We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
On The Calvinism Debate In Chicago Last Week
Image by OldOnliner via Flickr
For those of you who were unaware of it, there was a debate in Chicago last week on New Calvinism that was sponsored by Sojourn Network. Our friend T. C. Moore did an outstanding job of covering it. You can read his impressions over on his blog by clicking here. He also has embedded video of the debate if you’d like to check it out for yourself.
Just to whet your whistle and encourage you to check out T. C.’s article, we want to feature a point of the debate that we’re pretty passionate about. One of the metaphors that Austin Fischer presented to highlight the problem with New Calvinism was the image of a “firefighting arsonist”. T. C. expounds on it here:
The first killer metaphor was employed by Fischer. He wanted those who would watch this debate to know that despite the New Calvinists’ clever attempts to disguise it, the reality is that whatever condition they claim God is saving humanity from, their theology necessitates that God caused it. If it is true, like the Calvinists claim, that God rescues a group of preselected people from the tortures of their conception of hell, it is only because God “ordained” that humanity would be damned in the first place.
Fischer’s metaphor of God wanting the world to “burn down” conjures the image of the firefighter who has a narcissistic pathology which tempts him or her to start the very fires he or she is charged to rescue citizens from. This firefighter puts lives in danger only for the “glory” of being the one who swoops in to the rescue.
The reason this metaphor is so damning (pun intended), is because the New Calvinist routinely use the idea of God “saving some” from hell as the pinnacle of their argument for God’s redemptive glory. “Everyone should go to hell for their sins” Calvinists routinely shout. But, this is only just if human beings are responsible for their sin. In New Calvinism’s conception of why people go to hell, it isn’t because they have sinned and must suffer the consequences. No, it is because God “ordained” that they would sin and suffer the consequences before God brought creation into being. If any theology “robs God of glory,” it is the one that makes God out to be a psychopathic firefighting arsonist.
Category: General
Tags: Austin Fischer, Brian Zahnd, Calvinism, Debate, T.C. Moore
Related Reading
Arbitrary Election
Micah J. Murray wrote a blog entitled Five Reasons I Reject Unconditional Election, which was a response to John Piper’s recent arguments for embracing unconditional election. If you’re looking for Scripture-based argumentation, you would do well to look elsewhere (as Micah freely suggests) but if you’re looking for the deep down, intuitive and honest gut stuff,…
When Science Starts to Smell Like Religion
Most of you know that, here at ReKnew, we try to come against some of the popular antagonism between the church and science. We think it’s a shame when christians pit themselves against legitimate scientific inquiry and discovery based upon a questionable reading of scripture. ReKnew strives to be a place where good science is…
How Can Salvation by Grace Involve Free Will?
How does salvation by grace work if people have free will? If salvation hinges on whether individuals choose to be saved or not, is salvation based on grace or works? If we have to choose for or against God, then doesn’t the credit for our salvation ultimately go to us? Along the same lines, doesn’t…
Some Questions a Year After Her Child’s Death
Jessica Kelley wrote a post for The Jesus Event that we wanted to share with you. You might remember that last year we were getting to know Jessica as she lost her four year old son Henry just before Christmas. In this post, she reflects on the theology of the people around her concerning her son’s death. She has…
Predestination: What Does It Mean?
When some people hear the biblical teaching that God “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4) and that “he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Christ,” (Eph 1:5) they think it means that God picked who would and would not be in Christ before the foundation of the world.…