Dead Man Blogging

I have written previously about the fallacy of focusing only on so-called “practical theology”. But it might be helpful to discuss why I think theology in general, and Calvinism in particular, is important enough to teach.

It is hard to teach people. There’s a lot of work. Teaching theology is particularly hard. Because the doctrines of grace (aka Calvinism) are controversial and complicated, it’s a particularly challenging topic. So why bother?

Not everything that is true is worth studying or knowing. Some specific studies are important to only certain fields, and I wonder if some knowledge is important at all. You would quickly get bored if I discussed good string parsing techniques or efficient sorting algorithms. But I’m a programmer, and I care about those things.

So how do we decide what knowledge is valuable? We value knowledge that impacts people we care about, or pertains to those we care about. That is why we know (and share!) the most trivial details of our children’s lives, but do not know who the Prime Minister of Canada is. Certainly, in an absolute sense, the identity of the Prime Minister of Canada is much more important than how many teeth my youngest son currently has. But guess which one I know?

That’s the reason we should care about theology. Theology is the study of the revelation of God. If we love God, we should value His self-revelation. We should value theology. When someone dismisses theology in favor of “practical” information, he is implicitly indicating that he cares more about his own “daily Christian walk” - i.e., himself - than about what God has revealed of Himself.

But not all theology has the same priority in our studies. Why am I teaching about Calvinism and not discussing questions about speaking in tongues? Arguing about modes of baptism?

Calvinism is essentially the gospel. It tells me about God, myself, and the severance, restoration, and future of our relationship. It teaches me that God is the sovereign King of creation. It teaches me about the incredible extent God had to go to in order to reconcile me to Him. It teaches me that I was so hostile to Him that He had to all the work. It teaches me just what Jesus was accomplishing on the cross. It gives me God’s expectations and assurance of my future with Him. Spurgeon was right when he proclaimed that Calvinism is just a nickname for the Gospel.

Calvinism also impacts many other issues of faith and practice. It affects how I approach evangelism. It affects my assurance of salvation. It gives me comfort in the midst of apparent chaos and tragedy.

As I discuss Calvinism in more detail, I will periodically make explicit the distinctions between Calvinism and other soteriological views as they impact matters of faith and practice. I want to demonstrate that Calvinism is true, and that it is one of the most beautiful and cherished doctrines.

Calvinism is sometimes mischaracterized as cold, harsh, or offensive, but I believe it is precisely the opposite. Calvinism proclaims God as a sovereign King, a loving Father of His elect who loves us enough to protect and save us from ourselves, a passionate Savior who fought for us and won a total victory. Arminianism forces God back to a “gentlemanly” distance, essentially helpless, able to do nothing but provide the potential for our salvation and whisper encouragement, leaving us alone in our helplessness.

My “Intro to Calvinism” class is off to a pretty good start. There are 9 students (counting my wife, but not our baby!). At least 5 of them are Arminians, so we get some good discussions. One of them is also a lawyer so we’ll see how that goes.
I’m not sticking with “TULIP” exactly. I started with a discussion of why theology is important, what it means to “do theology”, and why Calvinism is a particularly important set of doctrines.

The order of topics I’m covering is:
1. The Sovereignty of God in a general sense.
2. Total Depravity
3. The Holiness of God
4. Regeneration
5. Unconditional Election
6. Limited Atonement / Particular Redemption (I am barely hitting this at all)
7. Irresistible Grace
8. Perseverance of the Saints

Our discussion on the Sovereignty of God is more accurately Providence, but the conversations have focused on spiritual issues. Is God responsible for sin? Is it fair for God to punish us for sin that He ordained? Do we make real spiritual choices? Why bother praying?

I am not taking Paul’s approach in Romans 9:20 in answering these questions, because these seem to be very real questions. It speaks highly of the people taking this class that they would come listen to me teach Calvinism when they don’t believe it. I’ve been very encouraged by that.

Calvinism is more specifically concerned with the sovereignty of God _in salvation_ rather than _in general_, but it’s important to understand that God does freely rule over His creation.

One of the biggest points I’m trying to make is that you cannot separate God’s sovereignty from the rest of His character and His purposes. It was His sovereignty that sent His Son to the cross, and it is His sovereignty that redeemed me. But His sovereignty also passes over others. He loved Jacob, but hated Esau. This isn’t Saddam Hussein we’re talking about - it is the God who died for us. This doesn’t _minimize_ His sovereingty or even really soften it, but it helps us remember just Who is sovereign.

I’ve spent two full 45 minute classes talking about this, and will have to wrap it up and move on quickly in next Sunday’s class. Hopefully by the end everything will start to “click”. After class last Sunday, one of the guys said that I was “very brave for being willing to teach this”.

When I teach on Total Depravity, I hope it will be logically clear that man _cannot_ come to God unless God regenerates him, and after God regenerates a man, that man will absolutely come to God. If you accept Total Depravity, the rest flows logically.

I do not think the elders of our church will take a strong position for Limited Atonement, so I am not going to teach much about it. Five minutes ought to cover it. Briefly, as I understand it, it speaks to the _intent_ and not the _extent_ of Christ’s suffering and death. It’s not as though God summed up all the punishment that the elect deserved, did some math, and decided how long Jesus had to suffer. God wasn’t running a stopwatch in Heaven while Jesus hung on the cross. If the number of elect was 1/10th or 10X what it is, Christ wouldn’t have suffered more or less. It’s not that there simply isn’t enough grace to cover any more sinners. Instead, Jesus was _actually_ providing for the salvation of the elect. That was His purpose - to save His sheep. (I wouldn’t bother teaching on this at all, except that I’ve gotten some questions about it already.)

We’ll see how it goes. I think I’d have more students, except that someone else is teaching a class on “Science and the Bible” which is mostly on Creationism I think. It’s very popular and has pulled most of the people. I might do this class again; I bet there are people who would take it but are in the Creationism class.

I was feeling somewhat stressed and overwhelmed earlier today for reasons I won’t go into right now.

My first thought was “I need to go somewhere, calm down, clear my head, and then pray about this.”

My second thought was, “Why would you want to do it in _that_ order?”

It’s such a privilege for us to be able to come to God with all our concerns. He does not leave us without a Comforter, and He gives us access to the throneroom of grace. I do not have to calm my mind before I approach Him. He gives me peace.

I understood that we lay our fears and troubles before God. If bad things are going on we can turn to Him for refuge. How silly of me not to recognize that I can come to Him not just when I’m afraid, but when I’m just confused.

As I laid my questions and fears before God, one thing in particular came to mind. Whatever else happens, I’ve got Jesus. I was condemned and now I am saved. I may mess everything up. I might completely misunderstand the gospel and fail in the high calling God has called me to. But I will be saved. I may suffer loss. I may be saved as though through fire. But I will be saved. That puts my legitimate questions and concerns into a proper perspective. They are legitimate. They are important. But I’ve got Jesus!

A lot of the talk about “end of life” decisions generally, and Terri Schiavo specifically, has centered on the question of brain activity. We argued over whether she was in a persistent vegetative state, whether she was truly responsive, and so forth. A commenter on another blog said

I know that if I’m not “in there”, if my brain scan shows what Terri’s did on A&E, I don’t want my body to be kept alive, even if it is “only” a feeding tube. Where is my soul if my brain is no longer “me”? Would you be denying me my entrance to glory, without having a presence here on earth either?

*The philosophy here seems to be that the _real_ you is a mental or spiritual entity, and this body is just a shell. I don’t know whether this is Gnosticism or just what, but I know it isn’t Biblical.*

The Bible teaches that our bodies are very much a part of us. We are made of a body as well as a spirit. (Some folks count a soul as a separate piece, others consider it identical with the spirit, but that’s not too important in this.)

*The truth is that we are _more_ than a physical body. But we are indisputably _also_ a physical body.*

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The thing God formed out of the ground - that was _a man_. Not an empty shell, but a man. God added “the breath of life” and that man became a living soul.

Psalm 139:14-15 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

The Psalmist asserts that _he_ was “made in secret” - not an empty shell or a mere body, but him. Man.

Revelation 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

John points out it was the _souls_ of those slain that he saw. They were incomplete, until…

Revelation 20:4-5 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

The issue of consciousness is not pertinent to a Biblical understanding of life. Terri Schiavo was alive. The _real_ Terri, not just a body. I won’t pretend to know anything about the location of one’s “consciouness” or soul in these circumstances, but I do know that your body is you. You are _more_ than the body - and this is why Jesus said not fear those who can _only_ destroy the body - but you are a physical, bodily creature. This is why we will be resurrected! *When we deny the importance of the life of a physical body, we undermine the glory of the resurrection.*

The issue is not consciousness. We cannot appeal to the lack of consciousness to justify killing the comatose, the disabled, infants, or unborn children. We must evaluate life from a Biblical perspective.

Genesis 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Human life is not precious because of consciousness. It is not precious because of independence or the ability to make choices. It is not precious because of love and laughter. *Human life is precious because it is the image of God.*