The John 3:16 Conference to be held at Woodstock, Georgia, on November 6-7, promises to be a humdinger or a hullabaloo. The men who are speaking at are well-known and have served the Lord well in their lives, so I am not here to throw any mud their way. The express purpose of this conference is to give "a biblical and theological assessment of and response to 5-point Calvinism." Apparently there is a growing concern that a resurgent Calvinism is going to take over the Southern Baptist Convention, and these speakers want to head it off at the pass.
With the leadership of Dr. Albert Mohler at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and like-minded professors there, most graduates from that school would probably adhere to 5-point Calvinism. In fact, a recent survey revealed that over 30% of all seminary graduates from all of the Southern Baptist seminaries now subscribe to Calvinism. These facts may have many in the denomination quaking in their boots, for fear that their convention is going to be taken away from them by people who follow some strict, unevangelistic, unbaptistic, new doctrine. While there will be speakers at The John 3:16 Conference from other seminaries, not one speaker will be from Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. That is not by accident.
Since the speakers at this John 3:16 Conference are planning on addressing each of the five points of Calvinism, I thought I would do the same over the next several articles which I plan to write. I don't know how the speakers will tackle each point, but I have a good idea how I want to approach each point. Others far more capable and gifted have written extensively on this subject, so what I have to say will pale in comparison, but I will give it my best shot.
But before we begin with the first point in the acronym TULIP, I feel compelled to take a much needed digression over two other points. The first preliminary point before we get to the first point is: What do we mean by Calvinism? A person can use the same vocabulary that we do, but end up using a different dictionary than we use. That being said, we need to define our terms very carefully.
Often when I am asked if I am a Calvinist or not, my initial response is, "How do you define Calvinism? or, What do you think a Calvinist is or believes?" More times than not, after I hear the answer, I say something like this, "If that is what you mean by Calvinism, then count me out!" Stereotypes, like old habits, are hard to die.
When I was a pastor near Cleveland, Ohio, with the name "Southern Baptist" in the name of the church where I served, I encountered some of the strangest ideas from folks in the community what Southern Baptists were. Many of them quickly associated us with snake handlers. Why was that? Because south of Ohio were the states of West Virginia and Kentucky from where many Buckeyes had migrated, and in West Virginia, particularly, there were quite a few snake handlers in worship services. So Southern Baptist meant to lots of people in Ohio snake handlers or some other odd cult.
I knew better, but that was the stereotype or the association that was stuck in people's minds. The same can be said in regards to Calvinism. "If you are a Calvinist, that means you don't believe God cares for everybody; man is nothing more than a robot; you don't believe in prayer; you don't believe in evangelism; you don't believe in missions; you are strict and legalistic; you are following the teachings of one man, John Calvin; you relish theological arguments; you are divisive; you have cold, lifeless, highly liturgical worship services; you believe some new doctrine, etc., etc., etc." Again my quick reply is, "If that is what a Calvinist is, then count me out!" But that is not what Calvinists are or, maybe I should say, should be. If any who calls himself a Calvinist, but can be identified with the above descriptions, then he needs to have his head and soul examined. Those are the negative stereotypes, but they do not represent historical fact. That is why we must define the terms first, which I hope to do in coming articles.
Calvinism is simply a nickname. Some of us grew up with nicknames, and in some cases our nicknames become our names. We see a lot of that in the world of sports. When the volleyball teams, swimming teams, or basketball teams were competing in this summer's Olympics, we often heard the chant in the crowd from American flag-waving fans, "U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A." Not once did we hear, "United States of America, United States of America, United States of America." The reason is obvious. We can use, and I do use and prefer to use, other descriptive terms to describe what is meant by Calvinism, such as the doctrines of grace, or the doctrines of sovereign grace, or the sovereignty of God in salvation, but since human nature likes to keep things short and simple, people came up with the nickname "Calvinism".
John Calvin did not invent the doctrine, nor did he coin the nickname, so don't lay the blame at his feet. He was probably the one that best articulated the truths surrounding the salvation of sinners at a time when there was much doctrinal error in the church and at a time when God was raising up men to bring people back to the authority and sufficiency of God's Word. I follow no man. I don't carry a picture of John Calvin in my wallet, nor do I have a picture of him hanging on my wall at my home. I do not preach Calvinism; I preach Christ and Him crucified. There are other things that John Calvin believed that I would take issue with, but when it comes to the central issues of the salvation of sinners, he expressed what the New Testament seems to teach consistently.
Some might raise a good question at this point--"Why do we need labels in the first place? Doesn't the label Calvinist or Calvinism do more harm than good in the body of Christ?" I would tend to agree at one level, but when you stop to think about it, we live with labels every day of our lives. We have a can of Libby's corn in our pantry, we use Tide detergent, we rinse our mouths out with Scope, we wear Nike shoes, we drive a Ford to work, we shop at Wal-Mart, we bank at Chase, we eat at McDonald's, we root for the Cowboys, Sooners, Longhorns, Cornhuskers, Crimson Tide, Gators, Bulldogs, Wolverines, Trojans, Fighting Irish or whatever, we vote for Democrats or Republicans or Independents, we live on Elm Street, we go to a church that has a name or label attached to it, and the list goes on and on. I am a conservative Christian, and that's a label. I don't think any of us want all the stores to start ripping off all labels from their food and clothing products. Labels or names are just an inescapable part of life. I use "humdinger" and "hullabaloo" at the beginning of this article; if you don't know what those labels or names mean, then you are nothing but a young whipper snapper (another label or name).
When the Lord blessed us with daughter number four, who was born on my father's birthday and my birthday, my wife and I let our three older daughters name the child. They came up with the name Rose. We liked it, and we went with it. Although, jokingly, I did tell the girls there was another flower name I preferred, but Rose does sound better than Tulip. We have come up with cute nicknames for Rose, more or less a play on the name of Rose, like Rosie, but a Rose by any other name is still a Rose.
The same goes for Tulip, the acronym that explains the five points of Calvinism. If one prefers a different label or term or word than Calvinism, that is perfectly fine with me. You would get no argument from me. For those who have received my articles for five plus years, one knows that I hardly ever use the word Calvinist or Calvinism. It does not come up in my sermons either. Since the "C" word is such a lightning rod word, and since it is so misunderstood, I shy away from mentioning it much of the time. Other words or terms will suffice, but a Tulip by any other name is still a Tulip.
In fact, I have probably never used the word Calvinist or Calvinism as much at anytime as I have in this article. The only reason I have done so here is because The John 3:16 Conference raises the issue, and it would be hard to address something without using the appropriate words so used. In coming articles on this doctrinal matter, the "C" word will fall by the wayside. My chief concern will be, "What does the Word of God say?"
Preliminary point number two before we launch into the five points will have to wait until another posting, but as I close this article, let me state something very emphatically. I refuse to let my blood pressure go through the roof over this issue. I have better things to do with my life than to get my stomach tied up in knots when people want to have a heated argument over these matters. My overarching goal in life is not to make everyone a Calvinist. I consider myself a fun-loving person, and I want to keep it that way. So, if you disagree with future postings on this subject, I will not lie awake at night wondering if you are really saved or not. Nor will I slug it out with you with email diatribes. Feel free to ask questions; in fact, I welcome them. Mental aerobics is good exercise. If the truth, any truth, can not stand up to any rigid examination, then how can it be the truth?
Yours in Christ,
Chris
