The New Calvinism
Time Magazine recently did a feature story on the “10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now“. Among the list which includes recycling, amorality and bio-banks is the almost 500 year old belief system called Calvinism.
It is interesting to see this belief system on the rise (at least according to Time), because the teaching of the most prominent churches today is not usually of a sovereign, all powerful, all knowing God. Most churches choose to teach a weaker faith where the individual is in control of all aspects of the relationship with the god of his/her choosing.
From my perspective, the God of the bible, when taught the way the Bible teaches Him is not as popular as the god who looks and acts like Santa Claus. The God I know is in charge, no matter how bad the situation seems. He is powerful enough to do anything, knows everything, and is everywhere. That God is deserving of worship. That is one of the main ideas behind Calvinism…
Calvinism (sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology) is a theological system and an approach to the Christian life that emphasizes the rule of God over all things.[1] It was developed by several theologians, but it bears the name of the French reformer John Calvin because of his prominent influence on it and because of his role in the confessional and ecclesiastical debates throughout the 16th century.
from Wikipedia
But don’t misunderstand me, I would not say I’m a Calvinist anymore than I would say I’m a Baptist. I follow Christ and His word, the Bible. When a belief system teaches something that is Biblical, it is correct, but when it teaches something that is contrary (or extrabiblical) to the teaching of scripture, that belief system has gotten it wrong. In other words, when men control a belief system, it can often become a religion void of truth and love for Christ, but when men merely interpret the Bible and allow it to be the standard, people meet and grow in love for Jesus.
I think Calvin got it right, becasue I think Calvin understood what the Bible said. Therefore, I am a Bible believing Christ follower who happens to agree with Calvin’s understanding of some of the biggest theological concepts from the Bible.
Mark Driscoll, of the “new calvinists” mentioned in the Time article has written a couple of blog posts about this topic, I encourage you to check them out, and especially give me your thoughts on His first post.
