It has been well said that the Calvinistic resurgence within baptist circles is not going away anytime soon, and wishing it away or preaching against strawmen from arminian pulpits will not stop the trend. I am convinced the more Adrian Roger style preaching occurrs the more those who love sound Biblical exegesis will wonder why all the fuss. The more Liberty University types attempt to "purge" Calvinism from their baptist schools and churches, the more the debate will ensue.
The more the Caner brothers attack the Reformed faith, the more attention to their shallow argumentation they give. Thereby they have found themselves in a position I do not think they truly desired. In October the Caner brothers are going to debate Tom Ascol and James White (more info here).
You might be asking why I think the Caner brothers truly would not want such an interaction. I simply will link you to an e-mail discussion between James White and Ergun Caner. Click here. Ergun Caner clearly has no idea what he is talking about.
So many people have told me over the years that they can see both sides of the debate. The Calvinist has verses that seem to be Calvinistic. The Arminian quotes passages that seem to be Arminian. So the average layman scratches his head.
I think the reason is simple. The Arminian points to 2 Peter 3:9 and says, "See, God wants everyone to be saved." Yet he does so without any exegesis. It is simply assumed and repeated so often that a passage about the Second Coming is used in defense of a soteriology that is unbiblical, and never interacts with Reformed interpretations. (Yes, reformed people do deal with the so-called difficult texts.)
The strength of the Reformed position is exegesis. I hope the Caner brothers realize this quickly before they arrive "at the New Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia."
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2 comments:
I just had lunch with Dr. Caner. We were up there doing a Concert for the school. I am amazed by His Testimony. God really does covert mans heart to live on a different level. Ergun is quite a Bull for God. I see your Theology more clearly now. But there is no hate. I am way over hate. But it brews in the pews. I hope as the so called "trend" grows, it will carry with it, the amazing Love of God.
Someone once asked me if I was a Calvinist or an Arminianist, I replied, I am an Obligationalist! This whole salvation thing is so great, I am obligatied to tell as many people as possiable about how they can get in on it for the Glory of God.
Enjoying Jesus!
Tony Nolan
I am glad to see that you are past "hate". I am not sure what that means, but I do understand the brewing in the pews issue.
I think it is a problem when a man who is in the pulpit does not have a grasp of these theological issues and has not done the exegetical work to drive him to his conclusions...but...
I agree that no matter which side of the issue you are on, we both desire to proclaim salvation in Christ alone through faith alone by grace alone.
To that end
Soli Deo Gloria
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