Larry J. Booth Jr
Pastor
- From Sam's website About Sam Storms I am an Amillennial, Calvinistic, charismatic, credo-baptistic, complementarian, Christian Hedonist who loves his wife of 42 years, his two daughters, his four grandchildren, books, baseball, movies, and all things Oklahoma University.
- Dear Mr. Harbuck, Trust is the word that you used, so I was just following up. Here is a quotation from Spurgeon will do: "Calvinsim is just another nabe for biblical christianity . . ." Not too much Arminianism there. I don't want this to degenerate, but I would ask you in Christian love tor realize that to refuse to "trust" a person's work because of the fact that they self-identify as a Calvinist may deny you some great blessings.
- Dear Mr. Harbuck, It's not clear what you mean by "Calvinism," and perhaps clarity on your definition would help the rest of us understand your assertions. It seems you mean the soteriology closely associated with the doctrines of grace (but perhaps you mean far more than this). If you mean the doctrines of grace, then I find it astonishing that you have never heard of anyone who studied their Bible and came to see the glories of God's sovereign work of salvation as described by the doctrines of grace. Yes, someone studying only the Bible is unlikely to use the same phraseology used by those who have studied others writing about the doctrines of grace, but the concepts are so evidently biblical as to be seen through only Bible study. If you really have never heard of anyone who came to see God's work in salvation as monergistic (even though they may not use that terminology) simply through study of Scripture, then I encourage you to expand your horizon in who you read and with whom you have fellowship. I agree that some have become "obsessed" and are not like the Bereans as they read Calvinist authors. However, the same dangerous tendency can be seen in people who espouse every view of soteriology. Scripture is our authority and we would be wise to base our convictions there. At the same time, we are called to read Scripture in community and God has blessed His church with teachers. We would do well to listen to them through the lens of Scripture.
- Myke Harbuck, I know your comment is from eight years ago, but yes, there are Charismatic Calvinists and Charismatic Calvinist churches. For example, I was surprised that Greg Koukl is a moderate Calvinist. We attended a charismatic church together thirty-plus years ago and I just assumed he was Wesleyan-Arminian. My current church realized a man being considered for an associate pastor position held to Calvinist theology. There are also Pentecostal Calvinists. Several years ago, the Assembly of God denomination had to purge many pastors who held to Calvinism. The denomination wrote an excellent defense of Wesleyan-Arminianism as a result.