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Saturday, October 11, 2008

Response To Wilted Tulips!

In my previous post I said we would begin responding to the sermon, The TULIP Wilts Under the SON.

If a person is going to preach a message attacking reformed theology and making all kinds of accusations against it, you would think they would have done a little study. You would think they would have taken the time and studied the history of the system they are attacking. It is clear that Gary Click did not even bother to read a book about Reformed Theology!

At the 7:39 mark of the sermon, Gary Click makes this statement. "I want you to meet John Calvin, he is the founder of this system of theology that is called Calvinism.

This statement is completely false! Let me offer a brief history lesson:

You see before John Calvin was born there was a man named Augustine. In fact Augustine was born November 13, 354 AD. This was long before Calvin!

Sometimes Calvinism is referred to by other names such as "Augustinianism" because Calvin basically followed Augustine (A.D. 354–430) in areas of predestination and the sovereignty of God.

So how in the world can someone claim Calvin created the system of theology!

Gary Click may want to do a study on the Augustine and Pelagian debate.


Pelagius (354 - 420?) a British monk famous for his piety, but declared a heretic for denying original sin. His system of thought became known as: Pelagianism

Pelagianism views humanity as basically good and morally unaffected by the Fall. It denies the imputation of Adam's sin, original sin, total depravity, and substitutionary atonement. It simultaneously views man as fundamentally good and in possession of libertarian free will. With regards to salvation, it teaches that man has the ability in and of himself (apart from divine aid) to obey God and earn eternal salvation.

Pelagianism is overhwhelmingly incompatible with the Bible and was historically opposed by Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo, leading to its condemnation as a heresy at Council of Carthage in 418 A.D. These condemnations were summarily ratified at the Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431

You see these issues were being discussed and debated way before John Calvin was born!

Another name that is important in Church history is:
Desiderius Erasmus. He contended with the reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546), emphasizing the importance of free will in human actions against Luther's belief in the absolute bondage of the will to sin. When John Calvin would have been around 15 years old Erasmus published a book entitled, Diatribe Concerning Free Will. December 1525 Martin Luther published the book, The Bondage Of The Will!

All of this occurred without John Calvin!

If Gary Click cannot even get simple historical facts straight, then he has lost all credibility!


Much more to come!
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> posted by Trevor Hammack at

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Trevor,

This is the tippy, tip top of the huge iceberg! I didn't read the original sermon, but I don't have to. Your post pretty much summed it up. These guys are very misinformed and speak as if they've studied the subject. It's embarrassing and they don't even know it. I sparred with a local pastor recently, which you can read about on my blog. It's truly sad that scripture is getting overlooked by Arminian thinkers many times. Lots of eisegesis going on, not much exegesis in many 'evangelical' churches in America and it's very, very sad and eternally dangerous.

Keep up the good work!
David

October 28, 2008 at 12:06 PM  

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