New Post at Betweenthetimes.com
I just posted an Open Letter to My Calvinist Friends in the SBC letter at betweenthetimes.com. Tomorrow my friend and colleague Nathan Finn will follow with a similar letter to his non-Calvinist friends. We are committed as Southern Baptists to minister with those who can affirm the BFM2000 and seek to fulfill the Great Commission whether they are more or less Calvinistic. We have been so for our entire history. We can be so in the future.
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In my seminary years, I began to struggle with where I fell on the spectrum of theological thought, and turned to my heroes. Edwards, Spurgeon and others. Spurgeon showed me a theology that brought together Man’s free will, God’s sovereignty with the reality of suffering. At Golden Gate in Arizona, I could be a Calvinist without being accused of being a bully.
I am now in Iowa, and have found that in many places, Calvinism has been lumped with a lot of other -ism. Nazism, Marxism, radical extremism. I have not yet been accused of strapping theological bombs to myself to destroy the non-Calvinists. I am sure there are those who call themselves Calvinists who would seek to destroy others. As a young minister, a young Calvinist, I will tell you Dr Reid and many others that there is a danger in this debate and dialogue of abandoning those looking to reconcile the writings of Peter, Paul and the writer of Hebrews. We are in danger of becoming casualties for this war that we didn’t start.
Now, you don’t like TULIP, that’s fine. I have read the Institutes once or twice, and TULIPs not there. I’m not a big fan of TULIP. What danger I see (and it might be my imagination) is, how much are we marginalizing those men who have gone before us who took the name Calvinist? How are we, as the Southern Baptist Convention treating history, and how will that effect the younger? How many young pastors, who hold to the name Calvinist, will have to leave the SBC before we stop looking at the works of a few and judging the group at large.
Thank you for your posting Dr. Reid. . . it came at a perfect time for me. I have suffered many slings and arrows, many daggers from being associated with a man who was seeking to bring souls to Christ, and more than anything, to give Glory to God. I am sure at some point, Calvin would deny the name of Calvinist in order to escape this modern theological persecution that I have found so readily available. I look forward Dr. Finn’s letter.
Thanks dan. Your thoughts have been echoed already by so many. Be sure to check out my colleague Steve McKinion’s thoughts at baptist21.com.