Saturday, June 25, 2011

Calvinists Who Love Wesley

This is an excellent irenic article discussing the admiration several notable Calvinists have expressed for the Godly work of John Wesley. It has made a few rounds on the Net already, including  SEA, but it is worth bookmarking here and saving for future use.

Calvinists Who Love Wesley - Fred Sanders

8 comments:

Tom said...

As the old saying goes; Even the best of men can err.

A.M. Mallett said...

... and of course, there are the worst of men who neither learn from nor benefit from their many repeated errors. Certain extreme hyper-Calvinists come quickly to mind.

Tom said...

That coming from a man who hates the truths of the fullness of Biblical Christianity, which is just another name for "hyper" Calvinism. Those who hate "hyper" Calvinism hate God, and have the mind of the devil.

A.M. Mallett said...

Tom,
When you collect your thoughts in phrases such as "the truths of the fullness of Biblical Christianity", meaning an extreme polemical and sectarian nature of hyper-Calvinist thought, you place yourself outside even the fringes of any sense of orthodoxy. I remind you that most reasonable, God fearing Calvinists despise hyper-Calvinist doctrine. I suspect that is of no consequence to you regardless.

Have a nice day and be blessed, Tom!

Tom said...

What you disdain as "Hyper" Calvinism is nothing but the Biblical-based theology of the Protestant Reformation. Which is why I've said since our first encounter that Arminians have no rightful or legitimate claim to the Reformation.

Your comment, "I suspect that is of no consequence to you regardless," is one of the few comments of yours that is truthful and accurate.

BTW, also as I've always said, Only the "hyper" Calvinist can truly and honestly make the statement, "God saved me."

Tom said...

Oh, I must give praise and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ for the wonderful and blessed gift of making me a "hyper" Calvinist sectarian! It is truly a work of the Holy Spirit!!!!

Anonymous said...

It is good to zealously defend the essentials--those truths that we have a Biblical warrant to hold with absolute certainty and which are essential for faith in Christ. We preach them to unbelievers, and defend them against erroneous teaching. But there are many who fail to distinguish between these essentials and nonessentials, zealously defending those tenets that we have no Biblical warrant to hold with absolute certainty, and which are not necessary for salvation.
I used to think mistaken zealots were simply lacking competence, and mistaken. But no more. I've encountered enough of them to realize that their incompetence is driven by the flesh. On the surface is the pride in a movement and the "Go team!" approach to theology, with a denigrating conceit toward the foolishness and ignorance of those of other views. But below the surface is a secret insecurity, due to the ultimate uncertainty of that which God has not revealed with certainty. The end result is a gospel loaded down with sectarian nonsense, and propagated with a supercilious arrogance.
This is what prevents people from being able to appreciate and admire the truly great Christian men of opposing views or movements. Those with the ability to appreciate such men will readily respect and appreciate those with whom they debate whenever such opponents display worthy characteristics.
Thanks for the article!
Ken Hamrick

Anonymous said...

I might be a Calvinist but I admire John Wesley's unrivaled passion for reaching the lost. He is someone who comes to mind that did 'all they could' to reach the lost since he faced so much opposition to do so.