Some Quotes Never Get Old

I am a Pastor of a Reformed (Calvinist) Church. One of the unique positions of Calvinists is their belief in election and predestination and providence. These doctrines teach the totalistic Sovereignty of the God of the Bible. There is nothing that happens that God hasn’t ordained. God, in His Sovereignty, chooses some for eternal life and reprobates others unto eternal death. God chooses who will be high born and who will be low born. God chooses who will be winners (Jacob have I loved) and who will be losers (Esau I have hated). This is staple Calvinism. One cannot be a Calvinist who does not believe and hold to this understanding of Christianity.

Yet, almost two months ago now, “Rev.” Reggie Smith, spokesman for the Christian Reformed Church stepped right up to the microphone and in a press release faulted Christ the King Reformed Church for teaching a doctrine that,

“Teaches that God picks some people, while not picking others. There are winners and losers. (This doctrine) provides this sense of certainty that can contribute to an air of supremacy or entitlement in a church.”

This is like accusing Mary Poppins of taking care of children. It is like accusing Babe Ruth of hitting Home Runs. It is like accusing Jacques Costeau of scuba diving. It’s like accusing Homer of writing the Iliad and the Odyssey. Rev. Smith … Dude … I am guilty as charged. I am also guilty of teaching infant-baptism, total depravity, and limited atonement. So, shoot me already.

I freely admit that the doctrine of election to eternal life and even the doctrine of predestination to our various life stations can indeed and even has in the past contributed to an air of supremacy and entitlement in the church but all because a doctrine can lead to something negative because it is mishandled, doesn’t mean that the doctrine is not true. It only means that the doctrine can be mishandled.

If anything Smith’s incredible proclamation proves that the doctrine he is inveighing against (Kinism) is just your garden variety Calvinism.

Author: jetbrane

I am a Pastor of a small Church in Mid-Michigan who delights in my family, my congregation and my calling. I am postmillennial in my eschatology. Paedo-Calvinist Covenantal in my Christianity Reformed in my Soteriology Presuppositional in my apologetics Familialist in my family theology Agrarian in my regional community social order belief Christianity creates culture and so Christendom in my national social order belief Mythic-Poetic / Grammatical Historical in my Hermeneutic Pre-modern, Medieval, & Feudal before Enlightenment, modernity, & postmodern Reconstructionist / Theonomic in my Worldview One part paleo-conservative / one part micro Libertarian in my politics Systematic and Biblical theology need one another but Systematics has pride of place Some of my favorite authors, Augustine, Turretin, Calvin, Tolkien, Chesterton, Nock, Tozer, Dabney, Bavinck, Wodehouse, Rushdoony, Bahnsen, Schaeffer, C. Van Til, H. Van Til, G. H. Clark, C. Dawson, H. Berman, R. Nash, C. G. Singer, R. Kipling, G. North, J. Edwards, S. Foote, F. Hayek, O. Guiness, J. Witte, M. Rothbard, Clyde Wilson, Mencken, Lasch, Postman, Gatto, T. Boston, Thomas Brooks, Terry Brooks, C. Hodge, J. Calhoun, Llyod-Jones, T. Sowell, A. McClaren, M. Muggeridge, C. F. H. Henry, F. Swarz, M. Henry, G. Marten, P. Schaff, T. S. Elliott, K. Van Hoozer, K. Gentry, etc. My passion is to write in such a way that the Lord Christ might be pleased. It is my hope that people will be challenged to reconsider what are considered the givens of the current culture. Your biggest help to me dear reader will be to often remind me that God is Sovereign and that all that is, is because it pleases him. View all posts by jetbrane