not involuntary force, him.  I teach that we are all “dead in our trespasses & sins (Ephesians 2:1b), & therefore have no desire for God (Romans 3:11b).  And I use the natural birth process to show how our spirit (that part of spirit, soul & body) is our spiritual womb, that the Holy Spirit plants a spiritual egg in our spirit and starts a spiritual ovulation (the desire for God).  He then plants the spiritual sperm of the Seed of the Word; and if we respond and accept His invitation to spiritual life, we conceive…and new life begins.  If not, we continue in spiritual death.  Our choice.

 

This is total synergy/cooperation between God & man.  And that continues in the same dynamic all the days of our lives till our time here is up.