In the recent #CalvinismDebate one of the main critiques of Calvinism is that is incongruent with God revealed in Jesus. I wanted to share a couple thoughts on this, followed by links to the debates in case you missed it. The primary focus of Calvinism is Gods glory. So sin is understood primarily as an affront to God, not as hurting a person. This is completely the opposite of the focus of Jesus. Jesus reveals a God who is not concerned AT ALL with glory, and who instead forsakes glory in order to come among and alongside broken humanity in the incarnation. This God revealed in Christ does not worry about being slighted, but is accused of being a sinner, a demon, a blasphemer, because of his association with the least glorious. Jesus shows us that Gods priority is not to get worship or glory or honor, as if Gods ego was the main thing, but rather that God wants us to focus on loving others, loving those we want to write off and judge and disregard and neglect. We hear the same in the prophets like Isaiah who declares that God says to us: If you really want to show me you love me, I dont want your songs or ceremonies or sacrifices, I want you to care for the widows and orphans! John says similarly If we say we love God, but dont love our neighbor, we are liars and the truth is not in us. Thats pretty clear, and thus when Calvinism instead puts the focus on Gods glory, they show that they have completely missed the point of what Jesus shows us is Gods real priority: God is not self-centered. God is supremely unselfish, focused on our loving, and especially on our loving those who are most vulnerable. God does not need to be defended. God is big. God wants us to instead defend those who need our compassion the most. Thats what God cares about. That is the opposite of a focus on glory, and why Calvinisms focus is the polar opposite of who Jesus shows us God truly is. The God of Calvinism instead is really little different than a Zeus or Apollo or any other god modeled after human domination and power. Thats why the focus of Calvinism is continually on Gods complete sovereign control (which gets us into the whole double predestination thing). Its all about control, domination, glory--enforced by threat and violence of eternal damnation. Its Dont follow because its good, follow cause I say so, or else! Along these lines, notice in the debate that in response to the claim that (1) The God of Calvinism looks nothing like Jesus, and (2) the God of Calvinism is not good, that the Calvinists response was to equate their reading of the Bible with Gods own view, and to then argue that we cannot question God. Well, I do question it, and I question it because of Jesus. I question Calvinism just as Jesus questioned the Pharisees because both seem to have the same result: They focus on the nitty-gritty details of the law, and in the process miss the entire point which is that God is all about our learning love and compassion. If you missed the live Calvinism Debate, you can view it on Youtube here: part1: https://youtube/watch?v=QR0lN5aBWdY&index=2&list=UUKUDMeYSjLvcsSw2JR-fmvg part2: https://youtube/watch?v=6prrlabhGtg&list=UUKUDMeYSjLvcsSw2JR-fmvg -Derek Flood
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 19:10:35 +0000
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