Tag: Calvinism

Great New Resource for the Early Church Fathers

Ever had the experience of vaguely remembering the perfect quote from the Church Fathers on a certain topic, only to find that you can’t remember who said it, or where?  Or perhaps you’re just curious as to what the Fathers said on a certain issue, but don’t have time to comb through hundreds of pages… Continue reading Great New Resource for the Early Church Fathers

Calvin and Hobbes

John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes, that is. Hilarious. (source). The strip’s publisher has explained the reason Bill Watterson chose the names Calvin and Hobbes for his characters: Calvin is named for a sixteenth-centurn theologian who believed in predestination, while Hobbes is named after a seventeenth-century philosphoer with a dim view of human nature. The names… Continue reading Calvin and Hobbes

Assurance of Salvation and “Evanescent Grace”

Nick, responding to my earlier post on assurance of salvation, brought up a very good point: John Calvin clearly taught something called *evanescent grace* in which God gives a ‘fake grace’ to the Reprobate to make them *think* and act as if they were Saved, and this only so that He could damn them with… Continue reading Assurance of Salvation and “Evanescent Grace”

Assurance of Salvation?

A number of Protestants find it singularly compelling that they “know” that they’re eternally saved. I’ve always found this line of reasoning sort of strange. To the last individual, they’ve argued or admitted that: The saved can know that they’re saved; The damned often think that they’re saved, but they aren’t (obviously); Even those saved… Continue reading Assurance of Salvation?

John Knox, John Calvin, and King Henry VIII’s Royal Hypocrisy

Two of the larger Protestant denominations, Presbyterianism (started by John Knox) and Anglicanism (started by Henry VIII) were started not only invalidly, but blatantly hypocritically. They are joined in this, less directly, by Calvinism (not technically a denomination, I know). The reason I bring this up is that origins matter. The Catholic Church can trace… Continue reading John Knox, John Calvin, and King Henry VIII’s Royal Hypocrisy

Matthew 23:37 and Calvinism, Revisited

Fr. William Most has some great commentaries from Grace, Predestination, and the Salvific Will of God on the issues I was discussing last week: namely, that Matthew 23:37 only makes sense if there’s some sort of real ability to accept or reject Christ at some point in the salvation process. Well, Fr. Most addresses this… Continue reading Matthew 23:37 and Calvinism, Revisited

Matthew 23:37, Free Will, and Irresistable Grace

I. Where Catholics and Calvinists Agree on the Free Gift of Salvation.Both Catholics and Calvinists believe that man is justified before God through the free gift of God’s Grace, and that this grace not only precedes anything good we might do, but is a requirement for it. In other words, we can do no good… Continue reading Matthew 23:37, Free Will, and Irresistable Grace

What Do Men Say Matthew 16:18 Means?

I recently got to see Catholicism proved through negation. Stacey and Chris have attempted to inject a bit of Catholic clarity and charity into an anti-Catholic conversation (as I did briefly) on this post, and they’ve just been getting slammed with hostile comments and told in no uncertain terms that, while the blog has literally… Continue reading What Do Men Say Matthew 16:18 Means?

John MacArthur on Sola Scriptura and Justification

I.John MacArthur often has thoughtful and interesting things to say: just not, typically, on Catholicism. On this topic, he says things like: While there are many errors in the teaching of the Catholic Church (for example its belief in the transubstantiation of the communion wafer and its view of Mary), two rise to the forefront… Continue reading John MacArthur on Sola Scriptura and Justification